Back in the days, pickup trucks served a single purpose; to serve as a workhorse for the hard-working individual by hauling cargo. With that being said, pickups from the past tend to be as basic as they can be. Two seats, no creature comforts except air-conditioning, a long cargo bed, and big displacement diesel engines, earning their name as "coal rollers".
But over the years, pickups have become less and less of a utilitarian vehicle that simply hauls cargo, in other words, they've become more suited to the lifestyle of their consumers, not just the work aspect. They've become sportier, with more aggressive styling, car-like interior and comfort, and of course, more powerful than their predecessors. Some of them even pack a punch that will leave a sports car in its rear-view mirrors.
8 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
You may know this pickup truck as Brian O'Conner's service vehicle from the first Fast and Furious movie, but mind you, he could have also used this for the quarter-mile drag race. That's because it was the world's fastest production pickup truck back in 2003.
It had a 380 HP 5.4-liter supercharged Triton V8 which catapults the SVT Lightning from 0 to 62 MPH in just 5.2 seconds. That was insane back in the early 2000s, and still remarkable by today's standards.
7 Dodge Ram SRT-10
Dodge saw the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning's potential and thought, "Hey, we can do that too, and better," and they basically shoved the Viper's running components into a Dodge Ram 1500 chassis, turning into the SRT-10, their very own super sports pickup truck.
The Viper's massive 8.3-liter V10 didn't have any trouble finding its way to the Ram's engine bay and produced the same 507 HP and 525 lb-ft of torque driving the rear wheels. It had a six-speed Borg-Warner manual transmission, and this combo made it capable of a quarter-mile time of 13.6 seconds.
6 Toyota Tundra TRD Supercharged
What comes after Lightning? Yes, Tundra-Strike! Ok, we admit that was a horrible joke. However, not long after the release of the Dodge Ram SRT-10 and the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, Toyota joined the muscle truck wars with the 504 HP supercharged V8 Tundra TRD, and that truck certainly wasn't a joke!
TRD added a supercharger, a dual-exhaust system and revised its brake and suspension components to take on the added horsepower from the standard Tundra SR5's 5.7-liter V8 engine. It proved to be faster than its American rivals, with a quarter-mile time of 13.5 seconds and a 0 to 60 time of 4.7 seconds.
5 Ford F-150 Raptor
A production Ford pickup that's designed to conquer the Baja desert. That kinda sums up what the Ford F-150 Raptor is. It completely pushed away its utilitarian purpose and transformed into a trophy truck that you can readily buy in dealerships.
You have suspension components by Fox, 37-inch tires by BFGoodrich, bucket seats by Recaro, and a 450 HP 3.5-liter Ecoboost twin-turbo V6 engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission that will help you fly through obstacles and power through the dunes.
4 Dodge Ram 1500 TRX
We've kinda seen this before from pickup rivals Ford and Dodge. Ford made the F-150 SVT Lightning as a muscle truck, and soon after, Dodge came out with the Ram SRT-10 back in the early 2000s. Now, they're back at it again, as Dodge produced an F-150 Raptor rival in the Ram TRX.
Dodge followed the Ram SRT-10 footsteps into making the TRX, as they stuffed the SRT Hellcat's 702 HP 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 engine into the Ram 1500's chassis, and uprated its suspension components together with Bilstein. Just like in the Jurassic period, the T-Rex has once again eaten the Raptor for breakfast.
3 Nissan Titan Warrior
If it wasn't for the COVID-19 pandemic, we might have already seen the "Holy Trinity" of high-performance pickup trucks. But for now, we'll have to make do with the Dodge Ram TRX and the Ford F-150 Raptor as our choices, as the Nissan Titan Warrior is still in the concept phase, but certainly has all the makings of a mighty pickup.
No power figures have been released yet by Nissan, but the Titan Warrior is sure to have north of 300 HP when it comes to punching power, thanks to its 5.0-liter Cummins turbo-diesel V8. Furthermore, it is expected to have an aftermarket suspension system and sporty interior to complement the aggressive exterior look.
2 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2
Almost every pickup truck manufacturer has joined the fray in producing their own Raptor-like sports pickup, and Chevrolet is no stranger to it, as they came up with the midsize Colorado ZR2.
Sporting a wider body than the standard Colorado models, the ZR2 features exotic spool-valve shocks, electronic front and rear locking differentials, and a 308 HP 3.5-liter V6 engine mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.
1 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro
It's rugged, it's reliable, it's great for off-roading, and it's powerful. The midsize Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro is indeed one of the most versatile pickup trucks available in the market today.
When painted in black like the one pictured above, it looks like it's ready for a zombie apocalypse. Furthermore, the 280 HP 3.5-liter V6 engine has ample power to escape a horde of zombies and into safety, not to mention the various off-road modes it has that make the Tacoma TRD Pro conquer any given terrain.