Best Performance Trucks for 2025
These are the best performance trucks based on iSeeCars' analysis of each vehicle's power to weight ratio
The best performance full-size truck is the Ford F-150 (8.1 weight-to-horsepower ratio).
Pickup trucks have evolved from practical off-road, hauling, and towing devices to full-fledged family cars and even luxury vehicles over the past few decades. They’ve also stepped into the performance realm, with early American performance pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado SS, Dodge Ram 1500 Rumble Bee, and original Ford F-150 Lightning starting the trend over 20 years ago. The Chevy and Dodge both featured V8 engines with upgrades to make around 350 horsepower and 380 pound-feet or torque. But the Lighting went a step further, with a supercharged V8 powertrain producing 380 peak hp and 450 lb-ft or torque.
The trend continued with Ram SRT-10, featuring the Dodge Viper’s 500-horsepower V10 engine, and the Ford F-150 Raptor (also known as the SVT Raptor). The Raptor transitioned away from the F-150 Lightning’s on-road performance, instead becoming an off-road truck with upgrades that included a long-travel aftermarket Fox Racing suspension and four-wheel-drive system with a locking rear differential. Instead of being the quickest truck in a drag race, Ford touted the Raptor as being the top speed champ when crossing rough terrain, similar to the trucks that win Baja 1000 races in Mexico.
Today several automakers offer some form of high-performance variant in both their midsize and full-size pickup truck lines. A newer Raptor, with a 450-horsepower, twin-turbo Ecoboost V6 engine, has been joined by a V8-powered F-150 Raptor R making 700 horsepower. The Ram 1500 TRX boasts a 700-horsepower supercharged hemi V8 lifted directly from Dodge’s Hellcat-powered Challenger. It’s worth noting that General Motors has never responded to its American rivals, with both its Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra full-size trucks topping out at a modest 420 horsepower from naturally-aspirated V8 engines.
In the midsize truck segment, brands like Toyota and Nissan have stuck with aggressive off-road performance that favors suspension travel over peak horsepower. Toyota’s Tacoma TRD line offers increased ride height and special off-road shocks to enhance trail blazing, with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and either automatic or manual transmission. The midsize Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Jeep Gladiator are two more trucks that specialize in rock-crawling instead of drag racing.
Whether buyers are seeking off-road or on-road performance, iSeeCars has identified the trucks with the best power-to-weight ratios and listed them below. Power-to-weight ratios mean more for sports cars and supercars than they do for trucks, but power-to-weight is a standard automotive metric that can be applied to any group of vehicles to get a sense of how they will perform relative to each other. Use the lists below to see which trucks have the best power-to-weight ratio, along with new and used pricing and mpg ratings.
How We Rank These Cars
The best performance cars rank vehicles by their weight-to-horsepower ratio.
The weight-to-horsepower ratio is calculated based on a vehicle's curb weight and horsepower at the trim level - the less weight one horsepower has to pull, the better performance a vehicle can provide. For cars with a ratio within 0.1 of each other, lighter vehicles always have the advantage in performance and are ranked to reflect that. For each vehicle, we also show the iSeeCars Score which rates the overall quality of a vehicle.
The iSeeCars Score is an analysis of three factors: reliability, resale value and safety. It is calculated based on the latest research and analysis by our data science team. The data analysis comes from over 12 million new and used vehicles in our Longest-Lasting Cars and 5-Year Depreciation Studies, combined with NHTSA and IIHS Safety Ratings.
Vehicles are scored in three categories:
Reliability
The reliability score represents an analysis of iSeeCars' proprietary research on the longest-lasting vehicles.
Value Retention
The value retention score is based on our data science team's statistical analysis and prediction of 5-year depreciation from MSRP to determine which cars hold their value best, using US Bureau of Labor Statistics data to adjust for inflation.
Safety
The safety score is calculated based on the last five years of crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and incorporates the latest Top Safety Pick information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).