We’re taking on the World’s Toughest Towing Test with three new midsize off-road trucks!
We have not one, not two, but three popular midsize off-road trucks, so you know what’s going to happen. Apart from actually taking them off-road (that’s over on the TFLoffroad channel), we’re running them up and down the Ike Gauntlet. The 2026 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport, GMC Canyon AT4X and Jeep Gladiator Willys ’41 are our contenders today, and in this episode, Andre and Kase find out how each performs on the downhill braking test, with uphill towing and generally which truck we’d go with overall.
In fact, this video involves a solid hour of testing, so there’s plenty to mull over here. If you’re shopping any of these three trucks or are just curious how these midsizers perform at 11,158 feet above sea level, then you’ll want to check out the video below.
The trucks
This is a challenging setup for midsize trucks, generally speaking, because none of the competitors have huge V8 engines or diesels under their hood. We’re at high elevation, and we’re towing about 5,000 pounds, which is the maximum that the Ridgeline can handle in its current generation. Nevertheless, these vehicles continue to be remarkably popular, and more recent generations of midsize trucks like the GMC Canyon, which saw its latest redesign for 2023, aim to be larger, more practical and have a wider stance to function as a more stable towing platform.
Sticking with the GMC Canyon, this AT4X trim features a 2.7-liter four-cylinder Turbomax engine, putting out 310 horsepower. It packs the same number of gears (8) in its transmission as the Gladiator, though the Ike Gauntlet test puts on full display how these trucks’ transmissions are programmed to shift under both downhill conditions to try and hold the truck and cargo back on steep grades, and accelerate on the way back up to the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels to maintain the 60 mph speed limit.
The Honda Ridgeline, for its part, sticks with a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6. It has a 9-speed automatic instead of an 8-speed, and puts out 280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. The Gladiator also uses a V6, packing the long-running 3.6-liter Pentastar with 285 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque, and uses an 8-speed automatic. Like the GMC Canyon AT4X, this particular Gladiator Willys ’41 maxes out at 6,000 pounds (rather than 7,700 like some other trims). The idea here, though, is to see how well these off-road trucks tow for folks who want both levels of capability for their truck needs.
The results
Here’s how each truck performs on the downhill and uphill tests. Keep in mind, each truck is left to its own devices during the run (so no manual shifting), with brake applications each time the truck strays above 60 mph. On the way up, maintaining the 60 mph target speed nets a “perfect” 8-minute run, while we’re also looking for which truck achieves the best fuel economy, according to their trip computers.
GMC Canyon: 8 brake applications, 7:59.30 uphill run @ 6 MPG
Honda Ridgeline: 3 brake applications, 7:57.81 uphill run @ 5.8 MPG
Jeep Gladiator: 3 brake applications, 8:57.78 uphill run @ 5.2 MPG
So, the Ridgeline was a bit quicker than the Canyon and did far better on the way down, while the Jeep Gladiator struggled on the uphill run. Does that make the Honda our choice among these three off-roaders for the best towing rig? Well…not quite.
Find out how it all went down in the video below:
While the GMC Canyon had several more brake applications, it was still a reasonable performance for this size class, and the brakes still worked well at the bottom end of the downhill run. To that, the Canyon also tows 1,000 pounds more than the Ridgeline, is torquier, has a comfortable ride and is also quiet, even with its all-terrain rubber.
At the end of the day, both Andre and Kase select the GMC Canyon AT4X as the best towing off-road truck among the three we’re testing here today.
