2000 Chevy Tahoe Z71
Category: Not Too Big, Not Too Small
The SUV rules. If you randomly threw yourself off a freeway overpass, the odds are good that you would crash through the window of an SUV. The Tahoe line stands out because it's bigger than the compacts but not as big as the old Sub. "Just right," as Goldilocks would say. GM spent a lot of time giving Tahoe the toughness of a truck but the manners of a car. Four Wheeler testers were impressed with the amount of work done to improve the relatively new Tahoe, a descendant of the old K-series Blazer, but it was the combination of this new setup with the optional Z71 suspension package that turned the tide. For 2000, Four Wheeler thought the Tahoe Z71 was the best of the bunch in the FWOTY tests.
2001 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab TRD
Category: Here We Go Again!
In the determined effort to make trucks ever more practical, the trend has been to make the cabs bigger. Crew Cabs have been around for a while, both as limited production coach-built modifications, and in '63, as the first factory option from Dodge. Then there was Dodge's Club Cab in '74. From there, just about everyone has offered an extra-sized cab under some catchy name or another. Today, the hot things are four-door crew cabs, or whatever you choose to call them. They combine the passenger capacity of a four-door sedan with the utility of a pickup. And they're not all turning-radius-of-an-aircraft-carrier rigs with fullsize beds. Toyota's Double Cab competed for PTOTY honors in '01 and got the brass ring. Four Wheeler staffers thought that the rear locker in the TRD package is what threw this rig over the top for the third time in five years.
2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland
Category: Anniversary Favorite
Four Wheeler started in this business when four-wheeling in America essentially meant Jeep. It seems fitting that the magazine reaches the 40-year milestone after handing a Four Wheeler of the Year Award to Jeep for the latest version of its successful Grand Cherokee Overland. It had all the stuff Four Wheeler liked about the '99, specifically the near seamless but grippy gerotor-driven axles and transfer case, but the newly uprated 4.7L engine and leather interior helped throw it over the top. We'll start right here in another 40 years.