Our 327-acre Connecticut testing facility includes a rutted trail through the woods complete with boggy sections and half-buried logs. Because conditions on the trail are constantly changing, we use this off-road trail for informal testing only. But a lot can be learned on this trail about a vehicle's off-road traction and abilities. We also have a custom-designed rock hill for formal testing of four-wheel-drive vehicles equipped with low range or advertised as being off-road ready. The dirty dozen vehicles below were top performers in our off-road testing, listed by their ranking.

Toyota FJ Cruiser

Land Rover LR3

Toyota Tacoma TRD

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Hummer H3

Nissan Frontier

Dodge Ram 1500

Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Dodge Ram 2500

Ford F-250

Nissan Xterra

Chevrolet Tahoe