The truck market is very competitive in America. There are a lot of reasons to buy a truck, but there are also many reasons to avoid a truck, especially if it doesn’t fit your specific needs. Here are the reasons why, according to Car and Driver, you should avoid buying the GMC Canyon.

The standard engine isn’t good

Car and Driver praised the 3.6-liter V6 engine and the 2.8-liter diesel engine that’s available on the Canyon, but neither of those engines is standard. Instead, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine is the starting engine on the Canyon, and Car and Driver simply hates it. It’s the cheapest and simplest engine available, so there are not many positive things to say about it.

This 2.5-liter engine generates only 200 hp and 191 lb-ft of torque. Because of that unimpressive amount of power, the Canyon, when equipped with its standard engine, can only tow about 3,500 lb. In comparison, the V6 and the diesel engines can tow over twice as much as the 2.5-liter engine can. 

That said, the base engine does get slightly more horsepower than the diesel engine does, and as a result, their 0-to-60 MPH times are nearly identical. And while the 2.5-liter engine is more fuel-efficient than the V6 is, it’s not by much, according to Car and Driver. The 2.5-liter gets about 2 MPG more in the cities and 1 MPG more on highways than the much more powerful V6 gets. The diesel engine is remarkably fuel-efficient, so it’s not even a contest between the two.

Very expensive options

The answer to the weak standard engine is to choose a more powerful one, but that’ll cost you. And those options aren’t cheap either. While the standard Canyon costs about $23,000, Car and Driver says that by adding features and options that make the truck good, the Canyon can easily cost up to $50,000. 

For example, Car and Driver reported that the only paint color that won’t cost you anything extra is white. For almost $200, your Canyon can be painted in either black or red. If you want any color other than those three options, then you’ll have to pay anywhere between $500 to $600 more. 

And while these options are expensive, Car and Driver doesn’t enjoy many of them. The V6 and the diesel engines are great, but a lot of the other features, options, and packages were lacking, according to Car and Driver. 

Lots of bad options

Despite the fact that Car and Driver praised how many different configurations of the Canyon was available, Car and Driver just didn’t like many of them. For instance, despite being worth over $40,000, the Canyon that Car and Driver tested was described as more function than flash. That is great to hear if you want a good work truck, but for $40,000, Car and Driver expected a more luxurious truck than what GMC actually delivered. 

In particular, Car and Driver said that even in the Denali trim of the Canyon, which starts at $41,000, the interior felt cheap. Car and Driver said that the Canyon was spacious and that its seats were comfortable, but the actual interior just never looked or felt as expensive as the truck was worth. 

Asides from feeling cheap, Car and Driver also mentioned that although the infotainment suite of the Canyon was good, the truck was lacking in smart safety features. Furthermore, Car and Driver also didn’t like how the Canyon performed in crash tests. Car and Driver followed up by saying that if customers want safety in a truck, they should look at a Toyota Tacoma or a Honda Ridgeline.