Look at the people that would read CR for a car review. For that demographic I can understand them not giving points for off road capability. Anyone who’s serious into off roading is going to be reading off road mag reviews, not CR. For the other 95% of truck/SUV buyers it makes a lot of sense to disregard off road performance since the vehicles will never be more off road than a crushed stone parking lot.
CR is for the median purchaser. If you’re looking for a fringe product like real high end A/V stuff, ultra high performance tires, top of the line gaming computers or anything outside of the average consumer’s spectrum they aren’t the mag for you.