Pickuptrucks.com test of 2013 light duty pickups

[haven]

Pickuptrucks.com has posted a comprehensive test of 2013 and 2014 full size light duty pickup trucks. The Ford with Ecoboost 6 cylinder engine was considered the overall winner, RAM 1500 second. The 2014 GM and Chevrolet models were third and fourth, a bitter pill for a brand new truck design. Nissan and Toyota really were not in the game.

Looking at the test results, the RAM scored very highly, winning 5 categories and finishing second in three more. The place where the RAM fell down is in towing and payload calculations, finishing last in both categories. That was enough to give the Ford the win.

http://special-reports.pickuptrucks.com/2013/06/2013-light-duty-challenge-overview.html

 

[Kaisen]

I'm not sure the GMC took a bitter pill here. In the "Judges Impressions" the GMC fared very well.

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The other interesting test was fuel economy where GMC shined, especially towing.
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Seriously, the Ford EcoBoost got only 10.9mpg towing? And the small block V8 GMC got 12.5-12.6?....and still beat the EcoBoost V6 empty? I'd say that's as important to most buyers as any.
Remember, both Ford and GM have much more powerful 6.2Ls that weren't tested here. But Ram, Toyota, and Nissan were tested with their biggest/best offerings

 

[Regcabguy]

I'm not convinced that the Ecoboost w/twin turbos is going to stand the test of time. My neighbor's got a 2wd and is thrilled with the performance but disappointed in the economy. Lots of expensive parts. Towing on any gasser plummets when towing.

 

[Flys Lo]

Seriously, the Ford EcoBoost got only 10.9mpg towing?

Most turbocharged vehicles really richen the fuel mixture when you keep it in boost (i.e. under heavy load).

 

[blackdmax15]

I'm a long time GMC/Chevy fan for the trucks, but did they test the new ram with the 3.0 diesel? Towing/empty fuel economy numbers would probably be significantly higher. On duty and cannot open the link. The gov't says it's forbidden.

 

[Haakon]

They didn't test any diesels in this test, they set down a framework and the manufacturers sent them, presumably, what they felt would be their best 1/2 ton.

"For this test, we put a price limit on the manufacturers and we added a few requirements. All test trucks had to be four-wheel drive, have four full-size doors, be able to tow at least 8,500 pounds, and the total as-tested price had to be below $45,000 (including destination charges)."

They also didn't weight the test results giving equal weight to each segment, so if you think towing is more important than mpg or autocross your top might be different.

 

[rkj__]

It's a little ironic that they asked for 4x4 trucks, but seemed not to use it. I suppose that is representative of most pickup buyers.

Always an interesting read.

 

[Larry]

Keep in mind, there are a lot of politics and good ole boy networks that come into play with PUTC and FOMOCO. Mark Williams of PUTC and Mike Levine from Ford are good ole buddies and Mark actually filled Mike's spot when Mike went to work for Ford. If you keep up with PUTC over the years you will see they are very pro-Ford. This is nothing negative against Mike or Mark (or even Ford for that matter), as both are great guys but it is blatantly obvious Ford has always greased the skids of Cars.com which is the parent of PUTC. PUTC is a great news source but I take their tests and comparisons with a grain of salt. No different than GM greasing the skids of JD Power & Associates and Motor Trend. Manufacturers control the media almost as bad as the government census the news media.

 

[rkj__]

Keep in mind, there are a lot of politics and good ole boy networks that come into play with PUTC and FOMOCO. Mark Williams of PUTC and Mike Levine from Ford are good ole buddies and Mark actually filled Mike's spot when Mike went to work for Ford. If you keep up with PUTC over the years you will see they are very pro-Ford. This is nothing negative against Mike or Mark (or even Ford for that matter), as both are great guys but it is blatantly obvious Ford has always greased the skids of Cars.com which is the parent of PUTC. PUTC is a great news source but I take their tests and comparisons with a grain of salt. No different than GM greasing the skids of JD Power & Associates and Motor Trend. Manufacturers control the media almost as bad as the government census the news media.

Of course. I think most people here are the type that like to do a fair bit of research, and maybe actually try the product before coming to any conclusions of their own.

I figure it's no coincidence that the words "Chevy" and "Silverado" are so popular in country music lyrics....

 

[Clutch]

The GM's look like winners.

Not sure why Toyota can't get with it on fuel economy.

Eco-Boost is marketing hype, it is good for power, but the 5.0 will get the nearly same mpg's. A lot more to fail with the eco though.

 

[Kaisen]

The GM's look like winners.

Not sure why Toyota can't get with it on fuel economy.

Eco-Boost is marketing hype, it is good for power, but the 5.0 will get the nearly same mpg's. A lot more to fail with the eco though.

To be fair, the Tundra has 4.30 gearing where the GM's had 3.42 (the deepest gear GM now offers with the 5.3L)
The Ram had 3.55 and the Ford 3.73, for comparison
Performance and towing would be skewed by gearing as well
Take it all with a grain of salt

 

[Clutch]

To be fair, the Tundra has 4.30 gearing where the GM's had 3.42 (the deepest gear GM now offers with the 5.3L)

Quite a difference!

Thought you could get taller gearing on the GM, but it lowers the towing capacity (?)

Take it all with a grain of salt

Very true, they are all pretty good anymore.

 

[Haakon]

It's a little ironic that they asked for 4x4 trucks, but seemed not to use it. I suppose that is representative of most pickup buyers.

Always an interesting read.

The other day I was reading an article that said only about 15% of 4x4 are taken off road and a (rather sad) 60% never even get off pavement. Clearly the people here don't use 4x4's the way most buyers do.

 

[Buliwyf]

Reviews are a waste of time. I'm not about to take the advice of some fruitcake editor that knows absolutely nothing about using trucks. They didn't even use 4wd! I think I'll drive them myself and make up my own mind, thankyou. These magazine editors are the kind of people that give or take points for an MP3 player or steps. Complete Momos.

If I wanted a little truck. I'd pick the Ford F150 (with a 6.2L and 4.30 gear) then the Nissan. Or maybe a Raptor. The fact that the GM didn't come in dead last is all the info I need to discredit that review.

Don't really care about Eco fuel economy when towing. That ain't the engine you pick for towing anyways.

 

[Kaisen]

The fact that the GM didn't come in dead last is all the info I need to discredit that review.

What do you know about the new 2014 GM trucks? Have you ever seen one in real life? Sat in one? Drove one?

If not, that's all the info I need to discredit you