One Ton Challenge

PUTC's 2014 Ultimate HD Challenge

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It's been three years since our last heavy duty one-ton dualie pickup truck competition, and in that time it seems like the world has changed. Not only has the pickup segment shifted, becoming more efficient and proving to be a huge boon to the recovering auto industry, but the heavy-hauler competitors have significantly raised their games, loading both barrels in the ongoing truck wars.

We knew that if we were going to conduct a comparison like this again, we had to do it right. That's why we've made a few changes this time.

Test Parameters

As part of our 2014 Ultimate Heavy-Duty Challenge, which tests both three-quarter-ton gasoline engine crew-cab short-bed pickups and one-ton turbo-diesel crew-cab long-bed players, we asked the manufacturers to give us their biggest and strongest competitors. Although value was a scored category (for our judges to decide), we put no price ceiling on the one-ton entrants. However, we did require the trucks to be 4x4 one-ton diesels with 3.73:1 gears equipped with all the towing options. We were clear: These trucks were going to tow, and tow a lot of weight.

Based on reader feedback from previous Challenges, we broke this Ultimate HD Challenge into two separate sets of tests, each taking a full week to execute. The first focused on closed-course track and fuel economy data, and the second centered on real-world towing up some of the toughest grades in the country. In order to participate in this Challenge, each manufacturer had to agree to provide the exact same trucks for each portion of the test. So the six trucks we tested in Michigan during Week 1 would have to be shipped two weeks later to Las Vegas for the towing portion of the Challenge. All agreed. Week 1 consisted of testing at Milan Dragway, GM's Milford Proving Grounds and fuel-economy loops near Detroit. Week 2 had us hitting the road for towing tests at Davis Dam in Arizona and the Eisenhower Pass in Colorado.

GM decided to split its competitors and offered us a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD with a 6.0-liter V-8 for our three-quarter-ton test and a 2015 GMC Sierra 3500 HD with the 6.6-liter Duramax/Allison setup for our one-ton competition. Additionally, for our first week of testing, we had three identically constructed and weighted gooseneck engineering testing trailers, each weighing just a hair less than 16,000 pounds. Since most of our driving and many of our tests were done on public roads, we thought we'd try to keep the total weight of each truck and trailer at just less than 24,000 pounds, the legal limit in many states for noncommercial towing. In the end, the one-ton pickups weighed within 300 pounds of each other and each truck and trailer combination weighed within 200 pounds of each other.

Second Round of Tests

When we moved our testing from Michigan to Nevada to start our towing drive, we employed the expert trailer services of Load Trail, which set us up with three identically equipped 30-foot double-axle gooseneck trailers for our one-ton max-hauling runs. These Load Max trailers allowed us to carry our Three-Quarter-Ton HD Challenge counterparts along with a 2,400-pound water tank in each pickup bed as well as one of those tanks strapped down at the front of each Load Max trailer. All trailers totaled just a nose more than 20,000 pounds — more than enough for the types of extreme hot and high-altitude hill climbs we wanted to do.

Our route took us from Las Vegas to Bullhead City, Ariz., for a full day and night of testing on the infamous Davis Dam grade, from the start line next to the Colorado River to the summit several thousand feet up. From there we headed north and east, to Dillon, Colo., where we set up base camp for several days of testing on the western side of the Eisenhower Pass grade, which also rises several thousand feet to its summit, starting at an elevation of 8,800 feet and finishing above 11,000 feet. We ended our test in Denver.

The Players

As mentioned earlier, quite a bit has changed in this heavy-hauling segment since we last tested them. Each pickup included either significant chassis and/or powertrain improvements for this model year. Both the Ford and GMC entries were 2015 models, while the Ram HD was a 2014. Here is a quick look at each contender.



Ford has made several cosmetic and interior design upgrades to the Super Duty during the last few years, but for this year the biggest news (announced at the 2013 State Fair of Texas) was the introduction of a new-and-improved 6.7-liter Power Stroke engine with vastly improved breathing, cooling and turbocharging, capable of giving the engine class-leading power, with ratings of 440 horsepower and 860 pounds-feet of torque.

Ford engineers also took the opportunity to make some structural improvements, beefing up the frame and front suspension on certain models. As a consequence, the maximum conventional and fifth-wheel towing numbers are hugely improved, by several thousand pounds for both the 350/450. Additionally, this is the first time Ford has included a separate, dedicated exhaust brake button for its Power Stroke (something we've noted that it desperately needed), opting to upgrade the integrated setup it had before.

Our Blue Jeans Metallic F-350 came in Lariat trim with the new King Ranch interior option package, and with the exception of the Power Stroke engine option ($8,715) there were relatively few other options. We did get the fifth-wheel hitch, dual alternators and some extra skid plates, but the truck came pretty well equipped at this trim level. All totaled, our F-350 cost $67,885 (including destination).



Our GMC entry benefited from several big changes for 2015, although powertrain improvements are not among them. The Duramax is basically untouched for this midmodel refresh, even though its competitors make significantly more power and offer larger gross vehicle weight and gross combined weight ratings and payload numbers. Still, the 2015 GM pickups get some good exterior styling improvements, giving both the three-quarter-ton Chevrolet and one-ton GMC models a bigger, bolder look.

The biggest news is how much improvement has been made inside the truck, essentially changing the size of all the cab doors and where the front and backseats are positioned. The result is more room for driver and passengers, and much better visibility. Additionally, the entire dash, center console and instrument panel have been reorganized to look more in line with the lighter-duty Sierra 1500. Add to that a new multimedia and navigation setup, and the new Sierra 3500 HD is headed in the right direction.

Even though there was no price limit for this test, GMC sent us a sensible Iridium Metallic SLT trim that was the least expensive truck by more than $2,000. With the turbo-diesel option of the Duramax and heavy-duty Allison 1000 transmission ($7,195 and $1,200, respectively), our test truck included all of GMC's segment-exclusive safety technology (lane departure, Safety Alert Seat, forward collision alert, and front and rear park assist), heated and cooled seats, Bose audio system and more. All totaled, our GMC Sierra 3500 tipped the scales at $65,520 (including destination).



Since our last big HD truck shootout, the Ram HDs have gone through a couple of significant midcycle improvements. In 2013 both the front and rear suspensions were redesigned, and the frames were built with high-strength steel. The results were class-leading maximum GCWR in excess of 37,000 pounds and fifth-wheel towing of 30,000 pounds. But Ram didn't stop there. The next year it had Cummins make a few more improvements to its inline-six B-motor, which gave Ram three new power ratings, the top of which gave the truckmaker (at least for a short time) the most torque in its class. As it sits now, the 6.7-liter Cummins is rated at 385 hp and 850 pounds-feet of torque.

Among the more interesting changes was the addition of a smart exhaust, which offered three separate settings: Off, Full and Auto. In each setting, with the exhaust brake integrated into the diesel turbocharger, it uses a software algorithm to make the interaction of engine backpressure more or less aggressive, depending on several sensors. Essentially, what the Ram HD Cummins has that no one else in the segment has is more choices for different types of towing and hauling.

Our Deep Cherry Red Crystal Pearl Ram 3500 came to us with the Laramie Limited trim package, which gave us just about everything Ram has to offer, including leather-trimmed bucket seats, the full Uconnect navigation/satellite radio system, and heated-and-cooled 10-way power driver seat and six-way power passenger seat. We did get the Customer Preferred Package 28M ($2,295), which gave us heated rear seats, 20-inch wheels and tires, extra Ram 3500 badging and more. The biggest additions to our test truck pricing were the Cummins engine ($7,995), the Aisin transmission ($2,895) and our dual rear wheels ($1,200). Totaled, our test Ram 3500 rang up the highest at $69,870 (including destination).



MILAN DRAGWAY

FUEL ECONOMY

MILFORD HILL CLIMB

MILFORD BRAKING

DAVIS DAM ACCELERATION

DAVIS DAM EXHAUST BRAKE TEST

EISENHOWER PASS HILL CLIMB

EISENHOWER PASS EXHAUST BRAKING



Ultimate One-Ton Challenge

AND THE WINNER IS...

PICKUPTRUCKS.com

Who the hell can afford these trucks , and what kind of nutlog pulls #30,000 behind a pickup ?

The lowest priced truck was the $65,520 GMC. Many can afford it. Just is it worth it? No, not for a depreciating asset.

I fault the value of the USD more so than the automotive manufacturers, although they do have a hand in it.

Average vehicle transaction price is now $32,500 across the industry. GM's been carrying $36k to $37k transaction prices in the last couple months.

Price trends are are pacing a rate of increase that's incredible, while incomes haven't been pacing the same rate of increase.

Keep in mind the prices are MSRP. Most manufacturers are still putting plenty of incentives on the hoods of new vehicles, while a select few others are JACKING up the cost of hard to get packages. It pays to shop around.

Our son ordered a 2015 GMC 3500 crew cab dually 4x4 D/A with a MSRP of $50K.
Plenty of options for me.

Hilux wrote:

Who the hell can afford these trucks?

Obviously more people than one would think...

https://pickupownersgroup.forumotion.com/t1172-luxury-vehicles

ggbaird wrote:

Keep in mind the prices are MSRP. Most manufacturers are still putting plenty of incentives on the hoods of new vehicles, while a select few others are JACKING up the cost of hard to get packages. It pays to shop around.

They've been putting big cash on the hood for years, spanning decades now.  No scientific study, but seems reasonable the amount of MSRP increase over the last 10 years has increased total incentive percentage.  Result, customers are still paying more. Some of it is expected. Content, tech, etc. A good portion of the factor is the value of the dollar. People have short memories of economic swings. Look at the rate of savings, savings in total, the number of people who have retirement accounts. Trends still indicate more people are over extending themselves at a greater pace than ever.

As years progress we see what were affordable vehicles continuously move up the price scale. Typically smaller, cheaper vehicles introduced at the bottom to fill the void and serve the market that sees what were mainstream vehicles move up the cost band. and become unobtainable for the masses.

Now if anyone can find me a Sierra SLE or SLT CC D/A 8 ft bed loaded for $34,400, I'm game. This was a 2001 price. In 2014 I'd be lucky to get out the door for under $50k for the same equipped truck.

Are these tax incentive buys or people like me who have to buy what I can afford .

Couple of examples from my area...

One-Ton used to denote payload.

Now it refers to the amount of cash needed to buy one.

Those are the marketing teasers. Every market has those. Every dealer has those. Five examples out of the 200 they have on the lot. The average transaction price tells the story, just as the original article metrics validated from the other thread.

For the vast majority of the public, all the stars in the galaxy must align to qualify for every single one of the incentive offers to total those amounts.

Meaning you couldn't use a 1500 Dodge diesel to carry the cash to the dealer for the new 2500HD or 3500 Cummins, as it would be over GVWR.      Class 8 truck needed to buy a new vehicle these days.

Hilux wrote:

Are these tax incentive buys or people like me who have to buy what I can afford .

No doubt some of them are, being able to amortize and write off the cost as a business expense to help lessen tax burden. But still, taking $70k out of the business to buy a depreciating asset all for a tax benefit. I think some can use it as an excuse, more so than it's a benefit.

I guess it's one thing if you need wheels to due business, taking advantage of whatever tax law is in place. Some abuse it likely at the expense of the business because they can.

joemac wrote:

Those are the marketing teasers. Every market has those. Every dealer has those.

Smoke and mirrors they may be, but they get people in the door and sales are generated from them.

And some customers are using longer term auto loans and/or subprime loans. What could possibly go wrong?