Here's the comparison test you've been waiting for - the 2008 PickupTrucks.com Half-Ton Shootout. 6 trucks, 6 choices. Which one will be judged the Best Overall Half-Ton? Find out, starting HERE!
We at PickupTrucks.com take truck-testing very seriously because most people, when they’re looking to buy, can’t try out a truck in exactly the way they intend to use it. That’s where we come in. In our shootouts, we select the trucks and truck segment with the most change, then test those trucks head-to-head in exercises that reflect how they’ll be used. This year, we focused on the latest batch of half-ton trucks.
Introduction,
The half-ton field is a big one: There are two new entries from Ford and Dodge that could make or break those companies; Toyota’s recently revised Tundra; GM’s updated trucks with new six-speed transmissions and the most powerful V-8s in the segment; and Nissan’s five-year-old Titan – the oldest truck in the group.
By Mike Levine and Kent Sundling
Introduction
We take truck-testing very seriously at PickupTrucks.com because most people, when they’re looking to buy, can’t try out a truck in exactly the way they intend to use it.
Good luck finding a dealer who will let you drive a new pickup with a trailer behind it, let you take it off-road, or provide similarly configured competitive trucks to drive back-to-back with it. An empty 10-minute surface-street and mile-long highway drive are the best you’re likely to do before making this expensive purchase.
That’s where we come in. In our shootouts, we select the trucks and truck segment with the most change, then test those trucks head-to-head in exercises that reflect how they’ll be used.
Last year we examined the latest crop of heavy-duty diesel pickups, all with new engines and emissions systems built to meet tough new federal emissions standards. We tested those plus Ford’s new Super Duty pickups.
This year, we focused on the latest batch of half-ton trucks. The field is a big one: there are two new entries from Ford and Dodge that could make or break those companies; Toyota’s recently revised Tundra; GM’s updated trucks with new six-speed transmissions and the most powerful V-8s in the segment; and Nissan’s five-year-old Titan — the oldest truck in the group.
How We Test,
Here’s how we tested this year’s trucks: We asked each manufacturer to supply us with 2009-model-year four-wheel-drive crew cab trucks equipped with the largest V-8 engine available. Which trim level to send was their decision, but as the specs for each truck came in (including trim and rear axle ratio), we shared the configurations we were receiving with the other manufacturers so each knew what the others were bringing to the test.
Toyota sent a 2008 Tundra, making it the only 2008 truck in the group. We debated whether or not to keep it in the Shootout, given all the other trucks were 2009s, but because 2009 production hadn’t started at the time of our test — and there are no significant powertrain or mechanical changes for the 2009 Tundra — we kept it in the comparison.
We know how important rear axle ratio is to full-size-truck performance testing, but it wasn’t possible to get trucks equipped with identical final drive ratios. Different manufacturers don’t build the same numerical ring and pinion gears in the crew cab, four-wheel-drive, V-8 configurations we tested. The Toyota Tundra only comes with a 4.30, the Dodge Ram 1500 only gets a 3.92 or 3.55 rear axle, the Titan only comes with a 3.36, and GM trucks only come with a 3.42 rear axle. The F-150 had a 3.73 rear axle, the numerically highest F-150 gearset offered.
We tested the trucks in three locations: Quarter-mile level-ground testing happened at Milan Dragway in Michigan; our fuel economy tests and general driving impressions came on public roads and highways; and we used GM’s Milford Proving Grounds for hard-core trailer-towing grade tests, as well as offroad, auto-cross, traction control and brake tests.
Using proving grounds is important because they provide a location where we can repeat each test under identical, controlled conditions. Special thanks to GM for the use of its proving grounds — as well as three identically loaded 6,500-pound trailers for testing — and to all the OEMs for coming through with the trucks you’ll read about here.
Some may question why we didn’t set each trailer up to a uniform proportion of each truck’s towing capacity. That’s because whether you’re towing horses, a boat or a camper, when you buy your next truck it’s got to tow the same load your old truck pulled.
Testing was split up into two components: empirical data collection (How fast did each truck go?) and subjective analysis (How did the trucks feel?).
To eliminate the possibility of bias or error in our empirical data collection, we again hired Ricardo Inc. to instrument each of the vehicles and ensure each test was standardized and executed identically. Ricardo is a globally recognized automotive engineering and consulting company. In the pictures accompanying this Shootout, you’ll see the vehicles running side-by-side in drag contests for subjective comparison, but Ricardo collected data one truck at a time. Ricardo was responsible for measuring the results of the trailer-towing grade test, auto-cross, 60 to zero braking distance and wheel-travel measurement. Each test was repeated by the same driver at least three times.
To share our experience testing these trucks, we invited other media to participate with us. MrTruck.com, Truck Trend, MotorWeek Television, the Detroit News and Jalopnik all had journalists on hand. Kent Sundling, from MrTruck.com, co-wrote this story with PickupTrucks.com.
We don’t call it the 2008 PickupTrucks.com Half-Ton Shootout for nothing. At the end of this, only one truck will be left standing as the Best Overall Half-Ton.
Next: Meet The Trucks
2009 Chevrolet Silverado
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2009 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab Z71 4x4
The Chevrolet Silverado and its twin, the GMC Sierra, debuted as all-new trucks just two years ago to rave reviews about their updated engineering, capability and refinement. One important change, however, was postponed at launch: The addition of a six-speed automatic transmission. The 2007 and 2008 Silverado could only be purchased with GM’s legacy four-speed automatic. As you’ll see in our testing, no mechanical change has been more important to these trucks than the introduction of a six-speed gearbox. It helps improve fuel economy by offering an extra overdrive gear, and it helps towing by adding an extra-low 1st gear to help get big loads moving fast.
Our Silverado tester came equipped with GM’s 6.2-liter V-8 and the newly available six-speed transmission. Before, the only GM half-ton with this powerful combo was the luxurious GMC Sierra Denali. The 6.2-liter V-8 is rated at 403 horsepower and 417 pounds-feet of torque, making it the most powerful powertrain in the trucks we tested. However, it also required premium, 93-octane unleaded gasoline to hit those numbers.
The Silverado offers two distinct interior treatments: traditional work-truck style ‘Pure Pickup’ or a luxury-inspired premium layout. Our truck came with the premium cabin, highlighted by rich amber wood accents and cream-colored leather seats. The instruments were laid out intuitively, but the buttons were a bit small. We also found the climate controls confusing. Both the driver and passenger can control the temperature in their seating zone, but the controls for fan speed and airflow are both placed next to the passenger temperature controls, leaving the driver to reach over to redirect airflow from the floor to the dash vents.
GM and Ford are the only manufacturers that offer integrated trailer brake controllers, which are used to link a truck’s antilock braking system with a trailer’s electric brakes for improved safety. The feature was quietly introduced on the 2008 Silverado half-ton after debuting in GM’s heavy-duty pickups. We think this option is extremely valuable in today’s half-ton pickups. What we didn’t like about the Silverado’s brake controller was its location. It’s situated on the lower left-hand side of the driver, which isn’t an intuitive location; most aftermarket brake controllers tend to be installed on the bottom right of the dash for easy access to manually increase gain when necessary for extra braking or to brake the trailer manually, independent of the truck’s brakes.
The Silverado’s ride quality was very good. On good, bad and very bad roads around Detroit, the truck always rode cleanly. It didn’t bounce or side-step unless cracks or potholes were very prominent. We attribute part of the Silverado’s rough-road dampening capabilities to its new-for-2009 standard hydraulic body mounts. They’re available on every model.
Power from the 6.2-liter V-8 was always more than needed on public roads, even with the truck’s fuel-efficient 3.42 final drive ratio. We did notice a difference in ride quality between the Chevy and GMC Sierra; the softer shocks on the Silverado created a more compliant ride. Steering-wheel input from road surfaces was minimal and turning effort was low.
Ride quality improved with the 6,500-pound trailer behind the truck, but the margin of improvement wasn’t as noticeable as the high level of power the V-8 continued to provide. Towing acceleration was superb on public roads.
2009 Dodge Ram
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Cab Laramie 4x4
We really like the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup and the innovations it brings to the half-ton segment. Dodge clearly delineated the latest Ram 1500’s capabilities from those of its heavy-duty big brothers, keeping towing and payload ratings at the same levels as the truck it replaced rather than pushing into three-quarter-ton territory, and focusing on smart features like a coil spring rear suspension and lots of built-in storage.
The Ram we tested came with Dodge’s renewed 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, rated at 390 hp and 407 pounds-feet of torque. While new engine technology — like variable cam timing, more-efficient active cylinder shutoff and an active intake manifold — help improve the Hemi’s power, emissions and fuel economy, the Ram was still paired with Chrysler’s legacy 545RFE five-speed transmission. The transmission ratios are identical to the old Ram’s gearbox.
The Laramie Ram’s near-luxury interior was well-executed, with materials that felt and looked good, and above-average ergonomics. Its interior layout, along with the Ford-150’s, was better than every other truck in the competition. Material quality was almost as good as the GM and Ford pickups, and it was ahead of the Nissan and Toyota trucks. The Ram’s bucket seats were also excellent. They were supportive and comfortable for long and short trips. The seats were also appreciated during towing, as the Ram was challenged by the weight we had on the truck and we didn’t have to worry about the distraction of an uncomfortable seat. Every truck should have a dash-mounted trip computer as easy to read as the Ram’s, but the separate 6.5-inch navigation and infotainment display in the center stack was too small for a vehicle this large. We liked the Ram’s gated shifter in the center console, but not as much as we liked the Titan’s.
Dodge doesn’t offer an integrated trailer brake controller option on the Ram, so we purchased and installed an aftermarket controller to ensure we had maximum control over our 6,500-pound trailer, whose weight was 90 percent of the maximum towing rating for our truck’s configuration.
In a case of function following form, the Ram’s dual exhaust pipes that are attractively scalloped into each side of the rear bumper were annoyingly warm during our frequent trailer swaps. In two-person teams of a driver (to back the truck up) and a trailer attacher, the person who hooked the trailer up worked in hot air and had to breathe fumes unless we let the truck sit for a few minutes. Hot exhaust aside, the Ram’s electrical trailer connections were well-placed in the top of the rear bumper, separated by the license plate holder and integrated step from road grime and mud, in a similar manner as the GM trucks’ bumpers.
The Ram and F-150 were the only trucks with trailer-sway control for additional towing safety, though the Ram’s variable front-wheel ABS application for sway mitigation wasn’t as sophisticated as the F-150’s strategy, which uses the truck’s ABS system and trailer brakes to halt dangerous trailer yaw.
The Ram had the best unloaded driving feel and stability of all the trucks we tested. That wasn’t surprising considering that its multi-link coil spring setup seemed to easily control even the harshest vertical and lateral motion from rough road input. Some who drove the Ram reported slight porpoising on the freeway without the trailer, but the truck always continued in a straight line. Empty acceleration was very good. The steering feel was remarkably similar to the GM pickups, but road input felt more numb.
The Ram still handled well when loaded with a trailer, but we all agreed it felt like its handling was right at the edge of its maximum capability. We wouldn’t have felt comfortable towing more with this configuration — especially if we hadn’t installed the aftermarket trailer brake controller to help stop the burdened Ram.
2009 Ford F-150
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2009 Ford F-150 Super Crew Lariat 4x4
Looking at the specs, the new Ford F-150 is a bit of a puzzle. Ford rates the F-150 to tow the most in the segment (up to 11,300 pounds, depending on configuration), but its 5.4-liter V-8 has the smallest displacement and lowest power rating of the trucks we tested. The flex-fuel 5.4-liter is rated at 320 hp and 390 pounds-feet of torque when running on E85, but we used regular unleaded fuel for our tests, which meant the truck ran at 310 hp and 365 pounds-feet of torque.
Ford’s all-new six-speed automatic transmission helped compensate for the V-8 engine’s shortcomings. We found it to be the smoothest, smartest shifter of the trucks we tested.
The F-150 Lariat’s interior split the difference between a work truck and a luxury cruiser. Textures and materials were very well-executed, and we liked the silver-brushed-looking plastic that broke up the tan surfaces and framed the driver, center stack and passenger zones. We did not, however, like the faux-wood appliqué around the instrument panel’s 55 climate, radio and information buttons and knobs. That was a lot of buttons, used to control a lot of features, like heated and cooled seats, entertainment, and to set up Ford’s hands-free entertainment and communications system, Sync, which was available even though the F-150 lacked a navigation system.
An interior feature we appreciated was the placement of the F-150’s optional integrated trailer brake controller. Ford placed it in the optimal position for frequent towers – on the driver’s lower right side, beneath the transfer case control.
It’s ironic Ford could do so well at setting up the trailer brake controller’s ergonomics, yet make it annoying to hook up a trailer. The F-150’s factory receiver was positioned the farthest back under the rear bumper of the trucks we tested, making it an “on-one-knee” operation to connect the trailer’s safety chains and wiring harness to the pickup. Adding to the annoyance factor were electrical hookups mounted 90 degrees off the trailer plug’s natural down position.
The F-150 was well-mannered on the road without a trailer, though it felt slightly more jittery than the Silverado and Sierra, and it was a long way from the Ram. We noticed more skittishness on interstates, but the F-150’s well-dampened, steady steering kept driver confidence high.
The F-150’s ride quality found its zone with a trailer attached. It was well-planted at all times. Again, the heavier steering — especially compared to the GM twins and Dodge Ram — contributed to a high sense of control over and confidence about the 6,500 pounds pulling behind us.
2009 GMC Sierra
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2009 GMC Sierra Crew Cab SLT Z71 All-Terrain 4x4
The Sierra was a virtual twin to the Silverado we tested, but outfitted with GMC’s All-Terrain package, which upgraded the high-end SLT trim and Z71 base offroad hardware with a handsome two-tone black and gray leather interior, Rancho shocks, 18-inch chrome-clad aluminum wheels and body-colored body-side moldings. It was also optioned with a navigation system. We felt GM’s navigation system was better than the Ram’s or Tundra’s. The Silverado, F-150 and Titan didn’t have navigation systems.
We thought the Sierra’s wheels and tasteful chrome accents made it among the most attractive trucks in the group, though the big rectangular All-Terrain badging was a bit much.
Unloaded and loaded ride and handling were similar to the Silverado’s, though noticeably stiffer in back thanks to the more aggressive offroad shocks. Trailer-towing ride and feel was virtually indistinguishable from the Chevy’s. Interestingly, our GMC tester didn’t come with more aggressive offroad tires, but rather had tires that were identical to the Silverado’s.
2009 Nissan Titan
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2009 Nissan Titan Crew Cab PRO-4X 4x4
The Nissan Titan had the most aggressive four-wheel-drive setup of the trucks we tested. The PRO-4X package was introduced last year, slotted between the mid-tier SE and the high-level LE. It adds body-colored front and rear bumpers, white-faced gauges and PRO-4X themed seats to the Titan’s optional offroad package, which includes GKN’s electronic-locking rear differential (that’s the same company that supplies an e-locker to Ford for the 2009 F-150 FX4 and the 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor), Rancho shocks, 18-inch tires and BFGoodrich Rugged Trail tires, plus two extra skid plates.
The Titan has just one engine option: a 5.6-liter Endurance V-8 rated at 317 hp and 385 pounds-feet of torque. It’s paired with a five-speed automatic transmission.
Although Nissan updated the Titan’s interior layout and materials for the 2008 model year, our Titan was challenged with fit-and-finish issues around the glove box and somber black and gray colors across the dashboard. The white gauges and orange needles looked sporty, though. We really appreciated the Titan’s transfer case and gated shifter placement, which we felt allowed the driver to adjust its offroad switchgear the quickest of any of the trucks we drove. We also felt the gated shifter had the best layout. Powertrain feel in the Titan was excellent during acceleration, always providing lots of power and early torque both around town and on the freeway.
Nissan doesn’t offer an integrated trailer brake controller option for the Titan and, unfortunately for our hands, it was the hardest pickup to connect an aftermarket trailer brake controller to. It was plagued with very-sharp plastic near the wire pigtails that the controller plugged into.
Similar to the F-150, hooking up trailer safety chains was difficult. At least the trailer connector sockets were right-side up.
Unloaded, the Titan allowed high levels of road noise to make their way into the truck. Each bump the truck hit transmitted sounds right through the wheel wells. As anticipated due to its offroad-centric hardware setup, the ride was harsh when the truck was unloaded. This isn’t a truck we’d drive empty across the country.
What we did like was the feel of the Titan’s powertrain. Its five-speed automatic transmission seemed better matched to its engine than did the Ram’s similar setup.
Towing a trailer improved the Titan’s road manners considerably, but, similar to the Ram, we felt like we were towing close to the truck’s maximum capability.
2008 Toyota Tundra
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
2008 Toyota Tundra CrewMax SR5 4x4
The Toyota Tundra has had a rough go of it since its introduction in 2007. The powertrain is awesome, and the Tundra was the first full-size truck to give owners a six-speed automatic. Some of us felt it was nearly as good as the F-150 when towing a trailer. But the Tundra lacked in other areas, like interior friendliness and its ride quality offroad and when unloaded.
The Tundra’s 5.7-liter V-8 is rated at 380 hp and 401 pounds-feet of torque. Last year, that was stunning. This year, for our Shootout, it was enough to make it just the fourth most powerful truck, behind the Chevy, GMC and Dodge. Unlike the GM trucks, which consume premium unleaded gasoline, the Tundra only requires regular octane fuel to hit its full power ratings.
The Tundra’s interior was filled with hard plastic, which greatly cheapened the perceived value of the $41,000 pickup. Ergonomics were poor, too. Almost all the drivers said they had a hard time seeing all the dash gauges at once, as they’re seated at the bottom of tubes in the instrument panel. The climate-control buttons in the center stack seemed to be big just for the sake of being big. The cloth seats were middling in terms of comfort, not providing enough lumbar support. We also had to add an aftermarket trailer brake controller to the Tundra.
Though we all really liked the Tundra’s tremendous acceleration feel, it had the poorest unloaded ride quality of the group. We felt road vibrations through the steering wheel on the interstate, and when the truck hit potholes on surface streets it had a tendency to skip sideways. It was so rough we thought we might need to seat-belt our coffee in place. If we owned a Tundra, we’d keep a load in the bed to calm the truck down.
Loaded ride quality was the polar opposite of unloaded. The Tundra really seemed to come into its own in that situation. If its steering feel had been slightly more solid, with less corrective effort required from the driver, the Tundra would have tied or beaten the F-150 in driver towing confidence. We felt like we weren’t even close to its towing maximum, and the trailer didn’t sway at all.
Compared to the less powerful F-150, the Tundra was a screamer, especially in traffic situations that called for acceleration to change lanes or maneuver. The Tundra’s six-speed transmission, however, wasn’t as smooth or as smart as the F-150’s.
Compared to the F-150, which felt great towing, the Tundra felt like a rocket ship.
Quarter-mile Drag (Unloaded)
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
Quarter-Mile Test
We rented the asphalt at Milan Dragway just outside Detroit to find out how fast and powerful the latest half-ton trucks are. The track features an IHRA-sanctioned quarter-mile dragstrip. It's perfect for determining performance over a fixed distance, unloaded and loaded.
The tests we performed represent a reasonable scenario for drivers interested in learning how quickly they can accelerate up to 60 mph or more. These tests determine how well a pickup can join the flow of traffic on the freeway without holding up drivers behind them or causing an unsafe situation in a slow-moving vehicle towing a trailer.
All the tests were conducted in two-wheel drive at wide-open throttle, with traction and stability control both turned on. Tow-haul mode was engaged when towing and disabled when not towing. A minimum of three runs were carried out in each configuration tested. The average and fastest runs are presented in the results.
In the pictures that accompany this story, you'll see the trucks racing each other. However, Ricardo Inc. only collected metrics and data from one truck at a time, using a $50,000 Oxford Technical Solutions RT3102 inertial and GPS recorder. How the trucks performed head-to-head isn't necessarily indicative of the final results you'll read about.
We’re not sure who was more anxious, our team of journalists, starting the first set of tests for our biggest comparison yet, or the manufacturers in attendance, seeing all the 2009-model-year half-tons together for the first time.
Quarter-Mile Unloaded Assessment
Last year, the Toyota Tundra was the powerhouse half-ton. Its six-speed transmission and 381-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8 made it extremely difficult to beat in zero to 60 acceleration, challenged only by the low-volume, all-wheel-drive GMC Sierra Denali. If there’s one thing Toyota got right with the Tundra, it’s the truck’s excellent powertrain.
This year, the Tundra’s power ratings were pushed to third place (ranked by automaker; fourth if we rate by brand) behind GM’s 403-hp, 6.2-liter V-8 and Chrysler’s 390-hp, 5.7-liter V-8. Would the six-speed Silverado and Sierra be able to lay down all that power to the rear wheels through the 3.42 ring and pinion to beat the 4.30-equipped Tundra? Could the nine extra horses in the Dodge and its five-speed transmission outperform the Toyota’s six-speed shifting finesse using brute force?
Unloaded, the Silverado was the fastest truck, beating the second-place Tundra by a scant .16 seconds and 1.5 mph. Two features gave the Chevy the edge: higher power ratings and shift points set to deliver peak torque at 4,300 rpm, which is 700 rpm higher than the Tundra. This proved critical in this test because all the trucks revved high into the 5,000 to 5,500 rpm range before upshifting and falling back to 4,400 to 4,700 rpm, which is near the sweet spot for the 6.2-liter V-8. One factor that reinforced our opinion of the Tundra’s unfriendly ride unloaded was a lot of noticeable vibration felt through the steering column and noticed in the interior plastic bits shaking as the Tundra raced down the track. The Tundra was the highest-mileage truck of the rigs we tested, with 8,000 miles on its odometer, versus approximately 1,000 miles for the rest of the test fleet, so perhaps it was showing a bit of wear and tear? The Silverado was very smooth the entire takeoff.
The Sierra took third place, a razor-thin .04 seconds behind the Tundra, though 1.7 mph faster. The Sierra had the extra power and strength at the end, but its stiff offroad suspension likely contributed to its slower start versus the Chevy and Toyota.
The Ram and Titan took fourth and fifth, respectively. They were the only trucks with five-speed transmissions. The Ram was quick off the line — part of its new coil-spring rear suspension’s inherent ability to transmit power to the ground — but the shift from first and second felt sluggish and played a role in making the Ram slower than the Titan through the first two-thirds of the quarter-mile. At the top of 2nd gear, entering 3rd, the Ram found its track legs and hammered home the final portion of the quarter-mile to beat the Titan by .16 seconds and 2.8 mph.
We noticed some unusual behavior in the last-place F-150. Launching the truck cleanly proved difficult because we repeatedly encountered rear axle hop at wide-open throttle. We encountered this condition in only two places: on the sticky surface at Milan and again on an asphalt hill climb at GM’s proving grounds. We were unable to re-create the condition on public roads and highways. We believe it was due to axle wrap, possibly because the 6-inch-longer leaf springs on the 2009 F-150 allowed too much rebound. Once it was racing down the track, though, the F-150’s updated 5.4-liter engine and all-new transmission worked very well together. It felt really good — until we started racing against someone else, at which point we quickly discovered how slow the truck was. Zero to 60 took almost 9 seconds, and it finished the quarter-mile a second later than the fifth-place Titan and 9 mph slower than the first-place Silverado.
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Best Overall Half-Ton
Posted by Mike Levine | November 14, 2008
Summary
We're immensely thankful to all the involved manufacturers for their support putting this event together; any aid aside, you’ll still be doing yourself a favor if you consider their products when shopping for your next truck or accessory. We'd also like to thank the team from Ricardo Inc. who instrumented all the trucks and certified our quarter-mile, hill climb, autocross and brake tests.
And, of course, we're very thankful to you, our readers. We do this for you.
Some are likely to be disappointed with the results because their favorite truck didn’t finish where they expected. Our test is only a snapshot of how these specific trucks performed in a week-long test under rigorously controlled conditions; it’s not a comparison of manufacturers’ half-ton lineups. The results could have been dramatically different had we included other engines or different cab configurations.
To determine the best overall half-ton in our comparison, we created a scoring system that measured the trucks subjectively and analytically. We believe our scoring system reflects how core truck buyers drive and evaluate their half-ton pickups during everyday use. Tests involved moderate to difficult towing situations, and considered towing confidence and safety to be the factors worth scoring, not cupholder size.
The maximum number of points a single truck could have scored was 99 — if it had performed better than every other truck in every test. Analytical scores (power, pulling and fuel economy) and subjective scores (driving impressions and features) were given nearly equal weight: empirical data accounted for 48 points (48.48 percent of a truck’s final score) and impressions were worth 51 points (51.52 percent).
The first component of our ratings was points assigned for driving impressions. Impressions were split into three categories: driving empty, pulling a trailer and performance over an offroad obstacle course. For each category, we gave the best-driving truck six points and the least-comfortable truck one point. The rest either drove similarly or had pluses or minuses that canceled out any advantages or disadvantages, so we scored them all with three points. The maximum a truck could have earned for this component was 18 points.
The second component awarded points based on the trucks’ power and pulling capabilities. Points were earned according to where the trucks finished in various time, distance and suspension-travel tests, with the top finisher getting six points and the bottom finisher getting one. The maximum a truck could have earned was 42 points.
The third component awarded points for key features that we think are important in determining how usable a truck is and how confident it makes its driver feel when working the truck hard. Unlike the other components, where points were assigned according to where the trucks ranked relative to each other, each truck could have potentially earned the maximum three points available for each feature. The only feature worth more was storage, which we assigned a maximum of six points because we thought the new RamBox deserved extra merit. For a truck to earn the maximum points available for each feature, the feature had to be both available and well-executed. We compiled a list of 10 important features, meaning a maximum of 33 points was available in this category. Each truck earned points according to availability and execution of each feature.
The fourth and final component ranked the trucks — assigning six points for the best-performing truck and one for the worst-performing — according to how well they did in our fuel economy test.
With 61 points (out of the maximum 99 possible), the Ford F-150 earned the title of 2008 PickupTrucks.com Shootout Best Overall Half-Ton Pickup. The only thing this truck is missing is a powerful V-8 — it finished last in two of the three pure-power towing tests — but the rest of its performance and packaging was excellent. It took top spots in both our timed ride-and-handling test and our fuel economy test, and it offers value and features the other trucks couldn’t compete with — like trailer-sway control, which can manage the trailer’s brakes, and excellent road manners when towing.
The Chevrolet Silverado ranked right behind the Ford, with 58 points. It so tremendously dominated the power and pulling tests that it only barely lost to the better-equipped, better-riding F-150. If the Silverado’s fuel economy performance had been even in the middle of the pack rather than last, it would have won this contest.
One interesting side note: The Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado were the only trucks we tested that didn’t have fancy navigation screens.
The Toyota Tundra, with 56 points, took third. If we catch any flak over this Shootout, it will be because the Tundra jumped ahead of the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 and the GMC Sierra. Like the Silverado, the Tundra had excellent power and performance numbers. While it couldn’t beat the Silverado in that category, it beat the Sierra by nine points and bested the Ram by 14 points in those tests. That was enough to push its score up to the third spot. It did very well in the brake and traction-control tests, even though its stability control performance in the autocross was poor. Its lack of towing-support features also lowered its score.
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