Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/536721
pro pickup | by Bruce W. Smith EquipmentWorld.com | July 2015 81 SHOOTOUT HALF-TON Five light-duty pickups go hood to hood H alf-ton pickups are a cornerstone for many fl eets across the coun- try. Last year, among the fi ve top selling brands, more than 1.4 million half- tons were sold, including 450,000 Ford F-150s. Those sales numbers are even higher this year. So how do the new half-tons stack up against each other? We were invited to partner with Cars. Com/Pickuptrucks.Com's test staff on an old-fashioned shootout, comparing similarly-equipped crew- cab 4x4s using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis to fi nd the answer. The number-crunching involved track testing with data gathered via Racelogic data loggers, highway fuel economy and acceleration testing on the 6-percent grade of highway climbing out of Davis Dam in Ari- zona and votes cast by fi ve automo- tive writers, including myself. Scoring was simple: The win- ner of each of the 11 test catego- ries received 100 points, with the remaining competitors receiving their calculated percentage. Those empirical categories includ- ed: acceleration (loaded/unloaded); braking (loaded/unloaded): fuel economy (empty/towing); payload capacity; towing capacity and other vehicle capability comparisons. The remainder of the point totals (about 35 percent) consisted of fi ve pickup experts scoring the trucks in six different areas related to ride, handling, ergonomics and other driving factors. My votes were included with those from freelance automo- tive journalist David Boldt, Cars. com Road Test Editor Joe Bruzek, MrTruck.com's Kent Sundling and Mark Williams, editor, Pickup- Trucks.com. The total scores were tallied after fi ve days of evaluations that included each judge driving hun- dreds of miles in each truck (with and without Logan horse trailers loaded to 6,700 pounds in-tow), making multiple passes with each truck down the dragstrip and taking pages of notes. When the tire smoke cleared a winner appeared by the closest of margins: Chevrolet's 2015 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab 4x4 LTZ 6.2L. Fol- lowing closely in total points was GMC's 6.2L 1500 SLT and third- place Ford's 5.0L XLT F-150. Ram Trucks' 1500 Laramie Longhorn and Toyota's Tundra TRDPro, both running 5.7L V8s, fi nished fourth and fi fth, respectively. My own subjective evaluation placed the softer-riding and higher- tech 2015 F-150 and plusher Ram Laramie Longhorn ahead of the GMC Sierra. I felt the Sierra's heavy-duty tow- ing option made the truck ride far too harsh when it wasn't burdened with a payload in the bed or with a trailer on the hitch. And, from an interior perspective, it just didn't stack up against the Silverado, XLT or Longhorn. But that's why votes from multiple judges, along with hard track data, helps bring multiple vehicle comparisons to a general consensus. Here's a synopsis of how each of the 2015 1/2-ton pickups fared: