Filed under: Car Buying, Trucks/Pickups, Commercial Trucks, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC
Pickuptruck.com concludes 2007 Heavy Duty Shootout... who won?
In Parts 1 and 2 of his 2007 Heavy Duty Shootout, Mike Levine and his cohorts from Pickuptruck.com compared the acceleration of gas three-quarter ton and diesel one-ton pickups from Dodge, Chevy/GMC and Ford on flat surfaces, both unloaded and loaded with 10,500-lb trailers. For the third and final report, however, Levine introduced grades of 7% and 15% to the equation.
The results were surprising, and really had the most influence on Pickuptruck.com's final conclusions. We won't spoil the dramatic tail of each hill climb at Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds, but the 2007 Ford F-250 with its 6.8L Triton V10 was particularly impressive in the gasser category, and as anyone who has driven one would expect, the 2007 Chevy Silverado 3500 and its 6.6L Duramax diesel/6-speed transmission combo proved overly dominant among the oil burners. That said, the conclusions are only half the story, as Pickuptruck.com follows each truck through every gear as they climb their grades. These rigorous tests brought every truck's weakness, which were glaring in some cases, as well as their strengths.
Click the Read link below to read the conclusion to the 2007 Heavy Duty Shootout and learn once and for all what pickup these guys would park in their garage.
[Source: Pickuptruck.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
srivendel 3:36PM (7/10/2007)
SPOILER ALERT.
So Chevy basically wins it, huh? Good for GM. That sounds like one badass truck.
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itguy08 10:58AM (7/11/2007)
Hardly:
Gas - Ford Dominated
Diesel - GM
Super Heavy Duty - Ford
Looks like Ford dominated. And if they put a good engine behind the Powerstroke it would be all over for GM...
rob 3:43PM (7/10/2007)
who gives a #*@%?
and for anyone who responds to this with "well, my grandfather's uncle is a farmer in ____ and he's currently in the market", i say WHO CARES?
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Mr. Oak 3:57PM (7/10/2007)
"Sales of the GMT800 line were incredibly strong. The pickups and SUVs regularly sold 1.8 million vehicles annually, possibly netting GM as much as $9 billion in net profit."
Year Total Sales
2001 1,569,198
2002 1,672,804
2003 1,810,340
2004 1,704,239
2005 1,491,084
Mark 4:32PM (7/10/2007)
Rob by your logic why are you even looking at Autoblog. They cover tons of vehicles that will never make it into production. I don't own a big truck. I will probably never own a big truck. I see no reason for me to own a big truck. But that doesn't make it not relevant news. If you have nothing better to do than to comment on things you don't care about then you need to get a hobby. But what do I know. I'm wasting my time just responding to your message.
Barney 6:09PM (7/10/2007)
So why did you bother posting?
polar 3:44PM (7/10/2007)
For one of them yes, the other Ford takes though. As well as the F-450, but that was by itself. Sounds like there is just one loser, Dodge.
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dakota 3:54PM (7/10/2007)
Takes what? 3rd place 5 times?
Three-Quarter-Ton Gas Pickups 1/4-Mile Unloaded
#3 Ford.
Three-Quarter-Ton Gas Pickups 1/4-Mile Towing 10,500# Trailer
#3 Ford.
One-Ton Diesel Pickups 1/4-Mile Unloaded
#3 Ford.
One-Ton Diesel Pickups - 7% Grade W/10,500# Trailer
#3 Ford.
One-Ton Diesel Pickups - 15% Grade W/10,500# Trailer
#3 Ford.
Adam 3:58PM (7/10/2007)
Ford is a POS and has always been. Its an old man's truck. Thats all.
If you want Americana you gotta go Chevy. Bar none. Year after year.
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Mark 4:23PM (7/10/2007)
And by Americana do you mean America's heartland... Mexico? I'm not sure exactly how many Silverado's are actually 'hecho en Mexico' but I know it's not all produced in the States (unlike the Ford and hell even the Tundra). Alright enough of the Futurama joke but seriously, the F-Series is the best selling truck year after year so I'm not exactly sure what the Chevy is winning here. From the tests it seems that they're mostly the same. I didn't see anything that made any truck stand out particularly. The Chevy was better on flat land and the Ford was better up a hill. And the Dodge... did someone say huge cash rebate?
Amber 4:36PM (7/10/2007)
Mark:
Best selling doesn't mean anything. Best selling minivan is the caravan while everybody and their dog knows the best minivan is the Honda Odyssey.
Best selling is very over rated. many products have failed in the past even though they were superior in many ways. For whatever reason something becomes the bestseller but it doesn't mean its the best out there.
Nothing wrong with the Fseries at all, dont get me wrong. Im just correcting your notion that sales equal best.
Joe 5:08PM (7/10/2007)
Agree with Amber,
Q45 was an awesome car but didn't catch on with the public.
How about the 500, sales are way too low for what the gives you.
Merkur XR4Ti was a great car but people didn't buy the 50,000 a year Ford had to sell
Even the current Jaguar Flagship XJ, is it really as horrible as its sales?
Is the Fusion so terrible that about 12,000 are sold a month and its record is 15455 sold in April?
The list goes on.
wds007 4:15PM (7/10/2007)
I guess that is why Ford outsells Chevy every year for the last 20 some odd years in light duty and heavy duty trucks. The numbers speak for themselves! My brother builds the Silverado, and drives a Ford F-150, enough said!
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BLS 4:20PM (7/10/2007)
Ford outsells Chevy yes. However GM sell the same truck as a GMC. Add those two together and they beat Ford. Oh wait, if you add the Mark LT...
wds007 5:44PM (7/10/2007)
Maybe Ford should put an inline 5 in the Mark LT to make it the segment leader, Oh wait!
Elliott 4:21PM (7/10/2007)
I think this is pretty interesting. I think studies like this are extremely important for heavy duty truck shoppers since most customers won't be able to easily replicate this test on their own using dealership vehicles.
Of course there are a lot of other factors that buyers would consider that aren't covered in this study (long-term durability, styling, brand loyalty, etc.)
I'll give out the slightly less biased spoilers:
They recommend the Ford gasser and the GM diesel, but state that all 3 brands produce a great heavy duty truck.
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John P. 4:36PM (7/10/2007)
It's a good test, but I don't think it will sway owners much one way or another. They are all basically good, with customer loyalty being the deciding factor for most I suspect.
Could be wrong.
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c 5:00PM (7/10/2007)
I dont think the odyssey,is the best sliding door malfunctions,windshield washers fail,plus crap trannies all in 2 years crapola...We have better luck with our old beater caravan.
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c 5:21PM (7/10/2007)
I would pick the RAM (looks the best) why did they not use a ford with the diesel,must be a worse performer than the 10 cyl.
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Barney 6:17PM (7/10/2007)
You possibly had missed all three of the articles that you are responding to. Perhaps you should read them and pay closer attention to what trucks and engines were involved.