While researching a 2019 half-ton pickup truck for purchase, which transmission has a more robust design: Ram’s new 8-speed or Ford’s and GM’s joint design of the 10-speed automatic? This is a very interesting question that comes to us from Jason V.
I am looking to purchase a 2019 half-ton pickup truck. Can you tell me which transmission has a more robust design between the Ram 8-speed and the Ford/GM 10-speed? -Jason V.
We cannot answer this question now with authority because there is not enough reliability data out there for all versions of these transmission.
We can say that Ram has upgraded their 8-speed automatic for the 2019 Ram 1500. The truck will launch with the 5.7L HEMI V8 and the higher-rated 8-speed that backs it up. Ram updated some hardware and software to make the transmission handle higher loads and operate more smoothly in a greater variety of conditions (including the eTorque mild hybrid mode).
TFLtruck has not yet testing this transmission.
Ford and GM collaborated on the design of the 10-speed automatic. Several versions of this transmission are now in several vehicles: Ford F150, Ford Raptor, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro ZL1, GMC Yukon Denali, and others.
TFLtruck has tested several versions of this transmission, and the 10-speed has always performed well with very smooth shifts. We discovered that (in the Ford F-150) the 10-speed is not as aggressive with downhill grade braking as we would like.
If you have more details or reliability information, please add your comments below.
Here is our first drive of the Ford’s version of the 10-speed automatic transmission in the F150.