What’s the fastest half-ton truck you can buy today? We put together these trucks for our 2019 Gold Hitch towing and Gold Winch off-road competitions. These are not all the trucks that are participating this year, but these six are a great bunch of the newest trucks in the land. They also represent six different engines and also different philosophies to making power.
Note: if a truck or engine is missing, we are working hard to get those trucks so we can bring you more fun comparisons. You can be sure that we will have a 2019 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro soon.
This comparison includes the following:
- Ford F-150 XLT with the 5.0L V8 & 10-speed automatic. This is a 2WD truck with a 3.15 rear axle ratio that is here for towing efficiency testing. It’s rated at 395 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque.
- Ford F-150 Lariat with the 3.5L twin-turbo V6 & 10-speed automatic. This is a 4×4 truck with a 3.31 rear axle ratio. It’s here for the Ike Gauntlet™ – world’s toughest towing test. It’s rated at 375 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque.
- Ram 1500 Tradesman with a 3.6L V6 and eTorque mild hybrid & 8-speed automatic. It’s a 4×4 truck with a 3.55 rear axle. It’s also here for the towing efficiency testing. It’s rated at 305 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque.
- Ram 1500 Limited with a 5.7L V8 and eTorque mild hybrid & 8-speed automatic. It’s a 4×4 truck with a 3.92 rear axle for Ike Gauntlet™ testing. It’s rated at 395 hp and 410 lb-ft of torque.
- Nissan Titan PRO-4X with a 5.6L V8 and a 7-speed automatic. It’s a 4WD with a 2.93 rear axle ratio. It’s here for the Gold Winch off-road comparisons and a long-term test. This engine is rated at 390 hp and 394 lb-ft of torque.
- GMC Sierra 1500 SLT with a 6.2L V8 and a 10-speed automatic. It has a maximum towing package with a 3.42 rear axle. It’s here for the Ike Gauntlet™ – world’s toughest towing test comparison. It’s rated at 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque.
We decided to do a bracket race on a 1/8-mile track straight-away at IMI Motorsports. The track is just over 1-mile above sea level.
First, it is Ford vs Ford; then Ram vs Ram, and GMC vs Nissan. The red trucks quickly emerged as winners, they are: Ford F-150 3.5L EcoBoost V6, Ram 1500 5.7L HEMI V8, and the GMC Sierra 1500 6.2L V8.
In the end, the F-150 EcoBoost came out on top. Take a look at the video for all the details.
