We take three of the newest off-road half-ton truck currently available from Denver, Co to Moab, UT for an off-road 2019 Gold Winch comparison. The trucks are the new 2019 Chevy Silverado 1500 Trail Boss crew cab, updated 2019 Ford Raptor, and a new 2019 Ram 1500 Rebel. Which one of these off-road trucks is the most efficient on the highway after about 350 miles? Let’s find out!
Is fuel economy important for an off-road truck? Yes, we say fuel economy is important for any truck because it directly relates to how much money it costs to keep it running. Also, the better the economy – the fewer stops you will have to make on a longer road trip.
Here is what’s under the hood:
| Chevy Trail Boss | Ford Raptor | Ram Rebel | |
| Engine: | 5.3L V8: 355 hp / 383 lb-ft | 3.5L TT V6: 450 hp / 510 lb-ft | 5.7L V8 eT: 395 hp / 410 lb-ft |
| Transmission: | 8-sp auto | 10-sp auto | 8-sp auto |
| Fuel Tank: | 24 gal only | 36 gal (Raptor) | 23 gal (26 or 33 gal) |
| Rear Diff. Ratio: | 3.23 | 4.10 | 3.92 |
Here are the EPA ratings:
GM derates fuel economy on their half-ton off-road Chevy Silverado Trail Boss and GMC Sierra AT4 trucks down to 20 MPG on the highway due to higher ride height (two-inch lift) and knobby Goodyear Duratrac tires.
The Ford Raptor has a unique high-output 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine. It’s a unique truck, so it gets its own efficiency rating of 18 MPG on the highway.
The EPA currently lists the 2019 Ram Rebel at the same efficiency as any other Ram 1500 4×4. The highway rating is 22 MPG.
Here is the real-world fuel economy we found.
Golden, CO to Moab, UT
According to Google maps, we went 346 miles.
- Chevy Trailboss: 19.2 MPG
- Ford Raptor : 17.8 MPG
- Ram Rebel : 17.5 MPG
Note: the Ram Rebel is this comparison has a brand new engine with about 300 miles before this trip. The engine is still in its break-in period.
Moab, UT to Golden, CO
According to Google maps, we went 339 miles.
- Chevy Trailboss: 19.3 MPG
- Ford Raptor : 17.3 MPG
- Ram Rebel : 17.9 MPG
In this case, the Trail Boss was the most fuel efficient over the long haul. The Raptor and the Rebel were nearly the same on this trip, but the disappointing result was how far the new Rebel was off its EPA rating. The Rebel average about 17.7 MPG, but the EPA lists it at 22 MPG on the highway. We expected to see a result that was closer to the EPA.
We will put more miles on the Rebel, and retest it once it has several thousand miles on the clock. Please stay tuned as we will provide more real-world MPG results for this and other trucks.
Watch the video for every detail behind this trip.
