It’s that time of the year again! It’s time to grown the 2020 Gold Hitch – best towing trucks in the land, and 2020 Gold Winch – best off-road trucks. This year, we have four categories and four awards to give away. These awards are a culmination of 12 months of rigorous real-world testing. You can watch us publish all of the test videos on our TFLtruck and TFLoffroad channels.
All of the official results are listed here, and the complete video with the deliberations is at the end of this article.
The 2020 Award categories are:
- Best mid-size off-road truck of the year
- Best half-ton diesel truck of the year
- Best heavy duty off-road truck of the year
- Best heavy duty diesel truck of the year
2020 Best Off-Road Mid-size Truck
The best mid-size off-road truck award contestants are:
- 2020 Chevy Colorado ZR2/Bison
- 2020 Ford Ranger FX4
- 2020 Honda Ridgeline AWD
- 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
- 2020 Nissan Frontier Pro-4x
- 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro
Here is how you voted. We put a poll on the TFLtruck Youtube channel, and nearly 60,000 of you have responded over a period of two days.
TFLtruck team considered all of the test results and voted the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon as the 2020 Gold Winch award winner and the Best Mid-size Off-Road truck of the year.
The competition was very tough. TFLtruck scored each truck on our Off-road Road Index (ORI), we took on hard trails in Colorado and Ontario, Canada. In the end, the Gladiator Rubicon stood above the rest based on its capability and the fun aspect of top-down doors-off adventure driving. The final decision was unanimous.
2020 Best Half-ton Diesel Truck
The best half-ton towing truck award contestants are:
- 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 3.0L Duramax
- 2020 Ford F-150 3.0L Power Stroke
- 2020 Ram 1500 3.0L EcoDiesel
Here is how you voted.
TFLtruck team has voted to the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Diesel as the 2020 Gold Hitch award winner and the Best Half-Ton Diesel truck of the year.
Renewed competition in the full-size 1500 Diesel truck segment made the Gold Hitch testing fun and interesting. TFLtruck put all of the competitors on the Ike Gauntlet – world’s toughest towing test. All trucks were tested on our highway towing MPG loop. We tested 0-60 MPH acceleration of all of the trucks, including the new 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 Diesel. One thing became clear very quickly, the new 3.0-liter Duramax I6-powered trucks were quickest up the mountain with a heavy trailer. The Chevy Silverado 1500 was the most fuel efficient truck on our flat highway loop with the trailer or unladen. It also was the quickest half-ton diesel truck we tested this year. The final vote was unanimous.
2020 Best Heavy Duty Off-Road Truck
The best heavy duty off-road truck award contestants are:
- 2020 Ford F-250 Tremor
- 2020 GMC Sierra HD AT4
- 2020 Ram Power Wagon
Here is how you voted.
TFLtruck team has voted the 2020 Ram Power Wagon as the 2020 Gold Winch award winner and the Best Heavy Duty Off-Road truck of the year.
There is more competition than ever in the heavy duty off-road truck
segment. The team was split in half between the Ford Tremor and Ram Power Wagon. The Ram won with a tie-breaker due to its laser focus on off-road capability and equipment.
2020 Gold Hitch Heavy Duty Truck
The best heavy duty diesel truck award contestants are:
- 2020 Ford F-350 Power Stroke V8
- 2020 GMC Sierra 3500 Duramax V8
- 2020 Ram 3500 Cummins I6
Here is how you voted.
TFLtruck team has voted the 2020 Ford Super Duty Diesel (F-350 Dually) as the 2020 Gold Hitch award winner and the Best Heavy Duty Towing Truck of the year.
2020 competition was tougher than ever. TFLtruck tested three trucks with the heaviest trailer to date. We towed a 30,000 lbs trailer up and down the Ike Gauntlet – world’s toughest towing test. All three trucks were also tested on our highway towing MPG loop and a 0-60 MPH acceleration test. The new 2020 Ford F-350 Power Stroke diesel V8 was the quickest up the mountain grade with the trailer by a significant margin of over 1 minute. The F-350 was the most fuel efficient with the trailer on the flat highway, and it was the quickest 0-60 MPH dually truck we tested this year. It takes the award by an unanimous vote.
Check out the TFLtruck Youtube channel for the complete deliberations video where five of us vote for the best trucks in each of the four categories.
