Ep. 306: Which Full-Size Truck Is BEST? Ford vs GM vs Toyota vs Ram!

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Welcome to an epic TFL Talking Trucks podcast.

This is more exciting than usual,

because in this podcast, we're actually

in person with all four half-ton trucks,

from Toyota, Ford, Ram, and GMC.

Exactly.

This is the best-selling segment,

half-ton full-size trucks.

We have all of them.

This is part of our 2026 TFL Trucks,

Truck of the Year competition.

So what we want to do in this podcast

is actually show you every truck.

This represents all of them, right?

And also, pick our favorite, right?

Just based on the utility and some of the features.

Which is going to be tough to do,

because these trucks are similar in some ways,

but also very different in how they're optioned.

So some of them are very premium.

Some of them are a little bit more basic.

And in today's podcast, especially

if you're watching it in video form,

we're going to walk through all the features on this.

We'll do our best to describe everything

for those who are listening.

But let's start off with the GMC Sierra.

And the way that we're going to do things

is we're going to walk around the exterior,

talk about utility.

Then we'll go into the interior,

talk a little bit about technology,

and we'll do that for each truck, starting with the Sierra.

And in the end, we'll try to pick our favorite.

But like you said, it's going to be difficult to do.

Yeah.

And also, we're doing a lot more testing with these trucks.

So part of TFL Truck's Truck of the Year

is iGonklet World Suffice Towing Test.

It has to be.

Also Denver 100 MPG Loop.

Field economy is important.

Heck yeah.

And also performance testing.

I call it, I'm using air quotes.

Performance testing, which is also a drag race.

Quarter mile, which is arguably less important

to a lot of people, but it is fun.

And this is coming very soon.

So starting next week, if you're listening to this kind

of in real time, when this episode launches,

in real time, in about, what, six or seven days from now,

you will see the iGonklet followed by the MPG Loop,

followed by drag racing.

And then we'll announce Truck of the Year.

And it's with these exact four trucks.

Exactly.

The first truck that we're looking at is a GMC Sierra,

the particular one that they sent us.

Because basically you did the heavy lifting

to talk to all the manufacturers

and get them to send us trucks.

Yes.

And they can only send us picking

from what they have and what they have available.

The GMC Sierra they sent us is top of the food chain

in their lineup.

Yeah, this is the Denali Ultimate.

So the Denali name is not new, right?

It's been around for over two decades.

Long time.

But the Ultimate was kind of a package a couple of years back.

But now it's kind of almost its own trim.

And it's really taking kind of their luxury pickup truck

game to the next level.

And what this truck is equipped with is a 6.2 liter V8.

But they have a wide range of engine options

for their GM trucks.

They do, including the 3-liter Duramax,

which is an awesome option.

Let's pop the hood really quick.

Yeah, pop it.

We'll do the same thing on every truck.

We'll go ahead and look under the hood now.

As most people who have been following the news know,

there are recalls out there on 6.2s.

And actually, every manufacturer too.

Yeah, actually, it's not the only engine

that we're talking about today that has a recall out for it.

But when they're functioning the way that they're supposed

to, this is kind of a powerhouse of an engine.

It's a little old school.

It's naturally aspirated.

But 420 horsepower, 460 pound-feet of torque.

It still feels great to this day.

And this GM CCR 1500 also kind of represents

this Chevy Silverado 1500.

I mean, they're very, very closely related, specifically

on their mechanicals.

But they're a little bit more separate than they ever

have been in terms of style and in terms of features

and also pricing.

We'll go over about pricing as well,

specific to each truck.

But dude, before this week of testing,

I was thinking this engine is a little bit old

because it's been around for five or six or more years

in its current iteration.

But after driving it for a couple days, it sounds great.

It feels good.

I mean, this power train is nice.

And it performs pretty well.

We don't want to spoil too much of the testing that we did.

But you might think that this maybe struggled the most

on MPG.

Fun fact, it actually didn't.

It did not.

This was not the worst of the trucks on fuel economy,

a little surprisingly.

Part of that might be because not only does this

have a 10-speed, most of these trucks have a 10-speed.

But the rear end ratio on this is a 323.

So this is the most fuel economy-minded axle ratio

of any of these trucks.

Exactly, precisely.

And obviously, as we move along from Ram and then

to Ford and Toyota, Tundra, we'll

talk about those specific differences.

But just really quickly, the engine lineup in the GM 1500.

So it all starts with a 2.7-liter turbo max,

is what they call it, which is a turbocharged four-cylinder.

And then it moves up also.

There is also a 5.3 V8 still with a 10-speed.

And there is, like you said, the 3-liter Duramax,

which is kind of their efficiency game.

And also, that engine, the 3-liter Duramax,

won the half-ton diesel battle because it's the only

diesel available now.

Exactly.

So that makes it a unique option.

And for the majority of the testing

that we did in this Truck of the Year competition,

I actually think that the 3-liter Duramax

would have done really well.

Not to say, again, that this 6.2 performed poorly.

But I think in a lot of our testing,

the 3-liter Duramax actually would have done better.

Yeah, it could have been the king of MPG, pretty much,

because we do it on the highway as a highway test.

And it also could have done really well on the towing

test.

It's not maybe the quickest truck of them all.

But it's very efficient and very good.

Yeah, and very torquey.

Yes.

So let's keep moving around and talk

about a little bit more of a style and also payload and towing.

Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say, my personal feeling,

I think this is the best-looking truck of the four.

Really?

From the outside.

OK.

I really like the look of it.

Yeah, what do you think about the chromed recovery

hooks, tow hooks?

Well, I like the fact that this GMCCR actually gives you

some recovery points on the front end,

because not all of these do.

Yes.

And this truck is an interesting combination

of some chrome, some bright work.

The grille, however, is blacked out.

It's pretty dark.

Yeah, it's dark, yes.

But there's a lot of contrast, which I like.

There's some chrome on the mirrors, around the windows,

on the side steps.

So they mixed it up a little bit.

Not everything is blacked out and not everything is chrome.

It gives it a modern look, because it's not all chrome.

You know what I would kind of an analogy I might use?

It's actually kind of like kind of a lean bodybuilder

wearing a tuxedo.

I like it.

Do you see that?

Yeah, I can see the muscle.

Maybe like if you put on a tuxedo right there.

Well, I appreciate that.

You know, a little bit muscular, but also very, very

quiet, well-dressed.

Yeah, this is definitely a well-dressed truck

through and through.

It looks really sharp.

The color of this particular truck is kind of a steely blue.

Yeah.

And it's a really nice color.

It's the only truck here that isn't gray or whiteish.

Yeah, so it stands out a little bit because of that.

It's not an in-your-face color at all.

And then this truck, being a Denali ultimate

and being a little more on the luxurious side,

has a 22-inch wheel, which is a little bigger

than maybe we would spec if we were picking out a truck.

But it makes sense for this trim.

Yeah, by the way, when I really asked manufacturers

to submit trucks for some of our testing,

I kind of asked kind of from middle of the road

sort of more technology and towing-minded trucks.

Yeah.

But of course, like you said, I mean,

there is limitations on what pickup trucks are available.

So if I was speccing out a truck like this Sierra,

I'll probably choose like a 20 or maybe even an 18-inch wheel.

Yeah.

You know, get more tire under it, actually.

I agree.

It makes sense having a bigger wheel on this trim

because it is that ultra-luxury spec.

This is definitely the highest end truck

and the most expensive of any of the four here,

which we'll talk about.

Yeah.

At the rear, we've got, of course, a multi-pro tailgate.

So that's nothing particularly new.

This one does have the kicker speaker system built into it.

Inside of it.

So this is basically fully loaded with every feature

and every option.

Yeah.

And if you were tailgating, I'm sure

it would be fun to have the speakers back here.

It does make me wonder about tailgates get beat up a lot.

Yeah.

I would imagine that this is a pretty expensive piece

to replace.

Yeah.

Once again, think about the tuxedo, OK?

I'm thinking about it.

Like you're going to a gala

and you want to tailgate with a little bit of music.

You take your truck to a lot of gallows, Andre?

No.

Not recently, anyway.

No.

And Andre, you've got your ladder.

Yes.

So how many podcasts do you know that actually use

props like ladders?

You know.

Not many.

Not that many, yeah.

So this ladder is here because we're filming something else

and we needed a high vantage point for that.

But I figured this would be an excellent kind

of a size comparison, right?

Sure.

Because this bed is a short bed.

I'm using air quotes again because there's a short bed

and then there's a longer bed option on all of these trucks.

But this is 5 foot 8 inch, which is actually a little bit more

than some other trucks.

So I'm going to see.

I want to see if this ladder fits in the other trucks

as well.

Because it basically just fits in this bed.

Something I love in the bed of the GMC

and this is true of some Chevy products as well

is all of the tie downs.

Not only several on the side, so there's

three in the front corner of each side of the bed,

three in the rear corner of each side of the bed.

But there's also two towards the center of the bed

right up against the bulkhead, which is all really nice.

Yeah.

I figured you would point this out

because you and Alex often carry motorcycles.

And this is great, especially these cutouts

in the front of the bed, right?

And those center tie downs, especially

because if you're putting two motorcycles in the bed

of a truck, a lot of the time you'll

have to run a strap through maybe the wheel or the suspension

of the other bike to get to the tie downs that

are all the way on the side.

Having those tie downs in the center

is really convenient for that specifically.

But the more tie downs, the better, right?

Why not?

Yeah, exactly.

And this bed, the interior of this bed

is lined not in steel like many other GM 1500s.

But because it's a little bit a fancier truck,

this is kind of a carbon composite bed, which actually,

you know what, I thought it might be slippery

because it's kind of cold right now,

but it's not slippery at all.

No, it's not a bad material for the most part.

One complaint or critique, maybe I

have heard from a couple of people,

is trying to put a tunnel cover or a topper on the truck.

Oh.

The bed rail is not.

Oh, can you show that with your fingers here?

Yeah, the bed rail is not typical.

You can't very easily get a clamp underneath it.

On here, I think some companies have figured out solutions

for still putting some of those accessories on here,

but this will maybe limit the amount that you can shop for.

Yeah.

So it's worth consideration.

Yeah, so absolutely, thank you for pointing it out

because I kind of forgot that element of this particular bed.

I wish they would correct it in the future sometimes.

Yeah, because it doesn't seem necessary for them

to have this angle on here that keeps you from easily putting

clamps on it.

Something else impressive about this truck,

though, is even though it is top end,

it's very luxurious, it's got all the features,

still got 1,500 pounds of payload.

Yeah, just under that, what, like, 1,490 something?

Yeah, so I was surprised when I saw that

because I thought after you load up the four-wheel drive

system and all the V8 engine and the leather,

we'll show you that in a second,

that the payload would suffer and go down to like 1,000 pounds,

but it didn't, which is pretty cool.

It's still pretty good.

We should talk about towing capacity just really quick.

Actually, can you help me with this ladder?

I want to move it to the RAM.

Yeah, most of the trucks that are here

sit right around 11,000 pounds of towing.

And obviously, it's going to depend on how you configure

each truck.

Yes, it has wheels this ladder.

Oh, fancy.

You showing off, Andre?

OK, we'll talk about the fitment.

Yes, later.

Give the RAM a little later.

But what's the towing figure on the GMC?

Well, it depends on the trim, right?

So that's, I think, why you and I still have jobs

is because you cannot assume that 11,000 or 13,000 pound

number applies to every trim level.

You just can't.

That's true.

So when you select the Denali Ultimate,

and I think it's actually limited by the tire,

so the tire profile and the wheel profile of this truck

is rated at about 9,000 or 9,200 pounds of towing.

Yeah, so of the four that we're talking about,

this is the lowest towing rating because, like I mentioned,

most of the other trucks are sitting right around 11.

Yeah, and that's mostly because of this trim, right?

Because GM is actually, if you selected the high towing

package with towing mirrors and a different axle ratio,

that would be about 13,000, right?

Yeah.

So you could select this truck in a different configuration.

Yeah, and that would make it significantly more towing

capable, at least as far as how they rate it.

Do you want to go ahead and jump in to the inside?

We should.

We should, because this is going to be quite nice.

It's arguably.

Welcome.

Arguably the highlight of this truck

is the way that this interior is laid out.

Because not every truck and even not every car company

gets luxury totally right.

Yeah.

This truck does.

Before I jump in this seat, it's worth checking out

the material, the textures, the piping, the stitching.

They've even got a little bit of a topographical map

built into the leather.

It's got a badge at the top of the seat that says ultimate.

It's two-tone, so it's not only

this beautiful baseball glove dark brown leather,

but on the backs of the seats, it's black,

so there's some contrast there as well.

These seats are really pretty.

So this is the only truck in the class that

does not have a full panoramic sunroof option.

And I think it's partially because this T1 generation

of the pickup truck for GM came out right before, what

was it, 2019 to 2020 time frame, which

was before the other trucks were redesigned, a lot of them.

So I don't know if that was fashionable back then,

but this has a regular sunroof.

And I would argue that's one of the things that makes it feel

maybe a little less luxurious, maybe not quite as modern.

Or yeah, exactly.

I do like your start-stop button though.

Which is huge.

It's huge.

It's got at least kind of a metallic appearance to it.

And we've still got physical switches for the climate

controls, which I like.

That shows that they didn't cheap out on that.

And same thing, your headlight switch on this truck

is actually a physical dial rather than being

built into the screen like every Colorado was.

Exactly.

So regular switches for four-wheel drive and drive

modes, and also headlamps.

So if you're used to that from before, this truck has it.

Yeah, and then the layout of the interior

is all pretty good for the most part.

We've got a relatively old-school console mounted

shifter, which we like.

The trailer brake controller is in kind of an interesting spot

though.

It's not hard to find, but it's ergonomically maybe

a little bit awkward because it's right in front

of the center console.

Yeah, but I think since you're resting your arm kind of here

anyways on the center console, I

could actually get used to this.

Because your hand is kind of resting in this area anyways.

Yeah, I don't think it's a huge problem or anything.

Exactly.

It's a little different.

So I want to make one comment about carplay and kind

of the connectivity technology.

So I've noticed I've driven all these trucks

recently this week.

And there is two places by my house

where the wireless connectivity with the carplay

drops out.

Interesting.

And they're very repeatable.

It drops out at the same places every single time.

And it happens in the Ford and the GM.

Ford worse than GM.

And I was thinking, am I losing my mind?

Like, what is going on?

Where is it dropping out?

And I found out that there is a fire station in both locations

where it drops out.

So I'm wondering if some of these systems

are reacting to some of the communication equipment

in the fire stations.

And that's why they drop out, which is kind of weird.

That is weird.

It's interesting that the tech is not infallible.

But this truck does something on the tech front

that none of the others do, which is supercruise that

works with a trailer hooked up.

And that is impressive.

Yeah.

So I would still, so you can kind of see the eye monitor

here on the center steering column right there.

And then there's a light on the steering wheel

which kind of communicates to the driver

when the system is engaged.

Yeah, you get a little green bar when it's active.

There's also like a blue bar when it's active,

but it wants you to take over.

And then there's also a red light that flashes or stays on

when it just says, you've got to take over now.

So there's all those elements.

I just drove here on I-25 this morning.

There is some construction there.

And these systems, even though this is one of the best,

I agree with you, is how it performs.

It still didn't do such a great job in the construction areas.

Once again, they're definitely not perfect.

But even if you're the kind of person

that is wary of technology like that,

it's worth, if you get the opportunity,

testing it out in a vehicle like this,

because like you said, supercruise especially

is very refined and very capable.

Enough so that even when we have a trailer linked up,

for the most part, I'm not worried

about engaging it with a trailer hooked up.

I would be fine with that.

If you're going through a construction zone,

I would say it's worth taking over.

Yeah, that's understandable.

But supercruise has existed for what,

five or six or seven years, right?

And they've improved it over time.

But so I'm expecting it to get better and better

every single year, but it seems like it's plateaued, right?

So these technologies currently, at least currently,

have plateaued and I want them to continue

to get better.

And I know they're working on it.

Yeah, but it plateaued at a relatively high level.

So it still doesn't feel like it's behind, yes.

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Why fight Portland traffic when unforgettable nights

are waiting in Salem?

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to enjoy standout music, comedy, and performance art

in a setting as stunning as the show.

For 100 years, the Elsinor has attracted audiences

from across the world and has reclaimed its rightful place

as the cultural and artistic center of Salem,

bringing outstanding live entertainment to the community,

creating lifelong memories.

And yours is next.

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I want to do one thing because I kind of want to sit

behind myself here.

Do you want to stay here?

I want to show the space.

And also talk about the power options,

a way to plug in, for example, to charge.

Yeah, for sure.

Our devices.

While Andre is moving, I'll mention to the screens

on this truck are high resolution.

They're nice.

They're pretty easy to navigate.

I think they've done a good job with the technology

on that front in this truck.

So in general, it's pretty good.

But they didn't integrate too much stuff into the screens.

Now, Andre, how's the back seat?

Rumi.

It's nice.

I'm sitting behind myself comfortably.

The seat bottoms, even in the front and the back,

are a little bit hard for my.

I think we have walkie-talkies in the center console.

Oh, no, I've got to turn that off.

The seat bottoms are a little bit hard,

especially for a truck.

Do you have a minority over there?

What is it?

It's in the $86,000 range, isn't it?

Yeah, it's $87,400.

So it's not any kind of truck.

Yes.

I agree.

The seats are a little stiff.

And that's something that we've

talked about with GM trucks for a long time.

The materials in this one are really good.

But it's not the most plush seat.

But even in the back seat, I'm noticing on your door

card, not only is the leather really good,

there's wood back there.

There's some fantastic textured wood on the dash.

That's got that topographical map design as well.

So materials are awesome.

But the seat comfort, I agree.

It could be a little bit more plush.

Now, finally, before we move on to the RAM lineup

of 1500s, power selections as far as charging.

So back here, we have USB Type-A and USB-C chargers,

ports, but no 120-volt outlets in the back.

Isn't there one in the console?

Yeah, so inside the console, you'll

find a traditional style plug like what

you would find in your home.

There's a USB-A and a USB-C. And then further forward,

there's another USB-A and another USB-C up by the shifter.

So there are a decent number of places you could plug in.

But let's see how it compares to some of the other trucks.

Because if I was back here and if I was

watching a movie on my iPad or my laptop,

I don't want to bother you up there to plug myself in.

I would want to plug something back here.

Yeah, which is fair.

So all right, let's jump into or actually go outside

to the RAM.

Let's give it a look.

Now, first things first, from the exterior of this RAM,

is not the most in-your-face spec.

It's gray.

It's got kind of a cool-looking polished wheel.

But it's got body color bumper and grille and a 20-inch wheel.

And this is a big horn.

So this is a stark trim level difference.

Yeah.

And of course, there's going to be a price,

a big price difference.

So if we were doing a luxury truck comparison,

we actually, Nathan and I did this about a year

and a half ago in Michigan.

This would probably be like a limited or a limited long horn

with a high-output hurricane.

It would have air suspension.

And it would have panoramic roofs and everything like that.

This is not that.

This is a big horn.

Yes.

So it's much lower on the totem pole as far as trims go.

Do you want to pop the hood?

Yeah, let's take a look at the engines.

So this is one of the newer powertrains in the mix

and available in any of these trucks.

It's the three-liter hurricane.

So it's a twin-turbo, straight six.

This one, like you said, is a standard output.

It's not the high output that you can get.

So 420 horsepower, 469 pound-feet of torque,

a little bit more than the GMC.

Exactly.

And 8-speed automatic.

You mentioned the transmissions.

Basically, all the other trucks have 10 speeds.

But you and I went to Germany to a ZF technology day.

We talked to some of their engineers.

And ZF transmissions are some of the best in the world.

They've been making them for a long time.

We asked why 8 and why not 10.

And they said they considered doing 10 speeds

because it's possible and they could do it.

But they decided that 8 seemed like the Goldilocks zone.

There's also a cost consideration and also complexity.

So I think ZF engineers weighed all those options.

So at least that would be their reasoning

as to why they claimed they chose to go with 8 speeds

instead of 10.

But you would have to.

This is why we do real-world truck testing.

This podcast is just kind of to introduce the trucks,

talk about some of the features.

But really, where this will matter

is about efficiency, towing, and also acceleration, right?

Now this engine, on some of those fronts,

because we've tested it quite a bit at this point,

both in standard output and high output form,

even the standard output, this engine

has a lot of power and a lot of torque.

It's very smooth and very quiet.

So it doesn't necessarily have a lot of personality.

But it works.

Yeah.

Actually, yesterday we were idling these trucks waiting

for something in the parking lot.

And I was sitting in the driver's seat

and I actually forgot the engine was running.

Yeah, it's that quiet.

It's that quiet.

There is no vibration at all.

Sometimes you could feel that V8 still sitting there

and working.

This engine is super smooth.

It's just butter.

By far the smoothest engine of any of the trucks

that we're looking at right now.

This might be, what do you think?

Is this the smoothest engine that you can get in any half ton?

I would say so.

Yeah, because that diesel we talked about is also a straight six.

But you can hear it a little bit more, that three liter diesel.

It's a little more coarse.

This, I mean, you could argue you want more sound than a truck.

Yes, we've argued that before.

But as far as smoothness, I think this is it.

Yeah, so this hurricane is an impressive engine.

This RAM has the most aggressive axle ratio

of any of the trucks here.

This is a 392.

Yes, partially because it's a towing package, which is off.

You could see it here with tow mirrors, which are humongous.

And it's also good and bad.

So sorry about, we hit a couple of bugs on the way here.

So I really apologize.

But the people listening to the podcast won't mind at all.

No, they won't care.

So this mirror is amazing if you're looking behind you.

But in front of you, this post is a little bit large.

So sometimes it takes away some of the forward visibility

when you're sitting in the truck.

That's true.

I do have to wonder if the actual post that mounts the mirror

to the side of the door needs to be this thick.

You know partially why?

I think, I mean, I wasn't part of the engineering team

that designed this.

Because of the camera?

Well, not just because of the camera, but also

so there is no vibration.

Sure.

You know what happens on a washboard road?

Yeah.

Things start to isolate and everything starts to vibrate.

I think they kind of have to do this probably

because to make it stable and make it very strong.

But this is the only truck of the four

that came to us optioned with a towing-specific mirror.

So this mirror is awesome when we're hooked up to a trailer.

We didn't tow with these trucks any box trailers.

But if we had, this would have made a world of difference.

And even if the rest of these-

Now you can see the mirror right there.

Yeah, it's a huge surface.

Even if the rest of these trucks

were specced with towing mirrors,

this is still one of the better,

one of our preferred towing mirrors.

I would agree.

Because the controls of this mirror is really easy.

I can quickly show you.

They've redesigned it in 2025.

All of the functions are on the same switch

rather than separating those functions

on different switches.

Very easy mirror and one of the best

as far as for towing purposes.

Yeah.

I also want to mention the engine options.

Like we mentioned the high output hurricane

with 540 horsepower.

But there's also the broad back to the Hemi.

True, so you can get a 5.7 Hemi with the torque system.

Exactly.

So they brought that back.

Coming up soon, there's going to be a range extended EV

version, which is going to be really interesting to test

because that's not something at the moment that exists

in any of these other trucks.

Exactly.

So this is basically a 5.5 footer.

Sometimes also referred to as a 5.7.

So a little bit more.

Make sure this ladder is all the way in.

It is noticeably tighter on our ladder than the GMC.

I'm not sure.

No, it's not going to close.

It's not closing.

So the GMC closed with a little bit of room to spare.

The Ram's short bed doesn't quite

fit your little giant ladder.

It is called, by the way, this is not sponsored.

You know, this is sponsored by you guys,

our Patreon supporters and listeners and viewers.

This podcast is sponsored by you guys.

Not by a little giant.

But you know what?

I think GM is unique in this perspective

because their wheel base on their crew cabs

is a couple of inches longer than the rest of the trucks.

Which is also nice for stability when you're pulling trailer.

So there's other perks to that longer wheel base.

This Ram is a little bit more basic, like we said.

So this one doesn't have a bed liner.

It's just a painted steel bed.

And look at the difference in tie downs.

This truck just has one tie down in each corner.

So in this bed is not bed lined.

Not that, you know, we're not gonna take away from it

because the price is lower too.

Yeah, this is the least expensive

of any of the trucks that we're looking at.

Yeah, it also doesn't have,

this model has plugs instead of lights.

But the tie down point is valid

because without the rails that you could add

along the side of the bed,

the tie down options are not many.

And even with the rails,

I still think GM does the best job

of giving you lots of tie down points from the factory.

Yeah, exactly, especially in the bed we just saw.

Also, this tailgate is not fancy.

Ram does offer a barn style option,

which splits about 40, 60 on their tailgate.

And also they don't have a,

sometimes they have an optional step

that kind of comes down here.

So you could put your foot up here.

This one truck, this one is not equipped with it.

And then you can easily jump into the bed.

Yeah, so that's something that you can pretty

inexpensively add on to the truck if you want to have it.

Should we check out the interior?

No, wait, I'm just checking on the payload.

Oh, sure.

1757.

Yeah, so this truck has the highest payload of all four.

Yes, the way you see them here.

It's a pretty good number.

And then what's the tow rating?

The tow rating is just over like 11,000 pounds.

We have our notes inside the truck as well.

So if you want to see the hitch, by the way,

this is also equipped, look, for a basic truck,

this has a camera connection inside the bumper.

Yeah, so if you have a newer trailer

that has a camera system integrated into it,

you can plug it into the Ram

and check that out on your screen, which is nice,

especially if you're carrying around horses

or something like that.

You could be checking on how they're doing

as you're going down the road.

That's all pretty cool.

So you were helping hook up trailers to these trucks?

Yeah.

Do you remember which was the easiest chain?

Like, do you remember which you struggled with

or not struggled with?

You know, it's a good question.

When we were working on it, we were working pretty quickly.

The Ram, I'm not...

It's a little bit hidden.

I'm not going to give it to the Ram

because it's also got this funky shape

that makes it a little bit more challenging at times

to get hooks in there.

The upside is that you've got two holes,

so you could put your chains through one

and put maybe the emergency brake.

Can we look at the GMC really quick?

Do another.

The GMC might have them beat

because look at how accessible these points are

on each side of the hitch.

You don't have to reach way underneath the truck

to get to those.

Yeah.

And then you've even got some more openings

a little further back that you can also use to see your advantage.

So you got a lot of options on the GMC.

And I know we'll see Ford and Toyota really soon,

but I think those are also a little bit more hidden.

Do you want to move the ladder before we move?

Sure.

I'll open that.

I'll move forward.

The sounds of moving a ladder is one of everyone's...

This is very thrilling.

It's one of the podcasts for.

Like I said, you won't get this in many other podcasts.

No, that's true.

This is very unique.

Now, we've got to check out the interior on the Ram,

keeping in mind once again that of all the trucks,

this one is the most affordable.

So this interior is not going to have all of the options

that you can get in the Ram.

It's not going to have all the same options

that the other trucks we're looking at today have.

Yep.

But it's still a truck that gives you quite a few features.

We've got all the essential things that we need.

The screen configuration on the Ram

is a little bit more vertical,

so it's kind of tall and narrow.

I actually really like Uconnect as a program.

I think that these screens are very easy to navigate.

Once again, we still have physical controls

for our climate on the sides of the screen here,

which is nice.

We're just firing up the engine.

Yeah.

And trailer brake controller,

very accessible, very visible.

It's mounted on a dash where you kind of expect.

Yeah.

But the drive selector is not everybody's favorite.

It's a knob.

So there's different solutions, obviously.

Sometimes it's a center console, like the GMC.

We saw that.

You can have a knob or you can have a column shift.

So this may not be my favorite

because it's also next to, like for example,

a volume knob, right?

So maybe you're going to turn the volume down

and instead slammer into park.

I haven't done that before.

No, I haven't either.

It's pretty easy to not do.

But I think it could be possible for somebody to do.

Realistically, that drive selector

is really not the end of the world.

No.

It's not my favorite of all the drive selectors here.

That one would be my least favorite of them.

But it's not a make or break kind of thing

for me in particular.

Yeah, so like we're saying this is a big horn.

So, but it does have a couple of optional packages

and we do have wireless charging.

We do have USB A and C and also an auxiliary part.

Yeah, and then we've got our bigger outlet at the bottom.

It's a little hidden.

Oh, I don't know if you could see it.

Yes, it's down here.

But it's there.

Yeah, and we'll check out the back

and see that in a second as well.

So in that way, it's pretty similar to the GMC

because the GMC had the same number of USBs

and also had a wireless charger.

In the console somewhere.

In the console.

Overall, I mean these seats are like you said, are cloth.

They're not fancy leather or anything like that.

And also there's not a lot of color options

although there is a little bit of silver

and a little bit of different materials on the dashboard.

Yeah, there's a few textures and badges and things.

It's not completely blank,

but it is a pretty dark interior.

Definitely does not strike you as a luxury interior.

Although your steering wheel is not bad.

Yeah, actually it's wrapped.

And now every RAM comes with an adaptive cruise control feature.

There's a button right there.

But only the fancier RAM trucks, 1500s,

are coming with that hands-free system.

But what I like about the RAM system,

it's GM's hands-free system,

maybe a little bit more superior as far as towing

and also kind of how it positions itself on the highway.

What RAM does, they have a capacitive touch

in the steering wheel.

So you don't have to go like this

to remind the truck you're still here.

You could just put your hands on it

and then the truck knows you're engaged with it.

Which is a nice way of going about it.

And as well, because this is not a luxury model truck,

we've got no sunroof at all in this particular model.

Yeah, here, let me get in the back seat

while you open the price sheet.

Yeah, so this RAM comes in at about 64,400.

So it's by far the cheapest of the trucks that's here.

It's what, more than $20,000 MSRP less than the GMC

we were just looking at.

So it's a significant difference.

But yeah, don't let that get in the way, right?

Yeah, because you can option any of these trucks

to be within a few dollars of each other.

I've seen a RAM 1500 limited longhorn

well almost at 90 grand.

Yeah, well, and TRXs, they get a price.

And RHOs go up into that price range too.

You know what?

I think there's a little bit more space here.

Yeah, you look like you've got a ton of space.

Yeah, I could cross my legs, I could go cross country.

And look, there's a plug here, a regular wall outlet

even back here.

So I appreciate this a little bit more

than what I saw on the GMC.

So even as nice as the materials in the GMC

were and as good as it looks, in some ways

this more basic truck is even more comfortable.

I would say so.

So it has a little bit more power options.

And the seat bottom, maybe not the cushiest of them all,

but it's not bad.

It's not bad.

I mean, I could go on a very long trip back here.

And also we do have speakers up here as well in the ceiling.

Yeah, so points to the RAM for basic interior.

It's very functional, which we appreciate.

Yeah, and like we said, I think we mentioned already,

just over 11,000 pounds of towing.

And so actually, if you look at maximum towing,

GM has a beat because GM can be at over 13,000.

Although, in case, I would never

recommend towing 13,000 pounds with one of these trucks.

No, and it's something that we avoid, especially because we

live up in the mountains.

We've got a lot of steep grades.

And these trucks, when you start getting around 10,000 pounds,

they begin to struggle a little bit.

So I'm with you right there.

If we were pulling a trailer above 10,000 pounds,

where we live, especially, I would prefer to be in an HD.

Yeah, especially a diesel, heavy duty pickup.

Yeah, the exhaust brake in the mountains.

Exhaust brake, yes.

There's no replacing it.

Let's jump into the other.

Let's go see the Ford.

Yeah, so we'll start, as per usual, on the exterior.

This Ford is kind of a light gray.

And it's a little bit of an old school way that it's specced

because we've got chrome wheels and chrome bumpers here.

This is the only truck that we're looking at today that's

got chrome bumpers.

Yeah, well, the GM had a tiny chrome insert.

But indeed, I would say this is a little bit

more old-fashioned styling.

Yeah, this is a dad.

But not bad.

It's a dad truck.

Well, I'm a dad.

Yeah.

Well, what do you think of this truck?

I'm not a chrome guy, though.

Fair enough.

There is some black on it, around the grill

and around the headlights.

That's blacked out.

And I really like the amber running lights and turn

signals on Ford F-150s these days.

They look really good.

So it's not a bad-looking truck.

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And this is an XLT.

So this is, you know, it starts at the Excel.

So the XLT is kind of the next step up on the trim walk.

Very similar to Bighorn.

So that trim for trim.

But what Ford has done in recent years,

and I've been noticing it as we're looking

at configurators, right, is they've

been adding in more optional packages and features

into their XLTs, making them actually really pricey

and luxurious as well.

Yeah, and they've been adding to the destination price

like we've talked about in the past as well.

Yes, and this is a hybrid.

This is a power boost hybrid.

Let's look at the engine.

Let's pop the hood like we've done.

Yes, one of the highlights of this truck,

because it being a hybrid, it's

got an impressive 430 horsepower and 570 pound

feet of torque.

Yes.

Which when we're pulling trailers once again

through the mountains and steep grades,

that 570 pound feet of torque, you feel it.

Exactly, and this engine bay may not

be the most neat or the most beautiful engine bay.

But I don't know if that matters.

There's a lot of high voltage cables, wires, tubes, hoses,

and things.

I wouldn't want to be the person to have to work on this,

because there's a lot going on.

There is a lot going on.

It's a 3 and 1 half liter.

This particular one is from a 2025 model year.

So the 2026s haven't really hit production or dealerships

yet.

There might be already being produced,

but they're not available quite yet.

So the power ratings we're talking about,

we're talking about 2025.

Yeah, and it's a substantial amount of power

driving this truck around.

It's quick.

If you want to get out in front of traffic,

you 100% can with very little effort.

Exactly, it's almost electric in its power delivery.

I mean, it does have electric assist,

but I mean like a Hummer EV punches you.

It's impressive.

And this truck has a 373 axle ratio,

so it's the second most aggressive of the trucks

that are here, which also helps it

as far as acceleration is concerned.

And then before we move on, as far

as some of the other features, mentioning

the other engines available, so there's a 2.7 EcoBoost V6.

That's basically now the base engine in this lineup.

Then there's also the Coyote, the 5-liter.

The Coyote.

Which actually we own.

We have a Tremor 5-liter.

We do, it's right behind us in the barn.

It's probably in the barn.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And then this.

Yeah, PowerBoost.

And then also we have to mention, of course,

the high output engine and the Supercharged V8,

which is the Raptor engines.

True.

Slightly different use case, but those engines

are still available.

Yeah, which especially in the Raptor R

is arguably the most impressive of any of the engines

that you can get in any half-ton truck.

Even if you keep it stock, we were at SEMA recently,

and we saw one that had a 3-liter Whipple on it.

And they were saying over 900 horsepower.

And this was for performance, folks were saying this.

Yes, that would be like a through-the-dealership.

Installation.

Yeah, which is nuts.

But even if you get a standard Coyote,

you can work through your dealership

to get a Supercharger on that.

So you can go pretty crazy with these powertrains.

Yeah.

But as they roll out of the factory,

this PowerBoost is one of the most impressive.

Yeah, and there's many ways in which it's impressive.

Because it's a hybrid, it also delivers a lot of the.

Oh, it's not locking.

No, I got to slam it.

There you go.

Oh, it's aluminum.

That's why.

Right.

You've got to give it a little bit more heft.

A little bit more.

Power delivery, power export, because it's a hybrid.

You have, Ian, you can show it here,

you have up to 7.2 gigawatts.

No, kilowatts.

No, gigawatts.

Sorry.

I'm showing that I am a dad.

7.2 kilowatt export.

One of the biggest upsides of this truck, also

the lightning, is that you can run as much

as a welder on it, which we've done in the past.

We've actually welded using a power boost.

So that is a really nice feature to have,

leveraging the electric side of that hybrid powertrain

to be able to make the truck better at doing work.

Once again, tie-downs, still not as good as a GM truck.

There's four old school tie-downs.

And then we've got the old guys as well.

Yeah, this is kind of a ford way of doing it.

Because right now it's a tie-down,

but you could also put a cleat on here

and have some more options for here.

It's kind of technically two tie-downs in each corner

of different styles.

But still, yeah, not as much as a GM.

Should we see if your ladder fits?

Yeah, can we close this tailgate?

Let's see.

Ooh!

What do you think, a tiny bit closer than RAM?

Yeah, yeah, it's definitely closer to closing,

but no, and we don't want to force it.

We don't want to break Andre's ladder.

Or this beautiful truck.

No, let's take this out because I want to show something.

There's a step actually below this bumper.

Yeah.

So let me grab this.

Do you want to close the tailgate?

Yeah, we can close the tailgate.

I thought you were talking about the step that's

built into the tailgate, but no, it's true.

There is this step as well, which I'm now realizing.

I haven't actually practiced deploying.

It kind of takes some effort.

Yeah, it's like spring loaded, right?

Yeah.

So this was interesting.

I haven't seen a use of this type of step

because originally this came out when they introduced

a new tailgate, which splits in the middle.

So they do have another version, which kind of does like 20,

40, 20, I think I said it correctly, or whatever,

where it opens this way like a barn door

and then you could step in, right?

But this tail, bumper step, I think

could be useful if you have like a trailer back here.

And maybe like if you had a boat behind here,

maybe you can get into the trailer.

Sure.

Or maybe you can jump in the bed.

There's got to be a situation where it would be useful.

Yeah, you got to kick it.

Take some effort.

Payload on the Ford is also right around 1,500.

It's a little less than the Chevy.

So it's not the Chevy or the GMC rather was 1494, this one.

1430.

Which is a little bit lower than I expected

because this is an all aluminum body in bed.

But this is also a hybrid, which

adds weight to the overall system, right?

Yeah, and then towing figure on this is also

right around 11,000.

Yeah, I think the way it's configured, it's about 10,800.

So 10,800.

And then with a special towing package with the tow

mirror, it's about 11,200 or something like that.

Yeah, so right in line with a lot of the other trucks

that are here.

Yeah, and you could see those hookup points for the hitch

and the chains.

It's a little bit hidden underneath.

Yeah, they're a little further of a reach.

Not my favorite, maybe.

No, I agree.

Yeah, but they're not too happy.

And also the attitude of this truck,

and I've said this before, you've heard me say this,

is that on laden, the rear end is higher than the front.

But it's actually helpful when you put the full payload

on this truck.

That's true.

When you're hooked up to a heavy trailer,

as we have with this and with some of the others here,

it levels out.

So it doesn't look like the back end of the truck

is completely dumped.

And the other nice thing about that

is that your hitch receiver isn't quite as close

to the ground.

So you're less likely to scrape your hitch,

especially if you have a drop hitch,

that hangs down a little bit.

Exactly.

The GMC was the same way, with really heavy trailers,

the RAM and the Tundra squatted more.

And I think it's a difference between the Ford GM

are using leaves in the back, leaf springs,

and then the RAM and the Tundra are using coils.

So a lot of people are always traditional truck people

hating coils.

I don't think people should hate coil suspensions,

but there is that sag.

They sag a little bit more.

Now, this truck is not the only one here that is this way.

But I will say, because this I'll mention it now,

since it won't be in the Ike video,

when I was bringing the trailer that we were hiking with

back here to the ranch, which was pretty heavy,

we were right around 10,000 pounds.

Plus the tongue weight was just over 1,000 pounds, right?

Yeah, so we had a lot of tongue weight.

So this truck was sitting much lower than it is right now

in the back.

Like we said, it looked kind of level.

But the headlights were pointing right up into the sky.

And I didn't have a way to level them out.

So I had people flash in their high beams at me,

understandably, because these are bright LED headlights.

And you were not using high beams?

No, I wasn't.

I was using low beams.

But because the back end of the truck

was so much lower than where it sits normally,

the headlights were shooting into the sky.

And there was really nothing I could do about it.

Nothing.

But I think there may be some other options.

I think most of these trucks have different headlamp options.

So you potentially could configure this Ford

with an auto-adjustable headlights.

Which would be nice, being able to level out those headlights,

because it was not great.

I didn't really want to be driving that.

Well, you kind of felt bad.

I mean, you were blinding some other people

while you're trying to be a good citizen, basically.

Because I could see it.

It was shining right in everyone's eyes.

Let's go check out the back.

I mean, and also inside.

Well, yeah.

We'll start with the front.

Check out.

The interior on the Ford is a little bit fancier than the Ram.

But it's also kind of gray on gray.

It is.

A little bit.

Yeah, it doesn't look that exciting,

but it is a slightly nicer spec.

It's still cloth seats.

But I would say it's not quite as basic.

This truck is also a little more expensive.

It's $69,600.

So it's about $5,000 more than that Ram.

Yep, it is.

Still quite a bit less expensive than how the GMC

is specced as we see it.

But I agree for, in a lot of ways,

this interior isn't super fancy,

the color scheme and some of the materials.

But there's a few things that has going for it.

We've got the massive sunroof that stretches all the way

into the back seat.

That's kind of a nice feature to have.

We've also got Bang and Olufsen audio here.

So a little bit more premium stereo rather than kind

of a basic setup.

Yeah, and a pretty nice stereo system at that.

It sounds good.

You tested it out yesterday.

I have.

Or the day before.

Playing some reggae and all kind of stuff.

Bass is good.

Yeah, it sounds decent, especially for a truck stereo.

Nice.

In the sitting position, I like these seats quite a lot.

We'll check out the back in a second.

Wrapped steering wheel.

So this is what I was saying when, oh, there's also the STX.

So there's XL, STX, XLT, and of course,

Larry and others for trim levels of Ford.

They've kind of, in my mind, moved the XLT

more into a luxurious space.

Even though these cloth seats, it has blue crews.

Yeah, it has blue crews.

It's got heated seats.

It's got auto climate.

Wireless charging also.

Yeah, wireless charging, still big screen in the center.

It's got the pro trailer, backup assist.

The RAM also has a similar option, but maybe not quite

as many features, because this truck can also automatically

hitch up a trailer for you.

It can get your hitch underneath the tongue of the trailer

that you're linking up to, which is cool.

The trailer brake controller is exactly where you would

expect it to be.

Very accessible, yeah.

Yeah, easy to get to.

And the shifter on this truck is?

Column.

It's a column-mounted shifter, and I like that.

I want to love it in this truck, but I've

spent some time with this particular one.

I'm not sure that this is true of every F-150.

Yes.

But in this truck a couple times,

I've been moving the column shifter up to park,

and it stops at reverse and doesn't want to go beyond.

It's not every time.

But every now and then it stops there,

doesn't want to go in a park.

So you kind of have to jiggle it a tiny bit.

Yeah, and it's a little frustrating.

This truck's got a rear locker, though.

Yeah, it's selectable, too.

Yeah, which is cool.

It's not even an off-road trim, but.

Yeah, Ford has done this for a while

where they offer locking differential

on a variety of different trim levels and price ranges.

I want to make a comment about the shifter

before we move on.

The GMC console mounted shifter also

has kind of a digital feeling to it,

because it is kind of digital.

So there's not like a true mechanical connection

between the shifter and actually what's

happening within the transmission.

There is a computer interpreting your selections

and what you want to do.

And also these trucks are, let me see if I can demonstrate it.

I put it in drive, and I opened it.

And there's a feature that puts it in park

when I open my door, because it wants to prevent the truck

from rolling away.

Yeah.

But I think you and I agree.

We are, as humans, we are aware of what we're doing.

Yeah, we pay attention.

So we don't, I think you and I agree on this.

We don't want the computer try to use its intelligence

to override our intelligence,

because our intelligence is far superior.

I would say so.

Than the trucks.

I agree.

I like that.

I like where your head's at.

Something else that's nice here on the floor

is we've got a pretty substantial 120 outlet here

up front.

This truck also has a wireless charger.

Also has a USB-A and a USB-C.

Exactly.

So we've got a few good options.

I want to complement this truck

on the position of this plug,

because I don't have to dig down in the console

or open the console.

It's very easy to locate and plug in.

And I want to see as well if there's anything additional.

Oh, there's USB-C's in there too.

Console, yeah.

So it's actually, it's going to be hard to see,

but there's two USB-C's in the console.

So we've got three USB-C's, one USB-A,

and then this big 120 up on the front of the dash.

We've got some in the back as well.

Yeah, I can check it out.

But before I go in the back seat,

this also has this cool feature, which opens up.

The table.

Sorry, I think I put my laptop here.

I don't think it was me.

So we were waiting.

We were doing our towing test,

and we had a little bit of time.

And I actually did some emails here.

It was really easy.

I mean, this is a really useful feature.

I put my laptop in the center.

This center console opens up into a table.

And I really found this very, really, truly useful.

Yeah, so that is kind of a neat little feature

and an inventive way to use the space.

OK, let me check out the back seat.

Yeah, it's time for Andre to get back there,

because really Andre is the ideal test of a back seat.

Because you're about six foot three.

Yeah, almost there.

I'm trying to still grow, but it's not working.

Right.

So back here, I do have an option for the wall outlet,

120 volt USB C's, and even a 12 volt.

Dude, all kinds of options.

Yes, very similar space and I think seat as in the RAM.

So I feel about the same and I feel pretty good.

Yeah, how does it feel on headroom?

It's a little bit lower.

I think it's because of the panoramic sunroof.

So if I would spec out the truck,

I think the panoramic roof would not be on my list.

You know, I mean, if I wanted a convertible car,

I would get a convertible car.

Sure, yeah.

Not a truck.

It does make it feel very premium on the interior,

having all that glass above you,

and it makes it feel very modern.

But it costs you money and it's not strictly necessary.

And it's also at weight, right?

If you are very, if you want to, you know,

maybe use a little bit more payload,

this is what 100 or 200 pounds of mechanism and glass

and everything like that.

So it's also a very high up.

So your center of gravity starts to grow a little bit.

And we love low center of gravity.

Well, for carving those canyon roads.

When you're hooked up to a trailer.

And Andre does.

Well, Andre Andre can corner with a trailer.

We've done it before.

At times we've had to.

Let's go check out the tundra

and then we have to pick our favorite, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Now the tundra is once again, it's gray.

We don't have a lot of color in the lineup.

But that's typical in the world, right?

So if you look at configurators,

if you look at dealership lots,

color seems to be going away, which is sad.

Yeah, it's a lot of gray

and white and black and silver trucks.

This is kind of right in line with that.

There's not a whole lot of chrome on this truck.

A little bit on the badges.

And then I would describe the grill

as kind of a black chrome.

Yeah, it's a little bit blacked out,

but also humongous.

This grill, this grill,

the mouth that's opening here is huge.

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Yeah, and the front bumper also sits

a little bit on the low side.

Most of these trucks, because they're not off-road trims,

they have kind of a lip, a chin and air dam

at the bottom of the bumper.

And most of these except the GMC have active arrow,

which means the chin spoiler actually extends at speed,

which is a pretty fancy like Formula One type

feature.

Yeah, yeah, it's maybe simplified a little bit on these.

It's not quite the DRS enabled, right?

Yes.

But yeah, the Tundra has a distinct front end.

Yeah, maybe not my favorite.

You picked the GMC front end, right?

Yeah.

For your favorite?

Yeah, I stand by that.

Some trims of the F-150, like our tremor,

I really like the orange accents.

But you and I are kind of not chrome guys.

We're not cute.

Yeah, so the dad spec on this one in particular,

I don't like quite as much as the GMC,

but I maybe like our company-owned tremor,

looks wise even more than that.

Yeah, I think if we painted this bumper,

I would pick it over the GMC maybe.

Yeah, I could see that.

For me, it's borderline.

I think the GMC is a good looking truck,

but the right spec on an F-150 might be my number one.

I want to point out this,

Ram 1500 we have is not equipped with front tow points.

Yep.

You could kind of see it here.

It would be in this space.

It's not equipped.

And I think really,

if you're buying any four by four pickup,

I think include the front tow points.

Even if you're not off-roading consistently,

it's still just a good thing to have.

Cause it's possible for these trucks to get stuck

in a recovery point is nice.

Or maybe-

It's possible for other people to get stuck.

Yeah, you want to help somebody else.

Toyota famously,

infamously did not put front tow points on the Tundra.

Yeah, so the GM and the Ford have them.

The Ram as its spec doesn't and the Toyota doesn't.

Yeah, and this is by the way, platinum trim level.

So they have many, of course, SR, SR5, TRD off-road.

This is a platinum trim level.

And maybe this is not my favorite trim level.

One of my favorites in the fancier Tundra

is their, I would call it, no, 1794 Cowboy edition.

I saw 1794 on my way to the ranch and it looked pretty good.

Yeah, we'll talk about the interior later.

Let's look at the power choices.

Let's look at the engine really quick.

So like the F-150, this particular Tundra

is also a hybrid.

This is the I-Force Max.

So it's got the most power and torque of the four.

437 horsepower, 583 pound feet of torque.

Exactly.

This engine is also quite busy with different things,

but it's dressed up a little bit with this plastic cover.

So it looks a little bit more attractive maybe.

Yeah, there's still some of the high voltage cables,

things like that going on.

This also has a 10 speed and this is a 331 axle ratio.

So a little bit on the less aggressive side.

And look at this, it has a dipstick still.

Yeah, which is not a guarantee in this day and age.

Modern cars.

The RAM, the hurricane got rid of the dipstick

and there was a big controversy about it.

I don't know.

I mean, I was thinking about it.

At first I was okay with it,

but then also checking the oil,

like you could see the color of it, right?

You could smell it.

And if you don't have a dipstick, you really can't.

I mean, I guess you can open the filler

and start smelling your engine.

You sniff in there.

Yeah.

By the way, this Tundra has the lowest opening hood.

Yeah, we were joking that they figure

since Tundras are so solid historically,

you won't have to open this hood and do anything.

But then again, the non-hybrid versions of this V6

have been recalled.

Is another one of those engines

that have been widely being replaced.

And they're actually replacing those engines.

Not just fixing something,

but the hybrid is not part of that recall.

So we have to be very precise when we talk about this.

That's true.

Which is true, yeah.

Yeah, so.

So they also have the non-hybrid versions, by the way.

So standard 3.4 liter twin turbo is available.

And also, I believe on the work spec, the SR Tundras,

they have a slightly lower power rating.

So they have several different,

yeah, detuned the version of that,

which they kind of change up on their trucks.

Yes, and coming along side of the truck.

Payload, we need to check that really quick.

This is 1290.

Yeah, it's a little disappointing.

So it's the least amount of payload

of any of the trucks that are here.

And also surprisingly, it's lower than that GMC,

which is also fully loaded.

Yeah, so when we were testing this truck on the Ike,

we were at or a little above payload.

Whoa, it retracted its step for me.

Yeah, that's kind of cool.

So automatically the step

that's below the corner of the bumper

popped out when Andre lowered the tailgate.

I'm going to move my ladder again.

Yeah, let's see how the ladder does.

By the way, this is also a composite bed inside.

Yeah, so similar in that way to the GMC.

Ooh, this doesn't look very good.

No, I don't think it's going to work.

So wow, so GMC is the only one

that was able to close the tailgate.

Oh no, it's a power.

What do I do now?

I think we got to do it by hand.

Ah, yeah, not even close.

Yeah, it's not closing.

So of course the tundra also has like an eight foot bed version

for certain configurations.

The other thing that's kind of hard to see,

the walls of the bed are a little bit narrower

at the bottom than the top.

Yeah, so it's kind of tapered.

It's tapered side.

So I think it's done because these are molds

that are stamping these beds out.

So it's kind of the manufacturing of it.

And how much power do you have in the wall there?

Saying 400 watts, which again,

is nowhere near what the Ford can do.

So it would have been cool

if they leveraged this hybrid system

a little bit more like the Ford did.

So their latest Tacoma hybrids have 2.4 kilowatt systems.

Which is getting there.

But still, I mean, Ford has 7.2, so.

7.2 is a lot.

It is an option.

You have to pay for that, but still it's available.

And as tie downs go in the tundra,

it's kind of similar to the Ford

and how the RAM can be.

So there's four tie downs, one in each corner,

plus these rails where you can move

these little cleats back and forth.

Yep.

So yeah, still not my favorite tie down setup,

but it's not bad.

All right, let me move the,

so we can show the hitch really quick.

And this is able to pull about 11,000 as well.

Exactly.

So yeah, most of them are right in line with each other

to close the tailgate.

I can press on the side of the tail light,

although I think since we were moving it manually,

it's not very happy.

Let's reset it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Let's reset it.

It's a little painful, isn't it?

Is it gonna come back to us?

Yes.

So I wonder, will it bring the step in on its own?

Yes.

But I think this has like a five second delay.

Oh, does it?

Let's find out.

So.

It would be kind of cool if it,

oh yeah, automatically retracts.

This is riveting television, isn't it?

It sure is.

Yeah.

Now these.

Actually this is pretty accessible.

Yeah.

Those points on the side of the hitch are very easy to reach.

Not bad at all.

So I kind of like that.

But you know what's not my favorite?

A lot of these components are plastic.

On the bumpers, yeah.

Yeah, on the tundra.

A lot of the other, can you knock on that?

That's on the board.

Our metal, right?

Yeah.

So there's good and bad in this, right?

If you hit a metal bumper, it might dent,

but it will be more expensive to replace.

But paint on a composite bumper is also pretty expensive.

It's also pretty bad.

So inside of the GM bumper,

there is also the radar sometimes and some sensors.

Yeah.

It's hard to kind of tell exactly.

I mean, there's plastic on top,

but on the tundra, when you hit something,

it's kind of, it's a plastic.

So it's easily breakable, right?

Yeah.

Which we've actually-

We've experienced that before.

Yeah.

Now, should we check out the interior on this tundra?

Let's do this.

So this one, once again, is a platinum.

So it's far from a base model.

This is the second priciest truck

that we're looking at here.

This one's around 76,000.

Yeah, we have a little sheet sheet here.

Yeah, so we can see the exact number.

A little cheat sheet.

76,278, so 76,300.

Okay.

Well, this is one of the fancier tundras you could buy.

Yeah, so it being a platinum,

it's got some more features, nicer materials.

Although once again, this interior is mostly very dark.

There's not tons of color.

It's a little bit of blue stitching.

Yeah, blue stitching here as well.

But not much else.

Yeah, I think as far as overall impact,

GMC Sierra Denali had the impact, you know, immediate.

I know it's more expensive, but it had that going for it.

It's very clearly a luxury interior in that.

This one, not as obvious.

But they do a great job with their 1794 editions.

You know, if you wanted to buy a tundra

with a fancier interior, you could do that still.

I agree.

Does once again have like the Ford,

a very big glass sunroof that goes all the way

into the back row, which still looks kind of nice.

Large screen, a lot of hard switches and buttons,

which we like.

Heated and ventilated seats.

This will help you straighten out the trailer

when you're backing up.

So it does have some towing technology as well.

Brake controller is here.

Yeah, it's a little hidden

for the driver behind the steering wheel.

Like if you're looking at from my perspective,

I'm in the driver's seat,

I have to look over or I have to feel for it.

So maybe not the most ideal place.

Yeah, and then this one,

kind of like the GMC has

a more old school console mounted shifter.

That one feels more mechanical though.

Yeah, this actually feels like it's doing something

and moving some mechanical levers.

Yeah, so that's not bad.

Yeah.

And yeah, I mean,

we're not digging into the technology of this.

Although I will say it's not my favorite

as far as like the trip meter

and the towing trailer set up.

Yeah, it's maybe not the most intuitive tech package

in the screen layout.

Of all the manufacturers.

Of all the trucks.

If I want to really configure the trailers,

I think GM and Ford do it best.

And then Ram is very, very close.

And then Toyota as far as,

let's look at some storage options here.

Yeah, a decent size console with coin slot still.

Whoa.

I haven't carried the coin in a while.

For power, this one is not quite as extensive.

We've got a USB-A and a USB-C in the console.

And then we've got another USB-A kind of old school

on the dash.

Is there like a 120 volt?

Do you see anything?

No.

We have cup holders here.

I don't see, and there is a wireless charger.

Yes.

But not a whole lot else.

Yeah, we'll check out in the back.

Let me get in the backseat.

And by the way, Toyota is not offering

like a hands-free drive system in their trucks.

I mean, I think some of the Lexus vehicles,

they're starting to roll out some of these technologies.

Yeah.

But on their truck side, on their pickup truck side,

the hands-free system is not available yet.

Yeah.

So it's a little more basic.

Let me get in the backseat.

I want to check it out really quick.

Oh.

I'll say another thing, in case the underneath the rear seat

in the Tundra Hybrid is basically a battery.

Yeah, exactly.

They're using that space for part of the hybrid system.

So storage.

But even in the Ford, it has some storage in the Hybrid

underneath the seat.

Something I am noticing about you jump in the backseat.

You got the peasant blockers.

Well, that's not what I usually call them.

It's not the technical term.

Shades.

Yeah, sure.

I'm going to call it a shade on the side, which is,

I think this is the only pickup truck that has a side shade.

A peasant blocker?

Well, yeah.

Let's just say it's for children

when they're sleeping in the backseat.

You could block out the sun.

Well, sometimes children don't want

to be bothered by peasants.

Right, exactly.

My headroom, dude, you scared me.

But I own an older generation Tundra,

which has a rear lowered glass.

And you just lowered the rear glass.

And it's wonderful.

Yeah, so that is one of the coolest things about this cab.

You can really open it up because the entire rear glass

slides down into the bulkhead.

Kind of an expensive thing to do.

I've used this a lot, backing up to a boat launch ramp.

You could look back.

You could see the people or the boat moving up.

And you could just get all kinds of airflow

through this cab.

So that's really cool.

My headroom is a tiny bit more limited.

There is a little bit of a cutout.

But I think it's a little bit more limited than some other trucks.

It's scalloped.

But if you lean forward too quickly,

you might give yourself a concussion.

No, it's not a concussion, but it's at least a scalping.

That sounds much better.

Yeah.

Oh, there is a 400 watt outlet here.

So thank you, Toyota.

This is quite useful, USB-A, USB-C.

Dude, ventilated rear seats.

Yeah, that's impressive.

I think Ram also offers heating and ventilation

on their rear seats.

And cup holders are very nice.

So maybe not the humongous, the biggest backseat of them all.

Humongous, I like.

Humongous.

The most humongous, otherwise described as humongous.

Yeah.

Once again, these trucks are all specced differently.

So some of the features that one has and another doesn't.

The other might be able to option with it.

But my biggest thing is I wish on this interior,

this being a little bit more premium and being over $76,000.

If the interior had some more color,

that would make it feel more premium.

And maybe not just color, because some people

are shy about using different colors.

But more textures, more contrast.

I think that's what we mean.

But I mean, I do like the blue

because that signifies hybrid for them.

And I kind of like that theme.

But it's pretty subtle.

But more contrast, absolutely.

Yeah.

All right, dude, let's get outside.

And we need to try to pick our favorite based on this.

I know.

It's going to be tough.

We've done a lot of testing with these trucks.

And once again, we don't want to go into too much detail

on all that, because there's going to be a reason

for people to watch the video where we actually summarize.

Yeah.

And pick the truck of the year.

So we're not picking truck of the year right now.

No.

We're picking a truck that could be our favorite based

on the features we just saw and based on some of the specs

we just looked at.

I am kind of between these two trucks.

My decision is between the F-150 and the Ram.

I am.

I like the GMC a lot.

But personally speaking, for me, it's just too fancy.

Like I would not.

I appreciate the Denali Ultimate.

But I'm not going to run out and buy one.

You know what I'm saying?

I am a very fancy guy.

And so just based on the interior, the colors,

and not just the materials on the interior,

I like the materials and the design a lot.

Yeah.

Well, you picked the styling of this truck too.

Yes.

I like the styling on the GMC.

I like the screen layouts, the whole interior layout.

Once again, not just the materials and the colors

and everything that you pay a bunch of money for,

but the whole way that the dash on this truck is laid out.

There's a lot of things I like about the GMC.

Could it be?

I like V8s.

Could it be the sound?

Yeah.

Although, that being said, if I was picking out

one of these trucks, I would probably go for the three

liter Duramex.

Whoa, that's a hot take.

So I love the fact that there's a diesel option on this.

Yeah.

So I'm going to go with the GMC.

OK, I see.

I got you.

And if you want to hear a lot of these engines,

we have the video.

We have the drag race coming.

Again, this does have a burble, which

sounds good.

Once again, a deep voice.

I appreciate that.

I see why you would pick a Duramex.

What are you going for?

Well, like I said, I like the hurricane power delivery

and a lot of the features, including efficiency

and some of the versions of the hurricane.

I think I'm going to pick the F-150 Hybrid.

Probably smart.

Partially.

It's got pro power on board.

Yes, I mean, it's got a pretty good payload.

You mentioned, David and I, there

is a gate way back in the field that we had to weld on.

And we used the F-150 Hybrid to weld on it.

And I'm not a welder.

But the fact is, sometimes we buy trucks

for the features that are available.

And if you had a power boost, you could become a welder.

I could learn.

I can go to school.

I can buy a welder.

I could plug it in.

I could start welding.

But more than that, I like the efficiency that this offers.

I like the power that it offers.

So I like a lot of the features inside.

Does that mean it's true what people say about you?

What?

That Ford fanboy?

Yeah, as a Toyota Tundra owner, what people say about you?

They might.

I mean, they might say that.

But like you and I, we try to experience a lot of trucks.

You've owned Dodge Ram.

Try and succeed, at least through work.

We get to drive a lot of stuff.

Yes.

You're an owner of a Dodge Ram.

I'm an owner of a Tundra.

Over there somewhere.

I also own the Chevy.

Actually, a couple of different Chevys.

And I own the Tundra now.

But I think as far as the powertrain, choice, efficiency,

and power, and comfort, but my ladder doesn't fit.

Your ladder does not fit.

It does fit in the GMC.

And the GMC's got good tie-downs.

OK.

No, no.

We still have to.

Damn.

When we pick an official truck of the year,

we're going to have to use more stats from the tests

that we're doing.

And I think we're going to have to come to a consensus.

Because if we are disagreeing, it's not going to work.

So when you come back in a couple of weeks

and see us pick truck of the year,

it might be a different answer.

Because that one is not just going to be going with our hearts.

No.

It's going to be going.

A lot of brain power.

With numbers.

Yeah, brain power.

All the cool sciency stuff that everyone's into, right?

Yeah, because we've got to look at the efficiency numbers.

We've got to look at how they perform the braking,

the acceleration on the mountain.

We've got to look at their performance, speed.

That's going to be different.

Yeah.

And it's worth tuning into because we

smoked the brakes on a couple of these trucks.

We put them really to the test.

No fire.

Nothing caught fire.

No, nothing caught fire.

But we saw smoke.

We saw smoke.

We hit the top speed of each one of these trucks.

We put them through their paces.

So there's a lot of fun testing that you're

going to be able to check out in those videos coming up.

Thanks for joining us.

Check out alltfl.com.

I know this podcast was a little bit longer

than a normal podcast.

There was a lot to see.

But this is what's epic.

I hope you agree this was one of our more epic episodes

of TFL.

Epic is a big word.

The epicest.

We got four whole trucks, so it was good.

We had the humongous test and epicest.

Have we done a podcast with the 3HDs?

All 3HDs together.

That would be nice.

OK, so maybe.

Stay tuned.

You know what?

Heavy duty trucks could be updated next year

because there's a rumor of a new Duramax.

There's a rumor about super duty updates.

So that's coming.

That could be coming soon.

Next year is going to be a big year.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you soon.

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Ep. 306: Which Full-Size Truck Is BEST? Ford vs GM vs Toyota vs Ram!

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GMC Denali Ultimate

GM 1500

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