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2014 Chevrolet Silverado vs. 2013 Ford F-150, 2013 Ram 1500 (Car and Driver)

30K views 113 replies 51 participants last post by  bballr4567  
#1 ·
2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71 vs. 2013 Ford F-150 Lariat, 2013 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Three Mild Hogs: We brave the honky-tonks, strip malls, and hipster burger joints of central Texas to root out the pickup truck that's just right.
Car and Driver
By Daniel Pund
August 2013

Excerpts

From the moment the 2014 Silverado was unveiled at this year’s Detroit auto show, it’s drawn fire for looking too similar to the outgoing model. How’s that for changed expectations in the pickup market? We, however, have no problem with a truck that looks like a truck, even if  it happens to look like a truck used to look. We specified the volume model of the lineup, which is a four-door version powered by the 5.3-liter gen-five small-block V-8. A 4.3-liter V-6 and a 6.2-liter V-8 also will be offered. This new pushrod 5.3 comes with fuel-saving cylinder deactivation, direct injection, and variable-valve timing.

Ford insisted on entering this contest with its optional turbo V-6 ($1095), which the company views as an alternative to conventional V-8s. We asked for a truck with the company’s most popular engine and, according to Ford, the EcoBoost V-6 slightly outsells the 5.0-liter V-8 available in the F-150.  And, indeed, the turbo V-6 makes V-8 horsepower—10 horses up on Chevy’s 5.3 and not much less powerful than Ram’s 5.7-liter Hemi. By now you should know that this EcoBoost prioritizes Boost over Eco. The EPA rates the Ford’s fuel economy even with the Ram’s and slightly worse than the Chevy’s.

The Ram 1500 is our reigning full-size pickup champ. And the Ram folk loaded up a brown-and-tan Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn Edition Crew Cab to the tune of $55,390, including the Hemi V-8, optional air springs ($1595), and enough cowboy filigree that even the “cowboy” from the Village People might consider it a bit flamboyant.

The Silverado is a clear-headed reworking of the pickup truck. It brings a level of sophistication and technology to the breed without sacrificing capability. We reckon even non-Texans might just like it, too.

*Full Article at Link
 
#3 ·
As someone who is no Ram fan, rating it third is a disgrace. It should either be first or second with the Ford taking the other slot and the worthless old Chevrolet is not as it is being sold here. This test shows a profound bias that oddly is not evident elsewhere in other tests which clearly suggest the Chevrolet is not nearly as good as it is being sold.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I like Car & Driver comparisons because they supply lots of data. It looks like the Silverado's biggest asset is its chassis. From the performance numbers we can see that the F150 launches really well, and the HEMI doesn't. Kudos to Ford for sorting out the traction issues involved with the launch and getting the power down. The rolling start seems to equalize the acceleration with the Ford being slightly quicker. The Ford is the around town champ, the Silverado is the highway passing champ, which IMO is where you want your power to be. I drag race in a truck once in a never, but I do need to pass other vehicles on 2-lane roads. 50-70 is the most meaningful metric to me. All three trucks perform pretty similarly, but the GM gets the job done with the least complex technology.

One note, seriously Chevy a 25 gallon tank? Ford gives you 36 gallons.

Also note that the Chevy is rated on 87 octane, the Ford on 91 octane and the ram on 89 octane. So to get the full performance/economy I have to run premium in the Ecoboost and Midgrade in the Ram, but the Chevy will deliver full specs with 87 octane. Food for thought.
 
#28 ·
Also note that the Chevy is rated on 87 octane, the Ford on 91 octane and the ram on 89 octane. So to get the full performance/economy I have to run premium in the Ecoboost and Midgrade in the Ram, but the Chevy will deliver full specs with 87 octane. Food for thought.
That's not entirely acurate. Nor is it factually incorrect. It is odd that they published 91 octane for the fuel metric.

From the Ford manual on the 3.5 EB:

3.5L V6 EcoBoost engine
“Regular” unleaded gasoline with a pump (R+M)/2 octane rating of 87 is recommended. Some stations offer fuels posted as “Regular” with an octane rating below 87, particularly in high altitude areas. Fuels with octane levels below 87 are not recommended. Premium fuel will provide improved performance and is recommended for severe duty usage such
as trailer tow.
Per the specification in the manual the C&D test didn't include "severe duty" qualification with that of a trailer two, thus not sure why they would publish 91 octane for the fuel metric.
 
#10 ·
No because Ford and Ram have not released there 2014 Models yet. The 2013 Ram is the newest update.


Im glad to see a good review on the Silverado, lets just hope the buyers agree with the reviewer and maybe one day the silverado will take the top spot.

One thing I am glad to see is the 70-0 time, to me this is a much more important stat than 0-60. The Silverado stops 11 feet quicker than the F series and 19 ft quicker than the ram. That to me is a huge deal
 
#13 ·
Very nice review. C&D does a nice job most of the time. I like the new trucks a lot but I find myself waiting for the mid-cycle updates. Hopefully they're not a massive step in the wrong direction like the last 10+ years.
 
#15 ·
Great review for showing that yeah, the Dodge has 395hp, but it doesn't have the low end grunt of the 355hp Chevy. If the dodge had 3.92's it would have matched the chevy for accelleration. That's with now getting much worse gas mileage. All in all, the 5.3 holds it's own against the competitions big engines. It delievers better then some (dodge) worse then others (ford) performance but beats everyones fuel economy. Can't wait for the 6.2, hoping the can pull off a 4wd 20mpg rating or at least a 2wd 20mpg rating.

Reviews like this are great for showing that it may look similar and use old school technology, but it's still the top of the game without twin turbo non-sense or 8 speed transmissions with almost 400hp. Personally, I'd rather have this 6 speed auto vs the 9 or 10 speed that's to come.
 
#16 · (Edited)
While I'm happy to see the Silverado take the crown (no surprise here), I can't take these reviewers very seriously.

Did anyone watch the short video on the C&D site? These guys don't look like they know the first thing about trucks... even with their plaid shirts on :lmao:

If they entered a 3-Series in this comparison, these guys would justify the 3-Series winning.
 
#19 ·
Funny how Ford doesn't seem to get heavily penalized for offering a V6 with the power of a V8 with the expectation of the gas milage of a V6. Clearly it doesn't deliver, so I'd expect Ford to get heavily beat up for having an extra cost, more complex V6 that doesn't deliver. Yet it sounds like many people take it over the offered V8.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Correct me if I'm wrong but when the F150 3.5 ecoboost came out in 2011 , was it not better in gas mileage than the 4.3 was in a GM? and have the horsepower of a V8?

http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2011_Chevrolet_Silverado.shtml

and it took GM until 2014 to respond. I'm pretty sure Ford delivered.

I'm sure Ford's next generation EB will only improve on the mileage as well
 
#20 ·
Wow...When was the last time you heard someone say the F150 feels cheap compared to the Silverado?

well done GM!

The Silverado interior truly is fantastic for a truck, GM really stepped their game up in that department. I love the praise the new Silverado is getting on build quality as well...That is something that has hurt the GM twins for a while. Glad to see it is finally fixed.
 
#30 ·
Ford got a real pass by the automotive press over the past few years. Outside of the design it's nothing special. The GM interior wasn't as bad as most claim in the quality of the materials. The current Ford interior and for years has had hard plastic everywhere. The entire door is hard plastic unless you opt for the Lariat trim which has a faux somewhat soft door arm rest. You have to option up to a Platinum or Limited trims to get a leather padded door arm rest. Outside of the top cover on the dash, everything is hard plastic. Depending on trim again your center console cover can be hard or soft, but you have to pay for it dearly with the upper trims.

Summary GM didn't have as far to advance the interior as most claim. It didn't deserve the amount of negativity at the level that the automotive press claimed.
 
#22 ·
"They will live almost anywhere. They eat almost anything. They will damage just about any environment they encounter. A full-grown adult weighs in at between 150 and 400 pounds. And they have a quite high probability of being shot. They are, then, fairly typical Americans."

That's the part of the article that I take issue with. Whether I resemble the remark or not. :D
 
#24 ·
At the last auto show my wife and I noticed whenever you shut the doors you get this headache inducing shutter throughout the truck. Never seen it mentioned anywhere but this article. We tried all 5 or so trucks they had, they all did it. It wasn't something that could be missed or overlooked, it was very noticeable and ruined the whole truck for me. Glad C&D mentioned it.
 
#34 ·
Saturday I took delivery of a Sonoma Red 2014 GMC Sierra SLT. Wow, this is truck? Drives better than all my previous Avalanches, and the interior is better than I expected. Wish I could've gotten an SLT without the leather, although it seems of higher quality than in the past. Love the LED signature. On a truck! A first! GM? Is that you? LOL
 
#39 ·
Here are some interesting facts I learned during the dealer 2014 Silverado product presentation.

Chevy (and GMC too, I guess) will happily concede that the Ford has a higher payload rating and will let Ford shout it from the rooftops. Why? Because to get the payload rating you need a LWB 2WD Regular Cab from Ford to do that. Now go to your local Ford dealer and ask for one. There is a 99% chance they don't have it and they'll have to order it or trade for it from the boonies where these trucks actually sell. Though Ford shows the SWB 4WD in the commercial taking an 11,000lbs payload.

That most popular selling engine on the Ford is the V6 Turbo. YOU NEED PREMIUM FUEL TO GET ALL THE PONIES AND ALL MPGs. (same with the Escape vs Equinox too) funny how GM always manages to pull this off with a naturally aspirated engine. Also, don't tow with that V6 if it weighs more than a couple of Jet Skis. The Chevy V8 gives better MPG anyway.

I saw the man-step on the F-150 tailgate for the first time. It's quite cheap.
 
#40 ·
It would have been more interesting if the Ford had sported their 5.0 v-8, but good to see the new 5.3 holding its own. That 6.2 should KEEP GM on top for a while as well... nice job GM.
 
#41 ·
Kinda nuts to give Dodge a two point hit on price when these three are all simiarly priced when similarly equiped.

Nice to see everyone who was ready to burn the Ren Center when the new Silverado came out can now calm down a bit. Looks like the folks a Chevrolet know a thing or two after all... Clearly they made some good decisions.

Me, I'm still waiting for nice, smaller, American Pickup.
 
#43 ·
Dodge curb weight is 6000lbs with a GVWR of...6800lbs.

So it can only carry 800lbs? That's like four adult men - and then you'd be maxed out.

Hurray for air springs!

Also, whatever happened to the predicitions that an 8spd Hemi would distort the space/time continuum with it's super duper torque X-ication? Doesn't look to be any faster, maybe just a tad thriftier.

Doesn't seem like they did a really long test of this. I think with more highway cruising you'd see Silvy gas mileage pulling out ahead.

They need to get the 378cid LTZ out into the journo-sphere ASAP - it weighs no more than this model and has all that extra power. The economy story with the 378 and cylinder shutdown might be veeeeerrry interesting. The the bigger displacement in general the better and more often AFM works. The V6 and 378 are both bigger than the 323 when in 4cyl mode.
 
#55 ·
Don't worry... C&D will turn on the Silvy soon enough.
Going from top of the heap to lower than whale poop is standard fare for auto rags.
 
#57 ·
Ecoboost should be called ecodream because all it is, is a wannabe V8 that fails at gas mileage and has to burn premium to achieve its bogus mileage. The only reason it outsells the 5.0 is because Ford has brainwashed buyers into believing it is superior.
 
#61 ·
It's great for the Silverado to take the win. But in fairness usually the newest Detroit truck coming out of the gate takes the win. In my opinion the competition from Detroit are all very close and it comes down to personal tastes and needs. They are all great choices.