Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge......again!!!!!!
compared three of the brawniest trucks available. To no one's surprise the near 500 inch Chevy with 5 speed auto beat the other two towing. But here's the kicker: Not only did the Ford, with the smallest motor, keep up admirably with the chev towing IT BEAT THE OTHER TWO WHILE EMPTY to 60 and was 1 MPH slower in 1/4 than the chev. As is usual the Dodge lagged with the exception of up to 50 MPH. The Ford was also over $5000 less expensive than the chev and over $3000 less expensive than the Dodge. It also got the best economy!!! I seriously considered the 8.1/Allison but the price AND NOW THE PERFORMANCE shows the Ford was the best choice!!!!
This is 2 tests now where the smaller Ford V10 beat the Dodge V10.
This is 2 tests now where the smaller Ford V10 beat the Dodge V10.
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I've got the 3.73 rear end and when I put my foot into it, surprisingly, I can chirp the tires when shifting. Get a lot of astonished looks at traffic lights when I dust folks in a 23 foot long truck! Best of all, if I drive a steady 60 mph, unloaded, I can average 15 mpg on the highway. (Of course towing 7800 lbs in stop n' go can really stink ~7.5 mpg) But I really didn't buy this rig for the mileage. IT's a whole lot more fun than the proverbial "little red sports car" at staving off the infamous midlife crisis. (of course my wife now complains that the truck gets too much of my attention.)
Only real complaint I have is an exhaust flutter/resonance at 2300 rpm, not a show stopper, but it's the really only annoyance I've had with truck in 11,000 miles. All things considered I love the V10, and the Ford Superduty.
(The preceding was an unpaid endorsement :-) )
The GM has the waaaay better transmission(which I believe accounts for a lot of the performance diff) but the Ford came in at $5600 LESS. The Ford also got better fuel economy(if you can call it that) Add in the subjective opinion that the HD Chev in that test looks like one of those dolphins that have the deformed fore head and the Ford comes away with a clear victory IMHO!!!
Like I've said a few times already, I considered the 8.1/Allison. But after rebates from Ford I came in at least $5-6000 less expensive. At the time I figured I'd give up some performance for the cash. After reading that test, I really didn't give up anything!!
New F-series getting better all the time.
Regards,
Andy
well I had to say something till I got some other Chevy people in here
The Truck Trend article is in the Sept/Oct issue.
BTW, I like the GM HD, especially the Allison tranny, but the dually fenders and that fore head hood leave little to be desired. (at least in the color of the truck in the mag) I've seen some where that hood wasn't quite so uuuugly.
Regards to all who love Trucks, trucking around, sport trucks, lowered trucks, dump trucks, truckers trucking off in thier
old battered trucks. KEEP ON TRUCKING...
On the ford my complaint with styling of the superduties is the front has way to much plastic, the big grille just makes to much plastic visable.
Ford used to be my #1, then the F150 came out which really turned me off, then they hired that libyan who screwed everything up. At this same time I got a Chevy pickup and fell in love.
I don't understand your libyan thing over and over????
obviously the Avalanche isn't the Silverado, there are no long time avalanche buyers. You know whats funny about Ford styling since the F150 has been out GM has easily out sold Ford in 1/2 ton area. When the F150 came out GM sales jumped. Interesting note.
The original topic, which we've drifted some on, is even though I lean towards Ford I thought as a package the HD was worth a SERIOUS look. The Allison option $$$ AND the $2000 rebates I got put the Ford ahead as far as price. I really knew in my heart that the 6.8L 4 speed auto should be outclassed by the 8.1/Allison. But it's not!!!
As far as 1/2 tons go. If you get to make unfounded sales claims I get to make unfounded buy back claims: If in fact the GM trucks lead in the 1/2 ton segment it's because they count the buy backs as 2 sales!!!! LOL!!!
E-BAY, or similar auction web may net a higher price for your ZR2.
Good luck on getting a good price for your ZR2 and acquiring a Lightning. I am going to read up all i can on the Harley Davidson supercharged truck.
Regards,
Andy
aging babybbomer hotrodder from the 60's
the Viper ran a 12.86 1/4, and the fastest Lighting a 12.91 1/4. Yes the Lighting was going faster at the end but that's normal when it takes loknger to get there. It's the seconds that count. And I quote from the clonclusion: "....no matter how much you modify a Lightning, it is not a Viper."
speeds at end of 1/4. The one who wins is the one who gets there first regardless of speed and time. Also for a $30,000 truck to go up against a vehicle at over twice the cost and come out very close is also impressive. If I buy a Viper i would want my money back if i could not out perform a Lightning by a very great margin. A 450 hp V10 pushrod Viper should have spanked the Lightning severly. It barely made a decent showing.
Notice how when towing the Chevy did the best?
At least we can agree that it wouldn't suck to have any of those three trucks. And I'm VERY happy with my "little" V10. LOL!!!
Silverado Sportside with the 8100 and 500+ hp runs a 12.88 1/4 mile at 105 mph.
Built Jon Moss's Special Vehicles Group at GM.
A 3/4 ton Chevy Silverado weighing 5500 lbs is doing 0-60 in 4.7 secs. Read it for yourselves, this old grey haired babyboomer named John Lingenfelter felt the 5.3 GM V-8 was too wimpy to upgrade, he chose a 5.7L V8 from a LSI Vette and added twin turbos. Article is exciting and makes your heart pump. Love those pushrod 5.7L vortec engines.
I think you'd better read that article again. You're correct on the twin turbos but it wasn't on the 5.7.....it was on the 6.0.
Did they show up with a 2001 Viper?
According to your posts it sounds like it. Wait till the '02 is available. Dodge is rebuilding it from the ground up: 500hp/510ft.lbs of torque. And I think the V10 is going to be a hemi-but not sure on that.
However the Lightning is one hell of a sweet truck. And there's no other factory truck like it. I'll have both in my garage someday.
202 mph unofficially at Bonneville. It did without a counterbalance shaft or roller rockers, also do not forget the outrageous $30,000 price tag. Ford's SVO program tried to shoehorn a Taurus SHOGUN engine (3.0L DOHC YAMAHA built V6) into a Ranger GT with dismal results. Engine and tranny combo was over $10,000 .Ford gave it up, 0-60 in 7 secs was to slow...I liked the cute early Ford Lightning with the 351 Windsor and GT40 heads to make 240HP and made to smoke the 454 SS, some did, infact a Sierra 350 stepside could smoke a stock 454SS, so
Chevy dropped it after 1993 ?? forgot year. I love Chevy and Ford trucks equally, and being somewhat standoffish about Rambo trucks. If I had a 16 year old daughter, i would buy her a Dodge R/T 5.9 250 Hp so she could pick-up her boyfriend and take him out for a coke and fries, opps nowadays its a CUP OF NOODLES.....
PS MOTOR TREND called the GMC Syclone "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURBO"
As for the challenges,
Out pulled a F250 ex cab PSD towing a 19' trailer while I was towing a 24' 5th wheel on a 5% grade.
Out ran a several Dodge Cummings and Ford PSD while we were empty.
The Allison outclasses all other trannies, I was impressed in its operation while traveling thru the northern parts of Wyoming with my 6000 lb 5th wheel. I hardly had to use the brakes on down grades. passed several poor souls parked on the shoulder while there brakes were smoking.
As for the gas mileage I'm not sure how you yahoos are achieving 15mpg with the ford v-10. My sister owns two of them and she gets 7 on one and 8 on the other in town. I would like to get better mileage on mine but 11 and 13.5 isnt bad for a truck that weighs nearly 7000 lbs. Yes it is heavy. If you ever get a chance look at the frames of these beasts, HUGE!!!
So next time you compare performance factor in the weight of these vehicles. You must also consider towing capacity, afterall thats why I bought my beast over the Ford or Dodge. It has a 15,800 lb capacity. Over a ton more than the competition. I can make fewer trips when hauling alfalfa for my manure manufactures.
After 10,000 miles all I can say is that it has been a pleasure to drive, very comfortable and smooth, which is a significant value over the bone jarring rides of the straight axle 4WD SD's
My $0.02
A lightning cost about $35,000 a Dakota R/T cost about $24,000. A supercharger for the Dak with a set of headers and cat back would still cost less than a Lightning,and then you would be comparing apples to apples.Mopar Action magazine set up a Dakota similar to this but it was before the R/T so they did thiers with a 318 and the article was titled "12 Seconds Over Moulan",if that gives you a clue to thier results. The "boat anchor" 360 would give you more power and quicker times.
Any truck even a Toyota can be made to whip the posterior of any other brand if enough money is thrown at it.
Still I respect others choices and all the manufacturers make fine vehicles.
also you may want to use significant figures. What i have learned the past 3 semesters is if the first number isnt a 1 then you report 3 numbers. If it is a 1 then you report 4 for the final answer. If you are using this number in a calculation you use 1 more.
See my edumacation is paying off
TI-89 (best in the world)
Became used to it and love it. Does everything i need it to
I dont like change!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I did like the old bodystyle (98's) and was very happy they didnt change it that much (like most people that chevy sent surveys to suggested)
To this day i wouldnt mind a 97 or 98 chevy.
Ryan, you may be able to find a relic TI59 (circa 1977) programmable calculator with a RPN module. It turned the TI59 into a six level stack calculator. National Semiconductor, Sinclair,
Novus, APF, and a few others made RPN calculators in the '70's. HP the worlds greatest calculator maker is still making them, also Algebraic logic. I took the last SLIDERULE class in 1974, a 1 unit concurrent with Chemistry. Mandatory back then. If you come out to So. California and work for some of the Aerospace companies, they will give you a HP Calculator. Not a TI. Have fun in college. Good luck in whatever engineering field you choose...
Txyank1, don't be so hard on the Ford engineers. GM, CHrysler, Ford hire some of the best from the top schools, MIT, CALTEC, TEXAS A&M etc, only thing is their foreign co-workers have a freer hand in design to market. I blame the bean counters somewhat at the BIG 3. Itr is all about money right? making the big profits.....cutting corners sometimes....
Must be a west coast thing because i no zero people with HP calculators