Three-Quarter-Ton
Gas Pickups - 15%
Grade W/10,500# Trailer:
The
15% grade was where we separated the men from the boys. Inclinations
this steep expose even the slightest powertrain and platform weaknesses.
And there was almost no time for a truck to recover and mask any shortcomings
in its powertrain during the brief 820-foot run.
NOTE:
Due
to space and readability considerations, the bar graphs
below only show the test results from 100-m (300-feet) to 250-m (820-feet).
See the table at the bottom for full test results from 50-m to 250-m.
All
times and speeds measured are shown cumulative over the run.
In
the graphs below: the lower a truck's bar is, relative to the other
two trucks' bars, in the "Time Over 250-Meters" graph the
better it performed. The higher a truck's bar is, relative to the other
two trucks' bars, in the "Speed over 250-Meters" graph, the
better it performed.
The
shortest time required to cover the 250-meter distance determined the
best performing truck.
Three-Quarter-Ton
Gas Pickups 15% Grade W/Trailer Summary
2008
Ford F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab 6.8-L V10 4x4 SRW 5-speed auto
4.30
2007
GMC Sierra 2500 Crew Cab 6.0-L V8 4x4 SRW 6-speed auto 3.73
Cumulative
Time
(sec)
Speed
(mph)
Time
(sec)
Speed
(mph)
Time
(sec)
Speed
(mph)
50-m / 164-ft
12.73
14.30
11.14
16.61
12.38
12.27
100-m / 328-ft
19.93
16.66
17.25
20.45
20.04
16.38
150-m
/ 656-ft
26.51
17.70
22.46
23.01
26.05
19.81
200-m / 984-ft
32.78
18.19
27.16
25.14
31.02
23.97
250-m
/ 1312-ft
38.93
18.36
31.53
26.93
35.55
28.23
Three-Quarter-Ton
Gas Pickups 15% Grade Assessment:
The
V10 powered F-250's timing was even better during the 15% incline than
the 7% hill, relative to the Sierra and Ram times in the same
tests. The 4.30 rear was a huge help, but the V10's monster torque
was also required to get off to a dominant 16.61-mph start in the first
50-m. Ford's gas engine team should be very proud of how this truck
performed on such a radical slope.
The
Sierra also performed ok. But we wonder how much closer or different
the results would have been if the old 8.1-liter big block V8 was still
available for the GMT900 heavy dutys.
But
the Ram. Whoa. It fell flat in this contest. In first gear the 5.7-liter
HEMI V8 got off to a good start, neck and neck with the 6.0-liter Vortec
Max in the GMC, but as soon as the HEMI shifted into that tall 1.67:1
second gear (that we first mentioned during the level 1/4-mile hauling
tests) the truck could only lug its way up the rest of the hill. It
was a graphic example of how a single mismatch in components caused
a giant stumble in performance during this stress test.
