Ford F-150 vs Ram 1500 vs GMC Sierra - Finding the BEST Half-Ton Pickup on Sale Today

good morning and welcome to the truck king youtube channel now behind me here are the top selling half ton pickups in north america and arguably in the world now we're more than halfway through 2021 and that's what these are 20 21s and frankly we've had each one of these previously so we've got quite a bit of seat time in these trucks but we rarely get a chance to have them all together at the same time so today we're going to spend a lot more time doing what everybody loves comparisons straight up looking at one versus the other versus the other and then we're going to talk about what we like and what we don't like and in case you're wondering steve normally does the intros but believe it or not he showed up to work this morning without his truck king shirt so i had to give him a timeout but he'll be back later so let's get going [Music] so what we're looking at here today is the gmc denali so top trim the ford we have is a platinum so actually it's down one from limited however it's also optioned up and then the ram is actually a special 10th anniversary edition so once again top trim the other thing these trucks all have in common is not a single one of them is under 80 000 actually they're they're significantly north of that now one of the things that i just want to get to right off the hop is that sure you know we can look at all the stats we can compare them i'll put it in a grid put them across the board but the other thing that we're really going to talk about today is why is someone a brand loyalist it's what touches your heart and that is a lot bigger portion of a buying decision than most guys want to let on but it's true you know it is and we're going to look at that so but nevertheless we're going to look at the numbers we'll start off with the engines and for that i'm going to let steve come out of his timeout and he can get back to work now let's look at the power trains here folks and yes dad let me out of time out for wearing my non-truck king shirt but here i think it's a pretty nice shirt give me a break man anyways let's talk about engines so first of all what we have here today is three gasoline engines i'll throw up the numbers right here so you can see all of the specs i don't want to dwell necessarily on what we're looking at here though i want to talk about sort of what dad mentioned and and just talk about what engines i like in each one of these trucks just based on you know what i've driven and what i end up liking the most so here at general motors if i had to buy a silverado or sierra i'm going to get the 3 liter diesel that duramax diesel is so smooth so powerful so well balanced and so quiet it really is the ultimate package now sliding over here to ford i want to quickly mention you can no longer get a diesel in the f-150 they actually moved away from that discontinued the diesel i'm okay with it because it was never a great diesel to begin with if we're being honest now if i had to buy an f-150 today it's got to be the power boost hybrid that new hybrid powertrain is very impressive you get all this standard pro power on board great fuel economy tons of power that hybrid is impressive and it's the only truck here you can get a full hybrid in finally we were all over to ram and i got to tell you guys in the powertrain department i really feel like ram is falling behind when 2019 rolled around and we got the new redesigned ram we still had the same engines we got the e-torque system but that's not really helping all that much so yeah the hemi is still strong but it hasn't been updated in a while the v6 is pretty good and then of course we do get the ecodiesel and i like the ecodiesel but gm came and basically made a better diesel so all of that is to say if i had to buy a ram today i'm going to get this hemi this is still a strong v8 although yeah compared to the other two i just wish ram would spend some more time on its powertrains now let's take a look at the business end of these pickup trucks and all of them have tailgates with interesting features but one common feature right on the key fobs now there is a button to drop your tailgate so you can let that thing down so if your hands are full you can just drop your stuff right into the bed and this doesn't prove anything but it's fun it's time for a tailgate race i've got two fobs dad's got one fob and here we go ready dad on go three two one go ram there it goes i don't know what's up with this ram key fob i swear to god i'm blaming the fob on this when i keep hitting it doesn't want to go but the gm was the quickest if you saw that one i also think it might be the heaviest with how much is going on over there but that one falls quick yes it is true the ford comes back up the gm can come back up but not on the truck that we have here today and well i don't think ram does that yet let's look at the actual features on the tailgates now and we're starting with ford because ford was the first brand to say hey you know what trucks are so tall now we need a step at the rear end now this is actually the second generation ford bed step the first gen took up a big chunk out of your tailgate like this so it was big raised section it wasn't great they've gotten rid of that and this is a beautiful piece of engineering the step is totally tucked out of your way when it comes time to pull it out it's that simple it hangs nice and low and i gotta tell you i still think that's probably the easiest step to use out of all three of these trucks now that's been around for a while but new for 2021 ford spent a bunch of time on the actual tailgate surface here so they've put in little indents where you can put pencils or pens you can throw your nuts and bolts there you can stand your phone up over here that's kind of handy right there and then you know they put the ruler right on your tailgate so if you're working here you can measure things plus c-clamp pockets so you can bring a c-clamp and actually clamp something to the tailgate and even tie down points if you have something that's longer than your tailgate you can use those i think a lot of these are really clever utilitarian features and clearly ford asked their customers what they wanted because these are real world things that you're actually going to use at least i would especially these tie-downs i think that's brilliant now let's move over here to the gmc sierra because gmc was next to respond in the tailgate wars with this beauty right here and i always like to say it's basically a tailgate in a tailgate now this top section drops like this gives you a nice work nice work station then you have this nice load stopper here now the load stopper in this position is kind of high up but you can build a deck in the bed of your sierra and then that's going to stop any long things next up you can just drop it like a normal tailgate nice and easy this is something i really like and we've actually found ourselves using this a bunch just having a load stopper at the same level of the bed that's handy there's so many things you're always worried about coming out the end now you don't have to worry and then finally drop your inner tailgate this gives you close access to your bed and last but not least roll this sucker down and there we go struggling with it there you get a step down there which is a little higher than ford's maybe but still really handy and the step has a handle that comes with it so gm kind of thought of everything here with this multi-function tailgate and this one even has the accessory speakers down there in the tailgate so if you're out partying actually tailgating you can bust that out too and crank up your tunes so definitely a lot going on here with the gm and now finally let's roll over to the ram now this is the latest fancy tailgate to be introduced and it's an interesting idea and it's definitely a different idea than the other two brands so first of all it's a regular tailgate but then if you use this lower handle you get this split tailgate function now once again the main use for this is being able to physically get in closer to the back of your bed so you can reach things in there and now here's the one thing that actually makes it really handy they did design a specific step so when you get the split tailgate you get that step right in the middle of the truck and you're up and in now i think this is a smart solution but i also think it's really one dimensional this tailgate kind of only lets you do one thing the other tailgates have a lot going on so if we're talking about the tailgate wars i'm not sure i could pick ford over a gm or vice versa but i can definitely tell you that ram doesn't have as much fancy stuff on this tailgate as the other two brands do there's no doubt that these manufacturers copy each other a lot but there are some features on all of these trucks that are unique that you can only get at certain brands one of the big ones ram boxes none of the other manufacturers do this the ram box takes advantage of this big space in the fender over here and it gives you dry lockable storage it's quite a big storage bin as well and actually on the driver's side ram box we also get a 120 volt 400 watt plug so these i think are brilliant they've been updated recently so that these actually lock with your key fob you don't have to worry about locking them individually if you have you know i don't know tools i think is a big one maybe muddy work clothes the ram boxes are a brilliant solution and you can only get them at ram now the other way this truck really sets itself apart is in suspension the ford and the chevy or the gmc behind me they both have leaf springs the ram here it does not it uses a coil spring rear suspension plus available air suspension this is the only truck you can get air bags underneath too so in the ride and handling department ram definitely sets itself apart now rolling over here to the f-150 i think we've gone over the tailgate i think the biggest feature here we have to point out that's unique pro power on board this truck can actually act as a generator for you and that means you get two kilowatts of power at this plug compared to the just 400 watts on the other two trucks so there's no doubt if you want to power things off of your truck the f-150 is the clear option then we get over here to gmc and chevrolet and there's not a ton of things that really set this truck apart that are unique the one i want to point out the bumper step the other two trucks you know there's the tailgate step on the ford that little kind of flimsy step on the ram but the bumper step on the gm i still think is one of the most elegant solutions because it's always ready to go it's just sitting there easy to climb up into this bed yeah that's like a kind of a keep it simple stupid solution you don't need to engineer something that moves and slides just put a step right into your bumper definitely smart thinking from gm now let's talk towing and payload and this is certainly an interesting conversation with these three trucks so first of all i'm gonna put up the maximum towing numbers for all three of them right here now these max numbers are generally for regular cab two-wheel drive long bed work trucks so base base models essentially trucks that don't really exist in the real world at least not in any great number now these trucks that we're looking at are much more indicative of what people buy today crew cabs with short beds and big v8s let's put up the towing numbers for these three specific trucks as they sit these numbers are much more real world as to what most half tons can pull today and that is between 75 and 10 000 pounds you need to realize the numbers that are advertised are not really the numbers you're gonna get in the real world and that is also true of payload so let me throw up the payload numbers right here and yes all three of those numbers are exactly what is off the door jam sticker so 400 pounds out of the gmc and the ford you got to feel pretty good about that less than a thousand out of the ram that's really sad ram and i got to tell you with this truck right here we have all the options running boards the tailgate in the back the big sunroof up there and all that stuff adds up and takes away from your payload but you know what this truck doesn't have a lot more features than these trucks it's not like it has all this luxury that these don't so when you look at it that way i can't explain it away the payload rating in this ram just sucks i want to look specifically at the wheels on these trucks right now and first of all here on the ram 1500 that's an optional set of wheels with these painted pockets i think these are the nicest looking of the bunch i'll let you decide that though too and you can let me know in the comments below but what i want to point out that is a set of 20-inch wheels on the ram over here on the f-150 platinum these wheels are kind of plain that is also a set of 20s although to be fair to ford if this was a limited those would be 22s and now over here at the sierra denali that is a set of 22-inch wheels again i think they're a little plain looking but i'll let you decide please let me know which ones you think look the best but here's the point i want to make general motors just announced that the brand new silverado ev is going to have 24-inch wheels as standard equipment 24s i couldn't believe when they got up to 20s now we're at 22s and we're going to 24s it doesn't make sense for pickup trucks trucks are better off with less wheel and more tire sidewall and it seems as though styling is driving this trend guys want bigger and bigger wheels so once again i want you guys to weigh in on this do you love the idea of huge wheels i'll admit i think they look good too but i would rather have the utility of more tire than a bigger wheel so again weigh in on this are 24-inch wheels a good idea on the new silverado now we're actually out here on the road and we're going to take all three of these trucks for a short drive just so we can talk about well what we like when we're actually in here behind the wheel and sitting in the interior and i'll start quickly with this ram this is the 10th anniversary limited longhorn edition so not only is it the highest trim but it's also a special edition and it's absolutely gorgeous in here the ram does such a nice job with their interiors and it really comes down to small details all of these different materials this knurled metal beautiful wood plus this big 12 inch screen and ram was the first one to go to the big screen we've said this a ton of times and i still think it's true in 2021 ram has the nicest interior in a half ton if that's really what you're going for nice big comfortable seats too um yeah that's everything i see from my side dad what do you feel about the ram and this is where i'm going to talk about what i like and ram if you had to boil it down to one statement it's attention to detail the amount of details in here the amount of materials they could have gotten away with using a lot of the same stuff over and over again but it's it's it's the it's the combinations and it's the way that it's weighted throughout not to mention i dig the uh the kind of the cowboy theme um so really of the three and we'll go through all three of them but this is my favorite we are here in the sierra denali so let's talk about the sierra and you guys have heard this story for months this is the nicest trim gmc and it's not that nice inside i wish i could say something else i think unlike the ram there's not enough materials there's like soft touch leather this one piece of fake metal and black plastic and that's it that's the whole dash it just doesn't live up to a luxury truck in a small screen yeah a small screen you're right feels really small now yeah if denali for me has uh become very schizophrenic i love the outside of it the classic piano black with the chrome it's a look that uh lots of people love and i appreciate it as well and yet when you get in the truck you just kind of go oh okay then and frankly not going to go on about it too much because gm knows and for 2022 we don't know what's coming but we know something's coming and because they can't afford to wait for the next generational update because you're spending 80 000 plus dollars you want something inside that's every time you get in you want to go yeah i'm glad i bought this and right now denali no not glad i bought this yeah that's absolutely true however the only saving grace i'll back it up a little bit this is the cheapest one out of the three of them even though the ford isn't even top trim it's more expensive and it's a trimmed down i don't think he hasn't this is no wrong word you're right but at the top end if at the absolute most expensive if you're looking for the bargain gm is it and finally folks here we are driving in this f-150 platinum now we've said this a couple times but i will reiterate platinum is a step down from limited so this is not top trim and and you know what that i'm going to give ford a lot of credit here i don't feel like it's not top trim you know sitting in this truck right after sitting in the other two i don't feel like it's any worse in fact it's definitely nicer than the gmc is and then again ford's guy with seven trim a lot of trim levels yeah no doubt about it a lot of trim levels and especially up here when it comes to platinum and king ranch and limited you're splitting hairs right like limited you get you get standard 22s you get the standard sunroof but we still get the massive moon roof it's just an option on the platinum so you're right you know there's a lot of choices and like i said your tiny little differences but uh yeah my takeaway here is is ford did a great job with this redesigned interior they brought the big screen they learned from ram though they didn't put it vertical they weren't horizontal with those i don't know if they learned but they just said we're not going to do it the way they did well fair enough you know what i mean they did something different i kind of like this screen better i think um i don't know why i feel like the information is just more usable in this layout plus i mentioned this before when you use the cameras it takes up the whole screen not just the little that is true plus ford does the nice buttons with the screen um yeah i i don't have a lot to complain about and then the last thing which is really smart is this full flat workstation i thought maybe it was a little gimmicky at first but you know what i like it and my favorite thing to add this is funny eating lunch i know i was about to say it's not a rush station it's a lunch station eating in the truck you know and let's be honest you can laugh all you want but if you are someone who works in your truck you're gonna end up eating in your truck a lot it's nice to have a little table man so i think it's smart no it is and you know what the interior is it's it's clean it's neat it's very nicely put together i won't take anything away from them one of the things i do like here is that they've kept a nice balance of dials buttons and touch screen they didn't decide to go heavy one way or the other and the things that you normally want to get to such as your hvac controls and particularly the radio controls are still dials which is something universally accepted it's something you can use without having to look at so you know these things are all good uh the other thing the ford does maybe a little better than some of the other guys is giving you the amount of information they give you particularly in the in the center stack here and the center console is is phenomenal and that's partly because the entire uh cluster is is digital so yeah um good job but at the end of the day it's just doesn't get me the way the ram does well yeah fair enough and that's what this all really kind of comes down to and i mean everyone who watches the channel knows you bought the ramp 2500 so we know where your allegiances lie yeah but i like to think that i can be unbiased enough to give credit where credit is due totally and and i think i mentioned this to you we were talking earlier and i said like these are all good trucks and if this was a race one of them is going to win it by an inch not by a mile it's just they're so close and that's why i keep going back to what touches you what makes you happy um because that matters too and so if i looked at this one versus the ram interior that's the one that bets the smile on my face fair enough now dad i wanted to mention ride and handling because we're here in the f-150 but after now being in all three of these trucks back-to-back just driving empty today i don't think it's worth talking about because they're so similar even the ram with its coil springs and air bags it might be a hair more comfortable than the other two but honestly do you feel a big difference they're all quiet and comfortable yeah and frankly the big thing is that the the sound proofing continues to get better every year and you know what when you're in a quiet interior the rest of the stuff just kind of evaporates anyway so is there is there are there slight differences yes are they enough to even go on about no no well folks we're coming to the end of this video and after doing all of that research and all of those comparisons i figured out why people stick with the same brand it's a lot easier just taking the truck you know but having to go out and really look at all the differences here because there are so many of them and you know what when you're truck shopping today i think it comes down to going to the brand that has the features that you know you're going to love but then there's also that emotional side of things where you just look at a truck and say that's the one for me just because of the way it looks now with that in mind i'm going to tell you if i was laying my money down on a 2021 half ton i'm going to be driving home in a ford f-150 i think this truck has the best balance of the other two it has strong power trains a lot of options and a really nice interior plus all those great features there's a lot to talk about so you know what that's just my opinion though of course i need to hear from you i want you to go in the comments right now and let me know if you had a choice with your own money which one of these three would you buy and oh by the way 2022 is just around the corner and really soon we're going to be getting the new crop of half tons so this is a send-off to 2021 and we're looking forward to the updates coming in 2022. so folks that is the end of this one leave me that comment while you're down there don't forget to hit like hit subscribe hit join to become a member of the channel and then come right back here to trucking to see what we're testing next [Music] you

Channel: Truck King

Views: 533,194

Keywords: trucks, pickup trucks, truck reviews, ram 1500, 2021 ram 1500, ford f-150, 2019 ram 1500, f150 vs ram 1500, gmc sierra 1500, 2020 ram 1500, sierra, ram 1500 vs sierra 1500, f-150, gmc sierra, ford f-150 vs ram 1500, 2021 ram 1500 laramie, 2019 ram 1500 vs 2018 ford f-150, 2019 ram 1500 vs 2019 ford f-150, 2020 ram 1500 vs 2020 ford f-150, 2020 ford f-150 vs 2020 ram 1500, 2021 ford f-150, Chevy SIlverado, F-150 vs Silverado

Id: l2Hs21H6NQ4

Length: 23min 39sec (1419 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 01 2021