Bench Test: Top five full-size pick-ups

Not since the 1970s, when you could go to a local Ford or Holden dealer and buy a Ford F-100 or Chevrolet C-20, has there been so much interest in big US pick-up trucks.

The market has changed massively since those days of big, basic and primarily single-cab utes; now the majority are premium V8 petrol-powered dual-cab 4x4 pick-ups, promising not only acres of interior room and all the luxury features, but high performance and a hefty towing capacity.

While there are many local right-hand drive conversion and certification companies, you can now buy a full-size American pick-up officially imported by two of the US manufacturers.

Both the latest 2020 HSV Silverado 1500 and the DS-series 2020 RAM 1500 are imported and sold here with official factory backing, although both are still locally converted from left- to right-hand drive (by the Walkinshaw Group).

There are more US pick-ups to come: RAM Trucks Australia will finally release the all-new DT-series RAM 1500 later this year, and a new Ford F-150 is also due on sale in the US before Christmas.

The next-generation Toyota Tundra is due in US showrooms late next year, while an all-new Nissan Titan is not expected until around 2025.

While Nissan Australia continues to investigate local conversion and official sales of the Titan, the jury is still out on whether the new F-150 or Tundra will be global models built in left- and right-hand drive for the first time.

Either way, like the latest DT RAM that’s been available via SCD Remanufactured Vehicle in Brisbane for almost a year, all of these pick-ups will be available to Australians – either via official channels or other aftermarket converters like Performax or Harrison F-Trucks.

Here we are bench-testing the new 2021 Ford F-150 and new 2021 RAM 1500 against the existing 2020 HSV Silverado 1500, plus the equivalent Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra.

Ford hasn’t released new F-150 weight specs yet, so we’ve used the existing model’s figures here since the new model is likely to offer only incremental improvements over its aluminium-bodied predecessor. As for the Titan and Tundra, we’ve used existing specs as no info on their replacements has been revealed yet.

The Silverado has a notable advantage with its peak power figure compared to the others, but the RAM tops the list when it comes to the all-important torque figure.

While the new 2021 Ford F-150 will boast an all-new EV powertrain (the DT-series RAM is also available with mild-hybrid tech in the US), it is expected that the carryover 5.0-litre V8 will be a key model in Australia.

It’s a fair bet that hybridisation will become the norm in years to come, but for now at least it seems Aussie buyers want all the glorious power and torque of a petrol V8 in their big American pick-ups.

The big question mark is over the Toyota engine – if the next-gen Tundra takes up the 4.0-litre twin-turbo Lexus V8 in development, it could potentially beat all of its rivals on power, torque and efficiency.

All these have similar (EPA official) combined average fuel consumption figures at around 13.0L/100km, except for the much thirstier Tundra with its combined average of 16.8L/100km. This is no doubt partly influenced by only having a six-speed auto against the others’ eight-, nine- and 10-speed autos. A new engine (and transmission) can’t come soon enough for the Toyota.

How often you’ll need to stop to refuel these beasts, especially when towing in remote areas, is going to be influenced by fuel capacity too.

All but the Toyota have around 90 to 100 litres as standard (although larger tanks are optional on some), the smallest is in the HSV at 92 litres and the largest in the thirsty Tundra at a very acceptable 143 litres.

Make no mistake – these are big trucks that will fill a city lane like, well... a truck. These are the ‘short’ versions of these utes too; the Ford, Chevrolet and RAM have longer tubs available in the US.

In base 1500 dual-cab form all are just under six metres long, while the width (excluding mirrors) is around two metres – nearly 2.1 metres for the RAM.

Tray size (tub length and width between wheel-arches) are all very similar, and while these dimensions are a useful couple hundred millimetres up from Australia’s top-selling Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, they are not a significant step up in size.

Given the dimensions of these full-size pick-ups, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d all be massively heavy beasts, but the surprise is that none are much heavier than the smaller one-tonne utes we’re familiar with and even the Toyota LandCruiser is significantly heavier at 2740kg.

The aluminium-bodied F-150 is significantly lighter than all but the RAM (which it still beats by 179kg). Despite being a bigger ute, the big Ford’s 2207kg kerb mass is actually almost identical to the Ford Ranger’s.

None of these pick-ups are intended as big load-haulers – that job is left for the 2500 and 3500 versions of the Ford, HSV and RAM (and the just-superseded Titan XD). The Nissan and Toyota don’t have any heavier-duty alternative in their respective ranges.

Yet the Ford F-150 again takes the lead with significantly better payload capacity by 200kg-plus against all but the RAM, which is 163kg short of the Ford’s capacity. The Tundra well and truly trails the field with its 693kg payload.

It’s worth noting that when towing anything that the towball download of a trailer becomes part of the tow vehicle’s payload, so you can count on subtracting at least 400kg from these figures above if you’re towing 4000kg-plus. That doesn’t leave much weight for passengers, let alone anything else.

Towing is what these utes are all about. They all have better towing capacity than the typical 3500kg maximum the wider Aussie tow-vehicle market offers.

The DT RAM 1500 has a better towing capacity by a fair margin – its 5144kg is a solid 644kg more than the next-best Silverado at 4500kg. It’s worth noting, however, that 4500kg is the legal maximum in most Australian states before more complex air-brake systems are required.

Between 3500kg and 4500kg, all that these vehicles would require is a 70mm towball instead of the 50mm ball used up to 3500kg. It’s worth noting that if you can live without a petrol V8 and select the 3.5-litre turbo-petrol Ecoboost V6, the Ford F-150’s towing capacity is substantially higher at 5760kg.

Like HiLux-class (mid-size) utes, it is in Gross Combined Mass – the total permitted weight of vehicle and trailer combined – where it becomes apparent that you cannot tow anything like the stated maximum weight while also carrying a full payload.

In fact, for two of these pick-ups, you can barely take the weight of a driver with a full trailer behind. You’d be left with 152kg for payload in the F-150, 72kg in the HSV, 79kg in the Nissan and 181kg in the RAM.

If you use a 4500kg trailer mass as a threshold (given that an air-brake system must be used beyond that) the RAM has the best payload/towing compromise, as it can carry up to 825kg with a 4500kg trailer behind and still meet its maximum GCM mass limit.

The Toyota has the lowest towing capacity of the group at 3995kg, but at least it can also carry its full 693kg payload at the same time.

In the US, some utes are available in literally hundreds of permutations, but here they are often imported only in mid- to upper-spec trim.

So far, official imports such as the HSV Silverado (and DS-series RAM) have undercut the equivalent models from low-volume, non-official importers on price, but then again most of the latter appear to be better specified as standard.

Comparing specs is going to be difficult because of the multitude of options available ex-USA. Yet you can guarantee that models sold Australia will be well-appointed with features like leather interior, alloy wheels, high-grade, large-screen infotainment system, reversing camera, traction/stability control. Other safety tech such as AEB, lane departure warning, blind-spot detection and more are a given for these utes.

While the HSV’s price was correct at the time of writing, the rest required a bit of crystal ball gazing and a look at what current models available in Australia cost now.

If the official imports are anything to go by, prices are likely sharpen on our estimated prices above for the Ford, Nissan and Toyota pick-ups if the manufacturers do finally go ahead and bring in the trucks themselves (even if they’re locally converted).

While the big US pick-ups are all very similar, the winner of this bench test by a nose is the new DT-series RAM 1500.

While it lacks the ultimate payload capacity and light kerb weight of the aluminium-bodied F-150, it has the best mix of real-world recreational towing and payload capacities.

And given it will be an official import when it arrives late this year, it will be competitive on price.