we're out here in the middle of the California desert with triple-digit
temperatures with two very capable off-road pickup trucks but that's why
we're doing a four-by-four challenge head-to-head
let's see how the 2015 RAM rebel 1500 competes against the 2015 toyota tundra
TRD pro and which one comes out on top
to begin our contest
we looked at measurable details like front and rear ground clearance on both
of our competitors
although the rebel had an adjustable suspension
it was the tundra TRD pro that had more room underneath its front end while the
Rams rear axle had more room underneath it
we also tried to quantify how flexible each of the two suspensions are by
putting them both on a ramp travel stair-step climb as well as walking both
threw a pair of man-made obstacle courses at our local off road park
the two short trail sections allowed us to run each of the pickups up and down
in low range to see how and when they would run out of traction or where they
would get stuck during these back to back rounds
we found the tundra TRD pro had a slightly more flexible suspension better
able to twist and flex the front and rear axle in ways that kept the big bfg
all terrain tires on the ground more often
we also noted that each pickup had a slightly different low-range strategy
although the RAM rebel had a better crawl ratio or a multiplied gear ratio
when taking the first gear times the actual ring opinion ratio times the
transfer case low-range ratio the tundra TRD pro tried to make up that numerical
difference with a smarter more sensitive throttle field where the RAM rebel had
an impressive 48.7 21 crawl ratio the tundra TRD pro could only deliver a
37-point 808 21
but on most of our low range trails the Toyota seem to feel lighter on its feet
and more responsive to the small changes in driver inputs necessary when
navigating a rocks loose or an uneven hard-packed hill klein two tests in
particular that the RAM rebel did very well on included our fuel economy roots
and sound testing to calculate real-world MPG we ran both trucks over
the exact same roads at exactly the same time one a fairly straight high desert
run while the other was a slightly slower run through some mean wind storms
then climbing several thousand feet up a mountain two-lane road in both cases the
ram rebels cylinder deactivation higher axle gears and eight-speed transmission
gave it quite an advantage bettering the tundra TRD pro by almost ten percent on
one leg and by more than three percent on the other
likewise we tested both pickups for how well they kept outside noises outside
measuring sound levels both at idle and at 70 miles an hour
again in both cases the RAM rebel outperformed the TRD pro in case you are
wondering
our favorite head-to-head test and where we learn the most about each of these
trucks had to be the sand drags competition where we ran each off-road
half-ton side by side in a drag race on an open and lonely stretch of hot flats
and to find out who had the smartest traction computers controlling the
engine output and wheel speeds we ran each truck with the tracks are controls
on and off in both to wheel and four-wheel-drive measuring their average
finish line distances from one another
interestingly the tundra TRD pro dominated in each of the four settings
with the exception of the two wheel drive with attraction controls on or
what would be a normal or every day setting everywhere else
RAM rebel fell behind a little and sometimes a lot at the end of our 15
different empirical tests we conducted for our 2015 4 by 4 challenge
the results were very tight with the RAM rebel just inching ahead of the tundra
TRD pro x 26 points out of more than 1,400
and if those 15 scored categories where the full extent of our test we'd be
telling you the RAM rebel was our winner
but that's not the end of our tests we also added a section where three of our
expert test drivers all with varying degrees of off-road and pickup truck
experience to give their impressions in five different categories as they drove
each of these competitors on just about every type of surface imaginable accepts
no at the end of our judges scoring which accounted for almost twenty-five
percent of our total number of points
it was clear the judges liked what they saw and experienced inside the tundra
TRD pro when adding the empirical points with the judges totals the RAM rebel
fell short by just 12 points
finishing with 1913 . 5 while the winner of our 2015 4 by 4 challenge that tundra
TRD pro finished with 1920 5.5 points
this was by far one of the tightest contests off-road or anywhere else that
we've ever been a part of and we congratulate the Toyota
engineers for building such a well balanced off-roader the 2015
toyota tundra TRD pro are 2015 4 by 4 Challenge winner
yeah