i'm mark williams for pickup trucks .com and we're here in the triple digits
backcountry deserts of Utah with to toe monsters
the first is the 2013 ford f-450 super crew platinum the other the 2013 ram
3500 HD super crew
laramie longhorn these are the two biggest baddest tow vehicles that you
can buy in the United States but they're very similar but also very different
we know what you're saying these should not be compared in a head-to-head test
we have a class four truck pitted a class 3 truck but we don't care about that these
are the two top
gcw GVW trucks that you can buy
so we've taken them out for a showdown and test
let's see how different they really are powerstroke uses a v8 configuration
cummins uses a straight 6 400 horsepower 800 foot-pounds of torque for the ford
powerstroke 385 horsepower 850 foot-pounds of torque for this high
output cummins. with the f450 the only ring opinion choice you get is 432 one axle
that used to give this
f-450 the biggest towing capacity numbers in the industry but that's all
changed for 2013
the new 2013 3500 HD has a gcw number of thirty-seven thousand six hundred pounds
that blows away the previous winter which was the f450 by almost 5,000
pounds
that's impressive the similarities
both are just under seventy thousand dollars both have 14,000 g VW numbers
both have turbo diesel engines and six-speed automatic transmission
we've always liked the Super Duty interior they've done a very good job of
pushing
let's be honest the entire industry to do better than they have in the past but
from what we're seeing at this high level these are vehicles that are just
under seventy thousand dollars this is a very nice interior for a truck that
might be fifty thousand dollars but for seventy thousand dollars
still a lot of hard plastic little hard areas to put your elbow
probably not the standard of the segment anymore
inside our test unit here this is the laramie long one
this is the top of the line for ram heavy duty and quite honestly this is
the standard that everybody else is now going to have to meet this is the bar
that's been pushed up with their previous generation
so now this is what luxury in a full-size pickup truck especially a
heavy-duty pickup truck is all about a lot of great materials everywhere you
touch soft stitching everywhere on the door and in the center console seats
heated and air-conditioned
that's amazing for a full size
well we've talked a lot about these big hollers and they're different
personality characteristics
it wouldn't be a pickup trucks . com test if we didn't get these things out
on the road and push them to the extreme and there's nothing more extreme than
more than 16,000 pounds of bricks and an 8300 pound flat bed gooseneck trailer
fully are suspended with a hydraulic rear tailgate and just in case there was
any doubt this was no fashion show we took these two trucks out on the road
for over a week
we did more than 1,300 miles we checked off Davis Dam the Eisenhower grade
we ran through that the desert and triple digit heat we also got to carve
through huge mountain passes and we got to spend a lot of time behind the wheel
here are some of our driving a question the driving portion for the Super Duty
has been very impressive we literally have had on the back of this truck for
over thirteen hundred miles maximum fifth wheel towing capacity in this
truck 24,000 pounds plus and this vehicle
the powerstroke didn't even break a sweat
we had some very hard hill climbs that we had to go up we had long distances to
go through some triple digit heat we had to power through but the Super Duty did
phenomenally well if this is the outer limits of its capability
we're very confident that people are going to be comfortable no matter what
they're telling with this truck
we literally push the limits of this truck with a gooseneck flatbed trailer
on the back and had 24 and 28 thousand pounds pushing behind this truck and
this exhaust brake did a wonderful job of downshifting with the grade braking
and also keeping things confident and under control
keeping those the RPMs up and keeping your speed down to a nice safe level and
that's what towing is all about staying safe and staying confident
well here we are in Dillon Colorado at the base of the famous Eisenhower great
we've had the chance to take these two king of beasts and put them through a
whole bunch of different towing test and we have to tell you there's been a few
surprises in fact to get all the information and the data that we've
collected
you're going to have to go read the full story at pickup trucks com
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