|
2007 PickupTruck.com Heavy Duty Shootout, Part 1
of 3
By: Mike Levine,
Kent Sundling, Mrtruck.com and Neil McGarry
© 2007 PickupTruck.com
Part 1: [1] [2]
[3]
[4]
[Intro]
[Truck
Specs] [Dodge]
[General
Motors] [Ford]
[Squat
Test]
Please support our sponsors!
 |
Introduction and Some History
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost five years
since PickupTruck.com was challenged by its readers to
quantitatively prove our assertions about which Class 3
heavy duty diesel pickup was the most capable of that
time.
In late 2002 the diesel market was changing rapidly from
intense competition between Chrysler, Ford, and General
Motors. All had new or significantly revised diesel
engines.
GM and Isuzu Motors had teamed up to produce the
6.6-liter Duramax V8. The Duramax, and its
Allison-sourced gearbox, was a completely fresh design
for GM. It was such an improvement over the old
6.5-liter engine it replaced that GM’s diesel market
share increased from 3% to 25% in a single year after
its release in 2000. Output was rated at 520 ft-lbs of
torque at 1,800-rpm and 300-hp at 3,100-rpm. The race
for the best, most powerful next-gen diesel was on.
In February 2002, Dodge and its powertrain partner
Cummins came forward with a
reengineered 5.9-liter I6. It introduced a
high-pressure, common rail fuel-injection system and was
capable of producing 555 ft-lbs at 1,400-rpm and 305-hp
at 2,900-rpm.
Finally, in spring 2002, Ford threw down the gauntlet
with Navistar to introduce the
new 6.0-liter Power Stroke V8 diesel for the 2003
Super Duty. It replaced the earlier 7.3-liter PSD and
pioneered new engine technology, like an electronic
variable response turbo to dynamically manage airflow.
The 6.0 PSD also claimed best in class torque and
horsepower figures, at 560 ft-lbs at 2,000-rpm and
325-hp at 3,300-rpm.
So when Ford invited us in October 2002 to
drive the new 6.0-liter PSD and our initial
impressions said this was the best motor in its class,
we were promptly skewered by our (Duramax and Cummins)
readers because we didn’t have empirical data to back up
our claims.
(The 6.0 PSD would later suffer from notorious
reliability issues that continue to
haunt and sour the Ford-Navistar relationship to
this day.)
The ‘we’ in this story was Mike Levine, PUTC’s editor,
and Tom Keefe, a top-notch marketing and communications
consultant who had helped GM launch the GMT 800 pickups
and the Duramax.
In the incredibly short time span of three weeks, Tom
and Mike pulled together six different heavy duty
diesels from Dodge, Ford, and GM for a
head-to-head challenge to determine which pickup was
most capable.
While Mike looked for a sponsor, Tom managed all of the
logistics. He setup the tests, ran the trucks in
Michigan, and managed the third party vendor, Ricardo
Inc., we hired to independently collect data about each
truck.
Without Tom’s help, passion, and knowledge, the 2003
Western Diesel PickupTruck.com Heavy Duty Diesel
Shootout would never have happened. But it did and it
became the most popular story we’ve ever had on the
site.
Tom passed away in 2003. For all of us who knew Tom,
we’ll always
remember him as one of the most knowledgeable and
kind-hearted truck guys around. This year’s comparison
is in his memory.
|
Roadside Assistance for Equestrians.
