I see so much disdain for pickups here on r/cars but figured this would be a good comparison to do as these are consistently the two best selling vehicles year after year.
I’ll get the why out of the way first. I bought both of these because I’ve always liked trucks. I don’t actually need their capability anymore than I needed my C7 with the Z51 package and 3.whatever to 60/over 1G cornering capability or the 392 Hemi in my Charger that averaged worse mpg than both of these. I wanted a comfortable, large vehicle with a massive back seat and a V8. Really no justification other than I wanted it just like all of the other unnecessary vehicles I’ve owned.
These two aren’t a perfect match trim for trim but it’s relatively close. The Silverado was a 2021 LT Trail Boss 6.2L that was completely optioned out minus the sunroof. This truck had a ton of issues that GM wouldn’t acknowledge or fix and I was luckily able to sell it to Carvana for more than I paid four months and 6,500 miles later.
The F150 is a 2023 XLT 302A FX4 with the 5.0 and 3.73 electronic locking rear end.
I’ll discuss powertrains first as I’ve now owned three 6.2 LT powered vehicles and three Coyote powered vehicles. The Chevy had a better programmed transmission. It was butter smooth and never once had a rough shift even when cold. The Ford’s 10 speed is just as good once warm and you’re tipping into the throttle but will sometimes deliver a clunky shift at low speeds especially when cold.
The engine performance surprised me a bit because the difference in torque is much less pronounced here than it was between my two Mustangs and Camaro/Corvette. I credit this to the Ford’s 3.73 rear vs the Chevy’s 3.23 and the Gen 3/4 Coyotes massive power increase over the gen 1 and 2 my Mustangs had. The 6.2 has more low end. It’s noticeable but the 5.0 will easily move this truck around under 2k rpms. It’s also redlines at 6,800 rpms vs the 6.2s 5,500 and sounds so much better. Get on the gas under a bridge and the exhaust echos sound like a quieter Mustang GT. The 6.2 sounds nice too but it’s that generic truck V8 sound and no exhaust note to speak of. Just like in the cars, I think the 6.2 is the “better” engine but I’ll personally pick the Coyote every time due to that hard pull all the way to redline. I averaged 18 mpg with the Silverado and 19 in the F150 both on 93.
My Silverado had the pre refresh interior so I won’t dog on it too much. It was bad. The new design is similar ergonomically and I’ll just flat out give the interior win to the Ford. I’m trying to think of even one area I liked better in the Chevy. The column shifter was nicer than Ford’s. My F150 has the console shifter that will fold flat. I thought it was a gimmick but it came in handy when I needed to fill out paperwork. The lowered door sill and mirrors provide better visibility in the Ford. As well as the lower dash board. Seat comfort is much better. I haven’t had constant CarPlay connectivity issues or nonstop rattles like in the Chevy yet. Both have absolutely massive cabins.
Both of these trucks have their respective trick tailgates optioned. I liked the Silverado’s version better. It folded into more useful configurations and came standard with a very nice bed liner. I needed to return a damaged 7 ft barbell when I had the Silverado and the multi folding tailgate made that a breeze.
Ride and handling is pretty different. The Silverado had a smoother ride but could be bouncy on the highway. The F150 in comparison has a borderline rough ride but feels more planted and stable. The Silverado had tighter steering. By that I mean the steering ratio seems higher in the Ford.
One thing that really frustrates me about Ford is how they gatekeep options behind trim levels. The XLT is the volume trim yet you have to move up to a Lariat to get the auto 4wd and heated steering wheel. Both of which are available in the LT trim Silverado and comparable Ram.
Overall I think the Ford is the much better designed truck. I formed that opinion within 30 seconds of sitting in the driver seat and continue to feel that way every time I drive it. I do think the Silverado is good enough post refresh that it would be the better truck for someone with a different use case than me and should still be in the running.
The only truck I’ve ever drven for a significant amount of time was a 2013 Ford Raptor owned by my former trust fund baby friend. Was pretty baller, I’d probably choose a Bronco Raptor or F-150 Raptor if I was getting a truck today!
Don’t all GM trucks have cylinder deactivation? I heard there are some reliability concerns about it but I can be disabled. Other than that, these two trucks are pretty similar, just depends on the little things you talked about. But I would prefer a pushrod engine in a truck, so Silverado is better imo.
The newer trucks have DFM which can disable individual cylinders depending on load where the old AFM system just shuts down four at a time.
Honestly all of the modern V8s and boosted 6 cylinders are more than powerful enough for a half ton. Just get whichever you like the best they’ll all do the job fine.
The 3.0 Duramax doesn’t have cylinder deactivation. The 2.7 has it, but it works completely different than the pushrod engines.
Haha, I see my “fans” are on here downvotung again for the fun of it.
Any experience with the Titan? I know they’re not the greatest trucks, but they appeal to me
I had one as a rental for a week. It was a nice truck and very comfortable to drive. My only complaint was the radio screen was terrible quality and looked like something from 15 years ago.
I bought a used 2019 Titan Pro 4x last year. Compared to other trucks, it was the best price, good enough ride quality, good enough cabin quality, good enough technology and still under factory warranty. The problem was, for every week I drove it, it spent 3 in the shop. It was getting covered under warranty but not without a lot of phone calls to Nissan Corporate and the BBB. My life was evolving around getting the Titan fixed.
After 10 months, we traded it. For whatever reason, the previous owner never got the issues fixed. I think if they did some of them it wouldn’t have been a bad vehicle. The whole process soured my experience with Nissan trucks. I had a 2014 Fronter that was bulletproof and I think the new ones are functionally the best in the midsize. I just can’t bring myself to try Nissan again anytime soon.
The previous owner probably couldn’t get them fixed. GM flat out refused to fix and couldn’t fix issues with my Silverado and Blackwing so I got rid of them. I’m sure their new owners are fighting GM to get them fixed.
I think the Titan (and Frontier) can be a good value, especially used, because everybody either forgets they exist or lumps them in with Nissan’s problematic vehicles.
They may not compete with the Big 3 on options and features and sheer variety of configurations but they’re basically solid trucks that will do basic truck stuff just fine.
The biggest problem is there just aren’t as many of them floating around the marketplace so finding one the way you want one configured isn’t as easy as with a F150, Silverado/Sierra or Ram.
A lot of the same applies to the Tundra but it benefits (deservedly) from Toyota’s sterling reputation (rusted out frames, notwithstanding) and is subject to the Toyota tax making it less of a bargain.
I have friends with both! But they’ve both had issues.
The Silverado had issues with the 5.3, started some tick that comes from a lifter I think? Pretty common issue, he ended up just trading it in recently for a cummins.
The F150 has a transmission problem (and it has never towed), it lost a couple gears, right out of warranty. He’s dreading the day that the transmission goes all the way out. It’s fine on the highway because it has all the overdrives, but without 2nd and 4th, it can drive weird around town.
Both of them have had electrical issues, and built quality problems.
How the hell do the most popular vehicles in the US have QC issues? I would have assumed (I’m not a truck guy) these trucks were bullet proof because of the volume of production = super streamlined build with all the kinks ironed out
Sounds about right. My dad has owned both Ford and GM trucks over the years and he’s had issues with all of them. Both brands have been about equally problematic. This time, he got a 2021 Tundra because he was sick of the issues with Ford and GM trucks. He didn’t even care that Tundra doesn’t ride as nice and gets worse gas mileage. Lol.
“they’re all junk!” - the dads of the universe
I had a 2010 Suburban in 2016, only 6 years old and it plagued with issues, the dashboard cracked too… it’s common for them since they’re built with such cheap brittle plastics. I sold it.
In 2020 I needed to tow again, but I got a 2011 GX460… 9 years old! It was perfect, solid, no issues, I could push on the dashboard and nothing would make a sound. Sold it once I didn’t need it anymore, the new owner is still happy with it.
I worked for a ford dealership for a while and I gotta say you really dont want anything post covid from them. Cars would come factory with tons of issues we’d have to have our mechanics fix.
I use to work at Ford, guess what I saw nothing but Ford Vehicles with problems :o
Worked at Honda, saw nothing but Honda vehicles with problems.
Its almost like working at a particular brand all you see is problems from that brand. Interesting right?
Working at a private shop, I wouldn’t touch a GM product that wasn’t a Corvette, and even then it would be a hard sell for me on the Vette.
The lifter tick is why I finally traded mine it. It started knocking bad on cold starts. Dealer wouldn’t touch it until the lifters fully collapsed lol. They were telling me there was a 3 month back order on lifters and they don’t do loaner cars.
What was the MSRP difference for the Silverado and F150 in your post?
GM has had lifter tick on their V8’s at startup with their AFM engines since they came out. I had a lifter collapse on my Camaro. AFM is dumb.
If I had to get a truck it would take a lot to convince me not to buy a F-150 with a coyote under the hood due to how impressed I’ve been by the coyote in my mustang.
And just like the mustang, if 400 HP ever gets a bit too dull and you need some spice in your life here’s a blower kit from Ford Performance with a 50 state legal CARB sticker. Nothing major, just a modest 75% power bump.
Transmission tuning is horrendous when supercharged. You’ll want ti go the warranty void route when supercharging to fix that.
That’s funny because on the Mustang side of things people generally rave about the 10R80 shifting improvements with the Ford Performance tunes.
10r80 is a great trans, nobody really knows this but the 10 speeds in gm vehicles and fords are almost identical but the fords seem to be more reliable
Huh? I’m a manual guy, but all I ever heard (from both sides) with the shared A10 in the Camaro and Mustang was that the Camaro tuning was far better.
Maybe it’s just personal opinion but I’ve always thought the silverados shit like absolute shit compared to the F150s. Then again the tuning is probably different from the full size trucks to the cars
but the fords seem to be more reliable
Pretty much the exact opposite. r/F150 has plenty of people with 10R80 problems and needing replacements/rebuilds. The 10L90 in GM products seems to have the shift patterns optimized better and I haven’t heard of many needing work done on r/Silverado or the GM truck forums.
Funny, given the fiasco the 8L90 was.
I’ve personally replaced far more Silverado transmissions than F150 so I didn’t think it was the other way around but I’m only one guy so
There were multiple lawsuits against Ford over the 10 speed transmission.
It’s horrendous when stock too lol
It’s a shame as a I had planned on a xlt regular cab with fp700 package as a commuter. Seems like the issue is too many gears and improper programming for choosing.
GMCs have the same transmission and it’s excellent, purely a tuning issue by Ford. As soon as my warranty is up I’m getting mine tuned, the truck is pretty great other than the tranny.
The thing 5.0s have been experience since 2018 is pretty abnormal oil consumption that and 14th gen/21s got cynlinder deactivation so remains to be seen how well that holds up.
If you wanted something large and comfortable it wouldn’t be a truck with its archaic chassis.
Wait, trucks aren’t large? And half-tons don’t have large tires with big suspension travel to make them really comfortable?? Where have I been???
Nice review OP and I liked you did this in a place full of where people just blindly hate trucks and act like children when someone mentions them. These kind of posts give this place some much needed balance.
I have driven all the top trims of the big three brands and I agree with you, the F150 is technically the “best” of all the half tons, but how they do options now is almost like my BMW in terms of excess and they make you pay through the nose to get things you actually want. The F150 seats are a benchmark and all other brands should have them.
I drove the 2023 F150 Limited when I was in a search for my vehicle to tow and I learned quickly that despite its car-like ride, the XLT/Platinum were the best trims you could get and you dont really need more. The bed flex however and its ride quality put me off, it rode way too much like a typical economy vehicle to justify its price tag, not to mention the Powerboost felt too slow to me and I wanted a diesel.
The Ram trucks ride like luxury SUVs and have incredible interiors, but I feared being in the shop too much and frankly the dealer by me was an asshole so I gave up on them. The GM trucks (GMC and Silverado) may have an older chassis (T1XX), but they do highways nicer, the Sierra high trims ride almost exactly like the Yukon and Escalade I drove. Plus I got Supercruise which makes long trips towing a breeze and I get the Duramax which can get up to 30mpg in such a big truck.
For better or worse when it comes to pickups, I think they design them on purpose to not eat into each other’s markets and for people like me that just needed a truck and have zero brand loyalty, buying one was a very very hard call and just like you, I despise how Ford plays games with options, solid review.
The powerboost felt slow? I mean compared to a raptor r maybe. It has 570lb/ft and does 0-60 in the low 5s.
Because of the propower, the powerboost is all I really considered. I only have 7k miles on mine but so far no complaints. The awesome seats and hands-free blue cruise make long trips pretty easy. I’ve also successfully powered our camper including ac with no issues.
I like Chevys towing aids more, anyone can haul stupid big loads with a new silverado
When I was buying last year, the refreshed Sierra was my second choice. I actually preferred it in a lot of ways over the F-150 I ended up with. I personally think the new GM interior is better than the 14th gen Ford.
That said, the F-150 was a better value for me. GM also gatekeeps options. Like the fact that a $65,000 fully optioned-out Sierra Elevation doesn’t have a power-adjustable passenger seat (but it has leather, Bose, sunroof, etc). And if you want an auto-dimming rearview mirror, you had to get the dumbo tow mirrors, which no dealer ordered their half-ton trucks with. They also charge you extra for any color that isn’t work truck-spec Summit White.
To get the Sierra I really wanted, I’d have had to step up to an AT4, which was significantly more expensive than the 302A XLT F-150 I have. Or, I would have had to get an SLT and do a full-color matching on the bumpers, handles, mirrors, etc., which also would have been more money and effort. My F-150 was as I wanted it right off the lot, minus adding Katzkin leather, which the dealer facilitated for me.
What’s your long term truck pick for reliability?
Assuming 2020s.
Last gen Tundra/Tacoma or a gas F250.
5.3s are pretty reliable once the MDS is disabled. Same with the 6.2. This is in comparison to other trucks. In my region at least, they maintain a reputation for long-term reliability. This is compounded by the wide availability of parts and shops which specialize in them. They’re great engines when working properly. No replacement for displacement as they say. I’ve got a CTS-V V3 with the 6.2 LT4 and haven’t faced any major issues (other than a starter motor). Yes, it currently shows a CEL, (too lean) - but no issues with performance. Had I bought an M5 at the time for example, it’d be in the shop longer than it would be on the road (I used to own a '13 750 (with the N63TU) and the engine was replaced under warranty at just 15k miles). I also owned several E60s (most recently a 550i LCI with the N62) - and eventually got bored of the continual oil leaks and repair costs. I plan on keeping the V for a long time. This is coming from an owner of a '10 Range Rover with the infamous 5.0 Supercharged V8 (a car I love too - but I can’t deny that I’ve spent more maintaining it than the total repair costs on the V - which I’ve owned since '17).
5.3s are pretty reliable once the MDS is disabled.
Nah, 2020-2022 had lifters going out all the time whether you disabled DFM or not. Bad parts supply.
Pre 2022s are quite good. Haven’t experienced the later ones. However - with the newer ones, you get the benefit of a warranty.
once the MDS is disabled.
Isn’t MDS Chrysler? GM has DFM and AFM.
Yes. Same concept though.
Just want a giant fucking truck for no reason other than wanting a giant fucking truck. You are the problem.
What an insightful contribution. Thanks. I learned a lot.
My dad had a 2019 Ram Laramie, which was a rock solid truck, completely problem free for 100K miles, but he decided to get a new truck. He had his heart set on a High Country Silverado or a Sierra Denali, but I told him that he needed to test drive the F150 too. He’s not really a ford guy, so he was being reluctant about it, but he agreed to test the F150 after he tested the GM offerings.
Yeah, he drove home that day in a 2022 F150 Lariat. It craps all over the GM offerings. His is a 3.5L ecoboost, which is knocking on 50K miles without a single problem.
What about the GMC and Ram ?
My only experience with a current gen Ram is a rental I had. The 5.7 is a dog compared to the 6.2 and 5.0. It rides better than both of these though. Drives more like a big car than a truck.
Have a 2021 F-150 and had a rental Ram a while back.
The Ram powertrain is amazing from a low end torque and transmission perspective. Options and build quality wise though, it was garbage. Already had cracked plastics and rattles everywhere, fuel economy was atrocious (14/19 city/hwy) compared to my Ford, infotainment was meh, and the shape of the hood blocked so much of the view towards the front.
I have a 2017 Ram 1500 Bighorn V8 and it’s one of my favorite vehicles I’ve ever owned.
Tows fine, has RIDICULOUS amounts of storage (one of my favorite things because i have a ton of tools i don’t use everyday but still need), and plenty of power for work.
But also doubles up as an phenomenal daily. One of the unique things about Ram is ride quality and handling. It gets brought up every now and then but it’s super unique in that regard. They drive like cars instead of trucks. Additionally it’s spacious and packed with all the creature comfort features of a modern luxury.
The biggest thing is the price point though. You can the same features of alot of the high end trucks for a fraction of price. I’m not saying their cheap but you get alot of bang for your buck.
Reliability is the big concern but personally I’m 140k+ with nothing but regular matientence and I actually use it for work. However I might just be lucky in this regard.
Overall though, I think it’s a great choice for the kind of person that needs utility for work but also wants something nice to haul their family around in.
Reliability gets bandied about as a whole brand, but you have to remember the context that it’s in comparison to the aggregate. So like, 98% of F150s will be flawless vs 93% of Ram 1500s so Ram gets the reputation for being less reliable. Not exact numbers but you get the point. They’re still the 3rd best seller for a reason. When you sell hundreds of thousands of vehicles even if 1% have issues that’s going to be a lot of vehicles.
What about the GMC
It’s a Silverado with a different front end.
different interior as well