RAM 1500 (DT) vs. Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra 1500 (4th Gen)

The newest full-size pickup trucks to hit the American workforce, the all-new Ram 1500 and the all-new trucks from General Motors, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra, translate all of their Republican words into actions by delivering the right amount of space, power, efficiency, and all of their muscles in the era where American trucks are becoming great again or whatever. Doing most of their effort to squeeze the beer out of their top rival, the Ford F-150, these new breed of full-size trucks are showcasing what they can do to the righteous folks, even Cowboy Charlie himself.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

2019 GMC Sierra 1500

The Chevrolet Silverado is hailed as the most dependable, longest-lasting, full-size pickup on the road, based on J.D. Power, and with the advent of this new generation, the all-new Silverado is now the strongest, most advanced Silverado ever, and it's the same thing goes to its twin, the all-new GMC Sierra 1500. These new-age light-duty pickup trucks made in the USA are showcasing country folks what they can do for them, starting with the good parts.

At first, the Silverado is cheaper to own than the Sierra because the former starts at 28,300 US Dollars MSRP while the latter starts at 37,800 US Dollars MSRP but despite the nearly ten grand difference, there's more what the Sierra delivers that the new Silverado can't but more than that later on because whichever General Motors' new generation light-duty pickup you choose, you are greeted by its all-new design which is very macho on the new Silverado but grittier on the new Sierra. Apart from their new muscular looks, these new models now have 20% more cargo volume than the opposition because of their best-in-class bed width and length for standard and short boxes and offer more cargo in the short box compared to the competition's standard box.

On the Sierra, meanwhile, storing stuff in the back makes it more convenient with the addition of the Primary Gate Load Stop which prevents stuff from sliding out of the box. Handy if you're storing so much gym equipment ready for delivery. Apart from that, the Sierra's back gates offer more stuff to do than the new Silverado, therefore, the new Sierra does all the work more than its compatriot.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 interior

2019 GMC Sierra 1500 interior

On the inside, although intimidating on the outside, the new Sierra and the new Silverado are surprisingly as luxurious as a luxury car, and in some models, they've added their first-ever rear-seatback storage compartments, which is something that the competition doesn't have.

The new Silverado, depending on which model you're on, can be fitted with either a 3.0L Duramax Diesel, 2.7L turbo, 4.3L V6, 5.3L V8, and the 6.2L V8 with Dynamic Fuel Management mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox. The Sierra, meanwhile, depending on the variant, can be fitted with the same petrol engine choices as the Silverado, especially the 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine, but no diesel in sight.

With the 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine, it produces 420HP of power and 460lb-ft of torque and has a towing capacity of 12,200lbs, which is great for towing caravans for the trip in the woods and also great for towing a sportscar stuck at the middle of nowhere in need of repairs. To get the most out of its towing capacity, these new trucks come with advanced trailer technology to make them more usable.

In some models, the Silverado and the Sierra can be fitted with special off-road packages, Z71 Off-Road Package for the Silverado and AT4 for Sierra, to make them more capable of handling every single terrain with confidence. The Silverado Z71 fits perfectly in the countryside but the Sierra AT4 easily gets through without all of the drama whatsoever.

For safety, both these trucks are offered with a Forward Collision Alert, Low-Speed Forward Automatic Braking, Front Pedestrian Braking, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Following Distance Indicator, Lane Keep Assist, Rear Camera Mirror, Park Assist, and more.

Although different in every single way, the newest trucks from General Motors are all about getting the job done from 8 in the morning to 11 in the evening, something that Cowboy Charlie would do on a day-to-day basis but if Cowboy Charlie has no interest in those new GM trucks, he would consider the real game changer of light-duty trucks, the all-new RAM 1500.

2019 RAM 1500

2019 RAM 1500 interior

Starting at $31,795 MSRP, the all-new RAM 1500 is a real segment breaker as FCA claims because this new truck beats all of the competition in terms of style, comfort, capability, and performance.

When compared to the competition, the RAM 1500 beats them all with its best-in-class V8 engine towing at up to 12,750lbs, available Active Level Four-Corner Air Suspension, Available Rambox Cargo management to store stuff like a real prepper, best-in-class rear legroom, in-floor storage fit for preppers also, standard 3.6L V6 engine with eTorque producing 305HP of power and 269-lb-ft of torque, standard eight-speed automatic, standard push button start, and the brake rotor size. No light-duty pickup truck in America comes close to the RAM 1500.

It nicked up every award and accolades as well as being named Motor Trend Truck of the Year and such achievement makes the RAM 1500 a clear winner with no questions asked.

So, there you have it, if you are in the mood for light-duty pickup trucks but not in the mood for Blue Ovals, consider the Silverado as an affordable alternative but if you want the best a true American pickup truck has to offer, go for the Ram 1500. Simple as that.

Photo: General Motors/ Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

FH2 Storm Island: The Gauntlet #4

If you managed to score 11 wins during your survival on Forza Horizon 2's Storm Island expansion, you've gained access to your fourth Gauntlet challenge and for this challenge, you will be driving an extreme version of a commoner's RAM pickup truck known as the RAM Runner at the Midnight Forest track while surviving the harsh terrains and the severe thunderstorms as usual.

What is the RAM Runner? Built by Chrysler's in-house tuning brand Mopar, it uses the commoner's RAM 1500 as its base but this is just a collection of Mopar parts developed specifically for this RAM truck, so in short, this is a tuned version rather than a regular-production vehicle like the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. This particular RAM Runner is the Stage 2 package which features an all-coil spring suspension for better off-road driving as well as lengthened and reinforced front control arms, heavy-duty tie-rods and ball joints, and 3.0-inch Fox internal-bypass front and rear shocks. Even though it has offroad parts fitted on an ordinary RAM 1500, it's still road-legal but who would want to take out a big truck on the normal roads?

Anyway, with explainations becoming a waster of time, let's see how did I fare against the Gauntlet I'm facing...



The combination of unforgiving terrain and severe thunderstorms maybe a test of my distinct offroad abilities but the RAM Runner managed to survive the gauntlet without questioning.

That's it! 12 wins! That means I have unlocked the finale! With the finale on sight, what am I planning to do now? You'll find out soon as my journey to Storm Island reached its climax.

Forza Motorsport 4: HIJACKED

No no no no... Not the GTA kind of hijacking cars, Hijack. You know, it's Ridge Racer stuff. Hijack. It's a pickup truck that first appeared in Rage Racer at the end of 1996 and then resurfaced again on RR6 in late 2005 when the XBOX 360 first went on sale. Anyway, enough of that analogy because that Hijack pickup only comes into your imagination but what if you want a true-to-life pickup that behaves just like the Hijack pickup?

What we have here in FM4 are three potential sport trucks that have blown away their "pickup" images to become one of the most performance-oriented sport trucks on the market in the not-too-distant past. Those sports trucks might lose their ability to go offroad but they sure are quite a handful when they start to misbehave themselves. Putting big power in a big pickup truck might sound ridiculous but with all that added brute force, it can be as punishing as The Punisher himself.

Take a look at those three sports trucks I had lined up...

GMC Syclone

Based on the GMC Sonoma pickup truck, the Syclone is GMC's high-performance sport truck that was launched in 1991 and then it spawned a Jimmy-based Typhoon a year later. Some critics say that the Syclone pickup has specifications that had more in common with a Porsche rather than pickups even though the Syclone has a turbocharged 4.3L V6 engine equipped with Mitsubishi TD06-17C 8 cm² turbocharger and Garrett water/air intercooler. It develops 280HP of power and 475Nm of torque while mated with a 4-speed automatic. 0-60mph takes about 5.3 seconds and based on a Car & Driver test, it does a quarter-mile run in 14.1 seconds at 93 mph.



Dodge Ram SRT-10


What happens when you drop a big Viper V10 engine under the hood of the Dodge Ram pickup? The answer was the Ram SRT-10 and unlike any other Ram Trucks, which were focused on utilitarian purposes, it was made for the purpose of speed.

It features an 8.3L Viper V10 engine which develops 510HP of power and 712Nm of torque. The regular cab model of the Ram SRT-10 with such an engine has a top speed of 153 mph (246 km/h), and could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.9 seconds.

During its tenure, Dodge released several special models for the Ram SRT-10 such as the Viper Club of America Edition, the Yellow Fever, the Commemorative Edition, and the Night Runner. Right when the SRT-10 Ram stopped production after the 2006 model year, about 9,527 Dodge Ram SRT-10s were manufactured.

In 2004, the Ram SRT-10 was hailed as the fastest production truck in the world with an average speed of 154.587 mph (248.784 km/h). This record was beaten by an Australian-made HSV Maloo with a speed of 168.668 mph (271.445 km/h).



Saleen S331


While essentially a tuned version of the Ford F-150 SuperCab FX2, the S331 is Saleen's first-ever pickup truck since 2001 and it was priced at $54,000 for the supercharged model while non-supercharged models priced at $44,000.

The supercharged 5.4L V8 engine that powers it generates about 450HP of power and 500lb-ft of torque while being mated with a 4R75-E 4-speed automatic gearbox.

The S331 Sport Truck featured specially tuned front and rear springs and new shock absorbers specifically designed to withstand the bulk of the 23-inch forged, one-piece aluminum wheels holding 305/40R23 BFG high-performance tires, thus giving it a lower center of gravity.

While high-performance trucks sacrificed their utilitarian traits for performance purposes, the S331 keeps its traits while maintaining its performance quo. The base model has a full payload rating of 1300lbs and it's capable to tow a 5-ton trailer.



Okay, now that we finally get to know more about those sport trucks, let's find out which of these three is the best round the Top Gear Track and that means handing them over to the tamed racing driver...



I had the time! Let's see...

Syclone - 1:33.411
S331 - 1:38.145
Ram SRT-10 - 1:31.274

So based on the times, the V10-powered Dodge Ram is the quickest around the track so by sneaking suspicion, maybe the Ram SRT-10 is quite a sport truck that blown away its pickup image and sacrificed its utilitarian and offroad capabilities to become a muscle truck with a big engine that powers it. The Syclone though, that's just right for sport truck enthusiasts because even though it's not quite as fast as the V10 Ram, it's lighter and I think both of these sports trucks are instant classics because it's going to be very rare to find one of those for grabs. These are definitely future classics because of such rarity and value.

What about the S331? Meh, that's just a tuned Ford F-150 but who cares about it?