There’s no denying the new Ram 1500 EcoDiesel is one very good truck. Not only it achieves an impressive fuel economy of 26 miles per gallon in the combined cycle, but it’s also good for towing. As Motor1.com’s Senior Editor Jeff Perez discovered during his first drive of the new diesel-powered pickup, “it's a best-in-class towing machine with tons of torque, sharp styling, and capabilities you expect.”
The 1500 EcoDiesel is the latest and probably hottest diesel truck to join the half-ton segment and the folks over at TFLnow decided to race the model against a Chevrolet Silverado Duramax to find out which one is quicker off the line. Yes, drag races are not the way customers usually compare trucks before buying one but this short run could give us answers to many questions.
Gallery: Diesel trucks drag race
What’s under the hoods of the two pickups? The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel has a 3.0-liter V6 compression-ignition engine with 260 horsepower (194 kilowatts) and 480 pound-feet (650 Newton-meters) of torque, mated to an eight-speed automatic. Against it, the Silverado puts to use a 3.0-liter straight-six diesel, good for 277 hp (206 kW) and 460 lb-ft (624 Nm) of torque. It uses a 10-speed automatic.
Now that we have the numbers on the table, it’s time to race. Don’t expect anything super exciting but it’s still fun to watch these two large machines being pushed hard on the drag strip. TFLnow decided to make two quarter-mile runs with the drivers switching their trucks in the name of objectivity. Both times, the winner was the same truck.
Truck Wars:
It’s important to note that these two pickups are quite similar. They have engines with the same displacement, similar rear axle ratios, identical cabin layouts, and just two driving wheels. It can’t get any more apples-to-apples than that.
Source: TFLnow