Edmunds 2007 Truck comparison

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Bryanccfshr

Bryanccfshr

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Comparison Test: 2007 Half-Ton Pickup Trucks

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If there's a major area where one truck unquestionably trumped the rest, it's the powertrain.

The Tundra's optional 5.7-liter V8 and six-speed transmission are simply the most impressive powertrain combination available in any half-ton truck. It's spectacular, delivering its test-topping 381 hp and 401 lb-ft of torque in an effortless, silken flood, hurling the Tundra to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds and through the quarter-mile in a remarkable 14.8 seconds at 93.7 mph.

The Toyota's new six-speed transmission is calibrated brilliantly, and always manages to be in the correct gear regardless of conditions. It executes gearchanges swiftly and smoothly. When you consider that the console-mounted gear selector has a responsive manual mode, the Tundra's powertrain climbs to the top of the heap.

The Nissan Titan's tractable 5.6-liter V8 delivers plenty of muscle, right from idle, and it sounds great. Despite this, the Titan still trails the muscle-bound Tundra by 0.4 second to 60 mph and a half-second through the quarter-mile. The Titan's five-speed automatic delivers firm, satisfying gearchanges. Although it's outshined by the Toyota V8 and transmission, the Titan's powertrain has few faults.

In everyday driving, the Titan's rapid, linear throttle response made the Silverado's seem stodgy in comparison. Throttle inputs in the Silverado are overly damped, and the general reluctance of its four-speed transmission to downshift is very noticeable.

This Chevy V8's fuel-sipping four-cylinder power mode makes the engine seem even sleepier, and it takes a half-beat for all eight cylinders to wake up when you stab the throttle. From our logbook: "The Chevy's soft throttle response is unfortunate. Also, I'm not sure what the numbers say but this one feels by far the slowest."

At the track, our Silverado brings up the rear, trailing the Tundra by nearly a second to 60 mph, although it closed the gap to 0.7 second by the end of the quarter-mile. If you want to learn more about why the Silverado was slower than expected, despite its power ratings of 367 hp and 375 lb-ft of torque, check out our dyno-testing findings. Acceleration notwithstanding, the Chevy's 6.0-liter V8 and four-speed transmission placed last in the powertrain portion of our scoring.

The Titan averaged 13.7 mpg during its stay with us, with a best tank of 15.1 mpg. Despite its extra grunt and weight, the Tundra averaged 14.4 mpg, with a best tank of 16.9 mpg. EPA estimates are 13 mpg city, 18 mpg highway for the Titan and 14 mpg city, 18 mpg highway for the Tundra.

Since our Silverado is a long-term test truck, we have a larger sample size from which to cull fuel economy data. The picture is not pretty. Over 5,436 miles, the Chevy has averaged 12.7 mpg with a best tank of 14.2 mpg. Of the three trucks, the Silverado's performance is the furthest from its EPA rating of 15 mpg city, 19 mpg highway.

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Power struggle
Stoplight racing is not the top priority for most truck owners, but the acceleration ability of an empty truck correlates well to its towing and hauling ability. In this comparison of half-ton pickups, the acceleration results we logged begged the question: Did Chevy bring a knife to a gunfight?

Not on paper. Equipped with the optional pushrod 6.0-liter L76 V8 rated at 367 horsepower and 375 pound-feet, our Silverado is packing a full 50 hp more than the quicker Titan. Sure, the Chevy's automatic transmission has only four speeds to the Nissan's five, but 50 hp is 50 hp. Were the Silverado's ponies asleep, or were Nissan's horses on steroids, or both?

To shed some light on whether any of the claimed power ratings are sandbagged or inflated, we put all three trucks on MD Automotive's Dynojet chassis dyno in Westminster, California.

Full power in 4... 3... 2... 1...
Of the three trucks we tested on the dyno, only the Silverado produced inconsistent results that appeared curiously low across nearly the entire rev range. Most unexpected was a power spike just before redline.

Although the spike resulted in a peak of 297 hp at the wheels — about right for the rated 367 hp at the flywheel, once drivetrain loss is factored in — the Silverado's measured power appeared to be underachieving everywhere else in the rev range.

In fact, the Chevy produces significantly less power than the Titan for the duration of the dyno test until the Chevy finally surpasses the Titan's peak of 291 hp at the wheels.

As it turns out, the explanation boils down to an engine calibration strategy. GM calibrated the 367-hp 6.0-liter V8 to remain in stoichiometric "closed-loop" fuel delivery mode for 4 seconds after the throttle is floored. This fueling strategy helps keep emissions in check (and saves fuel) at the expense of reduced power — about 40 hp less at the peak. Once the driver lifts his right foot from the wide-open throttle position, the 4-second clock resets.

This explains why the Silverado's power is low everywhere on the graph right up to the jump in power right before redline. Corresponding to the expiration of the 4-second window, the jump in power is indicative of the engine switching to open-loop "power enrichment" mode. It is only when operating in this mode that the engine delivers its full rated power.

Release the hounds
On the road, the Silverado's full advertised power will be on tap during extended full-throttle conditions such as towing, or any other situation in which the throttle is floored for more than 4 seconds.

Be aware, however, that the Silverado's horsepower herd will be thinned out during all but the most prolonged wide-open throttle squirts around town. And with an empty bed and no trailer, 4 seconds is a fairly long time to have the throttle matted.

Now that the Silverado mystery is solved, is the Titan pumping out more power than Nissan claims? Probably a bit. With a factory rating of 317 hp, the Titan's dead-consistent 291 hp at the wheels is on the robust side. We're curious if all 2007 Titans are similarly stout.

Torque to me, baby
Peak torque isn't present on the dyno graphs you see here because the Titan and Tundra were eager to downshift during testing. As a result, we had to begin their dyno pulls at engine speeds above those corresponding to peak torque.

With its wide-ratio four-speed transmission and general reluctance to downshift, we were able to capture the Silverado's torque peak of 271 lb-ft at 4,430 rpm. This value, of course, is hamstrung by the 4-second calibration mode described above.

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I suspect the brass at GM is quaking in their boots now that Toyota has gotten serious about competing in the full size truck market. Nobody thought the Camry would be the best selling car in the US when it was introduced in 1983.... I believe the Tundra marks the beginning of the end for GM.
 
I find it amusing that in a recent discussion on foreign full size trucks, several posters stated how you have to "flog" the Japanese trucks to get any real power out of them and the power is readily available on the domestics at a much lower RPM band.....which makes a real truck a truck. Too bad they couldn't get their hands on a Ford and a Dodge for a complete comparison.
 
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I find it amusing that in a recent discussion on foreign full size trucks, several posters stated how you have to "flog" the Japanese trucks to get any real power out of them and the power is readily available on the domestics at a much lower RPM band.....which makes a real truck a truck. Too bad they couldn't get their hands on a Ford and a Dodge for a complete comparison.

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The problem with all of the domestic trucks is the transmission. Chevy and Ford put a 4 speed. Dodge uses an Mercedes 5 speed. But that being said. I will not by a Titan or Tundra.
 
I don't think that GM has to worry much about losing as large a percentage as much Ford, Dodge and Nissan does. Manufacturing capacity of the Tundra will max out at 225-250k a year with the current plants. If sales expectations are met and demand is still there then I think the competition will get really interesting. This is a great thing for truck buyers regardless of your favorite brand because they are all going to get better.

Funny trick GM did with the ECU programming on this truck to get fuel economy ratings and a big number for their "certified" HP. Another funny trick is how after Toyota released their Tow ratings Ford came out and increased theirs just above Toyotas without doing anything to their trucks.
The reason that Dodge and Ford were not tested, They have not significantly changed since the Titan beat them in the test 3 years ago.

I think the GMT 900 and the Tundra are so close(other than drivetrain performance) that eboth would be a good choice.
 
Empty acceleration times can corolate to loaded acceleration times, Something important when a person is trying get onto an onramp whith a heavy load and merge into traffic.
I would like to see a 9k lb trailer towing quarter mile in a test such as this. Or better yet a 0-60-0 test with a heavy trailer measuring aceleration time and braking distance to capture both the ability to tug the load and control it in an emergency stop.

Most any truck will do as a farm or ranch truck without much congestion and in that case I would agree that this testing really doesn't matter much. But Contractors often work in poplated areas with Traffic and city and suburban congestion. Drivability in these conditions is important and the test takes on more meaning.
 
This is RWHP so all the engines are showing what is put on the ground not the output shaft. The engines were the 5.7 Toyota V8 the 6.0 for the Chevy and whatever Nissan has as their only V8. Read the article I linked just below the chart for a complete explanation on how the numbers were reached.
The Toyota and the Chevy both showed the advantages of variable valve timing while the Titan is a good illustration of what happens without it. Torque could not be measured with either the Toyota or the Nissan due to the transmissions kicking down a gear as torque was built up so the sudden gear reductions would probably cause the wheel torque numbers to jump thus they had to throw the numbers out.
 
Yeah, yeah, the Tundra has 401 ft-lbs. We'll be hearing/reading about it for the next 3 months. But, it's still ugly.
 
While I don't think it's hideous, Toyota's newest creation will definitely take some getting used to.

I just have to wonder how powerful (and thirsty) trucks will get before leveling off. The Dodge Mega cab...lord, what a beast. It seems like we're on a slippery slope of the bigger we make them, the bigger people need them. I don't have many uses for a truck that can tow 9000 lbs, but I do want a nice looking truck that looks like a truck. Converse to everything I've said about my tastes in cars, my taste in trucks actually leans more towards Chevy. I absolutely love what they've done with them this year. The Sierra is even better looking. If I were in the market for a full size truck, and they were priced competitively (which I'm hearing they aren't) I'd strongly consider American iron in this category, whether or not it gets to 60mph before a Tundra or not. I feel pretty sure it's got enough power to do everything I'd need it to do. But, since a mid-size truck fits all my needs, and America is sorely lacking in this category, Nissan won out.
Tundra20082.jpg
 
Quote:

While I don't think it's hideous, Toyota's newest creation will definitely take some getting used to.

I just have to wonder how powerful (and thirsty) trucks will get before leveling off. The Dodge Mega cab...lord, what a beast. It seems like we're on a slippery slope of the bigger we make them, the bigger people need them. I don't have many uses for a truck that can tow 9000 lbs, but I do want a nice looking truck that looks like a truck. Converse to everything I've said about my tastes in cars, my taste in trucks actually leans more towards Chevy. I absolutely love what they've done with them this year. The Sierra is even better looking. If I were in the market for a full size truck, and they were priced competitively (which I'm hearing they aren't) I'd strongly consider American iron in this category, whether or not it gets to 60mph before a Tundra or not. I feel pretty sure it's got enough power to do everything I'd need it to do. But, since a mid-size truck fits all my needs, and America is sorely lacking in this category, Nissan won out.
Tundra20082.jpg


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Well you are in Luck. The new silverado is not much bigger than the previous model it is almost the same size.

I still see no reason to test 0-60 times in a pick-up. If you know how to drive. I come on the to the interstate and trust me you will either speed up, slow down, or move over.
 
Peak HP is bike and car stuff, but it sells vehicles to most people. The apparent dramatic HP increase seems to be from about 5000 to 6000 RPM, which is useful if you treat the throttle like a light switch. The larger Toyota engine sounds like it does produce decent torque, which is useful for starting and moving loads at lower RPMs.
 
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