2015 AutoGuide.com Truck of the Year: Part 1

There was a time when pickup trucks weren’t expected to do anything but backbreaking work. Some people think of those as “the good old days,” but I respectfully disagree.

Modern trucks are comfortable, luxurious and about as easy to drive as a large crossover. It seems that families now depend on trucks as much as contractors do. Yes, these tools of the road have adapted to meet new needs and that leaves us with a particularly tricky task: deciding which one is the best of the bunch.

For the 2015 AutoGuide.com Truck of the Year, we gathered four new or significantly updated pickup trucks that hit the market in 2014. This ended up boiling down to one truck from each segment. We tested the midsize 2015 GMC Canyon, the half-ton 2015 Ford F-150, the three-quarter ton 2014 Ram 2500 Power Wagon and the one-ton 2015 GMC Sierra 3500 Denali.

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GM fully re-wrapped its heavy-duty pickup trucks inside and out for 2015. The powertrain received a few new features, but interior revisions are the most important aspect of the update. We tested a 3500 Denali dually, the most premium trim for GM’s pickups. Its interior is filled with leather-wrapped surfaces and offers comfortable seating, top-notch infotainment and a massive digital display in the info cluster that offers good looks and concise information delivery. The display is customizable for different drivers, but it also reacts to the truck’s setting. For example, when you turn on tow/haul mode, additional information on cooling and oil pressure pops up.

FAST FACTS

Engine: 6.6L Duramax diesel with 397 hp and 765 lb-ft.

Transmission: Six-speed automatic.

Max. towing: 19,600 lbs.

As tested price: $67,548 as tested.

Base Price: $34,715 ($41,595 CDN).

Simplicity in the interior layout adds to the great usability inside the 3500 HD and is one of the reasons why GM’s new truck interiors are so good.

But a luxury interior alone doesn’t add up to a luxury vehicle. The way it feels on the road is also a big deal. Noise from both the engine and the road are minimal while the steering is weighted to feel like it is changing progressively as you turn it, although I would prefer it to feel slightly heavier at highway speeds.

What’s more, the 765 lb-ft of torque that cranks out of the 6.6-liter Duramax diesel feels as if it is down-rated. Having recently evaluated all three 3500 Heavy Duty offerings back-to-back, the GM trucks put the power to the ground the best, despite being less powerful on paper than its competition. In my opinion the Allison six-speed automatic transmission deserves a lot of credit in making that possible. Shifts are perfectly timed, and that made controlling a 9,800-lb trailer easy. It’s most apparent while the auto-grade braking feature is active. It works in conjunction with the cruise control to hold the speed you specify while driving over varying grades. It uses the transmission masterfully to hold the weight back and keep you in control at all times.

This is the best HD truck on the market and – no surprise – was the truck for towing within the group. But the things that make it so good also limit it. Its sheer size, especially when fitted with dual rear wheels, along with a lack of ground clearance makes it pretty much useless for even mild off-roading.

The Power Wagon is likely the most focused truck in the group, with its sights set on one purpose: off-roading.

Setting it apart from a regular 2500 are locking front and rear differentials, a disconnecting sway bar system, a 2.5-inch lift bringing ground clearance to 14.5-inches, Bilstein shocks, a graphics package (which can be deleted) and beefier front and rear axles. Skid plates protect all of its vital organs while a 12,000-lb front-mounted winch offers reassurance that you can, in fact, pull yourself up by your bootstraps if things get out of hand. And they did.

FAST FACTS

Engine: 6.4L HEMI V8 with 410 HP and 429 lb-ft of torque.

Transmission: Six-speed automatic.

Max. towing: 10,810 lbs.

As tested price: $55,555.

Base Price: $45,690 ($52,990 CDN).

Before we talk about how this thing chews through the mud, let’s see talk about how all this specialty equipment affects the rest of the truck.

First, power for those truck only comes from the 6.4-liter HEMI V8. It feels underpowered in this application and doesn’t offer the get up and go you might expect given its displacement. Steering, as it is in many Ram pickups, is heavy at almost all times. This isn’t necessarily a negative because it offers a planted, strong feeling. That strength in the wheel helps to control the truck on the highway, as a lot of input is needed to keep it tracking straight thanks to the Power Wagon’s listless nature.

I blame the special suspension tuning and the lifted ride height for the squirrely ride. These two attributes also hurt the Power Wagon’s towing ability. The added travel causes the rear end to squat, lifting weight off the front axle. That makes controlling all that weight a little uncomfortable. Extra height in the rear also means you need a drop hitch for most trailers, one added inconvenience of towing with a lifted pickup.

In its favor, I will say that the HEMI performed admirably while hauling. The power, or lack thereof, stays essentially the same with a load hitched on the back, giving the motor the chance to show off its low-end torque.

But, it’s easy to forget about the poor on-road driving dynamics once you hit the mud where it feels totally at home. Off-camber ruts are a non-issue thanks to its locking differentials. In fact, it is the only truck that didn’t require a reverse maneuver to avoid a massive rock on our tight trail section that also includes an especially steep hill that none of the trucks tackled successfully by the end of the day. Well, that’s partially true because the Power Wagon can cheat… Say hello to the winch. After the Power Wagon stalled out about halfway up, we were able to use a thick tree at the top as an anchor to pull the truck the rest of the way.

The Power Wagon is an off-road monster, but its keen focus on doing so leaves other areas to suffer just like the 3500.

By now you have likely heard about Ford’s use of an all-aluminum body for the new F-150, but there is so much else to talk about that it’s difficult to pick a starting point.

If there is one area where the F-150 disappoints me, it’s the interior. The materials are all upgraded and it feels modern, but the center stack is still overwhelmed with buttons, the trailer brake controller is situated low (near your right knee) and overall, the new dash isn’t as visually appealing as its competitors. It still feels the most utilitarian of the big three half-tons, mostly thanks to how many black plastic surfaces there are.

FAST FACTS

Engine: 3.5L EcoBoost with 365 HP 420 lb-ft of torque.

Transmission: Six-speed automatic.

Max. towing: 12,000 lbs.

At tested price: $61,485.

Base Price: $26,615 ($22,994 CDN).

That’s pretty much where my complaints end because the F-150 feels like something brand new in the half-ton segment. Nimble is the first and most appropriate word to describe how the truck performs without a load. Unlike other half-tons that tend to push wide in corners, the F-150 tucks in and feels planted. Extremely progressive steering helps to keep things light at low speeds and tight on the highway with a feeling of connection between the steering wheel and the road.

Besides being a handling champ, the amount of new technology features fitted to the F-150 make it an extremely useful tool. A new 360-degree camera that can show you what is in front of your truck along with a bird’s eye view is a massive help with parking in tight spots, while spotlights on the mirrors can illuminate the area to either side of the truck if you’re navigating a job site after sundown. It’s helpful technologies like these that go a long way toward selling trucks.

All of the traits that make the F-150 such a good truck when it’s empty carry over to it as a towing tool. The 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 seems to be getting better with age. It produces so much of is torque at low RPM that the motor never seems to breathe hard when you ask for more power, but the power is always there when you want it.

The FX4 package my test truck had comes with upgraded shocks that let it eat up rocks and bumps reasonably. On the downside, there is a new plastic air dam underneath the front bumper that is meant to improve fuel economy, but it also decreases ground clearance.

GM’s all-new midsize trucks are bringing new life into a segment that has barely been touched for a decade, and they’re doing a heck of a job.

Compared to their Japanese rivals, refinement is the most important thing that the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado bring to the segment. We drove an All-Terrain trim Canyon, that offers a comfortable, modern interior along with a quiet, smooth ride, all things that other midsize trucks lack.

FAST FACTS

Engine: 3.6L V6 with 305 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque.

Transmission: Six-speed automatic.

Max. towing: 7,000 lbs.

At tested price: $38,290 as tested.

Base price: $21,920 ($22,295 CDN).

Paired with a 3.6-liter V6, the Canyon feels adequately powered, although the engine never quite feels like it is overwhelmingly torquey. Dynamically though, this truck is spot-on. Compared to the other GM pickups, the new midsizers feel planted and sturdy thanks in part to relatively heavily weighted steering. They are also considerably skinnier than a half-ton – the Canyon is roughly five inches more svelte than the Sierra – and it feels far more maneuverable as a result.

The Canyon handled our 3,500-lb load with ease and never felt overwhelmed. The V6 works best at higher RPM and that means it sits in the high revs while its working hard.

GM’s simple interior design philosophy transfers from the Sierra to this truck, but is even clearer because the Canyon has even fewer buttons than its larger siblings. All the controls are simple and easily within reach.

Off road, the truck’s light curb weight and relatively small body make it easy to take almost anywhere. The All-Terrain model gets upgraded shocks and skid plates that protect the important stuff underneath. And unlike the others in this competition, the rocks on our off road course actually put these skid plates to the test on the Canyon. Our tester also came with optional tubular running boards. Trust us, they’re useless. They make getting into the truck harder and off-road they are liable to get hung up on off-road obstacles.

The Canyorado’s biggest downside is that it’s more like a three-quarter Sierra/Silverado than a true midsize pickup. While it does deliver improved maneuverability over it’s half-ton brothers, the price overlap between the two means that many will end up paying Silverado V8-money for a midsize truck that isn’t really much smaller.