Back to work: Choosing the 2017 Truck of the Year

Motor Trend, the magazine that originated the annual Car of the Year (COTY) award in 1949 in the United States, conducts the Truck of the Year activity in tandem with their COTY and Person (in the automotive industry) of the Year.

The trucks that competed for Motor Trend’s 2017 Truck of the Year (TOTY) title are mostly full-size, heavy duty 4×4 workhorses made in the US and Japan.

The only exception is the Honda Ridgeline, which is a midsize pickup.

It’s all work and no play as far as Motor Trend’s TOTY is concerned. For the 2017 TOTY, the contenders were the 2017 Ford F-150, the Ford F-Series Super Duty (F-250 and F-350), Honda Ridgeline, the Nissan Titan, the Nissan Titan XD, and the Ram Heavy Duty.

These pickup models are not available in the Philippines, so why should we care about Motor Trend’s 2017 TOTY?

We should care because the car and truck awarding organizations in this country can learn from Motor Trend’s TOTY in terms of testing procedures that would make the Philippine TOTY title really credible—with the caveat, of course, that pickup trucks sold in the Philippines are midsize ones and are generally used as urban lifestyle vehicles and for off-road sport, not really for towing and trailering work.

Proving ground

Motor Trend tests TOTY contenders on a 21.5-mile road loop that navigates Kingsman, Arizona, then climbs into the nearby foothills.

The lowest elevation of the loop is 3,361 feet and the peak elevation is 5,121 feet. The road loop also has an off-road playground.

The 1,785-foot elevation gain with a series of twists and turns is an excellent way to evaluate each truck’s transmission performance and handling, the Motor Trend January 2017 issue points out.

Upon descent, the road loop joins Interstate 40 back into Kingsman, a short stretch perfect for testing wind and road noise and the infotainment system.

Careening downhill exposes cruise control systems that are unable to hold the set speeds.

At the FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobile) Arizona Proving Ground in Yucca, the trucks were subjected to tougher testing.

The FCA Proving Ground has more than 50 miles of concrete and earthen surfaces on 3,840 acres with every manner of test surface and condition for vehicle durability testing.

The trucks were driven at top speeds on a 5-mile oval, and then at varying speeds towing precision-ballasted trailers on a perfectly flat 16.9-acre asphalt lake.

After the asphalt lake, the TOTY hopefuls, still towing ballasted trailers, were driven on the Highway 68 Davis Dam grade, which is more than 11 miles to climb up and over the 3,571-foot summit at Union Pass.

A skid-steer loader secured to a trailer offered a towing challenge for trucks. The trucks took turns towing the 7,500-pound skid-steer loader/trailer combo up the steep Davis Dam  grade.

This test quickly separated the pretenders from the contenders.

Six criteria

Motor Trend set six criteria for the TOTY award: advancement in design, efficiency, engineering excellence, performance of intended function, safety and value.

In any TOTY contest, either there is no clear winner right up to the end when there are two to three potential winners needing a nail-biting vote, or there is a clear winner early on, and the rest becomes a coronation.

In the 2017 TOTY field, the Ford Super Duty (SD) trucks emerged as the intuitive choice by the halfway point of the competition. So they were scrutinized, analyzed and picked apart in subsequent days of testing.

Several competitors rose in standing in the course of the evaluations, but none so much as to equal the Ford SDs.

Advancement in design

Regarding advancement in design, Motor Trend testers evaluated whether all the individual elements serve the purpose and advance the design as a whole, whether the design separates the vehicle from the competition and speaks to its intended market.

The testers determined that the design of the Ford SDs as a whole advances the direction of the previous generation without losing or abandoning its signature.

From every angle, there is no mistaking this truck for anything but a Ford.

Efficiency

Subjected to Motor Trend’s Real MPG testing regimen, the Ford SDs in all configurations (Ford F-250 Lariat 4×4, Ford F-250 Platinum 4×4 6.7L, and Ford F-350 Lariat 4×4 6.7L) outperformed the equivalent Ram Heavy Duty (HD) trucks in fuel efficiency.

The Fords also displayed class-leading torque and towing/payload capability.

Engineering excellence

The Ford SDs accelerated more quickly and smoothly than their Ram HD rivals, braked comparably well, and handled better on both the skid pad and figure eight.

Towing at near maximum capability, the F-350 was quicker and smoother than the Ram 3500, and felt less burdened.

In a trailering slalom test, the F-350 was able to carry considerably more speed than the Ram 3500, and experienced less body roll.

The real-world test was towing about 7,500 pounds of skid loader up the grueling 11-mile Davis Dam grade where the summit is 3,751 feet above sea level.

In the 35-55 mph uphill passing test, both gasoline and diesel Ford models clobbered the equivalent Rams in passing time and distance.

Performance of the intended function

Heavy duty truck customers are not weekend cowboys, so capability and usability are king.

The Ford driver assistance features such as blind-spot detection to cover a trailer, six trailer tires’ pressure monitor, forward and rear-looking cameras, and a 360 degree camera helped rookies and those rusty in trailering.

Also useful in each Ford SD were four 25-amp and two 40-amp auxiliary switches ready to be connected to power take-offs, 400-watt power inverter, and two 110-volt power outlets for charging tools, computers and more.

Safety

The strengthened frame of a truck should make it perform well in a crash test, which is conducted in the US by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

For TOTY, Motor Trend testers noted whether the contenders had safety features such as collision warning, automatic emergency braking, trailer sway control, blind spot warning system, adaptive cruise control which includes hill descent control.

Value

Value in TOTY is not synonymous with price, but is relative to the competition.

Aside from noting whether contenders are priced roughly the same or better than their equivalent on the trim level, Motor Trend testers judge value in terms of content per dollar spent.

The Ford SDs were evaluated as the clear class leader because they offered class-leading towing and handling and could be equipped with a suite of trailering technologies that rivals did not offer.

The Truck of the Year is not a direct comparison test. Each truck is judged against Motor Trend’s criteria, based on the class it competes in.

The Ford F-250 and F-350 scored remarkably well on all six criteria, as well as against their direct competitor.

After two weeks packed with instrumented testing, vigorous driving and evaluating, and down-home tailgating, Motor Trend made a choice: “Ford Super Duties proved themselves new leaders of the class across powertrains, cabs and capabilities.

“The Fords offer class-leading towing and hauling and in terms of content per dollar spent.”