Dueling Diesel Duallies: 2020 GMC Sierra 3500HD vs. 2019 Ram 3500HD

True confession: Most of us here at MotorTrend are car lovers who look forward to driving gigantic dually diesel trucks about as much as we look forward to aging into AARP discounts, root canals, and colonoscopies. So, this year, when we pulled on our big-kid pants and strapped into these two behemoths—the 2020 GMC Sierra 3500HD Denali Duramax and the 2019 Ram 3500HD Limited Cummins—we brought along a bona fide truck enthusiast. Mark Williams knows the subtleties and secrets of this alien segment as encyclopedically as we know the car, light truck, and SUV segments we spend most of our year immersed in.

The Players

Qualifying as a mostly new diesel dually is the 2020 GMC Sierra 3500HD Denali Duramax, which features a stronger frame with improved payload and towing capacities. A longer crew-cab wheelbase also adds rear legroom in the new cab. Its revised bed is an inch closer to the ground, 7 inches wider inside (but not outside, thanks to new construction techniques), and features 10-12 corner tie-downs and GMC’s MultiPro six-function tailgate-within-a-tailgate. The 6.6-liter Duramax V-8 diesel carries over, but the 10-speed Allison transmission is new as is the availability of an auto-4WD system. Also new are myriad features aimed at easing the task of towing, including 15 camera views with an “invisible trailer” feature.

Slightly less new is the 2019 Ram 3500HD, which gets a fresh, fully boxed partially hydroformed frame comprised of 98.5 percent high-strength steel. A new front clip and rear styling deliver a claimed segment-leading 0.409 drag coefficient, but the box and cab mostly carryover, though the interior is upgraded to include most of the design and features that landed the Ram 1500 our Truck of the Year calipers last year (and the overall Ram HD lineup won for 2020). There’s also a record-breaking new 1,000-lb-ft high-output Cummins turbodiesel I-6 paired with a six-speed Aisin transmission. The chassis gets new Frequency Response Damping at all four corners to improve the unladen ride quality. Another ride-improving measure is Ram’s optional auxiliary rear air springs that allow the main leaf springs to be slightly softer (it adds $1,595 unless you order the $3,695 max tow package). This also greatly simplifies trailer attachment, as the truck can often lower itself to clear a gooseneck or bumper hitch.

Ride and Handling

We started out with some long drives on the freeway and short loops of city and twisty mountain roads, all unladen—the kind of driving we car folks understand. Turns out these both make terrible cars, but being forced to choose among them as trucks, features editor Scott Evans favored the Ram. “It rides substantially better than the GMC does. The front and rear end both feel better damped and more buttoned-down to the road. You’re not getting shaken up nearly as much in the cabin.” Testing director Reynolds concurred, conditionally “The ride is probably better overall, but when it does hit a bump the G level is quite noticeable and higher than in the GMC, though it’s more quickly damped.”

In terms of handling, road test editor Chris Walton found the Ram’s steering “lively and lightly weighted making it more fun on the twisty bits.” But in our simulated emergency lane-change maneuver Reynolds found the GMC to handle much more adroitly. “After some laps I was actually drifting a bit which is remarkable.” By contrast he found the Ram to be “a lot clumsier than the GMC; difficult to place with control.” Truck expert Williams found the GMC’s steering to be more precise and its brakes more linear in their pedal response, with the brakes “providing a level of comfort and predictability I didn’t feel with the Ram.”

These trucks are supposed to spend most of their lives working, so Williams hooked us up with 20,000-pound gooseneck trailers to sample (both heavy-duty trucks are rated for more than 30,000 pounds). Oddly enough, ride comfort supremacy varied. Loaded with a trailer, the front seat ride quality was deemed better in the GMC, while the Ram’s rear seat rode more comfortably. Walton found the GMC’s brakes more confident than the Ram’s with better initial bite and progression when towing.

Performance

Despite the Ram’s impressive 1,000-lb-ft torque rating (90 more than the GMC), the Sierra Denali’s 45-hp (and 2.6-lb/hp) advantage and that brilliant new 10-speed automatic helped it win every performance challenge we threw at these big trucks. Williams opined that the Ram’s engine controller limits torque from rest when unladen to prevent wheelspin, given its aggressive 4.10:1 axle ratio (the GMC runs a 3:42:1 axle). The Ram trails the GMC by 1.9 seconds to 60 mph and by 1.4 seconds and 6.0 mph through the quarter mile. But hitch a 20,000-pound trailer to each and the difference shrinks to 0.7 and 0.9 seconds, respectively, presumably with no torque-limitation on the Ram. The GMC also managed to accelerate from 35 to 55 mph up a 5-percent grade with a 17,330-lb trailer 2.2 seconds quicker than the Ram in 160 fewer feet. GMC’s Duramax/Allison powertrain is vastly quieter and smoother than the Ram’s Cummins/Aisin setup—but Williams reminded us that Cummins buyers really want to hear that big-rig sound. GMC even holds an 11-foot advantage in braking distance from 60 mph (stopping in 134 feet, unladen) and scooted through our simulated emergency obstacle-avoidance double lane change 0.6 second quicker (in 4.1 seconds).

As for bragging-rights, as configured our Ram heavy-duty truck can tow 34,130 pounds from a gooseneck or fifth-wheel hitch and 23,000 pounds off the bumper. Our GMC is limited to 31,180 and 20,000 respectively. Note that a regular-cab rear-drive GMC 3500HD Duramax dually is rated for 35,500 pounds, while 35,100 is as high as the equivalent Ram Cummins H.O. goes. Both trucks have a 14,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating, meaning the lighter GMC can carry 5,366 pounds—180 more than the Ram. Williams summed the GMC up thusly: “This platform, engine, and transmission combination might be the strongest, most civilized heavy hauler we have on the planet. This truck has no lag or dead spots in the power curve that I could feel.”

Comfort and Convenience

As decisively as GMC won the last category, Ram wins this one. Its top-shelf Limited trim’s palatial interior simply smites the GMC’s equivalent Denali. The seats were universally praised as offering more adjustment and being far more comfortable—even in the back, where the lower GMC cushion provided insufficient thigh support. Thoughtful touches abound in the Ram, from the jumbo screen and user-friendly Uconnect infotainment system to its roomy Ram Bins in the rear floor, to its many USB, USB-C, and 110-volt outlets sprinkled about the cabin. The GMC’s tiny stowage bins in the rear seatbacks are comparatively laughable. Our Ram Limited had adaptive cruise control (part of a $3,440 option package), but this increasingly ubiquitous fatigue-reducing feature is not offered on the GMC Denali.

In GMC’s favor are some pretty cool trailering gizmos, including a trailer-light testing app, loads of available cameras including an option to install cameras in and on a trailer to provide an “invisible trailer” rear view and monitor items or animals inside a trailer, while a blind-spot view shows the whole side of the rig whenever a turn-signal is activated when towing. The GMC’s mirrors motor outboard for better trailer visibility, whereas the Ram’s horizontal mirrors pivot up and out, providing power control of the small spotter mirrors. Opinions were split on which approach was superior. GMC offers a button that instantly lowers all four windows so you can hear spotters directing you while backing a large trailer, plus a lovely full-color head-up display that can’t be had in a Ram, and its lane-departure system buzzes one side or the other of the driver’s seat cushion whenever one of those outboard rear wheels strays over a line (as they frequently do).

Confidence

If you’re likely to spend long days in the saddle towing or hauling, which truck will make your job easiest? Well, in addition to the aforementioned adaptive cruise control, the Ram offers a highly effective exhaust brake with two settings: on, and automatic. The former provides max retardation you can hear and feel whenever you lift off the accelerator. Auto provides just enough engine braking to maintain the speed you were traveling when you lifted off the accelerator. The GMC’s exhaust brake is harder to hear and feel but worked in concert with Auto Grade Braking to maintain a set 65-mph speed descending the 5-percent Davis Dam grade just as effectively as the Ram’s setup (but it’s impossible to tell how much, if any, the friction brakes were contributing to that result). Walton felt the Ram tracked straighter and required less steering than the GMC to maintain its lane position while towing on the grade, but Williams “didn’t find the steering of the Ram 3500 to be as precise as the GMC’s.” Another data point in the Ram’s favor on the confidence front: In climbing up and down the Davis Dam grade, its cooling system topped out early at 168 degrees (F) and stayed there, while the GMC’s reached 190 at the summit.

GMC’s big advantage in confidence may be its automatic 4WD capability. Its new Magna Ultimax transfer case disconnects the front prop-shaft for better fuel economy in RWD mode and uses a wet-clutch to provide on-demand engagement of the front axle in Auto-AWD mode when rear-wheel slip is detected—a first in the heavy-duty segment and a comfort in changing weather conditions. There’s also a dedicated off-road and snow/ice mode in addition to the transmission’s tow/haul mode. Ram only offers tow/haul and part-time 4WD. Williams was sold on the GMC: “With big trailers, this is the one you’ll feel less exhausted by after a full day on the road.”

Conclusion: Which Diesel Dually Truck is Best?

We car lovers were sufficiently smitten by the Ram’s interior design and amenities, comfier seats, snazzier exterior styling, and superlative torque and trailering stats that we were willing to forgive the truck its pokier performance and more raucous powertrain. Williams pointed out that serious truckers favor investment in chassis and powertrain strength over embroidered interiors, and hence would likely find the GMC’s performance advantage compelling. He also shared that they only care about exterior styling to the extent that it serves the truck’s mission, so they’re willing to embrace features like the Sierra Denali’s giant garish grille as an essential element of the cooling system. The GMC was $7,280 less expensive as tested, but Williams openly worried whether “the front-end torsion bar setup might burn through tires when a truck like this runs the majority of its time with a full load.” By identifying that chink in the GMC’s armor he emboldened us car-lovers to vote the Ram as winner, but we’ll totally forgive serious truckers for choosing the GMC (or Chevy) Duramax dually.

2^nd Place: GMC Sierra 3500HD Denali Duramax

Call us when you spiff up the interior and when we can tell the exhaust brake is working.

1^st Place: Ram 3500HD Limited Cummins

The littlest big-rig tractor on the highway offers the market’s nicest ride, best interior, and amazing capability.

More on the Ram: Find out why the Ram HD is the 2020 MotorTrend Truck of the Year here.

The post Dueling Diesel Duallies: 2020 GMC Sierra 3500HD vs. 2019 Ram 3500HD appeared first on MotorTrend.

Source: WORLD NEWS