2023 Ford F-150 Tremor vs. Chevy Silverado 1500 Trail Boss, Ram 1500 Rebel, Toyota Tundra TRD Pro: Battle of the Beef Blasters!

You can practically hear Yosemite Sam shouting, “Thar’s gold in that thar dirt!” as automakers shovel out new off-road versions of seemingly every truck, SUV, and crossover. Americans are so hungry for these tough mudders that a full pickup model line now includes, at a minimum, an off-road option package, a better-equipped off-road trim, and an off-road halo model like the Ford F-150 Raptor, Ram 1500 TRX, or Chevy Silverado 1500 ZR2.

For this comparison, we collected the most promising models from the middle tier, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss, Ford F-150 Tremor, Ram 1500 Rebel G/T, and Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We benched the GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 for this test because it’s mechanically identical to the Chevy but carries a nearly $6,000 price premium. The Nissan Titan Pro-4X was left out because it didn’t stand a chance.

All the trucks in this test are outfitted with skidplates, all-terrain tires, locking rear differentials, and lifted suspensions for crawling over boulders, scrambling up loose grades, and paddling through thick mud. While they don’t have the high-flying, desert-running ability of the Raptor or TRX, they aren’t poseurs. We confirmed that at Michigan’s Holly Oaks Off-Road Vehicle Park, where the trucks chewed through a seven-layer salad of snow, mud, sand, dirt, rocks, slush, and standing water. Of course, for most buyers, a full-size truck is a daily driver and occasional toy, so we spent just as much time driving suburban streets, rural back roads, and Midwest highways. The winner is the truck that’s as capable navigating a gnarly, rutted-out trail as it is the wildest habitat in the concrete jungle, the Costco parking lot.

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The Competitors

The Toyota Tundra has been elbowing its way into the full-size truck conversation for as long as it’s existed. In TRD Pro trim, the new-for-2022 third-generation truck now delivers a 437-hp, 583-lb-ft elbow drop on the domestic competition. Its hybridized and twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6 is the most powerful engine in this test. Fox shocks lend credibility to the off-road kit, though the 1.1-inch front suspension lift is about half what Ford, Ram, and Chevy build into their off-roaders. Toyota sets a stiff base price—the highest here by almost $3,000—but with few options, the $73,430 Tundra TRD Pro has the second lowest as-tested price.

The cheapest entrant, the $69,525 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss, slides in about $4,500 under the Toyota and feels like a stripper by comparison. Finished in basic black inside and out, it has no sunroof, and due to the chip shortage that won’t quit, the heated seat buttons in our test truck are purely decorative until Chevy retrofits the missing part. The other competitors have driving modes tailored to different types of terrain, but the Trail Boss is so confident in its ability to manage anything, it has just two settings: Normal and Off-Road. It’s also the only truck here without a driver-selectable locking rear differential. Instead, the Trail Boss’s rear diff locks automatically once there’s a 100-rpm (about 3-mph) difference between the left and right wheels. Chevy offers the Trail Boss with the full range of Silverado engines (a diesel I-6, gas four-cylinder, or two V-8s). For the sake of parity with the Toyota, our test truck is powered by the top dog, the 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Ram 1500 Rebel G/T 4x4 rings in at $79,895 thanks to a spread of à la carte options. You can buy a Rebel for as little as $55,285 if you don’t mind a 305-hp, rear-wheel-drive off-roader. We obviously needed the sole engine upgrade, the $2,995 395-hp 5.7-liter V-8 with the eTorque 48-volt mild hybrid system, and the $1,805 air springs that can lift the body 2 inches over the normal ride height. Several four-figure packages gilded the interior with luxuries and convenience amenities, including the 12-inch vertical touchscreen, but it was the $220 rear wheelhouse liners that really caught our attention. The Porsche-like approach in offering an extensive and pricey options menu has a Porsche-like result. This Rebel lands within $1,000 of the F-150 Raptor’s base price.

Using a Raptor in this comparison would have been the vehicular equivalent of bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. Instead, we pulled in a $75,250 Ford F-150 Tremor. The Ford’s unique party trick is a clever piece of software called Trail Turn, which drags the inside rear brake for tighter turns. The Tremor is also the only truck in this test to offer a limited-slip front differential, though our truck wasn’t equipped with the $500 option. Tremor buyers have their choice of the F-150’s 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8 or 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 at no cost. Both engines make 400 hp, but one is a clear upgrade over the other. The blown six-cylinder powering our test truck packs an extra 90 lb-ft of torque, with its 500-lb-ft peak coming on 1,150 rpm earlier.

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Power Moves

Ford’s 3.5-liter V-6 makes a powerful argument that the naturally aspirated V-8 pickup is obsolete. The EcoBoost engine charges hard through its entire 6,200-rpm range, with a pile of low-rpm torque for hauling loads and an energetic top end for hauling ass. Helped by the short final drive ratio, the Tremor turns its beefy powerband into a swift 5.5-second 0–60 time, the quickest in the competition even though it is neither the most powerful nor the lightest truck.

The horsepower champ, the Tundra TRD Pro, is saddled with the added mass of a hybrid system that raises its curb weight to an unhealthy 6,166 pounds. It pulls off a brisk 5.9-second 60-mph run, but that’s only good enough for third place in this fast-moving crowd.

Ironically, the truck with the big electric motor occasionally reminded us of a diesel. Toyota's 10-speed transmission short shifts into second gear before 5,000 rpm at full throttle, and the 3.4-liter V-6 emits a coarse chatter when it idles (which admittedly isn’t often because the engine typically shuts down at stops). Although the electric motor pitches in as much as 48 hp and 184 lb-ft, the TRD Pro feels neither smoother nor punchier off the line than the gas trucks. Toyota tries to elevate the experience by dubbing in the sound of Lexus’ 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8, which sounds awesome but flagrantly fake in this truck.

In the Chevy and the Ram, you both hear and feel the rumble of a V-8. The Trail Boss’s 6.2-liter and the Rebel’s 5.7-liter have similar big-displacement personalities: a throaty exhaust growl, a gentle lope at idle, and raw intensity at full throttle. Line up the two V-8 trucks for a side-by-side race, though, and the Trail Boss puts a lot of distance between the Rebel in short order. The Silverado trails the F-150 to 60 mph by just 0.2 second, stopping the clock after 5.7 seconds. The Ram’s 395 horses can only muster an uncompetitive 6.6-second saunter.

We could live with the Ram’s acceleration—it’s not exactly slow—but we wouldn’t risk living with its 48-volt eTorque system. An electrical fault during our comparison turned the engine stop-start system into a half-functioning engine stop system. The V-8 still shut down at traffic lights, but it was on the driver to shift to neutral and thumb the ignition button to refire the engine. This isn’t the first time such a 48-volt system has gone on the fritz for us, and there are plenty of frustrated owners posting about similar issues in online forums. A couple years ago, we would have simply told buyers to choose the 5.7-liter V-8 without eTorque. Unfortunately, that’s no longer an option.

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Mind the Road

That’s a shame because the Rebel is otherwise a paragon of on-road composure. Ever since the Ram 1500 jettisoned the rear leaf springs in 2009, it has offered the most comfortable and most controlled ride among full-size trucks, and there’s no evidence that’s likely to change any time soon. Where the Trail Boss and Tremor shimmy and pogo over washboard gravel roads, the Rebel drives like it has 1,000 pounds in the bed pressing down on the rear axle.

The Chevrolet Silverado’s relative lightness pays off in pretty much every other situation, though. The Trail Boss drives with a sense of smallness compared to the other trucks, which feel every bit as massive as they are. It effortlessly follows winding roads with steering feel and brake-pedal feel that exceed our expectations for any pickup, especially one wearing all-terrain tires. It’s no surprise, then, that the Trail Boss posted the quickest lap in our figure-eight test.

The Toyota Tundra claimed the shortest 60-mph brake stop and tied for the best cornering grip, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s as deft as the Chevy. The TRD Pro’s Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires looked like they had 40,000 miles on them (despite the odometer showing less than 8,000 miles). The worn tread blocks and rounded-over shoulders earned those performance wins, not the truck. In fact, our judges struggled to come up with much praise for the way the Toyota drives. The ride is busy, and the constant jostling revealed a couple persistent rattles in the cabin.

The Tremor squeezes into the space between the Rebel and the Trail Boss. It’s not as cushy as the Ram or as dynamically deft as the Chevrolet. Yet in finding the right balance of attributes, Ford has built a truck that is both athletic and comfortable with the best all-around skill set for most buyers. The stout structure minimizes and masks the bending and torsion inherent in a body-on-frame truck, which pays dividends on-road and off.

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Fighting Dirty

The F-150’s General Grabber A/TX tires left us surprised and impressed at Holly Oaks. They found the grip to claw up mud-slicked hills at a walking pace even when the other trucks needed a burst of speed to make it to the top. The Tremor effortlessly motored up a steep and lumpy steplike rock feature with the least tire slip, making the climb look as easy as inching up a paved driveway. The suspension also came into its element the rougher the terrain and the harder we drove it.

The Silverado’s back-road agility translates into playful competence off-road. It feels more spry than the competitors and has a goatlike ability to find and claim the high ground. The automatic locking rear differential occasionally requires patience, though. If you find yourself stopped halfway up a slick grade, you often have to spin the tires and wait for the diff to do its thing to resume the climb. It’s often easier and quicker to back down and just carry a bunch of speed through the loosest loam.

Both the Trail Boss and the Rebel wear 275-width Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires, yet the Ram struggled to find the grip that made the Chevy so confident and spirited in the mud. We attribute a lot of this clumsiness to the Rebel’s 5,870-pound weight. We could have saved a few pounds without the air springs. The ability to raise the body over tall obstacles is a luxury that we didn’t need in Michigan. We would have had more use for a forward-facing camera, conspicuously missing only in the most expensive truck.

As the surface melted into a soft, mucky mess, the Tundra TRD Pro needed more speed and more advanced planning to make it up Holly Oaks’ hills. The used-up Falkens did the TRD Pro no favors in the early spring slop, but even on fresh rubber the Tundra wouldn’t have challenged its peers. Its rear diff can only be locked in 4 Low, and you have to come to a complete stop and wait an eternity for the transfer case to shift. The rattles we noticed during our road evaluations were amplified into a bona fide racket off-road. The Tundra is also the only truck in the test without a 4 Auto mode that performs like all-wheel drive. That feature, which is invaluable on snow-covered paved roads, should be mandatory equipment in a $70,000 truck.

Both the TRD Pro and the Rebel have a tendency to be sucked into deep ruts and pushed around with violent side-to-side shoves as they follow the grooves cut into the terrain. The Tremor and Trail Boss, on the other hand, do a better job following the driver’s chosen path and isolating passengers from these lateral movements. We suspect that’s a side effect of the five-link rear suspension used by the Ram and Toyota. This design should offer better body control on the road, but the Ford and Chevy’s leaf springs that double as locating links likely allow the axle to jockey side to side in the dirt while transferring less motion to the driver. It’s weird to think of that as a benefit, but in the world of off-roading, compliance is often an asset.

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The Inside Game

The Silverado’s new interior, introduced with the 2022 refresh, marked a major upgrade over the prior year’s antiquated design. But lined up next to the competition, it’s clear the Trail Boss’ cabin still leaves room for improvement. Once you look beyond the crisp, intuitive 13.4-inch touchscreen and 12.3-inch instrument cluster, the design feels basic. No one does faux wood trim like Chevy today, and for good reason: It looks cheap, cheesy, and out of date.

The materials used in the F-150 Tremor aren’t necessarily more expensive. Ford just does a better job using design to keep things interesting. Mottled trim on either side of the touchscreen and orange accents throughout the cabin break up big sections of what would otherwise be a monotonous and anonymous interior. The sculpted steering wheel fits in your hand more naturally, and the F-150’s seats are far more supportive and comfortable than the Silverado’s. The Ford also offers the best outward visibility of the group.

Ram uses some genuinely nice materials and fits them together with tight precision. Like the Trail Boss, the Rebel would benefit from a rethink of the design and trim to modernize the interior. We’re also not convinced that the expensive vertical infotainment screen is truly an upgrade. The graphics are looking old, and the bigger screen replaces the large climate control knobs with two rows of small buttons, which are less intuitive.

The Toyota’s plasticky cockpit looks and feels sort of toylike, but there’s something to be said for an interior with childlike simplicity. Large buttons (both physical and on screen) and toggles make the TRD Pro’s secondary controls easy to find and use. It strikes us as weird, though, that the people who designed the digital instrument cluster apparently never talked to the folks responsible for the infotainment system. The two screens are so wildly different that they look out of place just existing in the same decade, not to mention the same vehicle. In truth, though, none of our interior quips and qualms about any of these trucks would stop us from buying the one we otherwise had our heart set on.

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Spank ’Em and Rank ’Em

After flogging these four trucks over roads and rugged terrain for three days, we came to a consensus in less than five minutes. The finishing order was that obvious. The Toyota Tundra TRD Pro lands firmly in fourth place based on its unbecoming powertrain, confused ride, obsolete transfer case, and pretty much everything else. There’s not a single area where the TRD Pro excels and several where it lags far behind the industry benchmarks, which is bizarre considering it was completely redesigned just last year. Somehow, Toyota ended up with a brand-new truck that drives like it’s a generation behind the Ram, Chevy, and Ford.

The Ram 1500 Rebel takes third, which is a big drop from our last full-size truck comparison in 2021, where a Ram 1500 Laramie claimed the win over road-oriented, midlevel trims of the F-150 and Silverado. That last Ram, though, wasn’t equipped with the finicky eTorque system, and we didn’t do any off-roading for that test. To claw back a victory, Ram needs a new engine pronto—a 500-hp twin-turbo inline-six might do the trick—and a crash diet. Cutting 400 pounds of fat would go a long way toward improving the Ram’s fuel economy, acceleration, and agility both on-road and off.

The second-place Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss might not be standing on the top step of the podium, but it still gets our full endorsement. You want a trail boss? You’re going to love this driving-dynamics champ. It doesn’t feel as upscale as the others, but that seems like a fair trade given the discounted price. Still, we like to think Chevy designers are capable of improving the cabin’s styling and seat comfort without eroding the value proposition.

That leaves the Ford F-150 Tremor as our winner. The F-150 matched the Silverado move for move on the off-road park’s faster terrain and was more sure-footed on the slower rock scrambles. It’s not quite as sharp as the Silverado in sweeping back roads, but buyers are more likely to appreciate the Ford’s interior, seats, and visibility in their day-to-day experiences. And the powerhouse engine seals the victory. The Tremor is the complete package, moving effortlessly between pavement and rugged terrain. Whether you’re headed for the trails or into the city, the F-150 Tremor is the best truck in this test for the task.

4th Place: Toyota Tundra TRD Pro

Verdict:The newest truck in the test feels like the oldest.

3rd Place: Ram 1500 Rebel G/T 4x4

Verdict:The pickup with the best road manners is overdue for an engine upgrade.

2nd Place: Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss

Verdict:Chevy's Boss is a dynamic rock star and an even better value.

1st Place: Ford F-150 Tremor

Verdict:The Tremor is an all-around performer with few compromises

*2023 pricing of 2022 photo/test vehicle