You are going to get a big kick out of this post on www.pickuptrucks.com:

Truck of War: GM Vice Chairman Challenges Ford to Heavy Duty Tug of War

As the title implies, that’s just what Tom Stephens, General Motors’ vice chairman in charge of global product operations, did. A key quote:

You know what I want to do to prove it? I want to take our truck and Ford’s [new Super Duty] and chain them together back-to-back. Then I want to have them pull against each other. I know our truck will beat theirs.

Them’s fightin’ words! The trucks he’s talking about are GM’s 2011 Chevrolet and GMC Heavy Duty pickups vs. Ford’s 2011 F-Series Super Duty.

The question I’d like to ask (and you readers are welcome to provide your input) is: Would the GMC truck beat the Ford?

The GM engine in question is the Duramax diesel–a powerful sunvagun if ever there was one. We turn to another pickuptrucks.com post for the info:

We’ve improved the performance of the Duramax in the van to 250 horsepower and 500 pounds-feet of torque from today’s 250 hp and 460 pounds feet,” Arvan said. “We aren’t prepared to talk about the new power figures for the heavy-duty trucks yet, but we won’t let the new emissions regulations bring us down [in power]. We’ll produce at least the 360 hp and 660 pounds-feet of torque [with the LML] that we make with today’s engine.

Did you read my recent post on torque? 660 lb.-ft. of torque is monstrous. If you figure that even a higher-end Peterbilt tractor is going to come in around 1,850 lb.-ft.–and that’s for hauling loaded trailers!

But how about the Ford? Pickuptrucks.com has yet another post. Here is the key quote:

Ford won’t say what the final power figures are for its new 2011 engines, though we have heard that the 6.7-L PSD will make more than 390 horsepower and 720 pounds-feet of torque. The 6.2-L V-8 is expected to pump out approximately 400 hp and 400 lbs.-ft. of torque.

Both GM and Ford are being a bit reticent about their figures, hmm? I personally take Stephens’ line about the GMC winning the tug-of-war to mean that the GM engine will end up with higher figures than the Ford–but that is anybody’s guess.

Let’s imagine, however, that we have figures for both trucks, and they are close. Can we know who will win? Not at all. The above torque figures–everyone would admit this–are sloppy. We need to know torque at various rpms to know who would be stronger off the line–in tug-of-war, low-end torque is crucial. Then, the differential and even the tires could make a huge difference. For that matter, vehicle height and the angle of the chain would also come into play. Finally, driving technique alone could rule the day.

Personally, with my current level of knowledge about these future vehicles, I have no idea who would win the tug-of-war (OK, I will be rooting for the GMC–hence the title of this post!). I have to give up the props to Ford–they make excellent trucks, too (and we sell them pre-owned!). I’m a GMC partisan, though. I think when you look at price and your application and what you get for your money, 9 times out of 10 the GMC is going to come out on top. So I simply advise you to check out GMC and Chevy and Ford and see what works for you.

What I can say with complete confidence is that Mike’s has the best GMC deals in town, so come on over and test drive and kick tires to your heart’s content. We also have some sales guys who “talk truck” pretty well and can give you the straight dope on any model you have questions about. Check us out!

–Truck Man