Probably the most popular question we get a tfl truck is: what should I buy a full-size truck or a heavy duty truck? Yes, and here we have two off-road trucks, brand new 2025 models and we have two identical trailers and we let’s answer this question once and for all, and there’s only one way to do that: pulling trailers, the Denver 100 MPG Loop is a toll. Road all the way around Denver Colorado and it’s mainly run at highway speeds between 65 mph and 75 mph and our standard distance, it’s just over 111 mil. What I have brought to the table is a brand new GMC Sierra 1500 a4x AEV. This is a top dog Sierra 1500, with the 3 l Duramax, and I brought a brand new 2025 Chevy Silverado 2500 heavy duty.
This is a Trail Boss Edition and it has a 6.6 L durax V8 under the hood and case. What do you say how about we run Denver 100 Loop? Let’S do it and see what efficiency we get and, let’s compare it feature for feature we’re in the big boy, we’re in the big boy leagues today hell of a nozzle. This is semi Tru pump.
All right, let’s see, let’s see how this works. Okay, I’m going to go on slow, okay, because even slow is very, very fast. Oh yeah, you ain’t kidding all right dude. So this is interesting. Of course you and I both have DF.
Oh yeah right def, but you have the capless system and this is a oh uh yeah. I just noticed yeah. So but what’s the uh? What’S the fuel tank size on this Beast? Are you ready for this?
Let’S hear it? 36. Gallons, that’s a pretty big tank. It’S like 50 %, bigger than the other truck I’m impressed, but we’ll find out on this Loop if the efficiency is similar. Maybe this is the truck to buy yeah.
So the main reason of why we’re doing a Denver 100 loop, it’s because diesel pickup trucks are about long distance efficiency. Right, that’s exactly right! We want to see how these two trucks stack up, especially because we don’t get HD truck fuel economy numbers from the factory. Only way, I think diesel pickup truck makes sense is, if you drive a lot of miles if you’re buying a pickup truck to commute 10 miles every day. That’S probably not the right vehicle for you, but if you’re driving a long distance, you know without a trailer or with a trailer, that’s where it makes sense to buy a diesel absolutely and between these two trucks.
This one being more compact is also going to make for a better daily driver, but today’s test is mostly about Towing and you have a really cool engine dude. I I wish every diesel engine had that power density that you have Andre. How do you like my durmax diesel, I, like your engine, cover, it looks very, very nice. This is, of course, the 3 l durmax that’s available here on the 1500 305 horsepower 495 lb feet of torque, so still pretty good output, especially on the torque end of things and a 10-speed automatic. I think this is excellent and I think power per liter of displacement cannot yeah, it’s very impressive and look there’s a turbo and it says: don’t touch it’s big yeah, it’s a it’s!
A it’s a big. Did. You know that my first pickup truck ever was a 2002 6.6 L Duramax and now look at you. It’S like your home.
I am basically home, so this engine is way different from the engine back in the day, this code is l5p, that’s the engine code and it now produces 470 horsepower, so quite a bit more than before and 975 pound feet of torque. It’S not a class leader in torque or horsepower yeah, but it still has a 10speed, auto yeah. No, it’s a good setup and you got a ram air intake. Yeah. I have a hood SC you’re allowed to call it a ram.
You you don’t have a hood scoop. I do don’t have a hood scoop, but this actually works. That’S pretty cool yeah. You don’t have the optional Tow Mirrors yeah. I am suffering a little bit at the moment from my lack of to mirrors.
This trailer is obviously pretty wide and it’s a little little difficult to see around the pretty extensive camera systems on this truck do help out a little bit, because when I’m in my TOA mode as I am now – and I turn on the turn signal – I get A camera view that comes up on the screen. That gives me a better view of what’s around the corner than what I get from the the mirrors alone, but I would always rather have the dependability of a mirror versus a camera system. So if I was buying this truck to do a lot of trailering with those to mirrors would be the first thing I would spec and of course, heavy duty. Trucks basically come with Tow Mirrors in general and that’s the mirror I have. But we got to talk about stability right.
We pick up some speed, we’re doing um. This Denver 100 is always on our toll road, which is a loop around Denver, and you want a really big and stable platform for your pickup truck and my truck feels like it’s on Rails how’s. Yours really really not bad at all 4,000 lb for a truck with this amount of capability is not pushing it at all. That being said, this trailer especially empty as it is now every now and then, when the wind picks up. I feel just a little bit of movement back there, so I can tell that I’m hooked up to a trailer, but I would imagine you up there in the 2500 other than looking in your mirrors can’t feel at all that there’s something hitch to your bumper.
Well, this isn’t 24t trailer, so I feel a tiny bit. You know I can kind of tell I’m towing, especially because my acceleration feels a little slower um. You know compared to if I was just running empty, but my wheelbase is very long. It’S longer than your trucks uh, my truck is very heavy. It weighs about 88,200 lb versus your truck’s 6,300 lb.
So I mean if I was pulling something bigger, maybe like a fifth wheel camper. I would really want to be in a heavy duty. That’S true, and that’s one of the first questions that we ask whenever people reach out to us to try and figure out whether they should get a full-size truck or a heavyduty truck is what trailer are you going to be pulling both of these trailers? Weightwise are well within what either of them have the capability to do. But that being said depends a little bit on your use case as well, because, if you’re towing in the mountains a lot, the extra power of that Duramax might come in handy, especially if the trailer that you want to pull is going to ever close in.
On the maximum capability of a truck like this, if you’re in the mountains, then you might want to go for the HD all right, dude. Well, let’s put some miles under our belts. We need to go about 111 miles today and, let’s see what they do: as always we’re using our aluminum waysafe hitches and check it out. This one is actually meant specifically for this truck 2 and 1/2 in shank, and it’s rated basically for the capacity of the truck 18,500 yeah. Is that what we’re telling today?
No? But but that’s the capacity of this truck oh well, perfect, but look and it’s height adjustable, so we should have no issues whatsoever, um setting this up yeah. Well, the nice thing is they’re super light, which makes them easy to haul around, and then our favorite thing that we’ll look at when we’re actually putting the trailer on is the scale that’s built into these hitches is really cool and Andre. I’Ve got your hitches baby brother, it’s a 2-in version yeah, so it’s a little bit less capable, but still super strong yeah, this one’s rated for 125, but that’s still more than we’re going to be able to ever hook up to this truck nice yeah now Andre these trailers have a pretty cool party trick yeah.
I love this so when you buy that Corvette ZR1 right when uh, yes, when uh, that’s where you put it right, yeah absolutely, and it’s really nicely outfitted in here we’ve got some storage at the front of the trailer that’s accessible from the inside as well as This cubby that you can get to from the outside, which is also pretty cool, of course, lock, but you wanted few things accessible from the outside of the trailer all really nice stuff and it’s a 24ot long, enclosed trailer, yeah, and this is really cool because we’re Using identical trailers they’re both the same length, yeah same width and same height there by inch, which means very Hightech, um you’re thrwing, a trailer that weighs about 4,000 lb. But yours has a couple extra options. Yes, so mine trailer weighs about 4500 lbs, and this video would not be possible without our friends at Complete Trailers, yeah uh. They have a store here in Colorado. They have stores in Texas and California, so check them out using the link.
below. I cannot wait to learn what your efficiency is at this halfway point of the loop yeah, we just passed the 50m mark, which means we’re more than halfway now and so far. Well, do you want to hear the number uh I’m going to say you are between 10 and 11 MPG? Am I right very pessimistic Andre? I am right now showing 13.
. Of course we have to confirm that at the pump, but if this truck is correct, that’s a pretty good number for a trailer that is very high-profile, wow. Okay, guess my! I am going to get 12 well I’ll, have to disappoint you just a little bit, I’m showing 11.1 W.
That doesn’t disappoint me at all Andre, because that means I’m winning gosh. I was really hoping you know. The heavy duty can have an upper hand uh, but I think it still can how about trailer sway? Are you getting any uh trailer, pushing you around, not a ton every now, and then I feel it a little bit. But every thing in this truck feels pretty solid, pretty planted not as planted as you’re going to feel in your truck also power output plenty, especially for this trailer, only being a little over 4,000 lb.
So all is very well in here, but there’s no way that this truck is pulling the trailer as confidently as your HD is yeah. I’Ve been mostly quite relaxed, um, it’s kind of an afternoon drive for me um and once again, like you, said plenty of power. That’S not an issue of power. I’Ve also had quite a bit of um grade shifting, so I’ve noticed I’ve noticed um it helping me out, so it I feel like this truck is really in tune with what I want to do. It’S like it’s comfortable.
It’S stable um, it’s helping me slow down, um, it’s really quite good, all right dude! Well, let’s get to the pump uh figure out exact. You know real world numbers and also we got talk about pricing on these trucks uh, because that’s also could be an issue. Yeah, I think the prices might surprise people now Andre. Looking at the payload on this truck yeah, it’s 1048 lb.
This truck is pretty amazing for what it is, but I think that’s one weakness. This truck has to be fair. It does have a lot of underbody protection, it’s got rock sliders, it’s got AEV steel bumpers and this really nice leather interior, so that takes up a little bit of it, but yeah th000, just over 1,000 lb. That’S not not a lot, and according to this it will tow 8,000 lb, which is once again not class, leading by halfon truck standards. But considering that this is a specialty off RoR yeah, not too bad, you cut it some Flack.
This truck is pretty special because it’s a 2025 Trail Boss, heavy duty which hasn’t existed before yeah. It combines kind of the LT Truck, so not a very high option, truck right, yeah uh. It combines that with some affordability, but it keeps a lot of payload 3,129 lb. It’S almost exactly three times what that has and impressive, considering that this is also an off-road trim, not as aggressive of an off-road trim, as that is, but there still maintain really good payload and 18,500 lb of conventional hitch Towing, and you got red tow hooks red Tow hooks, yes, our favorite Tommy’s favorite, I’m very impressed case that, even with your AV Edition truck diesel, you still have a engine heater yeah. We got a block heater which, especially on a diesel and in cold climates like Colorado, where we live here.
It’S really nice to have and it plugs right into the bumper. There super easy to get to Bam. I didn’t know your truck was electric. Oh yeah, you didn’t know it’s sevey! Okay!
I have a plug too all right dude, so we’re basically done with our Loop because we’re using this uh different diesel station for this D 100. It was 115 mil yeah. So a few miles extra here in our test and we’ve been driving for a couple hours. So it’s been a nice long journey to be able to stretch the legs on both of these trucks and get a good feel for them. Well, let’s come up with a verdict.
Let’S fill up, see the data and uh get the final judgment. How confident aren’t you well? He might beat me a little bit on efficiency but um. You know we have some pros and cons. Look at that capless system, easy peasy huh.
What did your computer say? 15 15 15, which is closing in on like a TRX with no trailer, and this this is an Offroad trim of a truck. That’S that’s closing in on my V8 Tundra, with no trailer yeah. That’S really impressive! For this pretty good!
If that’s, if that is accurate, find out be good! Oh, that’s! It yeah, almost exactly 8 gallons wow dude. Okay, let’s calculate so. We went 115 miles, correct, yeah, exactly divided by 8, 056.
14
3 14.3, which is really good A little optimistic on what the computer was figuring, but still over 14 m per gallon towing, a trailer that is, admittedly, not super heavy, but is really high profile, pushing a lot of air. That’S good all right! Well, let’s see what the big Duramax did, the big boy, heavy duty, Duramax says: 11.9, all right, let’s see what the big engine does.
I guess this truck is heavier. So, in theory the heavier you are the more fuel you’re using right that and I think, to be fair to your truck that the AC unit on the top of the trailer adds a little bit of extra drag. Oh yeah, there’s a little bit there is that going to make all of the difference that it sounds like we’re probably going to see here. I don’t think it’s going to make that much of a difference and both of these trucks have pretty aggressive tires right. So we weren’t testing like the efficiency versions of these trucks yeah.
So if I stay under 8 gallons, I’m looking pretty good right yeah, but that’s not going to happen. Oh, he blew right past it. What ah stop goine stop pumping? Oh man, we said we’re not doing a top off, because this pump is very powerful, quick yeah, so 9.74, let’s calculate okay, 115 Mi IDE by 9744 equals 11.
, which is not bad. Actually, it’s crazy because my truck’s said 11
9 yeah, so pretty accurate there very accurate and also this is a new truck that tfl Studios purchased recently. So if we put another 5 or 10,000 Mi on this truck, it could get a little bit more efficient. Would you say it it could yeah, but here’s the real question, Andre uh: did we just discover that we bought the wrong truck? No, is that what we’re saying here’s my verdict?
Okay – and I want to see if you agree. My verdict is this: for a trailer like we use today right a lighter trailer, maybe with a race car in it or maybe a camping trailer like yours, yeah uh. I think your truck could be perfect for that yeah. Definitely because it’s a little bit more convenient to drive more often, this truck has a much bigger bed, it’s a much longer vehicle and, as we saw fuel economy, not quite as good, it is a higher profile truck. It’S also pushing more air.
It’S got a much bigger displacement engine, but here’s a question: do you have a goose neck hitch in your truck uh? I don’t uh. Okay. Can your truck pull 19,000 lb on a goose snack? Does your truck have a selectable front and rear Locker Andre?
No all right so so the search continues right. Yeah uh, no, but but I hope it makes sense to you guys right. You saw exactly same trailer Apples to Apples right. Basically, what these two trucks are capable of and then we’ll do a heavy heavy ey Gauntlet with this heavy duty truck pretty soon. Absolutely that’s what everybody wants to see make use of that hitch in there exactly thanks for joining us and we’ll see you next time.
Oh, there is one more thing: oh, is there hi? How much does your truck cost? Oh, we almost. We Almost Got Away With It. Uh it’s about 88,000, so that truck very spec out.
It’S not a well. It’S almost topof the line. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s about. As Top Dog as those trucks get it’s almost $ 90,000, this truck is not a top dog heavy duty, but this truck is 78,000 bucks which can buy you quite a bit of fuel, so that might Factor, but you could buy both of these at the same Price right yeah, you can, depending on how you spec them out exactly so. The search continues.