Hey everyone it’s Ben Hardy here and we are going to be having a luxury truck showdown. We are comparing the GMC Sierra Denali, Ultimate to the Ram Limited and finally, to the Ford, Platinum Plus. All of these trucks have diesels, and all of them are over $ 100,000, let’s find out which one is best first off. I want to give a hu shout out and thank you to the Provo GMC, the Provo Ram and the Provo for giving me some time with all three of these trucks link to all their websites in the description down below, let’s get into it. This Ford has a high output Power Stroke that goes through a 10-speed automatic.
It’S a 6.7 L turbo diesel V8. It produces a whopping, 500 horsepower and then 1,200 pound- feet of torque. Now this Ram has the new high output Cumins, which goes through an 8-speed automatic transmission. It is a 6.
L, turbo diesel inline 6. It’S actually the smallest amount of cylinders in the group or the least amount of cylinders rather anyways. This produces 430 horsepower and then 1,075 pound- feet of torque. Finally, we’ve got the Duramax 6.6 L turbo diesel V8.
That goes through a 10-speed automatic transmission. It produces 470 horsepower and then 975 pound- feet of torque. So the least amount of torque out of the group before we move forward with this comparison, I do want to mention, if you want to see more articles just like this, then I recommend you subscribe because I post content every single day, so the Ford with the Platinum Plus package has gone for the traditional luxury truck appearance, so the bumpers are body painted we’ve got fog lights down there tow hooks. We got a giant air dam. You got this nice brushed finish on.
The chrome trim there on the grill massive headlights, lots of chrome, ram’s gone for the sporty thing, so everything’s all blacked out with this night edition package and the new Ram has an interesting headlight design where you’ve got kind of like a split light, looks futuristic in A lot of ways, but yeah you’ve got fog lights. You’Ve got tow hooks. You’Ve got parking sensors just like the Ford, much smaller air dam. The GMC actually has the smallest air dam out of the bunch, but this truck actually looks the most normal in terms of the sizing of the lights and the shape. And then you can see again with the brush finish on the grill got some blacked out elements, and so the GMC I’d say is actually in between the other two, like the Ford’s all out bright, the Rams blacked out and dark, and this one’s kind of in The middle with the looks and man that’s a lot of truck and look how fancy the wheels are on the Ford.
You’Ve got the chrome, you got the silver trim and the Ford has a solid front axle. It does use. Coil springs, though, up front and the Ram, also by the way, solid front axle, but coil sprung as well. Anyways completely blacked out wheel with the Ram the GMC blacked out and silver again kind of in between the other two trucks, and then it actually has independent front suspension. So it’s the odd man out with that.
Now, here’s your side profile with the GMC and this one does have the longer bed and then I do want to mention. We got power side steps. We’Ve got a bedside step with the GMC. We also have leaf springs here in the back. You’Ve got off-road shocks with this package and you know all-terrain tires, and then you got little bumper step now.
I can’t really show the side profile of the Ram, because it’s in between the other two, but this one’s actually a mega cab and just like the GMC, it has power side steps. It’S got leaf, springs here in the rear and funny enough notice. The fender flares are actually painted on the Ram, whereas on the GMC they are unpainted and then we’ve got the Ford power side steps just like the other two trucks. It’S got the little bed side step there and then we’ve got leaf springs here in the rear. No fender flares, so this is fender flareless truck and then we do have the little bumper step in the back now.
This leads us into bed features so starting with the GMC. You guys can see that we’ve got bed liner. Here we’ve got a fifth wheel: prep we’ve got LED lights, you’ve got the grab handle here. We have an outlet in the bed as well. This also has a tailgate step system.
It’S the multi-pro, so it’ll fold down to be a step, but it means that the tailgates only power down the Ram also has a fifth wheel. Prep we’ve got an outlet here. We’Ve got LED lights, so similar bed equipment um, but nothing with a tailgate. Just a normal tailgate with the Ram and then finally, with the Ford, no bed liners typical Ford right, we’ve got LED lights here. You’Ve got the little anchor points for the cargo tie- downs.
We do have an outlet in the bed which is nice but Ford, Ford, Ford, anyways. We do have a step here in the back as well, and the Ford’s the only one that has an autoraised tailgate out of the bunch um but giant platinum logo there. On the back, uh giant Ram logo with the Ram you’ve got the Limited badge there and then Denali. You actually have no Denali Ultimate badge on the outside of the Denali Ultimate, you kind of have to know what you’re. Well, I shouldn’t say that there is one on the side of the hood never mind.
I lied but other than the one on the side of the hood you kind of got to know what you’re looking at and man. It’S interesting to see all these together. I’Ve never had these trucks in one place at the same time. Leg room back here is pretty darn solid, got a little storage pocket got some cup holders heated seats. Usbs.
Have you guys figured out what truck I’m in? Yet that is right. We are in the Denali Ultimate, so really nice trim here and you got the seat, storage and then look at the door panel as well. So definitely high quality feeling and you even have a fancy headliner up top too. Would you look at this tons of leg room got a little storage pocket.
You see the wood trim. There heated seats, USB ports, full outlet. Have you figured out the truck yet that is right. Ram Limited interesting they’ve got some cloth inserts on these Limited seats, but yeah really nice leather see the door panel with the wood trim and the cross stitching, very fancy stuff, and then it actually just has a normal headliner. Nothing crazy with that and, of course, this one’s going to be the Ford interesting enough.
You actually sit higher in the Ford than the other two like the floor and everything’s a little bit higher, but storage pocket heated seats. Like the other two – and I will say, these seats are probably the most comfortable out of the bunch, the Rams close, but just the padding and everything’s a little bit better. And then you got fancy cross stitching everything with the door panel and then this one has a fancy headliner, just like the GMC. Let’S take a look at capacities, so the GMC has 3,655 lbs of payload capacity, 20,000 lb of towing capacity and a gross vehicle weight rating of 12,250 lb. Now the front door panel fancy just like the back door panel.
You got memory seats, we’ve got all of our window, controls front automatic. The mirrors extend out, they also power fold in they have blind spot monitoring and then you’ve got the fancy ultimate seats here with all the perforated leather trim. They’Ve got massage function, got another ultimate badge there, and this is the only truck out of the bunch that has four-wheel, drive, auto low and high. The other two don’t have auto um. You got your light.
Controls drive mode, select built in there too, and then heads-up display controls now just a quick overview of the interior. We’Ve got a big digital gauge. Cluster we’ve got a heads-up display, pretty fancy trim around the steering wheel itself. We also have a column shifter. We’Ve got a 360 camera system, responsive infotainment system, horizontally, opposed heated and ventilated seat controls.
You got your dual zone climate and then you notice, diesel exhaust brake is a physical button. You got held control built into this as well trailer brake controls are actually down here. Funny enough and you’ve got the ultimate logo here: phone charging pad we’ve got an outlet usb ports, uh nice trim same thing with the glove box, camera rearview mirror. We have a traditional center power, sliding rear window, the function, the button right there, oops right there, anyways and really nice again. These seats the ultimate seats.
The trim feels pretty darn fancy. Now the Ram has 3,738 lb of payload capacity. Can tow about 24,000 lb. With this configuration and gross feet, rating is 12,300 lb. Now you can see really nice trim all across the door.
Panel. You’Ve got automatic windows for the front too. The mirrors powerfold out. They also extend out as well, and on top of that you can adjust both the top and the lower mirror with power function. You got blind spot monitoring built in and then here are these seats.
Really nice trim all down the center with the leather power adjustments on the side light controls there notice the steering wheel is actually manually adjustable, but you do have power, pedal adjustments, digital gauge cluster, in the Ram and then we’ve got nice trim all around the steering Wheel, a little bit of wood trim at the bottom adaptive cruise control, just like the GMC. We have leather there on the column mounted shifter, which is a little bit fancier 360 camera system, just like the GMC, but we’ve got a vertical infotainment system. So a little bit different and you notice a lot of items are built in like the diesel exhaust brake parking, sensors trailer, brake controls are all partially built into the screen, but you have some physical control. There too, like I said two wheel, drive two-speed transfer case. No four-wheel auto with this we’ve got the wireless phone charging pad situation down there and then center console with the Limited logo got nice storage throughout definitely the biggest storage space passenger screen.
So you have less glove box storage with Limited. We do have a camera rearview mirror. We’Ve got a power sliding rear window, but no center foot. This truck 3,996 lbs of payload capacity, 12,000 lb of gross vehicle weight rating with the Ford about 24,000 lbs of towing. Just like the Ram and again fancy trim on the door panel front, two windows automatic the mirrors power fold in they also extend out memory seats and then you can see blind spingering with the mirrors.
This has the full recline seats, so you can kind of turn the seat into like a bed almost which is kind of nifty power. Adjustments there on the side got a light controls there steering wheels power adjustable pedals power adjustable too, just like the other two digital gauge cluster here in the center heads up display with the Ford again, nice trim all around the steering wheel here: platinum, logo, 360, camera With horizontal infotainment system, similar to the GMC, got your trailer backup, trailer, brake controls and again, two wheel drive two-speed transfer case with a rear, locking differential, that’s selectable, which is cool, we’ve got heated and ventilated seats. You’Ve got your climate controls and this also has massage seats. Unlike the GM, you have to go into the screen go over to seats, and then you can turn it on. So we got to dive into some menus rather than just clicking a button.
Got lots of storage here also there and on the side – and this is interesting – this is kind of new for Ford for Ford center console, but yeah good storage. There inside nice trim nice trim on the glove box as well as the dash uh. This is the only one that doesn’t have a camera: rearview mirror just a regular rearview mirror, but you do have auxiliary switches up top uh power sliding window like the other two and then we’ve got a panoramic center from the Ford. And now let’s go over the pricing and by the way, if you are standing up, I recommend you sit down. If you have a heart condition, you probably should turn off the article at this point, so the GMC stickers for $ 100,000, the Ram stickers for $ 102,000 and the Ford stickers for $ 103,000.
So we literally have over $ 300,000 worth of diesel truck right here. Let’S see which one performs the best well, we will start off in the Platinum Plus. First, and one thing I will say, is this little uh extension part of the seat that comes with the full recline seats in the Ford, absolutely hate, it absolutely hate it. I understand the benefit, but absolutely like just when you’re sitting upright. It feels awkward kind of like pushes you forward a little bit other than that, though the seats are really comfortable.
Seats are really comfortable. Now Ford has worked some magic wizardry with the Superduty. This has solid axles, front and rear, and it drives carlike. It’S really crazy, like it’s still a big truck so like you over bumps and everything you feel it, but just with how easy this is to steer and how comfortable it is over the bumps, considering the fact that this is a heavyduty truck with leaf springs in The back and solid axles front and rear. It is quite impressive.
Now this engine’s not only smooth, but it is a power behemoth. It has more power than you know what to do with. Truly, it is very impressive, and – and this just the powertrain is super smooth of the transmission – there’s no lag ever it just always has torque and I mean you’d hope so 1,200 lb feet on the paper right. I mean look at this. Look at this folks.
It’S struggling for traction; it is just a rocket ship of a truck truly an engineering marvel when it comes to power, but the thing that again, the thing that I like about the Ford, the most is just how smooth everything is. It’S really easy to steer again. The steering is very light for a diesel truck, it’s pretty darn direct and it’s comfortable. When you go over the bumps, I feel it, but it feels nice and controlled. The truck doesn’t feel like it’s bouncing all over the place.
Just stays nice and planted, and I think yeah definitely having a big V8 helps out with smoothing things out, and the transmission tuning is just great. This diesel is really hard to beat when it comes to performance, so so smooth. So I really do think that Ford did a fantastic job with their Power Stroke and this Platinum Plus it just this replaces the Limited right doesn’t have the limited name, but it has the limited interior and this one’s pretty neutral with the colors. It’S kind of like this, like grayish brown, i think it’s pretty good. Looking overall, it’s definitely It’s definitely a nice place to be.
If you ask me, they definitely did a good job and you can see over that bump like that’s, where you feel the HD truck is when you go over bigger the fact it’s an HD truck is when you go over bigger compression like how they did leather On stitching on the grab handle that’s cool but yeah. This is this, is a nice place to be, and so, if you want to go all out with luxury and afford this is the way to go and in the Mount McKinley Ultimate right. I had to make the I had to make the joke guys. I had to make the joke. I’M sorry yeah know it’s actually a Denali Ultimate, but I wonder I wonder if they’ll, if they’ll event, I don’t think they will cuz Mount McKinley Ultimate Denali Ultimate Denali.
Ultimate just kind of sounds cooler, but let’s see how this performs right off the bat going from the Ford into this. This actually feels more truck-like in a way. It’S not bad. The Ford’s just so well tuned with the steering, and this has independent front suspension. So it’s going to be more direct for a truck, but I think the Ford just the turnin’s just a little bit better, but also something to note.
This does have a long bed. So not a perfect comparison but like this is the first time I’. I’Ve even been able to get all three fully loaded trucks in one place at one time so I’ll take it i’ll take it now. You can feel the torque difference between this and the Ford right off the bat like it’s not just a oh on paper. The Ford produces more it.
You feel it from the seat of your pants. You feel the extra torque it’s over 200 lb feet more and it does make a difference. The Ford is like low-end seamless this. It’S still amazing for a diesel powertrain, but you definitely have to dive into the throttle a bit more to really get full use. I mean that’s still crazy, that’s still more than quick, but yeah.
That Ford is so fast that Ford has so much power that it actually makes this feel like slower, like quite a bit slower. It is a noticeable difference. Uh the seats are not as comfortable in this. I like the interior more in this than the Ford ford, still kind of feels cheap with their interiors. That’S the one big downside about Fords.
Is they just feel kind of cheap and plasticky? This feels like a more well-built vehicle overall but yeah. The Ford kind of kind of drive, onroad at least kind of drives a little bit a little bit better and the Ford’s a little bit more capable right with the towing and everything. So there’s definitely a lot to love from that perspective and I do like the uh and the column shifter activate. I can’t talk.
Actuation in both of them is pretty darn good. So, let’s pop into the Ram oo, if we were just doing like a sound competition, the Ram’s winning don’t get me wrong. I love those V8 diesels, but you can’t beat the Cumins with sound. It is just perfection, absolute perfection, just how a diesel should be just the chug chug chug chug chug, chug chug. Oh, it’s so beautiful, truly, truly beautiful, but let us definitely feels the most truck-like out of the bunch.
The steering is pretty good, but yeah, it’s not it’s not quite as lux in terms of how it maneuvers and everything yeah. This feels like a more rugged vehicle in general. Like you know, if, if these, if these trucks were all men, the Ram’s, the guy with the hair on his chest, just put: that’s that’s a weird, that’s a weird way to put it, but you know what we’ll just we’ll just leave it be now this one. Definitely is the least smooth with the engine transmission combo, but it also has so much character that you kind of love it for not being smooth because again it it’s an experience like it feels like you’re. The other two feel like you’re driving this like like super torquy modern engine.
This feels like you’re driving a diesel, and so I forgive it for not being the smoothest, because I’m I get to experience like I get to actually experience like what it feels like to be in a diesel. So it’s just different, but when it comes to torque it’s good and the transmission is very smooth and a big benefit of this new 8-speed compared to Ram’s old six-speed fuel economy is going to be better. Towing is going to be a little bit better everything’s going to perform a bit better, and I mean the fact that this tow about the same as the six-speed and has a higher uh axle ratio right. It’S a 3.42 42 versus a 3
73 in the old truck – that’s pretty cool, so you can get better fuel economy and still tow the same amount.
That’S that’s impressive, so the Ram feels like feels like a real truck. It’S It’s cool um man which one which one do we pick in terms of the winner out of this bunch, gmc is obviously the best value features per dollar ford’s, only $ 1,000 more than the Ram and has about the same amount of features as the GMC. But it doesn’t have a bedlininer, so GMC is definitely the best value. Uh doesn’t have a rear view. Camera mirror so yeah GMC definitely wins valuewise.
The Ram has a lot of the features the GMC has doesn’t have massaging seats, though that’s the only thing. This doesn’t have, but the seats are definitely more comfortable than the GMC’s um, so I kind of like how that performs most onroad with how that drives and the power and everything i like. The features that has i like the engine in this the most in terms of the sound and then the interior on the Ram, still feels kind of like the highest quality out of the bunch. So they kind of all they kind of all win in different ways. It’S just going to depend on what you value the most in a pickup truck.
Let me know which one you’d go for. If you win the lottery which $ 100,000 diesel, are you going to buy.