Car and Driver "In Depth Review "

[Skerj]

Car and Driver has been doing in depth reviews of all the half ton pickups out there, including Ram (see link). I personally noticed a few things that I think were wrong or skewed results.

1. They list MPG for the 8 speed Hemi 4x4 as 13/15/19. I know my window sticker says 15/17/21, and so does fueleconomy.gov. Is there an 8 speed that still gets the 5 and 6 speed MPG..?

2. Their braking test uses the Rebel and takes MUCH (IMO, it's like 40 feet longer; 2 whole truck lengths...) further to stop. Wouldn't they have been better comparing similar street tired trucks vs the meaty offroaders on the Rebel to keep things, we'll, comparable..?

3. I'm biased obviously, but from my recent experiences, the big 3 trucks are fairly close in most regards, with the Ram being the best (mostly IMO, and despite being a platform near the end of its life cycle) at everything except payload, towing, and "track" (they make no mention of gear ratio that ive seen, so it could be 3.21s) numbers while the Titan and Tundra are well behind the curve. I felt like they were hitting Ram pretty hard...

We still have the best infotainment! Sync3 still doesn't close the gap...

2017 Ram 1500 | In-Depth Model Review | Car and Driver

 

[dRAMbuie]

I canceled my subscription to C&D years ago because of the blatant bias in all of their "reviews".

Their opinions aren't worth the paper they're written on.

 

[huntergreen]

the review is ok. they leave many details out such as rear end gearing. it does show that the gen 5 is overdue. as for using a rebel, i believe chrysler supplies the ram to be tested, not C&D.

 

[02blkram47]

Car and Driver has been doing in depth reviews of all the half ton pickups out there, including Ram (see link). I personally noticed a few things that I think were wrong or skewed results.

1. They list MPG for the 8 speed Hemi 4x4 as 13/15/19. I know my window sticker says 15/17/21, and so does fueleconomy.gov. Is there an 8 speed that still gets the 5 and 6 speed MPG..?

2. Their braking test uses the Rebel and takes MUCH (IMO, it's like 40 feet longer; 2 whole truck lengths...) further to stop. Wouldn't they have been better comparing similar street tired trucks vs the meaty offroaders on the Rebel to keep things, we'll, comparable..?

3. I'm biased obviously, but from my recent experiences, the big 3 trucks are fairly close in most regards, with the Ram being the best (mostly IMO, and despite being a platform near the end of its life cycle) at everything except payload, towing, and "track" (they make no mention of gear ratio that ive seen, so it could be 3.21s) numbers while the Titan and Tundra are well behind the curve. I felt like they were hitting Ram pretty hard...

We still have the best infotainment! Sync3 still doesn't close the gap...

2017 Ram 1500 | In-Depth Model Review | Car and Driver

If you read the article and not just looked at the graphs it said " initially the brake pedal in our Laramie longhorn" plus the picture at the very beginning of the article showed them a white longhorn. So I think the mentioned rebel in the results graph was a misprint.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

 

[Skerj]

I agree that C&D isn't the best. I prefer Motortrend for reviews and comparisons and Road & Track for news and blog type articles. But no one else has gone to the length of using 100s of ping pong balls to determine console space. Maybe no one else is that crazy, or maybe no one cares...

 

[hemipower95 2.0]

The best thing about motor trend is their worlds greatest drag race

 

[yillbs]

I'd think the gearing is useless, the 3.21 gears on the ram 1500 have a much better final drive ratio than the tundra 6 speed. Those tires on the rebel... they aren't that much more beefy.

 

[barr0208]

or another biased tfl truck who knocks off points because of the shift knob or makes comments about a 2 inch squat even though the ford f150 they tested squatted 3inches or that the new f150 3.5 ecoboost with the 10 speed gets 1mpg better than the ram towing the same weight but does not dock points for having to use premium fuel at what 50 cents a gallon more go figure .

 

[Farmer Fran]

or another biased tfl truck who knocks off points because of the shift knob or makes comments about a 2 inch squat even though the ford f150 they tested squatted 3inches or that the new f150 3.5 ecoboost with the 10 speed gets 1mpg better than the ram towing the same weight but does not dock points for having to use premium fuel at what 50 cents a gallon more go figure .

Do not even get me started about tfl

 

[07MegaCabRam]

I canceled my subscription to C&D years ago because of the blatant bias in all of their "reviews".

Their opinions aren't worth the paper they're written on.

Well said.


C&D

 

[RCFiddyOne]

3. I'm biased obviously, but from my recent experiences, the big 3 trucks are fairly close in most regards, with the Ram being the best (mostly IMO, and despite being a platform near the end of its life cycle) at everything except payload, towing, and "track" (they make no mention of gear ratio that ive seen, so it could be 3.21s) numbers while the Titan and Tundra are well behind the curve.

That is the first thing I thought. 0-60 times for trucks are useless without knowing the rear-end gearing. So much so that I stop paying attention to them. The Ram they tested had the 3.21 rear end because I have the 3.92 in mine and my numbers are better than they quoted.

 

[RAM-pagingMN]

TFL is garbage. they can read brochures of trucks bt have very little knowledge of them. For pete's sake, they test in colorado and love how fast a turbo-charged engine is against a N/A v8. C&D is even worse when reading their graphs, where on section shows using a rebel, and the other shows a laramie, two way different trucks out of the box. The Ram is in dire need of a over haul, and a new lower end power train, maybe some weight saving. For the price of a basic model Furd i can get a much nicer Ram.

 

[mohemipar]

To me things like MT, C&D, the fast lane guys, it's all entertainment. I dont put any stock into what they actually say for reviews and take nothing as fact. You have to actually come to your own conclusions based on your needs and what you want. Not just go out and blindly buy a vehicle because some guys get paid to do mostly unscientific tests. Consumer Reports is probably the biggest joke ever conceived for auto "reviews".

Lately Ive been noticing MT keeps saying in various articles/videos that a stock Hellcat runs an 11.8 quarter mile because thats what their driver's best was. But its well known people run low 11s on stock tires. Ive seen a stock Hellcat Charger break just under 11.4 with my own eyes. Chrysler officially ran an 11.2 on stock tires. Vehicle testing depends on all kinds of factors. So dont read something and take it as written in stone.

 

[RCFiddyOne]

To me things like MT, C&D, the fast lane guys, it's all entertainment.

Yes, entertainment. Just like those shows like "All Girls Garage", "CarFix", "Garage Squad", "Trucks" or any of those other ones that show mods with absolutely NO problems during an install working in a garage cleaner than my kitchen. If that is not real life, I'm living in a fantasy.

 

[shibby927]

or another biased tfl truck who knocks off points because of the shift knob or makes comments about a 2 inch squat even though the ford f150 they tested squatted 3inches or that the new f150 3.5 ecoboost with the 10 speed gets 1mpg better than the ram towing the same weight but does not dock points for having to use premium fuel at what 50 cents a gallon more go figure .

I actually like TFL to an extent mainly because I get to see the different trucks that are out there, but as you've already stated they miss some things, and take points away for stupid reasons. Docking points because of a shifter knob is ridiculous. They like to compare apples to oranges a lot too. Having watched their videos for a long time now I'd say there's a definite Ford bias, but they're not quite as biased as some of the other major automotive reviewers out there.

 

[RAM-pagingMN]

Tfl absolutely has a Ford Bias. I hate when they ride next to a Ford tech in this 80k truck and aren't asking why a truck really needs 7 cameras or why its 80k. Also, it drives me nuts they compare a 450 to 3500, which is two different classes of trucks. TFL is barely entertaining considering Andre sounds like a college kid looking at Honda Civics when reviewing trucks or trying to give information. Nate seems genuinely into trucks and is the least Biased. I digress, i watch their videos and help them create income for doing something they are passionate about!

 

[shibby927]

Tfl absolutely has a Ford Bias. I hate when they ride next to a Ford tech in this 80k truck and aren't asking why a truck really needs 7 cameras or why its 80k. Also, it drives me nuts they compare a 450 to 3500, which is two different classes of trucks. TFL is barely entertaining considering Andre sounds like a college kid looking at Honda Civics when reviewing trucks or trying to give information. Nate seems genuinely into trucks and is the least Biased. I digress, i watch their videos and help them create income for doing something they are passionate about!

Yeah Nate is definitely the best part of the show, he seems like a guy that genuinely loves cars and trucks in particular. Roman is Ford/Chevy biased and nitpicks anything that doesn't have a blue oval or a bowtie on it. Andre is just like you said, he seems like a warm body to fill time. He is literally boring to watch. Mr. Truck is alright, if not a little bland. He's definitely better as an extra on TFL than he is on his own channel in my honest opinion.

I have my gripes about their biases and what not but honestly it's still pretty decent entertainment considering it's a bunch of average joes. I just watch it for the entertainment value and know better than to put too much stock into their reviews. I mainly like seeing how the different brands perform on the Ike Gauntlet, and seeing the gas mileage comparisons and what not. Gives me an opportunity to look at the different trucks and form my own opinions.

 

[mohemipar]

Nathan def seems like the Mopar guy of the bunch. Cant help but laugh at Andre when off roading though.