The Fast Lane Truck on Thursday announced the results of a recent competition for the Best Heavy-Duty Truck. The 2020 Ford F-350 with the Power Stroke V8 came up the winner from amongst the other participants in the pack. For its accomplishment, it receives the Gold Hitch award.

Heavy-duty trucks are a class of vehicles often chosen by commercial companies in industries that do significant towing. So, testing of the trucks participating in this competition included hauling 30,000 pounds through a mountain roadway that included substantial inclines. The judges also indicated that this testing for all three competitors also happened during a snowstorm this year. 

The Scoring

Statistical data was gathered from the technical specifications of the contenders for the award. Each vehicle in the competition was graded between 1-100 points. Evaluations included, among other things, each vehicle’s fuel efficiency, unladen, and with the loaded trailer. Fuel tank capacity was also considered as these vehicles are often used for cross-country runs. The exhaust braking function was also evaluated, which is an important tool for coming off the backside of the mountain. Additionally, the judges also had personal seat-time to help them form a more rounded opinion of the field.

The competitors

The contestants for this category of Heavy Duty Truck Golden Hitch award were,

• 2020 Ford F-350 Super Duty Power Stroke V8
• 2020 GMC Sierra 3500 Duramax V8
• 2020 Ram 3500 Cummins I6

The judges

The full discussions by the judges can be found in the video below. It is kind of humorous to watch as one of the judges called the Ford as the Godzilla of the competition, which is ironic because Godzilla is a nickname for the Nissan GTR, which obviously is not a truck, nor in the competition. In the end, the decision was unanimous for the Ford F-350 Super Duty Diesel.

The popular vote

Voting is also opened up to readers of The Fast Lane Truck, as well as to viewers of their online media. Interestingly enough. This popular vote by the readers and viewers also ended up at the same conclusion. The 2020 Ford F-350 Super Duty took the popular vote by over 20% points over the other two trucks. 

The judges wrapped up the competition with these comments,

“2020 competition was tougher than ever. TFLtruck tested three trucks with the heaviest trailer to date. We towed a 30,000 lbs trailer up and down the Ike Gauntlet – world’s toughest towing test. All three trucks were also tested on our highway towing MPG loop and a 0-60 MPH acceleration test. The new 2020 Ford F-350 Power Stroke diesel V8 was the quickest up the mountain grade with the trailer by a significant margin of over 1 minute. The F-350 was the most fuel-efficient with the trailer on the flat highway, and it was the quickest 0-60 MPH dually truck we tested this year.”

It would seem that consumers that have honed in on a vehicle’s ability to tow serious weight have a really strong offering in the F-350. Not only were the judges impressed, but those that took part in the popular vote voted for that vehicle by a wide margin. Although the GMC Sierra 3500 and Ram 3500 made good efforts, the Ford was just better in this testing.