When it comes to trucks, the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado are the cream of the crop. Both trucks have devoted followers who believe there’s never been a better pickup truck. Thanks to this, the F-150 and the Silverado have become defining images of American labor, and it’s labor that’s their main focus. While they are more than capable of handling families and letting drivers enjoy the outback, these are trucks designed for working individuals who plan to tow and haul regularly. When it’s time to get work done, trucks like these are the order of the day.
Today, we’re going to compare the 2024 Ford F-150 vs the 2024 Chevy Silverado 1500. Our focus will be on each truck’s work capabilities more than infotainment or luxury, although both trucks come with plenty of those features, too. We want to see which of these two pickups provides the modern worker with more capability so that drivers can have a better idea of what serves well when it comes to modern labor. With infrastructure projects dotting the landscape of America, it’s never been more important to have an understanding of the pickup truck market.
Engine Power
Exceptional power is an expectation all pickup truck drivers have for their vehicles, as well they should. The main purpose of a truck is to let you take command of not just the road, but any payload, and any terrain. Without well above-average engine power, you can’t trust your truck to do that. You don’t want to have concerns about the type of pavement, or lack of pavement, that your truck can handle.
The 2024 Ford F-150 comes with multiple engine options, all of which produce some pretty stellar performance numbers. The standard 2.7L EcoBoost Turbo V6 engine produces 325 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. That’s already quite noteworthy, but nothing compared to its top option, a twin-turbo 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine that cranks out 400 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. V6 engines used to be the cheap, underpowered option, but while the optional 5.0L Coyote V8 matches the horsepower of the 3.5L V6, it makes far less torque at 410 lb-ft. As a bonus, there’s also a hybrid powertrain option which puts out 430 horsepower and an even more impressive 570 lb-ft of torque. You’ll be able to save money on gas without any loss of capability.
What does all this horsepower add up to? Superb acceleration, for one. You won’t find yourself struggling to get onto a busy highway as you’ll be able to take off quickly, 0 to 60 MPH in 5.4 seconds with the 3.5L EcoBoost V6. Once you’re on your way, your ride will feel smooth, which is especially important if you’re towing or have a heavy payload.
The 2024 Chevy Silverado also comes with a heck of a lot of power, too. It includes a 3.0 Duramax Turbo-Diesel I-6 option that gives it its maximum towing capacity of 13,300 pounds, slightly less than the F-150 with its 3.5L EcoBoost V6. The Silverado’s 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine cranks out 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, but despite the higher horsepower, the Silverado does not beat the 5.4-second acceleration of the F-150. That’s interesting, considering that horsepower and acceleration are tightly related. A better build of the F-150 pays off here. While the Silverado will offer an electric version, it does not come with a hybrid powertrain option like the F-150, which puts the F-150 a bit ahead in terms of capability and options.
Towing Capability
When it comes to trucks, towing limits are often their biggest selling point. Quality towing is great for leisure purposes, as you can hitch a trailer to the back and bring the whole family camping in the wilderness, or tow a boat to your local lake. However, for workers, towing takes on more importance. It’s a make-or-break aspect of a truck. If you can’t tow enough, then you can’t get your work done.
The F-150 comes with the best-in-class towing capability of 13,500 pounds. That is a towing limit that’ll be hard for your average truck driver to hit. For comparison, it’s more than double the actual weight of the F-150 itself. That’s right, the F-150 can tow two F-150s. Plus, it comes with advanced trailering tech that makes hitching up to a trailer easier and also keeps you updated on your trailer’s weight distribution at all times so that you can remedy any balancing issues that arise during a trek.
The powerful engines of the Silverado also lead to a high towing limit of 13,300 pounds. The difference between the F-150 and Silverado is small but still noteworthy. Even a few hundred extra pounds of wiggle room can make a difference, so the F-150 takes the lead in the towing competition. The Silverado does come with some of the same trailering tech that the F-150 does, which is good for safety purposes. However, the trailering tech isn’t more advanced than the F-150, so it’s still not quite enough to make up for the lower limit.
Handling the Payload
Towing is king, but close behind towing comes payload. You want to know your truck bed can carry plenty of weight, and you also want to know it can carry that weight well. A truck bed should be intuitively designed so that you can make the most out of its volume, and that you can position whatever equipment you’re handling in a way that prevents it from moving around too much while you’re on the road. It’s a safety issue if you’re distracted by what’s going on in the bed while you should be paying attention to the terrain ahead.
The F-150 can tackle a best-in-class 2,455 pounds of payload when equipped with the base 2.7L EcoBoost Turbo V6 engine. The tailgate is easy to open, even when there’s a trailer hitched so that you can load and unload without stress. The bed also comes with electrical power through Ford’s Pro Power Onboard system. This produces up to 2.0 kW on gas-powered models, and up to 7.2 kW on the hybrid. This way, if you have to work in a remote location, you can still have a considerable power source, so you don’t have to constantly stress if you have enough juice. You’ll always be working stress-free when you have your F-150.
As so often seems to be the case, the Silverado does almost just as good a job, the keyword being “almost.” Its payload limit is 2,260 pounds when equipped with the 2.7L TurboMax I-4 engine, about 200 pounds less than the F-150. It has a fantastic bed structure that’s easy to use and guaranteed to keep all of your payload in place. Unfortunately, it does not provide nearly the amount of electric power that the F-150 does. For that reason, laborers are far more likely to be attracted to what the 2024 Ford F-150 offers them.
Building America’s Infrastructure
When you visit any construction site across the United States, you’re likely to see a fleet of pickup trucks nearby. It’s also likely that those trucks will either be F-150s or Silverados. Both trucks have a long history of building America and supporting its laborers. In truth, both will serve laborers well, but as companies choose what to invest in, it does appear that the numbers favor the F-150’s capability and build. Right now, it’s hard to point to any other truck on the market that can beat it, which means Ford continues to dominate when it comes to building America.
