True, the idea of autocrossing a pickup truck is a bit silly, they aren't exactly designed to be fleet of foot after all. However putting them through their paces to see which kills the most cones tells you how well the balance is struck between towing, comfort and handling. Just because a truck needs to tow and haul doesn't mean it shouldn't be able to perform in emergency maneuvering situations. With that in mind the trucks where instrumented and operated by third party Ricardo and driven on a measured course with the same test driver for all runs. We'd be lying if we said this wasn't the most fun part of the whole review.
Auto Cross Course - Tie, Chevy Silverado And Ford F-150
We're not talking split decision here, we're talking dead even tie. The Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 tied with the fastest time around the lap at 48.64 seconds and tied with fastest average speed at 30.21 MPH. That's not to say they don't corner, accelerate, and brake differently, they most certainly do. It's a matter of the three different attributes evening each other out perfectly. If this were a "fun to drive" portion, it would be a toss up between the Nissan Titan (damn that thing is fun) and the Silverado/Sierra twins, but there's no room for subjectivity here and the Chevy/Ford combo comes through to win. Full results below.
Head back on over to the full 2009 Half-Ton Pickup Truck Comparison!