1/2 ton versus 3/4 ton

[testerdahl]

From my inbox:

Obviously you drive a lot of vehicles so I am asking your opinion on this one. I am looking for a pick up truck to tow a 14 foot job site trailer it has tandem axles and and weighs around 6000lbs loaded. The trailer is hooked onto my truck and towed back-and-forth from the job sites five days a week. Generally speaking, I am towing around 40 miles round-trip. However sometimes we do adventure out closer to the 450 to 500 mile range. I currently have a 2019 Toyota Tundra SR5 4x4 crew cab that I that haul that camper with. I am considering buying a new truck and was wondering your opinion on staying with a half ton or going to a three-quarter ton? With that question answered what manufacture do you recommend.

Any unbiased help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Derek

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I get this question quite a bit and I've done videos on this topic. I think the initial thinking is to just go with a 3/4 ton for more towing since it is basically the same as a 1/2-ton just stronger. While I can understand that thinking, today's 3/4 ton and 1/2 ton are shockingly different.

First, a 3/4 ton is quite a bit taller and overall bigger. They also generally ride worse than a 1/2-ton truck due to the stiffer frame, suspension and tires.

Next, the fuel economy is quite a bit worse for a 3/4-ton versus 1/2-ton. You'll lose anywhere from 5-7 MPG unloaded and 3-4 MPG when towing. Granted coming from your SR5 Tundra, any new half-ton will get much better fuel economy.

Finally, the price difference seems like they are close. However, I do think once you start adding options and building similar trucks with those features, you'll find a bigger price difference than you'd think.

I don't recommend one manufacturer over another because they all have pros and cons. It is simply impossible for me to answer that question.

 

[Fightnfire]

From my inbox:

Obviously you drive a lot of vehicles so I am asking your opinion on this one. I am looking for a pick up truck to tow a 14 foot job site trailer it has tandem axles and and weighs around 6000lbs loaded. The trailer is hooked onto my truck and towed back-and-forth from the job sites five days a week. Generally speaking, I am towing around 40 miles round-trip. However sometimes we do adventure out closer to the 450 to 500 mile range. I currently have a 2019 Toyota Tundra SR5 4x4 crew cab that I that haul that camper with. I am considering buying a new truck and was wondering your opinion on staying with a half ton or going to a three-quarter ton? With that question answered what manufacture do you recommend.

Any unbiased help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Derek

----

I get this question quite a bit and I've done videos on this topic. I think the initial thinking is to just go with a 3/4 ton for more towing since it is basically the same as a 1/2-ton just stronger. While I can understand that thinking, today's 3/4 ton and 1/2 ton are shockingly different.

First, a 3/4 ton is quite a bit taller and overall bigger. They also generally ride worse than a 1/2-ton truck due to the stiffer frame, suspension and tires.

Next, the fuel economy is quite a bit worse for a 3/4-ton versus 1/2-ton. You'll lose anywhere from 5-7 MPG unloaded and 3-4 MPG when towing. Granted coming from your SR5 Tundra, any new half-ton will get much better fuel economy.

Finally, the price difference seems like they are close. However, I do think once you start adding options and building similar trucks with those features, you'll find a bigger price difference than you'd think.

I don't recommend one manufacturer over another because they all have pros and cons. It is simply impossible for me to answer that question.

A diesel 3/4 ton should get similar mileage to most 1/2 tons not towing and perform better when towing 6k. That's been my experience but I googled around a bit to be sure. With the exception of the GM 3.0 Diesel, that will perform significantly better MPG than both 1/2 ton gas or 3/4 ton diesel.

Manuverability is a concern for sure with the 3/4 ton.

Lastly, most people I know who tow a job trailer also have items in the bed regularly. If the trailer weighs 6k loaded, add driver/passengers and anything in the bed that 1/2 ton is being worked every single day. The engine should be fine but the brakes, transmission etc. are putting in work. With the exception of a little landscape trailer that's under 3500lb I would lean 3/4 ton if pulling a trailer 5 days a week.

 

[zonedout]

I'd get a cheaper 3/4 ton gasser and call it a day. The current Tundra is terrible on MPG anyway so I doubt you'd notice much difference moving to a 6.6 or a 6.8. And gas HD's are designed to work hard all day every day, if you bought a new 1500 I'd avoid anything with turbos for that use case.

 

[testerdahl]

A diesel 3/4 ton should get similar mileage to most 1/2 tons not towing and perform better when towing 6k.

I'm not so sure about this one. I'd have to double check my videos, but I feel like a diesel 3/4 ton is mid teens and a 1/2 ton is over 20 when empty. Towing will be much closer for sure.

 

[Dusdaddy]

6K trailer? I'd do that with a 1/2 ton all day, every day. Why not? Many are built for twice that now and that is below the max for the mid-size trucks even. But obviously it depends on the truck. I wouldn't do it if their max towing were just 6-7K like the Ram V6 but there are plenty to pick from that'll do more and they would all be fine. It's what they are built for. And you can obviously buy a much nicer equipped 1/2-ton if you so desire, so sure, why not.

 

[Fightnfire]

I'm not so sure about this one. I'd have to double check my videos, but I feel like a diesel 3/4 ton is mid teens and a 1/2 ton is over 20 when empty. Towing will be much closer for sure.

Looking at the new Diesels I'm seeing lots of them getting high teens (16-19) which is where a lot of half tons fall or close enough for me to call them comparable. My Sierra is 15city and 19hwy. That is the 6.2 AT4. The 5.3 I think is ~1mpg better on the hwy. Ford F150 claims higher on the hwy at 24 but I don't know anybody that gets it. My father has a 2021 F150 3.5 Eco and his MPG is damn near identical to mine.

This is from Fuelly:

"Based on data from 226 vehicles, 3,751 fuel-ups and 1,382,938 miles of driving, the 2023 Ford F-150 gets a combined Avg MPG of 17.46 with a 0.12 MPG margin of error."



Also from Fuelly on the 2022 F250 Powerstroke:

 

[Fightnfire]

The spread on GM seems larger from 1/2ton to 3/4 ton but it's hard to parce out the engines. I know the F250 is outperforming the Silverado 2500 in MPG.

 

[Max Henry]

Looking at the new Diesels I'm seeing lots of them getting high teens (16-19) which is where a lot of half tons fall or close enough for me to call them comparable. My Sierra is 15city and 19hwy. That is the 6.2 AT4. The 5.3 I think is ~1mpg better on the hwy. Ford F150 claims higher on the hwy at 24 but I don't know anybody that gets it. My father has a 2021 F150 3.5 Eco and his MPG is damn near identical to mine.

This is from Fuelly:

"Based on data from 226 vehicles, 3,751 fuel-ups and 1,382,938 miles of driving, the 2023 Ford F-150 gets a combined Avg MPG of 17.46 with a 0.12 MPG margin of error."

View attachment 154

Also from Fuelly on the 2022 F250 Powerstroke:
View attachment 153

That’s a pretty cool website. I had no idea it existed, thanks.

 

[testerdahl]

That’s a pretty cool website. I had no idea it existed, thanks.

Fuelly is pretty great. Sometimes we learn a new vehicles EPA estimates for MPG on there before they get released by the automaker since the EPA publishes data on that website.

 

[Fightnfire]

I tracked well over 100,000 mi on fuelly with my Tacoma and then quite a bit more with a Prius we had. I stopped using it quite a while ago but it's still a great reference point.

The downside is some people set up their profile with their exact specs engine etc.,
others just enter their info as a default F-150 so you have to be a little careful at what you're looking at.

 

[Dusdaddy]

I tracked well over 100,000 mi on fuelly with my Tacoma and then quite a bit more with a Prius we had. I stopped using it quite a while ago but it's still a great reference point.

The downside is some people set up their profile with their exact specs engine etc.,
others just enter their info as a default F-150 so you have to be a little careful at what you're looking at.

Unfortunately, they don't really get many data points, like the F250 numbers were only from a total of 12 trucks. Some times you see some years increase by 2 then drop back down where they were.

As far as the bigger diesels were ever concerned, I always followed the standard thought that they got less mpg on average, but when towing, that average did not drop as far as gas engines dropped when towing.

 

[Fightnfire]

Unfortunately, they don't really get many data points, like the F250 numbers were only from a total of 12 trucks. Some times you see some years increase by 2 then drop back down where they were.

As far as the bigger diesels were ever concerned, I always followed the standard thought that they got less mpg on average, but when towing, that average did not drop as far as gas engines dropped when towing.

Yeah but a lot of that has changed recently with the newest generation of diesel engines My buddy's F-250 gets on average about the same miles per gallon as my truck. I can peek out higher on the highway. He beats me in towing.

 

[Dusdaddy]

Well hell, you do have a 6.2! Not exactly a small gas engine...lol. And you get much better mileage than a 6.0 did 20 years ago!!

 

[Fightnfire]

Well hell, you do have a 6.2! Not exactly a small gas engine...lol. And you get much better mileage than a 6.0 did 20 years ago!!

That was actually the deciding factor on the 6.2 versus the 5.3 for me it's a rated 1 mi per gallon lower but even leveled with 35s I still get 19 to 20 on the highway easy.

 

[Dusdaddy]

Mine is a 2011 hemi and I get 13-14 around town depending on winter/summer and about 16 on the hwy. Maybe 18 if I keep it at 55 but all the hwys around here are 65/70. 9-10mpg when towing. Same mpg whether it's the 4k trailer or the 6K.

 

[zonedout]

My best trip (image below) was 8.4 l/100 = 27ish mpg. That must have been a perfect storm of right temp, humidity, wind, traffic conditions, tire pressure etc, I don't pretend I'll be repeating that at all soon. MDS disabled of course, I don't use that system ever.

However I can often get between 9.4 and 11 (so 21 - 25 mpg). While towing my 6000 pound RV I get between 9 and 11 mpg.

 

[Blue Oval 5.0]

I would go with a 3/4 ton gasser for his use case. The difference in vehicle cost is minimal and you get much more capability. The ride might actually be better too with a 6k lb trailer behind it.

 

[Max Henry]

That was actually the deciding factor on the 6.2 versus the 5.3 for me it's a rated 1 mi per gallon lower but even leveled with 35s I still get 19 to 20 on the highway easy.

I had a 2015 silverado with the 6.2. i got a little better mileage with it than i get with my 2018 silverado with the 5.3. Didn’t have to put my foot into it as much.

 

[Fightnfire]

I had a 2015 silverado with the 6.2. i got a little better mileage with it than i get with my 2018 silverado with the 5.3. Didn’t have to put my foot into it as much.

When I was shopping I was new to GM and as I asked around to friends who were longtime GM guys I heard similar stories from them. I remember on the way home from the dealer it's 45 miles and mostly hwy, I pulled into the driveway and got 21.4 MPG on the trip home. I was happy. Since then I've leveled, put a tonneau on and added 35x11.50 so I'm getting 16 around town but can still hit 20 on the hwy below 75. We have several stretches of 70+ speed limit where everybody is doing 80. It plummets pretty quick above 75. (Probably more like 73-74)