Best Trucks of 2023 and 2024

[MUSIC PLAYING] EMME HALL: Hey, Jason, you hear this? [ENGINE REVVING] That is 6.2 liters of pure RAM-butting, headbutting fury. JASON LEWIS: It sounds pretty good. But this is 5.2 liters of bald eagles ready to shred that T. Rex of yours. [ENGINE REVVING] EMME HALL: All right, that sounds pretty good. But listen, I've got a test for you. Quickest truck to, like, the third power pole wins. JASON LEWIS: Deal. You're on. [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, Emme, are you ready to go? EMME HALL: I am. I got my launch control enabled. JASON LEWIS: Oh, that's right. All right, 3, 2, 1. Send it. EMME HALL: Aah! Oh my god. OK. So I'm here in Johnson Valley. This is like the off-road motorsports play area, and I'm going pretty fast. I don't know what's going to happen up here. JASON LEWIS: So both of these trucks have similar horsepower and torque numbers, and the suspension capabilities are similar according to the specs. But there are a few differences that are going to help one of these trucks bash its way to the top of our competition. EMME HALL: Now if you want to see more of us, like, completely and totally abusing not only our bodies, but also these trucks, be sure to subscribe. If you want to sell your truck that has been-- whoa! [LAUGHTER] If you want to sell your truck maybe has been a little abused, be sure to go to edmunds.com/sellmycar. JASON LEWIS: Wow. EMME HALL: Woo! That was fun. [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, Jason. You ready? JASON LEWIS: Oh, yeah. I'm ready. EMME HALL: All right, here we go. 3, 2, 1, go. JASON LEWIS: Oh my. I forgot to shift! I had it in manual mode and I just outsmarted myself. EMME HALL: It's 14 seconds already. I totally beat him. JASON LEWIS: This thing, in Baja mode, is absolutely unbelievable. EMME HALL: Oh, he's going fast. OK, wait. JASON LEWIS: I have no idea if that was fast or not, but it felt amazing. EMME HALL: OK, Jason, dude, that is a lot of truck. And I didn't come near to exploiting the limits of it on that run. JASON LEWIS: I agree. It was intense and recalibrating what the vehicles are capable of and what we are comfortable with is a whole other-- EMME HALL: Two different things, two different things. JASON LEWIS: Yeah, a whole other level. EMME HALL: OK, all right. Do you want to know your time? JASON LEWIS: Yes, I do. EMME HALL: Are you sure? JASON LEWIS: No, but yes. I mean, I outsmarted myself and kept in the first gear for the first, like, I don't know. EMME HALL: Because you were trying to use the paddle shifters? JASON LEWIS: Yeah! Oh, I'm going to show off here. EMME HALL: All right, you did that run in 34.39 seconds. What did I do it in? JASON LEWIS: Oh, man. EMME HALL: What did I do it in? JASON LEWIS: This is going to be going. EMME HALL: What did I do it in? JASON LEWIS: You did it in 32.41. EMME HALL: [CHEERING] JASON LEWIS: So you got me. So-- EMME HALL: The TRX. JASON LEWIS: I'll give you that one. EMME HALL: The TRX is the winner! JASON LEWIS: [GRUNTS] All right, what the heck is this? SPEAKER: That's the Losersaurus. Loser has to travel with that until they win a challenge. EMME HALL: [LAUGHTER] JASON LEWIS: Seriously? Hey, just so you know, this is cute and all, but it's heavier than it looks. This is actually a thing. Jeez. EMME HALL: Whatever. You're going to survive. OK, now I want to talk about these trucks. So I got a 6.2 liter supercharged V8. It's putting out 702 horsepower, 650 torques. I've got, like, 13 inches of travel in the front, 14 inches of travel in the rear, 11.8 inches of ground clearance, and 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler tires. JASON LEWIS: OK. Now all of these specs are like supercar levels for the truck. EMME HALL: Yeah, totally. JASON LEWIS: So I have slightly less horsepower-- EMME HALL: Aww. JASON LEWIS: --slightly less torque. But I have 37-inch tires. The travel numbers are actually similar on both of these things. EMME HALL: Right. And I think the biggest difference here that I really want to test out is that I have got those Bilstein E2 adaptive dampers and you have the Fox shocks live valves. JASON LEWIS: Smart shocks. We're in the world of smart shocks now. EMME HALL: Exactly, exactly. JASON LEWIS: And so hundreds of decisions and sensing per second. EMME HALL: Per millisecond, dude. It's nuts. It's nuts. JASON LEWIS: See, there you go. EMME HALL: And as it sits, $98,000. JASON LEWIS: OK, I'm at $110,000 for this one. So this isn't a separate model. This is a trim level of the base Raptor. So you can add 37s and then add the R, which is basically the V8, re-dampening the suspension. EMME HALL: Wow. Still 110, six figures for a truck. JASON LEWIS: That's a lot. It's a lot. EMME HALL: Dude. JASON LEWIS: Yeah. EMME HALL: So here's what I think we should do. I think that we need to find some articulation places. I think we need to find a hill climb. And I think we need to find some whoops for those shocks. JASON LEWIS: OK, yes. I agree, I agree. So yeah, I hope to redeem myself on at least one or all of the rest of those challenges today. EMME HALL: Yeah, lots of luck, my friend. All right, like, come on. Get rid of that. Let's go. Let's keep going. JASON LEWIS: Let's go do this. It'll be fun. EMME HALL: What? SPEAKER: Stays with you until you win a challenge. JASON LEWIS: Aw. Man, that's some bullcrap right there. EMME HALL: [LAUGHTER] [MUSIC PLAYING] JASON LEWIS: Man, this sucks to have the dinosaur, lose the first challenge. But remember, I'm the FNG here, and this is all new territory. But man, that's frustrating. EMME HALL: Hey, Jase, look at these rocks over here. Do you think that'd be good for our articulation test? JASON LEWIS: Definitely. That looks great. EMME HALL: You go first, because you've got more rock crawling experience than I do. JASON LEWIS: Copy that. I appreciate the ask. If you give me a spot up into there, we'll see what we get. EMME HALL: Cool, cool. JASON LEWIS: All right, so part of embracing this technology is I'm going to go ahead and use the default rock mode, turn on my rear locker, and then just let it do its thing since it's proven that Raptor is smarter than me. EMME HALL: OK. JASON LEWIS: All right, what do we got? EMME HALL: OK, so listen, you're a better rock crawler than I am. So just go up that way real slow and we'll see what happens. JASON LEWIS: All right, you tell me when that tire goes off. EMME HALL: I'll tell you when that tire goes off the ground. JASON LEWIS: I have a feeling I'll-- my butt dino will tell me as well. EMME HALL: Move your tire. Turn my driver. Turn-- turn driver a little bit. Driver. JASON LEWIS: OK, there it. EMME HALL: Let me see. JASON LEWIS: At least, it felt like it. EMME HALL: Whoa, you're off the ground. JASON LEWIS: Yay. I don't like being off the ground. These have four wheels. EMME HALL: You're off the ground, like, this much. JASON LEWIS: OK. Do you want to use that as the marker? Do you want me to go back, or just call it right here? EMME HALL: Let's call it right here. JASON LEWIS: OK. I would normally be able to spot myself up this with my front-facing camera, but there's a dinosaur freaking blocking the view. EMME HALL: I'm going to put this right down where his wheel is touching. JASON LEWIS: Now don't short me any over there. EMME HALL: Got to get the TRX past that. I think I can do it. JASON LEWIS: All right, Emme. You ready for this? EMME HALL: You all ready for this? [VOCALIZING] JASON LEWIS: Come on into my world. Let's see how you do. EMME HALL: I think that I am actually going to lose because I only have 35-inch tires. OK, I've lost visual on the line. JASON LEWIS: So you're going-- you're on the right line, so stay straight. Come on. EMME HALL: This is always so-- JASON LEWIS: Go a little driver. There you go. OK, let me check. EMME HALL: I'm-- I think I'm off. JASON LEWIS: Not yet. EMME HALL: Not yet? JASON LEWIS: Oh, yeah, it's off. EMME HALL: OK. Am I close to the line? I'm not even close to the line, am I? JASON LEWIS: You're closer than you think, but not there. EMME HALL: Yeah, I'm not there. Oh, I'm the loser. I'm the loser. JASON LEWIS: Does that feel unnerving? EMME HALL: A little bit. A little bit. But I'm not-- I'm not-- nowhere near as articulated, actually, as you. JASON LEWIS: But you want to come out and look at that, or you want to-- EMME HALL: I'm not going to get out right now, but-- JASON LEWIS: Oh, come on. EMME HALL: Get the tape and mark a piece of tape-- JASON LEWIS: We'll do that. EMME HALL: --where I was. JASON LEWIS: OK. Cool. EMME HALL: OK. JASON LEWIS: All right, so this kind of surprised both of us a little bit. We kind of theorized that the 35s might offer more up-travel, but it's not even stuffed on this side. But it just didn't quite get there. So like, down here, what do you think? Right where tire's-- the contact patch? SPEAKER: Yup. JASON LEWIS: OK, so we'll put it right there at the contact patch. So it's close, but not quite. Score one for the Raptor. All right, you're clear to go down. EMME HALL: Clear to go back? All right. Oh my gosh. That's a lot. JASON LEWIS: Yeah, yeah. It-- legit, it was closer than you think. EMME HALL: No, no. That's-- I don't think that's close at all. JASON LEWIS: Oh, OK. So you're opposite. I was like, OK, that's pretty good. EMME HALL: No, I-- that's far, dude. JASON LEWIS: OK, OK. EMME HALL: No, look, that's at least, like, six inches at least. JASON LEWIS: OK, OK. [MUSIC PLAYING] EMME HALL: All right, Jason, we need to find some whoops. And I can't believe, in all of Johnson Valley, I don't see any. JASON LEWIS: They're always there when you don't need them. But yeah, here we are. EMME HALL: Oh, this is nuts. I'm like, normally, I can't not be on whoops. But today, I'm-- oh. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. There we go, there we go, there we go, there we go. OK, now it is down to suspension. JASON LEWIS: OK. EMME HALL: Bilstein versus Fox. JASON LEWIS: OK, well, you set up this course with this U-turn here. EMME HALL: Yeah. JASON LEWIS: That's going to play in my favor with two-wheel drive, whereas you can't do that. EMME HALL: No. Yeah, but you can't-- OK, then you can't go into two-wheel drive. We both have to keep it into four-wheel drive because I cannot go into two-drive, and that's an unfair advantage. JASON LEWIS: OK, OK. All right, so we're at our improvised race course. We wanted to just do whoops, but we thought, to make it more interesting, we have a U-turn to start. Blast through the whoops, and there's a couple of pretty big ones here. Make a gentle left at the Y, and finish line right here. Let's see what she does. Ready. 3, 2, 1, send it. EMME HALL: I mean, my t-shirt does say "Send It," right? So, Fox has really had the market with their live valve shocks on the Raptor. But now I got these Bilsteins, right? Oh, that's a big hole. And I can pretty much do whatever that Raptor can do, and I can kind of do it a little bit faster, I think. OK, control here, because we've got to go to the left. Whoa. Did you see that wheel get busted out of my hand? That was a little scary. All right, here we go. JASON LEWIS: Ready, and go. Ooh, wow. Man. All right, so my key to not at least losing a few seconds right off the bat is automatic. I'm going to let it do the shifting for me since it does such an amazing job. This truck's way smarter than me, turns out, and I'm OK with that. It's good. Baja mode, and that's it. EMME HALL: OK. Jason, are you ready to beat the mighty TRX? JASON LEWIS: I'm ready. Let's do this. EMME HALL: All right. 3, 2, 1, go. JASON LEWIS: Come on. Woo, got a little bit of air there. Got a little bit of the [INAUDIBLE] happening I slowed down too much there. But I just love this truck. EMME HALL: Turn. There you go. Oh, slamming. Oh, good job, good job, good job. Holy-- JASON LEWIS: Oh, this is too much fun. EMME HALL: Dude, I really want to get this Losersaurus off of my truck, but I have to tell you, I think you and the Fox Live Valve shocks did better than me and the Bilstein E2s. JASON LEWIS: I was watching you and you were putting on a clinic out there. And the truck looked good and the thing just sounded great. EMME HALL: Dude, you came by so fast. OK, you show me mine first. Show me mine. Show me mine, show me mine. JASON LEWIS: OK, 28.67. EMME HALL: Oh my god, you won! JASON LEWIS: Barely, but look. Oh my god. Thank god. That is as close as it gets yet. 28-- EMME HALL: One second. One second off. JASON LEWIS: One second off. And I felt really tentative in the whoops there. You definitely had me there. My plan might have worked. EMME HALL: I have to wear that damn dinosaur for another challenge. JASON LEWIS: Representing for the Raptor. I'm sorry, but get used to that for the rest of the day. I'm sorry. EMME HALL: Oh, I'm such a loser. It's because you have bigger tires, because there's nothing I can do about my tire size. JASON LEWIS: Another one for the Raptor. EMME HALL: You shut up. JASON LEWIS: You keep your dinosaur. EMME HALL: OK, this looks like a pretty good hill for us to climb up. But I'm going to say points are deducted if you have to use your locker. All right, the first part of this hill is pretty easy. I'm not really worried about the first part of this hill. It's the second part that I'm a little nervous for. Because remember, he's got way more tire than I do. Those BFGs, number one, they're better than the Wranglers. They just have-- they're stronger. They have a better tread pattern. And now I can't use my front camera because that's stupid fake dinosaur is-- the Losersaurus is on the front. This is sketchy, you guys. There's some really big holes. I am 100% going to have to use my locker here at some point, but I'm going to try to get up as much as I can. 17 degree hill. Am I going to get up this without using my locker? Oh my god. OK, wait, there's one hole here that I'm going to hit. Can I avoid it? It's so hard with trucks these big, because I can't see my wheels. What! No longer needed. Oh my gosh. OK, wait, I'm going to keep going. Oh, dude. This hill is all about line choice. This hill is all about line choice. If you get in a wrong line, you're 100% going to need to use your locker. I, however, am so cool. I am picking the right line and (SINGING) I don't need to use my locker. [CHUCKLING] Suckers. Dude, this is high. OK, so, you don't really realize how steep something is until you're actually coming down it. And then you're like, oh my god. 18 degrees right here. But there is that offer of cruise control. So I'm going to use that. This is going to keep me at 1.2 miles per hour. What is difficult in this vehicle-- and listen, if I could use my forward-facing camera, I would. But I can't, because there's a giant Losersaurus strapped to the front. But it's tough to see over the hood. And it's also tough to know exactly where your wheels are because I cannot see them. All right, I'm sick of this. Let's turn that off and let's modulate on my own. I mean, for low helps, but I just-- I like to be in control of stuff a little bit. And there we go. Hard part completed. JASON LEWIS: So for this Hill we will go into rock crawling mode. Let's do this. It looks pretty uneventful for Emme, so I'm hoping for a little bit of the same. And I think since I had the luxury of going second and watching her, I'm going to try to win this contest by adding a little bit of razzle dazzle and a little bit of speed to this. She just inched her way up here. We're going to Raptor our way up here. That's right. Oh, there's a big ol' rock right there. Come on. Come on, let's do it. Let's go. Let's add some speed. Here we go. Here we go, here we go. Oh, it's doing it. It's doing all of the things, and it's doing it fast. And it's doing it Raptor style. Oh, who needs lockers? Oh, this thing is a beast. Oh, I think we dominated. Oh, yeah. In my head, we win that one. Wow. All right, let's see if we can find hill descent. There it is. So I'm going to try the hill descent traction control here. And again, with this smart stuff, now I have no feet on the pedals here. And we're going down this pretty straight. I know, I'm lifting my knees to prove this to you guys. So I have no feet on the pedals and we're going to go maintain a nice, chill speed. We're going 3 right now. And I can use the cruise control buttons to up that a little bit. Let's do that. So we'll go-- we'll set it up at a whopping 4. And it's just maintaining it. Now the benefit of this, as opposed to using your foot on the brake, is that this will break the wheels independently. So this, again, is way better than a human at keeping the vehicle in really slippery terrain. This will maintain your grip levels and speed because it's doing independent wheels, rather than your foot on the brake at all four wheels. And it's making that just, like, not even dramatic. Let's get out of here. Cancel, gas pedal, let's do this. [ENGINE REVVING] Wow. This is a good truck. This is an ultimate truck. [MUSIC PLAYING] What do you think? Tell me about what happened. What's going on? EMME HALL: I think the same thing happened to both of us, is that both of our trucks walked up there super easily and we didn't have to use the locker. JASON LEWIS: Yeah, it wasn't that hard. You had me going because you'd go over that dip there. And I was like, whoa, something must have happened. EMME HALL: No, no, no, nothing happened. Just going down a bit. JASON LEWIS: All right. Well, OK, do I get any credit for realizing that you made it, we're both going to make it. I sent it a little harder. Like, you inspired me. I sent it up that hill. EMME HALL: No, you get no-- no, you know the hill climb philosophy. As slow as possible, as fast as necessary. JASON LEWIS: But, Raptor. EMME HALL: You didn't-- no, that doesn't count. That doesn't count. JASON LEWIS: All right, so we both made it up and we're good. So, overall. EMME HALL: Overall, OK? So we're tied here. You won two challenges, articulation and the whoops. I won one challenge, the flat-out speed. So I guess that means the Raptor wins and I'm a big old Losersaurus. JASON LEWIS: It looks-- it looks good over there. Looks horrible there. EMME HALL: Yeah. But I mean, listen, didn't lose my much, especially in the whoops, right? Just one second. So I think what that shows is that, when you come down to it-- I mean, obviously, these trucks are essentially the same. JASON LEWIS: Yeah. EMME HALL: The only reason why I might buy a Raptor over that is because you can still put this vehicle in two-wheel drive. JASON LEWIS: Right. It changes the dynamic. It makes the vehicle more fun to interact with. You fishtail, do donuts. EMME HALL: Yeah. JASON LEWIS: Like the kid stuff that you buy a ridiculous vehicle like this for, so. EMME HALL: Right. JASON LEWIS: I mean, likewise-- like, what do you think, looks-wise? Did you think that-- EMME HALL: Looks-wise, I think I like the TRX better. And I like the interior in the TRX better too. JASON LEWIS: Right. EMME HALL: But living with this thing on the daily? I mean, I checked my MPGs-- 7.7. JASON LEWIS: Ooh. I'm 8.5. So, yeah. EMME HALL: And I have to use premium. JASON LEWIS: Yeah. It's not good. And that's recommended, premium. So you don't have to, but. EMME HALL: Yeah, yeah. And can you imagine driving these things in the city? JASON LEWIS: No. No, absolutely not. Parking garages-- can you imagine in a small shopping center or something like that? EMME HALL: Oh, no, no, no. JASON LEWIS: No way. You're not fitting into there. EMME HALL: And they're loud and you're going to upset your neighbors. So, like, I get it. There are things about these vehicles that make it not great. JASON LEWIS: Well, the Ford has the adjustable exhaust. You can actually have that. That's one little thing you have in that one. EMME HALL: Yeah, this one doesn't. This one doesn't. JASON LEWIS: And the two-wheel drive, all of the-- EMME HALL: Yeah, shut up, shut up, shut up. JASON LEWIS: OK, OK. EMME HALL: All right. Well, listen, we had such a great time filming for you guys out here in Johnson Valley. Again, my name is Emme Hall and this is-- JASON LEWIS: I'm Jason Lewis. EMME HALL: Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you on the next one. [MUSIC PLAYING]