2016 Chevy Silverado 6.2L vs Ford Raptor 6.2L Real World Towing MPG Smackdown

Ford-Raptor

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the left corner we have the reigning half-ton pickup truck MPG champion: The 2016 Chevy Silverado with the 6.2L small-block Chevy V8.

But now coming out of early retirement to take on the new champion is the returning favorite: The 2014 Ford SVT Raptor with Ford’s 6.2L V8.

Let’s briefly recap.

A few weeks ago we posed a simple question: which truck is more fuel efficient when towing 5,600 pounds? Is it the new 2016 Toyota Tundra or the 2016 Chevy Silverado? To find out we strapped on the same horse trailer to both trucks and loaded it with 5,600 pounds. With Kent (Mr. Truck) behind the wheel, and myself riding shotgun, we drove both trucks up and down I-76 on our 100-mile test loop at 70 MPH.

You can read the results and watch the grudge match HERE.

2016 chevy silverado v8 high country towing horse trailer mpg highway

The Chevy Silverado easily bested the Toyota Tundra in TFL’s real world towing MPG test. It was victory by knockout with the Silverado getting 10.1 miles to the gallon towing the horse trailer versus the Tundra’s 8.15 MPG. The Chevy’s larger and more powerful V8 easily towed the 5,600 pound trailer, and did it with ease; while the Tundra’s 5.7L V8 revved higher and drank more fuel over the course of TFL’s 100 mile highway test loop.

Congrats to Tom who guessed the correct MPG last week when I asked our readers to predict the outcome of the test. Tom, we will send you a TFL T-Shirt for being the first to correctly guess the 10.1 MPG results of last week’s test.

This week, one of our smart readers suggested that we perform the same test with TFL’s long-term Ford F-150 Raptor.  What a great idea! Keep in mind you can no longer buy the 6.2L V8 in a Ford half-ton truck. Ford has doubled-down on aluminum and turbo chargers. The most powerful Ford half-ton pickup truck on the dealership floor is now the Ford F-150 EcoBoost 3.5L V6 twin turbo. But as it just so happens, we still have the very last Ford F-150 with the 6.2L in our test fleet….so ladies and gentlemen please place your guesses below.

It is Chevy vs Ford.

It is 6.2L V8 vs 6.2L V8.

It is steel vs steel body pickup.

It is on!

Just like last time I’m going to give you a hint. A few years ago we ran the Raptor up the Ike Gauntlet.  You can watch that video below to find out how it did and how much fuel it drank.

Last year we also ran the new 8-speed Chevy Silverado up the Ike Gauntlet; you can watch that video below to find out how it did and how much fuel it drank.

Keep in mind that we have yet to test the Ford Raptor on TFL’s 100 mile MPG loop, so I don’t know which truck is more fuel efficient. I’ll be guessing along with you.

And best of all, just like last week, the first person to correctly guess the MPG for the 2014 SVT Raptor in this classic middle-weight smackdown will get a TFL t-shirt.

Good luck, and let the fun begin.

Roman Mica
Roman Mica is a columnist, journalist, and author, who spent his early years driving fast on the German autobahn. When he’s not reviewing cars or producing videos, you can find him training for triathlons and writing about endurance sports for EverymanTri.com as our sister blog’s publisher. Mica is a former broadcast reporter with his Master’s Degree in journalism from Northwestern University.