Does The Ford F-150 have Better Air-Conditioning than the Ram 1500? Real Answers S.1 Ep.2 (Video)

These trucks baked in the summer sun before we fired up their air-conditioning systems at full blast! (Photo: TFLtruck)

It’s a burning question, which trucks has the most effective air-conditioning system? While it may seem trivial to some, it’s exceedingly important to know if you have a good air-conditioner – especially in hot climates. In this edition of of Real Answers, we take a 2019 Ford F-150 and a similarly equipped 2019 Ram 1500 – heat them up cool them off.

It’s more than just that. The TFLtruck team took a pragmatic approach to this test. We know how passionate and competitive truck fans are, so we did everything we could to keep this an apples-to-apples comparison.

  • We made just enough room in our tiny studio to hold both vehicles in a temperature-controlled environment. This actually began the day before the test.
  • Both trucks have V8 engines. The Ford F-150 came with the 5.0-liter V8 and the Ram 1500 had the 5.7-liter V8.
  • While their measurements are not quite the same, both trucks have the same cab configuration.
  • Both trucks came with dark leather seating with perforated, vented front seats. Although, we never used the vented seats in this video.
  • Luckily, both trucks came equipped with panoramic sunroofs that are about the same size.
  • Both trucks appear to have a similar window tint darkness too.

The idea was to see which truck could obtain an interior of 70-degrees fahrenheit.

Timelapse as these half-ton trucks baked in the sun.
(Photo: TFLtruck)

After we added our test equipment, we moved both trucks into direct sunlight at the same time. Once the filming began, we made sure to keep things as even as possible. We opened both sunroof shades and let the interiors bake for about an hour.

Once we were ready, we started both trucks at the same time and engaged their air-conditioning systems on maximum – at the same time. While we monitored various interior temperatures, we also noted our impressions of the differences of the two trucks’ cooling systems.

Near the end of the test, we opted to close the sunroof shades at the same time to help accelerate the interior cooling. The end result was surprisingly close!

Nathan Adlen
Easily amused by anything with four wheels, Nathan Adlen reviews vehicles from the cheapest to the most prestigious. Wrecking yards, dealer lots, garages, racetracks, professional automotive testing and automotive journalism - Nathan has experienced a wide range of the automotive spectrum. Brought up in the California car culture and educated in theater, childhood education, film, journalism and history, Nathan now lives with his family in Denver, CO. His words, good humor and video are enjoyed worldwide.