The crew from The Fast Lane, led by Kase van Rees and Andre Smirnov, recently lined up four of the most popular half-ton pickups for a brutal performance gauntlet involving quarter-mile sprints, rolling starts, and top-speed runs. The contenders were the Ford F-150 PowerBoost, Toyota Tundra i-FORCE MAX, Ram 1500 Hurricane, and the GMC Sierra 1500.
Under the hood, the variety of enginesis staggering. The GMC Sierra represents the old guard with its 6.2-liter small-block V8, churning out 420 HP and 624 Nm. It went head-to-head against the Ram 1500 Hurricane, which uses a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six producing 420 HP and 636 Nm. Despite the identical horsepower, the V8’s dignity was left in the dust. The Sierra posted a sluggish 15.31-second quarter-mile, while the Hurricane surged ahead at 14.64 seconds. It seems the “Small Block” might be getting a little too small for modern competition.
Then came the electrified heavyweights. The Toyota Tundra i-FORCE MAX boasts a monstrous 790 Nm of torque, yet it couldn’t quite catch the Ford F-150 PowerBoost. The Ford, which is officially the best-selling full-size hybrid pickup as of Q3 2025, delivered its 430 hp and 773 Nm with surgical precision, clocking a 14.37-second run against the Tundra’s 14.80.
In the 30-mph rolling start tests, the Ram’s Hurricane engine initially held its own, beating both the GMC and the Toyota. However, once it faced the F-150 PowerBoost, the Ford’s hybrid instant-torque delivery and 10-speed automatic transmission, an architecture Ford ironically co-developed with GM, secured an easy victory.
The only place the Ford didn’t dominate was the top-speed test. While the GMC and Ram hit 106 mph and the Tundra managed 107 mph, the lightning-fast F-150 gave up the ghost at a modest 104 mph.
It turns out the hybrid king is built for the sprint, not the marathon. If you’re looking for a truck that wins at the lights but loses at the speed limiter, the Blue Oval has you covered.
