00:00 As the Great Recession continues to bite, casual truck buyers and automakers alike are
00:12 being forced to do some serious belt tightening.
00:15 For our 2012 Truck of the Year competition, that means a smaller field of contenders punctuated
00:20 more by pointed improvements than dramatic change.
00:25 Four new or significantly revised vehicles are eligible for this year's award.
00:30 They are the Ford F-150, the Nissan NV, the Ram Laramie Longhorn and the Toyota Tacoma.
00:38 The Truck of the Year evaluation is not a comparison test.
00:41 Instead, each truck is measured against our six key criteria.
00:46 Advancement in design, engineering excellence, performance of intended function, efficiency,
00:51 safety and value.
00:53 To find our winner, the judges will spend a full week with the contenders, each judge
00:57 driving each truck on a mixture of real world roads and closed courses.
01:01 Where possible, the trucks are driven empty, with payload and with a trailer to better
01:06 gauge the full work capabilities of each contender.
01:09 Phase one of our competition starts just north of our El Segundo offices, with a steep climb
01:15 over the Grapevine, a 6.4 mile grind up Interstate 5 that allows us to check each truck's downshift
01:21 response and shift smoothness.
01:24 Once at the summit, we descend along a winding ridge route for a bit of handling evaluation.
01:28 Next, we head to the California Speedway in Fontana for instrumented testing.
01:34 We put each truck through our standard barrage of performance tests, including acceleration,
01:39 braking and our signature figure eight.
01:44 From there, it's back onto the highway for a 320 mile cruise out to Nissan's splendid
01:49 Arizona Proving Ground.
01:50 During the caravan, we record highway fuel economy numbers to compare normal cruising
01:55 efficiency against our strenuous hill climbing results gathered earlier in the week.
02:01 Once we arrive at the Proving Ground, it's time to load up the beds and hitch up the
02:05 trailers.
02:06 First, we load each truck with 75% of its maximum payload and repeat our acceleration
02:11 and braking tests and drivetrain flexibility tests.
02:15 The acceleration and flexibility tests are then repeated again, this time while towing
02:19 trailers loaded to 75% of each truck's maximum tow rating, except for the ram, which was
02:26 hitch limited to 63%.
02:28 The judges conclude their evaluations with a loop around the courses on the Proving Grounds,
02:33 including a high-speed bowl, a mix of road surfaces and a twisty handling loop.
02:38 Then, as the final day of testing draws to a close, the judges gather together one last
02:43 time to debate, discuss and decide which contender will be named Motor Trend's 2012 Truck of
02:50 the Year.
02:51 Alright, so we're here, we've tested everything, towed, payload tests, all that good stuff.
02:57 It's now time to sit down and talk about these trucks.
03:00 I think we should start with the F-150 5 liter V8 and the EcoBoost.
03:05 A turbocharged six-cylinder truck that's never been thought of and out here proved it did
03:10 everything just as good as anything else.
03:12 Why even sell the 5 liter?
03:14 I thought on both of the Fords, they both rode pretty comfortably.
03:19 A little more comfortably when they were loaded than unloaded.
03:21 Even once we had the halftime of the bed, the EcoBoost had the smallest gap between
03:27 unloaded and loaded in terms of quarter mile.
03:29 It was like a half second difference.
03:31 You see it.
03:32 The engine's great, interior was nice.
03:33 I just think in every driving exercise we did, on the highway here, around the Proving
03:39 Grounds, it just felt better overall.
03:41 Why don't we talk about the Nissan NV?
03:45 GM and Ford have nothing even close to what this vehicle offers and delivers.
03:51 It makes the Ford and the Chevy and GMC look downright primitive.
03:56 We put 2,700 pounds in it, rode great.
04:00 It just drives so much smaller than its actual size.
04:03 Very comfortable on the road.
04:05 I think this is a very, very impressive van.
04:09 Let's talk about the Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab 4x4.
04:14 Max Toe.
04:15 Hi, Alpert.
04:16 Who wants giant belt buckles in the back of the seat and badges that are this big?
04:20 Lots of people in Texas.
04:22 But do people in Texas want fake plastic barbed wire embedded in the floor mat?
04:26 I'd say beyond the trim level, though.
04:27 It's a good looking truck, I think.
04:28 It's got that big, bold look.
04:29 I'm just talking about the interior.
04:30 When we were doing the load testing, where the Fords really settled down and you felt
04:39 like this is what this truck is meant for, this thing didn't get that much better.
04:43 Let's talk about what that payload was.
04:45 We had 3,200 and some odd pounds.
04:48 It's so capable.
04:49 And then towing, we had a 12,000 pound trailer.
04:52 It's an over 8,000 pound truck, so it's 20,000 pounds.
04:55 We had five people in it with that.
04:57 There isn't much out there that can do it better than this thing.
05:01 All right, so that leaves the Toyota Tacoma.
05:03 Yeah, for me, it seemed like it was minor stuff, but they got better.
05:07 Styling's maybe a little nicer inside.
05:10 New nicer features, nicer materials.
05:12 But the drive just feels the same to me.
05:15 Unlike all the other ones here, like you mentioned, it's a smaller vehicle.
05:19 It's still a truck, so you can still haul stuff.
05:21 V6 motor, get a little bit better mileage.
05:25 I think it did get the best mileage out of the group.
05:27 But with that smaller size, smaller engine, there are compromises.
05:31 This vehicle seemed to have not quite the steering I was hoping for, and the brakes
05:35 also, I thought.
05:36 Yeah, brakes were an issue.
05:37 I really wanted to like the Tacoma, but once you start using it as a truck, it just kind
05:42 of all falls apart.
05:44 We've talked about all the trucks.
05:45 I guess it's time we write down our votes.
05:46 Well, I have tallied up the votes, and we have a winner.
05:47 Motor Trends 2012 Truck of the Year, Ford F-150.
06:04 In our competitive field, the F-150 made a strong case in each category, but really stood
06:08 apart with technology like its EcoBoost engine.
06:12 The F-150's twin-turbo, direct-injection EcoBoost V6 is a true industry game-changer, as it
06:18 produces the power and torque of a V8, while returning the fuel economy of a V6.
06:24 We call that an irresistible combination of engineering excellence and efficiency.
06:29 On the design front, our judges noted considerable strides in the F-150's ergonomics and interior
06:34 accommodations, including features you just don't expect in a truck, such as soft-touch
06:39 materials and high-quality leather, a full-colour 4.2-inch multifunction display, and voice-activated
06:46 control of the infotainment system.
06:49 The bottom line is the F-150 simply excels at being a truck.
06:53 It mastered every task we subjected it to, pacing our instrumented tests at the proving
06:58 grounds and swaying our opinions on the road.
07:00 In fact, we actually preferred the ride and performance of the F-150 when it was loaded
07:05 with thousands of pounds of payload or saddled with a heavy trailer.
07:09 The more the F-150 was pushed, the better it performed.
07:13 You can call the F-150 many things, but this year, we will call it the 2012 MotorTrend
07:19 Truck of the Year.
07:19 [Music]
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