Page 13 - Motor Trend (January 2020)

How we test I OF THE YEAR

Renowned designer Ian Callum joined our
team as a COTY guest judge this year.

We then convoyed to Kingman, Arizona,
Thanks to several Big Tex trailers and some John Deere equipment, we spent a whole
and evaluated our 12 contenders on our
day pushing our TOTY contenders near their limits on the infamous Davis Dam Grade.
21.5-mile road loop. The next couple days
were spent at FCA’s Arizona Proving
Ground. The test team would gather
data on our trucks while empty and
while towing a trailer weighing about
three-quarters of each pickup’s towing
capacity. Meanwhile, the rest of the
judges towed the same trailers through
the proving ground and evaluated each
unladen truck on an off-road course.
After that, we wrapped up our program in
Bullhead City. We used the 5.8-mile Davis
Dam pass, with a 5.2 percent average
grade, to evaluate how each truck handles
three-quarters of its towing capacity in
the real world. Data in hand, we’d pick our
winners. Christian Seabaugh

With the truck’s stability
control systems on, we timed
how quickly they could
negotiate a 250-foot double
lane-change maneuver.
Watch for more about this
at MotorTrend.com.

Without threat of traffic or law enforcement, With a payload of dense rubber horse mats, we tested acceleration and braking.
we probe contenders’ dynamic limits.

Nobody does as much thorough testing
as MotorTrend to determine who
deserves the industry’s highest honor. JANUARY 2020 MOTORTREND.COM 13