2020 Super Duty Defeats Jeep Gladiator in Tug-of-War
2020 Ford F-250 XLT FX4 with ‘Godzilla’ 7.3-liter gas V8 eats Jeep’s warrior truck alive – even when it has its brakes on.
The guys at The Fast Lane Truck recently bought two similarly priced but completely different trucks. One of them is a 2020 Ford F-250 XLT with the all-new 7.3-liter gas V8 and the FX4 off-road suspension package. The other is a 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon.
As equipped, both trucks have a sticker price a little north of $55,000. Aside from that and the facts that they both have four doors, a bed, and four-wheel drive, they have little else in common. Hosts Roman and Tommy Mica point out all of the things that separate them.
The Gladiator Rubicon that Tommy brings to the review is covered in a color Jeep calls “Gobi,” hence its nickname “Gobi Glad.” It’s the most hardcore version of the Gladiator on the market and comes equipped with solid Dana 44 axles, two-inch Fox shocks, electronic sway bar disconnect, rock rails, and a variety of underbody skid plates to protect its most vital areas from outdoor dangers. Despite its macho off-road hardware, Gobi Glad only has a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 under its hood. Output is 285 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque and processed by an eight-speed automatic. On the plus side, Gobi Glad does have several conveniences, such as keyless entry and start, navigation, and an 8.4-inch touchscreen.
Tommy’s father Roman is in the F-250‘s corner. Given that it’s an XLT, it doesn’t have many of the niceties that Gobi Glad does, but it makes up for its lack of refinement with outright power. As the saying Roman brings up goes, “There’s no replacement for displacement.”
You can even call it monstrous because the elder Mica’s truck has Ford’s all-new “Godzilla” 7.3-liter V8 gasser. It shakes the ground with 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque, which it routes through a 10-speed automatic.
Those figures equate to another huge difference between the two trucks. Gobi Glad has a towing capacity of roughly 7,000 pounds. The Blue Oval rig can pull around 15,000.
It may be hard to picture something that weighs 15,000 pounds. Luckily, Roman makes it easy by saying, “You can put two of these Gladiators on a trailer and this truck could tow it.”
Then Roman proceeds to demonstrate just what kind of pulling power his F-250 has. He and Tommy position their trucks noses-out for a tug-of-war, then shift them into 4LO and turn their lockers on (the F-250 only has one in the rear).
The 7,000-pound F-250 walks away with the 5,000-pound Gladiator not once, but twice – and the second time, the Jeep has its brakes on. Tommy nails it when he says, “Weight and traction – that’s how you win a tug-of-war.”
These are two completely different trucks created to serve totally different purposes, but the footage does illustrate the difference between a pickup built for light duty and one built for Super Duty.
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