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2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 vs. 2020 Ram 1500
2020 Ram 1500 ・ Photo by Brady Holt
Truck buyers are famously loyal. They’ll pick a truck that works for them and stick with it over the years, whether that’s a Ford, Chevrolet or GMC, Ram, or, in rarer cases, Toyota or Nissan.
Lately, though, there’s been a shift in the half-ton full-size pickup marketplace. The latest Ram 1500 has been winning market share, clawing its way out of a reliable third-place finish in the sales rankings behind the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500. The Chevy has been the biggest loser, slipping to third place behind the Ram. Did the Ram earn that sales victory? Buckle in as we explore how these trucks fare in eight categories, and which one is our top pick overall.
Exterior Design
Both the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and the RAM 1500 were fully redesigned for the 2019 model year, and both redesigns took them on new stylistic paths.
The Silverado became more aggressively styled than before, with a pinched-headlights front end inspired by the Chevrolet Camaro sports coupe. The Ram, meanwhile, became more conservative — rather than the bulging fenders and hood that had defined the truck since 1994, it now has a more conventional vertical front end with high headlights. We won’t choose for you between the Ram and Silverado’s styling, so we’ll call this category a tie.
Tie
Photo by Brady Holt
Interior Design
Inside, the Ram and Silverado are once again quite different. The Silverado is a classic truck, with user-friendly controls, lots of storage spaces, and lots of gray plastic everywhere. It has modern infotainment, luxury, and convenience features, including a choice of a 7-inch or 8-inch in-dash touchscreen.
In contrast, the Ram is a luxury car. It’s lavishly decorated and, if you choose the optional 12-inch vertical touchscreen, aggressively high-tech. (An 8.4-inch unit is also widely available for a more conventional dashboard layout, while base models get a small 5-inch touchscreen.) It’s also spacious and easy to use, and the leather trim — while upscale — feels rugged rather than frilly and fragile. Modern trucks can be frightfully expensive, and it’s the Ram that brings the high-end feel that we’d expect for so much money.
Photo by Brady Holt
Interior Comfort
While the Ram feels more upscale inside, as we detailed on the previous page, the two trucks are equally comfortable. Both pickups boast spacious and well-shaped front and rear seats, and you can equip both of them with a range of high-end creature comforts: leather upholstery, front-seat heating and ventilation, and heated steering wheels. You won’t be uncomfortable in the front or back seats of either truck, especially on the crew cab versions.
Both the Ram and the Silverado are available as an extended cab with four swing-out rear doors (rather than the once-ubiquitous center-hinged doors) or as a crew cab with plus-sized rear legroom. The Chevrolet is also offered as a two-door regular cab with no rear seat.
Tie
Photo by Brady Holt
Driving Impressions
The same way the RAM 1500 feels fancier than the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 while you’re sitting inside, it’s also the luxury car of the two when you’re driving down the road. It rides more smoothly — especially with the optional air suspension — and it’s quieter. The Silverado isn’t bad either; our test truck with an off-road-tuned suspension sometimes shimmied a bit over bumps, but it remained civilized. Both trucks handle with agreeable poise considering their size.
Under the hood, both trucks have a wide variety of engines. The Silverado’s top-dog 420-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 outguns the 2020 RAM 1500’s 395-horsepower 5.7-liter Hemi (though Chevy doesn’t have an answer to the 2021 Ram TRX’s ridiculous 702 hp). Overall, the Ram has the more impressive driving experience of these two trucks.
Ram 1500
Photo by Brady Holt
Fuel Economy
As we mentioned, both of these trucks have lots of available engines. We don’t have space to go through them all, but they range from base V6 engines to powerful V8s to relatively economical six-cylinder turbodiesels. Across the engine lineup, the trend is that the RAM 1500 is more fuel-efficient than the equivalent Silverado.
Chevy does have the single most economical variant of either truck: The rear-wheel-drive turbodiesel Silverado edges out the equivalent Ram with 27 mpg vs. 26 mpg in EPA’s combined city/highway testing. Both figures are outstanding for a huge, capable truck. However, the Ram’s base 3.6-liter gas V6 engine scores better than the Silverado’s 4.3-liter gas V6 or its class-exclusive 2.7-liter four-cylinder. The Silverado’s 5.3-liter V8 engine ranges from 16 mpg to 20 mpg depending on drivetrain, transmisison, and trim level, and its 6.2-liter V8 gets 15 mpg to 17 mpg. The 5.7-liter Ram requires mid-grade fuel and the 6.2-liter Silverado requires premium. None of these trucks is embarrassingly thirsty, but the Ram will typically cost less to run.
Ram 1500
Photo by Brady Holt
Towing and Hauling
Both the Silverado 1500 and RAM 1500 are incredibly capable trucks, with towing and payload capacities far beyond the historical bounds of the “half-ton” segment. But the Chevrolet comes out ahead.
The Ram’s maximum towing capacity is 12,750 pounds, and a typically equipped 4WD 5.7-liter crew cab model can tow 11,300 pounds. Meanwhile, the Silverado can tow up to 13,400 pounds, and up to 12,000 pounds in its 4WD crew cab configuration. Payload capacities are up to 2,100 pounds for the Ram (and 1,790 pounds for the 4WD crew cab) versus a maximum of 2,250 pounds for the Silverado (and 2,130 pounds for the 4WD crew cab). If you’re not going to use the trucks to their maximum, you might be more impressed with the Ram’s “RamBox” lockable storage bins and its reconfigurable tailgate. However, starting with the 2021 model year, the Silverado adds a reconfigurable tailgate to match the Ram’s, along with some new camera assistants for trailering; these new optional features add to the Chevy’s overall capability advantage.
Photo by Brady Holt
Safety
The RAM 1500 is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top-scoring full-size pickup truck, based on its crash-test performance and collision-avoidance technologies. It got marked down only for mediocre headlight performance on lower trim levels. The Ram also earned a top five-star overall rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Silverado generally performed well in crash testing as well, but it didn’t stand out like the Ram. It earned a mediocre Marginal score in its IIHS passenger-side small-overlap test — the institute’s newest and most challenging crash test, but one in which the Ram earned the top score of Good. The Chevrolet also earned just four out of five stars in NHTSA crash testing. Both trucks include advanced safety features like automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, and surround-view cameras, but only on high-end trim levels.
Ram 1500
Photo by Brady Holt
Models and Pricing
The 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 starts at $28,600, which is thousands less than the cheapest 2020 RAM 1500: $32,145. That’s because you can’t buy a two-door regular cab version of the RAM 1500 – instead, for a regular cab, you’d need to get the Ram Classic, which is the version of the truck introduced back in 2009.
Head to head with comparable features, the Silverado and Ram are closer together, but the Chevrolet still pulls ahead in many cases. Both trucks can easily get wildly expensive as you add luxury options, but many of them cost more on the Ram than on the Silverado. For its broader model range and its less-expensive optional equipment, we’ll give this category to the Chevy.
Photo by Brady Holt
Final Thoughts
The 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is a solid, honest truck. It can work harder than the Ram, it has a simpler interior, it has more power, and it tends to cost less. At the same time, it’s still a modern vehicle with tons of high-end options, a huge interior with cushy seats, up-to-date infotainment, and a gentle ride.
But the 2020 RAM 1500 is still our winner. Its outstanding interior quality and ride smoothness make it a better luxury truck. Its superior crash-test performance and clever cargo solutions make it a better family vehicle. And even in the areas where the Silverado edges it out, the Ram is never far behind. Even if you’re still a loyal Chevy buyer, check out the RAM 1500 to see if its extra virtues are meaningful to you.
Ram 1500
Photo by Brady Holt