Comparing the 2024 Chevy Silverado 1500 vs Ford F-150
The Chevy Silverado 1500 and the Ford F-150 are two of the best pickup trucks money can buy. There’s been debate over the Silverado 1500 vs Ford F-150 for years, but the 2024 models are fantastic, and they’ve been lauded with heaps of praise by fans and critics alike. Today, we’ll tell you which truck might be the perfect new vehicle to accommodate your busy life. After seeing how they compare, you might just find yourself looking for a Chevy Silverado 1500 for sale.
Room to Haul
One facet of pickup trucks that people rely on, whether it’s for work or leisure, is their truck bed. Truck beds are an essential piece of the pickup truck experience, and it’s also one area where the Silverado 1500 and F-150 differ as much as they’re equals. What do we mean? For starters, both trucks are available with your choice of one of three bed sizes: short, standard, and long. No matter which size you buy, the result is always more cargo room with Chevy’s truck, while only offering slightly longer measurements, so both trucks fit into the same spaces.
Let’s first discuss the short beds. The shortest 2024 Silverado 1500 bed is 5.8 feet long, compared to the 5.5-foot bed of the 2024 F-150. With a length difference of only a few inches, you may not expect too much of a resulting cargo space upgrade with the Silverado 1500, but you’d be surprised. With the 2024 Silverado 1500 and the short bed, you get 19% more cargo space than you would with the F-150’s short bed, with the former featuring 62.9 cu.ft. of space compared to the 52.8 cu.ft. of the shortest F-150 bed.
Next are the standard beds. The 2024 Silverado 1500’s medium-length bed is 6.6 feet long, and the F-150’s is 6.5 feet long. This makes the standard beds the closest in length between the two trucks, as the Silverado 1500’s standard bed is only a bit longer, but cargo space isn’t as close. If your 2024 Silverado 1500 is fitted with the 6.6-foot bed, you’ll have 71.7 cu.ft. of space compared to 62.3 cu.ft. for the F-150, meaning the Silverado 1500’s medium bed has 15% more cargo space than Ford’s.
Lastly, both trucks offer generously sized long beds, and this is especially true with the Silverado 1500. Even though there’s only a relatively small length difference between the longest truck beds––an 8.0-foot long bed for the F-150 and an 8.2-foot option for the Silverado 1500––cargo space is a solid upgrade for Chevy’s truck. With the long bed, your Silverado 1500 has 89.1 cu.ft. of space, whereas the longest F-150 bed gets 77.4 cu.ft., meaning the Silverado 1500 ultimately has a 15% larger maximum cargo capacity than the F-150.
The Battle of the Tailgates
The measurements of each truck’s three beds go in favor of Chevy, but how do they compare when it comes to features? There’s no denying Ford has some great tech, but some of the features were implemented in the wake of similar features having gained popularity elsewhere. For example, the Chevy Silverado 1500 has offered the Multi-Flex Tailgate since the 2021 model, and Ford hasn’t had an answer for its best-seller until the release of the 2024 F-150 with its inclusion of the Pro Access Tailgate.
The Ford Pro Access Tailgate isn’t ultimately the best answer for the Multi-Flex Tailgate as it is rather simplistic by comparison. With the Ford Pro Access Tailgate, you can swing the center portion of the tailgate open like a door in addition to lowering the tailgate like normal. There’s no denying the Pro Access Tailgate is a welcomed addition to the F-150, but it pales in comparison to the versatility provided by the Silverado’s Multi-Flex Tailgate.
With the Multi-Flex Tailgate, your Chevy Silverado’s tailgate has six separate positions, and although none of them include a side-swinging door like the Pro Access Tailgate, it’s a small concession for what you ultimately get. Firstly, you can configure the tailgate with a primary gate load stop or an inner gate load stop, which is perfect for hauling lengthy bits of cargo, like lumber. You can also use the inner gate as a work surface, which is ideal if you work with a clipboard, tablet, or laptop computer on a job site––you can even put your lunch there.
There’s also an easy access position for the Multi-Flex Tailgate that folds the inner gate so you can better reach into the bed, and you can also fold the inner gate to serve as a step so that you can climb into the back of the truck with minimal effort. The last position for the Multi-Flex Tailgate is your traditional tailgate door, but it can be power operated, and you can open it remotely if you wish, even if you’re not in the truck, thanks to the keyfob.
Sometimes, Less Is More
Something worth noting between the Silverado 1500 and the F-150 is that both trucks have a decent selection of powertrains. However, are the six F-150 powertrains justified against the four powertrains of the Silverado 1500? The first thing we should mention is that Ford doesn’t make diesel engines for the F-150 anymore, so Ford has single-handedly alienated a portion of truck drivers, while Chevy is there to gladly accommodate diesel-loving shoppers. Whether or not this applies to you, there’s still more to discuss because things get even more interesting.
When looking at the maximum towing capacities of these two trucks, the F-150 can pull up to 13,500 lbs, slightly exceeding the 13,300 lb maximum of the Silverado 1500. However, relying on the maximum towing numbers alone would be misleading. Most importantly, the Silverado 1500 reaches its maximum towing capacity via either a rugged 6.2L V8 engine or a 3.0L I-6 turbo-diesel engine, while the F-150’s maximum output is achieved through a turbocharged V6 gas engine.
But what do the trucks offer if you are shopping on a budget and looking at the base engine options? The 2024 Silverado 1500 and 2024 F-150 are similarly priced, with Chevy’s truck clocking in at an MSRP of $36,800 against the F-150’s $36,965.[a] If you stick within this price range, the Silverado 1500 gets a turbocharged 2.7L I-4 paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the F-150 comes with a turbocharged 2.7L V6 engine paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission.
At first glance, the V6 engine may seem like the better choice. However, the TurboMax turbocharged I-4 engine in the Silverado 1500 not only provides a greater torque output, with 430 lb-ft against 400 lb-ft from the Ford V6, but the towing and payload capacities are far better for Chevy’s base engine. With the TurboMax engine, the 2024 Silverado 1500 can tow up to 9,500 lbs and haul up to 2,260 lbs. That is noticeably more than the 8,400 lb towing capacity and 1,785 lb payload capacity the base F-150 engine achieves.
Chevy Retains the Competitive Edge
The 2024 Silverado 1500 and 2024 F-150 are two of the most competitive trucks we’ve seen in a long time. Both manufacturers are putting in the effort to outdo the other, and the result is two of the most pleasant pickup trucks to drive. There’s something to admire in both trucks, but considering they’re so close in price, it’s simply too easy to recommend the Silverado 1500 as the better truck for all-around purposes. That’s a wrap, and we hope you learned a thing or two about how Chevy and Ford have narrowed the gap a bit between what each truck can achieve, but there’s still plenty of room for Ford to catch up in areas where Chevy has the competitive edge.