2016 Silverado 3500 - Ike Gauntlet Pull
Looks like the Chevy still outperforms the Ram on the time up the Gauntlet and more importantly outperforms in exhaust brake performance too. Link
Forum Discussion
ShinerBock wrote:
It performed very well both up hill and down hill.
I remember when the Ram video you came out last month I sent a email to them saying they need to do the down hill portion again since the they had the exhaust brake in full mode and not in auto mode. You can clearly see they had it in full mode since the icon was yellow and not green. I never got a response back from them which was kind of a disappointment especially when they should know better being a truck site.
For those that don't have Ram's, they have two exhaust brake modes, full(yellow icon) and auto(green icon). Now I know what you you are thinking that full mode show slow you down the most. It does, but only when you are downshifting yourself so in situations like the down hill Ike test where they don't shift manually then auto mode would work better.
In auto mode, the truck will remember what speed you let off the accelerator pedal or what speed the cruise control is set to and will vary the exhaust brake and even downshift to keep you at that speed. If you let of the accelerator pedal at 60 mph, then the truck will do whatever it takes to keep you at or near 60 mph. If you start to go too fast that the exhaust brake in 6th gear is not strong enough to slow you down then it will drop down a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow you down to the desired speed just like the Chevy did in the video. The higher the rpm and lower then gear you are in then the better the exhaust brake works. As stated in the owners manual, the auto mode is meant to keep you at a certain speed.
In full mode like they had in the Ram video the truck will not downshift to keep you at a certain speed like auto mode will. All it does is activate the exhaust brake when you let off the accelerator (if the rpms are high enough and the torque converter is locked) and you will remain in 6th gear at 60 mph which is the gear that the exhaust brake is the weakest. Full mode is mainly for aiding you in slowing down since the transmission will automatically downshift as you come to a stop making the exhaust brake even stronger with each downshift. It is also good for those who like to manually downshift to a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow them down to the desired speed. It is NOT best for keeping speed (cruise control or not) going down a mountain like TFL did down the Ike.
I test drove a new Chevy a couple weeks back and the exhaust brake is more aggressive in the Chevy than in the Ram. IMO it was not a good thing. The thing I see with the FLT tests is that they are pretty much testing for worst possible case. 99.9% of the trucks on the road will never see anything no where near the hill they test on so as far as grade braking at hwy speeds like that goes I love the way my Ram is set up. The only thing I got from this video is that if I ever encounter a grade like that I will have to hit my brakes 5 more times than the Chevy next to me.LOL At least I don't have to give it gas going down hill on the less steep grades. The D-max brake is always full on even when running around empty. The Cummins brake is variable. It acts the same loaded or not. The exhaust brake and compression brake is designed as an assist, not to stop you.
