BRUTE UTES

BIG UTES ARE BECOMING BIG BUSINESS, BUT SHOULD YOU JOIN THE SUPER-SIZED TREND? THE CREW FROM WHEELS MAGAZINE FIND OUT.

- CAMERON KIRBY

FILLING my ears is the deep burble of what can only be a V8 engine, the rear vision mirror lets me glimpse a large practical tray, and ahead of me is a straight, empty drag strip. It’s all oddly familiar, with images of Australia’s home-grown Holden and Ford V8 utes at the front of my mind. The mental picture is nothing but a cultural ghost of Australia’s lost manufacturing, with those car-based utilities now dead and long buried.

What I’m experiencing is a new era (for Australians at least) of pickup performance, and it comes in a package that’s as subtle as a bald eagle holding a shotgun. Australia, meet your new V8 ute choices: the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500 Laramie.

Representing the GM faithful is the Silverado, sold by the soon-to-be rebranded HSV in a single high-specification LTZ grade for $113,990. Ford doesn’t have an officially licensed F Truck in the country, so taking its place in the blue corner is Fiat Chrysler’s Ram brand, distributed locally by Ateco with approval from North America. We have the top-spec Laramie specification on test which carries a sticker price of $99,950. Both pickups are delivered to Australia as they would be sold in the USA, before undergoing a ‘re-engineering’ process at Walkinshaw’s Clayton facility at the hands of skilled Aussie workers.