2027 Ford F-150 vs Chevy Silverado: Which Truck Is Better? A Freshly Redesigned Silverado Takes On an F-150 That Just Got a New Base Engine and Hands-Free Towing
America's two best-selling trucks are on very different product cycles this year, and that shapes everything about which one makes sense to buy right now
The Silverado 1500 just went through a full ground-up redesign for 2027 — new sheet metal, a new interior, new V8s. The F-150, meanwhile, is in the middle of its generation: no new body, but a new standard engine and a meaningful software update. That timing difference is the real story here, more than any single spec, and it shapes who should buy which truck in late 2026 and into 2027.
It's not an accident that the two trucks are on different schedules. Ford's next full F-150 redesign has slipped from an original 2027 target to a planning window now reported as mid-to-late decade, around 2028, according to TruckReportGeeks' coverage from May 24, 2026. Ford hasn't confirmed a reason publicly. Practically, that means the 2027 F-150 reviewed here is a mature, well-understood platform getting a mid-cycle refresh, while the 2027 Silverado is the first model year of a brand-new generation — with the usual new-platform tradeoffs of fresher ideas against less real-world ownership data.
Price and where it starts
The F-150 starts lower on paper: Ford's base XL trim has a starting MSRP of $38,110, according to Cars.com's trim-by-trim pricing for the 2027 model year. The cheapest Silverado, the Work Truck trim, starts at $41,395 — but that figure already includes Chevrolet's $2,795 destination charge, per a dealer breakdown from Emich Chevrolet in Denver that matches Chevrolet's own announced pricing. The Cars.com figure for the F-150 doesn't specify whether destination is included, so the real gap at the bottom of each lineup is probably smaller than the sticker numbers suggest, not larger.
Both trucks climb well past $70,000 at the top: Ford's King Ranch and Platinum trims run from the high $60,000s to the mid-$70,000s depending on cab and box configuration, while Chevrolet's High Country starts at $74,495 and the off-road ZR2 tops the lineup at $79,995, per Emich Chevrolet's breakdown.
Engines, towing and payload
Ford swapped the F-150's base engine for 2027. The old 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 is gone, replaced by a new 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 that keeps the same 325 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque rating but delivers it differently — Ford says the new engine puts out 10 to 11% more torque in the rpm range where most daily driving actually happens, according to MotorWeek's coverage of the 2027 changes. In its lightest configuration (Regular Cab, 6.5-foot box, 4x2), that engine is rated to tow 8,400 lbs and carry a 1,755-lb payload, per a dealer spec sheet from Bowen Scarff Ford. The F-150's towing ceiling is still the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, which reaches 13,500 lbs in a SuperCrew 4x4 with the Tow/Haul Package and Max Tow axle. For buyers who want power without giving up payload flexibility, the 3.5-liter PowerBoost full hybrid makes 430 horsepower and 570 lb-ft, and it doubles as a portable generator: Pro Power Onboard supplies 2.4 kW standard, with a 7.2 kW upgrade available — enough to run power tools or camp gear off the truck's bed outlets.
Chevrolet's engine lineup for the redesigned Silverado spans four units: a 2.7-liter TurboMax inline-four (350 hp) as the new base engine, a 5.7-liter V8 (402 hp) that Chevrolet positions as the towing champion of the range, a 6.6-liter V8 (481 hp) for buyers who want the biggest naturally aspirated engine in the class, and a 3.0-liter Duramax inline-six turbodiesel for long-distance hauling. The 5.7-liter V8 is rated to tow 13,700 lbs with the Max Trailering Package, per Emich Chevrolet's trim guide — 200 lbs more than the F-150's best number, and it's the one spec Chevrolet leans on hardest in its marketing. The Duramax diesel tows up to 12,000 lbs, trading some peak capacity for better highway efficiency on long trips. Worth noting for budget-focused shoppers: the 350-hp TurboMax four-cylinder being the new Silverado base engine, instead of a V8 or the old 2.7-liter V6 it replaces, is itself a bet by Chevrolet that buyers care more about low-end torque and efficiency than cylinder count — the same bet Ford already made when it moved the F-150's base engine to a turbo V6 years ago.
Technology: two very different bets
This is where the redesign shows. The 2027 Silverado standardizes a 16.3-inch center touchscreen and a 12.2-inch digital instrument cluster across every trim, with an optional 11.5-inch passenger-side display bringing total screen area past 60 inches, according to a detailed breakdown from The Autopian published September 15, 2026. The bigger change is underneath: Chevrolet replaced Google Assistant with Google Gemini as the voice system, and redesigned how CarPlay and Android Auto share the screen — the phone-mirroring pane now sits in a smaller panel on the left, closer to the driver, specifically to cut down on reach distance for trailering data and media controls while towing.
The F-150 counters with a more modest 12-inch center screen, but its headline update for 2027 is BlueCruise's new hands-free towing mode, which MotorWeek reports now works across more than 130,000 miles of mapped "Blue Zones" highway. Chevrolet's answer is similar in concept but different in scope: Super Cruise hands-free driving now supports towing up to 13,600 lbs, confirmed in GM's October 20, 2026 shareholder letter and reported by 4WD Talk. It comes standard only on the High Country and ZR2 trims; everywhere else it's a $3,105 option that includes a 3-year trial, after which GM charges a recurring subscription starting at $39.99 a month to keep it active — a real ongoing cost that a one-time option price doesn't fully capture.
What reviewers who've driven both say
A side-by-side comparison from Kearny Mesa Chevrolet, while naturally not neutral given the dealership's brand, lines up with how most outlets are framing this generation: the newly redesigned Silverado reads as "more work-focused and consistent," leaning on simplicity and durability, while the F-150 has "pushed toward a more tech-forward experience" during its mid-cycle update. Their stated bottom line — Silverado for durability, work use and long-term ownership; F-150 for tech, comfort and feature variety — is a reasonable summary of where each truck's recent changes actually landed, even allowing for the source.
Which one to buy
Buy the Silverado if you want the newest interior tech in a half-ton truck, the single highest conventional towing number in this matchup, and you're comfortable with Chevrolet's approach to driver-assist features as a subscription rather than a one-time purchase. The TurboMax four-cylinder base engine is also worth a real look for buyers who mostly drive unloaded — 350 hp from four cylinders is a different proposition than the V8s that used to anchor base trucks.
Buy the F-150 if the PowerBoost hybrid's onboard power and 570 lb-ft matter more to you than outright towing bragging rights, if BlueCruise's wider mapped-highway coverage fits where you actually drive, or if you'd simply rather buy a truck whose next full redesign is still a couple of years out and whose current generation is well understood, with a long track record of real-world reliability data behind it that a brand-new platform doesn't have yet.
There's also a simple timing argument either way. Buying the redesigned Silverado now means getting in on a new platform at the start of its run, before the usual early-build-quality questions that sometimes shadow a first model year are fully answered one way or the other. Buying the F-150 now means buying into a truck that's had years to work out its early issues, at the cost of walking into a showroom in 2028 to see a genuinely new F-150 replace the one you just bought. Neither timing is wrong; it depends on whether you'd rather be first with the new thing or last with the proven one.
| 2027 Ford F-150 | 2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $38,110 (XL) | $41,395 incl. destination (WT) |
| Base engine | 3.0L EcoBoost V6, 325 hp / 400 lb-ft | 2.7L TurboMax I4, 350 hp |
| Top gas engine | 3.5L EcoBoost V6 (non-hybrid) | 6.6L V8, 481 hp |
| Hybrid/diesel option | 3.5L PowerBoost hybrid, 430 hp / 570 lb-ft, 2.4–7.2 kW onboard power | 3.0L Duramax turbodiesel I6 |
| Max towing | 13,500 lbs (3.5L EcoBoost, SuperCrew 4x4) | 13,700 lbs (5.7L V8, Max Trailering Pkg.) |
| Max payload (base config) | 1,755 lbs | Not specified by source used |
| Center touchscreen | 12 in. | 16.3 in. standard, + 11.5 in. passenger screen optional |
| Hands-free towing | BlueCruise, 130,000+ mapped miles | Super Cruise, up to 13,600 lbs; standard on High Country/ZR2, $3,105 elsewhere + $39.99/mo after trial |
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Sources
- Cars.com — 2027 Ford F-150 trim-by-trim pricing
- Emich Chevrolet — 2027 Silverado 1500 pricing and towing by trim
- MotorWeek — 2027 F-150 new base engine and BlueCruise towing
- Bowen Scarff Ford — 2027 F-150 towing and payload figures
- The Autopian — 2027 Silverado/Sierra screens and Google Gemini
- 4WD Talk — Super Cruise hands-free towing on the 2027 Silverado
- Kearny Mesa Chevrolet — 2027 Silverado vs F-150 comparison
- TruckReportGeeks — 2027 F-150 carryover status and next-gen redesign timeline