Top Gear USA - First Season

Now on "Top Gear"...

We swap pavement for pain...

Head to alaska to find america's toughest truck.

Adam, do you see how big that mountain is in front of you?

I think I'm gonna need bigger tires.

I think you're gonna need a better truck.

Welcome to a very special episode of "Top Gear."

I'm Adam Ferrara. That's Tanner Foust.

And this is Rutledge Wood.

Today is all about the pickup truck.

In 2009, americans alone bought 4.9 million trucks,

like this F150.

The F-series ford has been the top-selling vehicle

in this country for 28 years in a row.

Now, there's a lot of rivalries in trucks,

so we decided to answer the question that's consumed the nation for years...

What is america's toughest truck?

To find a definitive answer, the producers told us to go online,

spend no more than $3,000, and buy a truck that would then be put through

a series of challenges.

Here's the catch.

It had to have at least 150,000 miles, and we had to buy it sight-unseen.

And we met our trucks for the first time in an equally challenging environment...

Alaska.

The last wild frontier.

Two and a half times the size of texas.

It's pretty wild and apparently has lots of animals

that can trample and eat you.

We bought our trucks online.

They looked okay in the photos,

but we had no idea if they'd actually be any good.

All we knew was that one of them

would be crowned america's toughest truck.

But between now and then lay the alaskan wilderness

and a slew of challenges.

We had no idea what was in store for us,

only that we'd meet our trucks for the first time

in the forest just north of anchorage.

Did you know alaska is one of the only few states

where you can see all three types of bears?

That's great.

It's not the bears, I think, that you got to be worried about.

It's the moose.

Did you hear that? What was that?

There's three times as many people killed by moose as bears.

What are you wearing?

This is for the bears. This is bear spray.

This'll knock a grizzly down, like bear pepper spray.

And these are bear bells.

- Bear bells. - They hate this.

Salsa?

Oh, my god.

Is it a bear?

No, it's a Dodge.

Oh, yeah!

Oh, it's even bigger than I thought!

Wood: I'd picked a '97 Dodge ram

with an extended cab and a 5.7-liter magnum V-8.

I was gonna power across alaska in style and comfort.

It's a lot newer than any of the other ones.

How'd you get this for 3 grand?

I found it on craigslist. It had to have 150,000 miles.

That's all our criteria said, so...

And how much is on this?

159,000.

If there's any endurance factor, then the Dodge is hosed.

Tanner, do you see this?

I can fit my entire head.

- That's how much suspension travel I got. - That's impressive.

I think my favorite part about this is your head is now a unit of measurement.

Is this yours, Tanner?

Oh, it's adorable.

Was "smurf" the color description?

Foust: My choice was a 1983 chevy c/k stepside.

Lightweight, diesel, 165 horses...

The perfect bush truck.

Foust: Gentlemen, take a look under the hood. This is the best part.

While you guys are choking on trying to find gasoline,

- I will be a torque monster with my diesel. - You got a diesel?

You got a diesel?

You got a diesel with a carburetor.

That's a 350.

- You got robbed. - Oh, no!

Wood: If you're lucky, it's a 4-volt main, but that is not a diesel.

It's a small setback. It's a 350, small-block.

One of the most popular engines ever sold in america.

Not what I was hoping for, but...

Were you hoping for a man's truck like this?

Adam, I wasn't gonna say anything,

but this is the worst decision you have ever made.

Are you kidding me? Look. It's a Ford, baby.

Ferrara: For me, it could only be a 220-horsepower Ford f250.

This beast was made in 1976,

when men were men and trucks were trucks,

and I was 9.

This is like the Ford of death.

Check out the seats.

Wow, that is semitruck leather right there.

This is seats from a lincoln.

- Electric. - Wow.

This is gonna be the roughest ride probably of your life.

That's why I got the seats. I thought of everything.

This is a Ford, my friend.

This is the best-selling pickup in the world.

While each truck had its downside, failure was not an option.

Because stalking behind us all the way

was a '93 Toyota pickup, a jihadi favorite.

It's known around the rest of the world as a hilux.

Now, the rules were simple.

If your truck failed, you had to finish the search

for america's toughest truck... in an import.

You would be a national disgrace.

I don't know if anybody's in a really great situation right now,

but I think by far I've got the best ride out of the terrain.

Yeah, if you want to pick up guys in nome.

Foust: To find out how roadworthy our trucks were,

the producers gave us our first challenge...

A braking test.

We needed to get up to 30 miles an hour

and then jam on the brakes at a marker point

30 feet from the lake.

If our trucks didn't stop, we would be beaver bait.

Let's go.

- Are you scared? - I'm looking for my out.

20.

30.

Wow, it's got some power.

Oh, that thing is coming. That thing is coming.

How is that possible that that thing can stop?

Wood: Adam's stopping distance was 5 feet from the water's edge.

Tanner and his chevy smurfside were up next.

"A night attack comes from a predatory bear."

Uh-oh.

Oh, god, here we go. This is gonna be close.

Oh, man. Oh, man. He's flying.

He is flying.

Ah.

Wow!

It stops.

- Yeah. Okay. - Safe.

Foust: My truck stopped 2 feet from the water,

which meant Adam was in the lead.

I think you're up there, texas ranger.

Hope you got some Chuck Norris in that Dodge.

Here we go.

Rutledge definitely had an unfair advantage with his '97 ram.

So we decided to level the playing field a bit by cheating,

and we moved his braking point closer to the water.

Don't worry about a thing. His head floats.

- Get it up there. - Here we go.

- Get it up there. - There it is.

Oh.

Just a little too far. You had it!

Where was I supposed to brake?

- No, you're good. - You're fine.

There you go.

Keep coming.

That is really weird.

I don't know how something like that could happen.

You guys went 30.

30. I was over 30.

Foust: 3-0.

That sucks. I think you lost that one.

You'll be fine. Don't worry about it.

I'd shake it off and focus on the next one.

Remarkably, Adam's 1,000-year-old Ford-zilla

won the first challenge.

But now it was time for the next one.

All right, gentlemen, the moment we have been waiting for.

"Alaska is home to the most brutal environment in america,

"where trucks routinely meet their fate in rivers, forests,

"crevasses and ice, as well as on the road.

"You're now in healy, alaska,

"where Christopher McCandless famously went into the wild

and died, by the way, actually."

- He died? - Yeah, he did.

"To test the road-worthiness of your trucks,

your next challenge is to drive 100 miles to fairbanks."

Okay. Let's go.

Do you really know how the guy died or no?

Wood: He didn't have a bear bell.

You don't know. Okay.

Wood: This road-trip challenge would test our vehicles' endurance,

and it also gave us the perfect chance to get to know what we'd bought.

Foust: Getting her up to speed for the first time.

Getting a little shake through the steering wheel.

I've got a good 25 degrees of actual play in the wheel.

Fan belt is squealing away,

and we're going 46 miles an hour.

This old chevy, I mean, it's got 238,000 miles.

That's a load.

Rutledge has got a truck that either a high-school football captain would drive

or maybe Chuck Norris.

Can you hear the tires?

Whaaaaaaa.

I got a set of 37-inch mud terrains.

That's huge.

I think that may be why I had a little bit of trouble stopping.

Now, the tough thing for Dodges,

they haven't always done really well with their truck sales.