BIGCSS,
You're right to be skeptical of vehicle tests like this--especially when the results are a surprise. But, I think I can alleviate your (and others') very reasonable concerns.
First let me say that this: The Ford F-350 with the 6.7L Power Stroke we tested was great truck. Anyone that buys one will be more than happy with its capabilities.
But, what our test did was show that if you hook an 18,900-pound trailer to the back of a Ford F-350 DRW with 3.73 gears, and drive up the 8-mile stretch of I-70 East of Dillon, Colorado, to the 11,000-foot pass--you will not be able to do it as quickly as a comparably equipped Chevy can do it.
Look, in the 10 years I've been doing vehicle tests, I have never seen two more equally-equipped vehicles from two different manufacturers. The two trucks we tested were both 4-door, 4x4, dual-rear-wheel diesels with automatic transmissions. Both the Ford and Chevy had 3.73 axle gears, weighed within 200 pounds of each other (the Ford was heavier), cost within $65 of each other (the Ford cost more), and had nearly an identical number of miles on them.
So let's take each of your points one-at-a-time:
Question: Did the Ford F-350 we test have the 400hp/ 800-lb-ft tune?
Answer: The Ford we tested was built in September of 2010. That puts its assembly date after the 400 hp/ 800lb-ft reflash program was initiated in August, 2010 (per Ford's press release, dated August 3, 2010).
Question: Is it possible that the Ford we tested (that was built in September) left the plant in Kentucky with the old 390hp tune?
Answer: Again, all Super Dutys built by Ford after August 31, 2010 were to have the high-output (400hp) tune.
Question: What if the Ford you tested got out of the plant with the 390hp tune by mistake?
Answer: Even if it did (not very probable), the dealer (Harold Zeigler Ford Lincoln Mercury, in Elkhart, Indiana) would have updated it as part of its dealer preparation while it sat on the lot.
Question: Would Consumer Reports have done a more "trustworthy" "un-biased" story?
Answer: Everyone has a bias. Anyone who tells you otherwise has never looked in a mirror. We all have a bias. The bias of our test was that it was conducted by a magazine and a website that was interested in finding out which truck would climb the I-70 quicker with 18,900-pounds in tow. And honestly, of the four guys sitting in the trucks the night we did the test--we were all surprised by the results--that's why we tested each truck four times.
Question: How could this Ford have only seen the speed it did, when you (BIGCSS) "have had [your] truck at similiar altitudes and grades towing heavy and could get the truck to go as fast as [you] wanted up the hill with power to spare"?
Answer: Unless you were to tow the same 18,900-pound trailer we had, up the same grade out of Dillon, Colorado, over the same 11,000-foot pass, on the same night--you're experiences with your 2011 Ford are not comparable. Right?
Here's what I want to know:
Question: Why did it take the Ford 2 minutes more to climb the same grade that the Chevy did? Towing the exact same trailer?
Question: Would this test have had the same results if we towed more? Or, less weight?
Question: Would we have seen different results if we had conducted this test at lower elevations?
Question: Would we have seen different results if the outside temperature was 110 degrees, and not 5 to 10 degrees like it was the night we did out test?
Question: Which manufacturer did more testing on I-70 with it's 2011 HD diesel truck? Ford? or Chevy?
Final question: When are we going to have a reason to do a rematch?