Ford or...?

I have no strong brand preferences based on the product itself. My cars and trucks have included French and German imports, then two from GM, three Dodges, one from Toyota, one from Mazda, three from Honda, and four from Ford: three great trucks and a POS first-year Mercury Sable. Make that five, if you count the Ford powered motorhome.

I came to this town 34 years ago with a Chevrolet Citation, and all my dealings with the local Chevy dealer were a nightmare; that meant buying no more Chevies. I bought my first Dodge from the Dodge/Honda dealer, and the dealer service was experience was great, which brought me back to buy three Hondas from him, as family needs evolved; my youngest daughter has two of those, one still going at 270,000 miles.

On my way back into the country from an overseas assignment, I bought a Dodge truck with the expectation of towing a RV. On getting back into town, I learned the Chrysler/Dodge franchise had been taken away from the Honda dealer and given to an out-of-town "supermarket" dealer with a half dozen other franchises. The service experience was so bad that I sold the Dodge truck to the Honda dealer and bought a Ford truck from the Ford/Toyota dealer, which had provided excellent service on my vehicles over the years.

Most of the people in this town who have Ford trucks buy them because of the dealer. Those that have Chevy trucks tend to go out of town to buy them from a better dealer; that situation recently improved because GM pulled the franchise as part of the bailout and gave it to the Buick dealer, which was another of the good dealers in town.

So my point in this? There is really so little difference in the different brands for motor vehicles in the same class, what may be more important could be the dealer you buy it from. Or to whom you will take it for service.

XLT and Lariat are two different trim lines, different standard features, different options available. Most of the difference is found in the cab: trim materials, seating features, electronic accessories. In the F-150 the model lines are XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum. In the past they've had "sporty" and "off-road" trims like FX4, those may be options.

There might be as much as $20,000 difference in the price of a mechanically equivalent Platinum vs the XL or XLT. I've always bought my trucks at the XLT trim level, or another closely priced to XLT but without carpeting (e.g. in a Ranger these have included "Sport" and "Edge."

SuperDuty pickups may have different trim levels. I know that cab-chassis models used to build working trucks usually don't offer the top two or three trims. Towards the end of the model run, for example, the E-series came only in XL or XLT, with a variety of interior trim upgrade packages.

Whether shopping Ford, Ram, Chevrolet, GMC, Toyota, Nissan, you should become familiar with the respective trim lines. Not knowing, a salesman can easily get an extra $5000-$10,000 out of you by selling you up to features you don't actually need, and would not want if you understood how much extra you were paying to get them. When I was shopping for my van, the salesmen kept finding me examples that included a $4000 radio/navigation package; eventually saved $18,000 by buying a low-mileage ex-fleet example with just the options I needed.

Ford has been pretty stable with names, the XL - XLT - Something Special combination has been used for at least 30 years. Dodge/RAM lately has been changing trim names and sometimes changing the meaning of old names. At Chevrolet, they are either LS or LT but there are two or three levels of LT. You might also find, limited to a few cab size/bed length combinations, a W/T (for work truck) that competes with Ford's XL in fleet sales. Chevrolet does more with option packages than with model lines.

Toyota and Nissan, you will find feature availability more closely linked to trim level. At Ford, Chevrolet and RAM, something standard on an upper-middle trim might still be available in an option package on the lower trim truck. This is less common on "import" brands, where a limited option least helps simplify manufacture and inventory management for product manufactured and shipped overseas. This practice seems to carry into the "import" models manufactured in the U.S. as well, which includes the full-size trucks, mid-size and larger cars, and minivans; just the way the corporation has chosen to do it.

When shopping used, 1-3 years, I find that SuperDuty Ford trucks (and equivalent Dodge/RAM and Chevy/GMC) are often much less expensive than many "1/2 ton" models of same age and similar mileage. This is because the majority of these heavier trucks are sold initially into fleet, or at least commercial, use and the first buyers don't buy the expensive luxury trim and accessories. The lighter trucks include a lot more trucks coming off lease for personal use, at the more expensive trim levels.

rbpru wrote:
I suppose like most people I would like to have a Diesel ¾ or 1 ton truck and simple not worry about the max cargo with my 25 ft. TT.

However, I have to drive it on a day to day basis, I have to maintain it, and I can buy a lot of gas for the difference in price, even at $4.00 a gallon.

Just one of the many tradeoffs in life one has to make.

Actually a Diesel in a 3/4 ton 4x4 depending on cab type and bed length can net you a pretty dismal available cargo weight negating any hauling bonus that it may bring.. so you really have to do your homework before committing to a Diesel. Not to mention, modern Diesels with all the EPA required smog stuff are not getting the mileage that they used to enjoy..

I suppose like most people I would like to have a Diesel ¾ or 1 ton truck and simple not worry about the max cargo with my 25 ft. TT.

However, I have to drive it on a day to day basis, I have to maintain it, and I can buy a lot of gas for the difference in price, even at $4.00 a gallon.

Just one of the many tradeoffs in life one has to make.

Terryallan wrote:

ScottG wrote:

dockmasterdave wrote:
For me it was fairly simple. Look at the older model pickups you see driving down the road, in extremely good shape. You'll see 10 Fords to 2 Chevy's and 2 Dodge's.
Simple math, who do you think makes the longest lasting truck?
Doesn't get much simpler.

This is exactly what I was talking about.
The worst reason to buy a particular model is just because someone else did.

I think he was more referring to there being more Ford STILL on the road after they aged some, as opposed to LESS Dodges, and GMs. He was telling in his own unscientific survey which lasted longer.

Percentage wise? Ford outsells the other 2 so naturally they would have more on the road. It would be interesting if they had less percentage wise than GM. If it's just F150's then that would be an interesting statement. If it's all Ford trucks, 150, 250 and 350 then that will skew that reasoning since Ford sells twice the 350's that Ram does and 3x as many as GM does.

I'm not sure if they have the most on the road because they broke down or cause they are still running.:B

I've read on here numerous times that if you are in the market for a new TV, buy one that can handle your next TT. OP stated they may consider going bigger on page 4. Not sure why you would look for something just a little bit better for your current TT if that's your thought pattern. Most 1500's are not going to have much more payload capacity especially if looking at the top of the line models. Maybe the OP should look at used 2500 gassers and be done with it. Otherwise, look for something used with a V8 sans options like 4X4, power seats and mega cabs.

As people have stated there are HD payload packages on certain Ford models, but you usually have to order it. If you are lucky enough to find a used one, you better be ready to jump on it. CarMax.com is a great place to look at used TV's - you can look at the features tab for a selected vehicle and from there see a link to expanded specifications where the weights, tow capacity and payload is listed.

I'm taking my own advice and will soon start looking for a used 2014 2500 Ram with the 6.4 Hemi as they are starting to become available off leases. I'm wary of the Ecoboost as I've had nightmares with a Turbo in the past - maybe they are better now, but I'm not drinking the koolaid on them - no bashing intended here Blue Oval fans!

OP should also be reading in the Tow Vehicle section - lots of great discussions in there on this subject. Good luck with your search

ScottG wrote:

dockmasterdave wrote:
For me it was fairly simple. Look at the older model pickups you see driving down the road, in extremely good shape. You'll see 10 Fords to 2 Chevy's and 2 Dodge's.
Simple math, who do you think makes the longest lasting truck?
Doesn't get much simpler.

This is exactly what I was talking about.
The worst reason to buy a particular model is just because someone else did.

I think he was more referring to there being more Ford STILL on the road after they aged some, as opposed to LESS Dodges, and GMs. He was telling in his own unscientific survey which lasted longer.

MargaretB wrote:
They have 2014s for $50K new, which is too rich for our blood. The 2011 we looked at was priced about $4K over KBB. If it's still there when we sell the Sequoia, if we do, we'll make an offer.

FYI - We had a hard time finding the Sequoia, especially one with the tow package. For the same reason - people tend to keep them forever so there aren't many in the used market. It would be nice to have a new one, but not for $62K! I won't pay that for anything that doesn't have an attic and basement.

According to the salesman, the 2015 F-line trucks will be redesigned, with an aluminum body that will weigh 750# less in the 350s.

Those must be loaded with all the options and Lariat package.. That is one of the reasons I mentioned that a F150 with top package and all the bells and whistles can cost as much (or more) than a F250..

You do also realize that the sales person CAN search other dealer new inventories for you? The dealers can make deals with other dealerships (typically will search several states around your own state)when they find one that matches your criteria by either trading inventory or buying outright from the other dealer.

Dealers don't advertise this since your dealer typically will not get the dealer hold back (this is a "rebate" back to the dealer at the end of the year) but a GOOD dealership will be willing to give up the hold back in order to get the sale.

My 2013 F250 XLT super cab 4x2 with only a couple of extra items cost us about $41K out the door. Has the 6.2 (a real towing beast) and available payload of 3415 lbs on the door sticker..

We ordered it with only the items we wanted.. Took just about 5 weeks from when we placed the order until it delivered..

The Ford F-150 was the #1 best selling truck long before the ecoboost motor.

The most popular variant of the F-Series is the F-150. It has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States for the past 32 years, and the best-selling pick-up for 43 years.

They have 2014s for $50K new, which is too rich for our blood. The 2011 we looked at was priced about $4K over KBB. If it's still there when we sell the Sequoia, if we do, we'll make an offer.

FYI - We had a hard time finding the Sequoia, especially one with the tow package. For the same reason - people tend to keep them forever so there aren't many in the used market. It would be nice to have a new one, but not for $62K! I won't pay that for anything that doesn't have an attic and basement.

According to the salesman, the 2015 F-line trucks will be redesigned, with an aluminum body that will weigh 750# less in the 350s.