Time for a new truck

hemismith wrote:
Thanks everyone for the info and advice! I just went for some test drives. First I went to the Ford dealer. After waiting a half hour plus for the guy to find the key to the truck I wanted to drive (although I would have been happy to drive any ecoboost) I gave up and went next door to the Dodge dealer. I drove an ecodiesel with 3.92 gears. It didn't feel near as responsive as I expected, although in some ways that's not a bad thing. I then went back to the Ford dealer and was finally able to drive a 2.7 ecoboost. It certainly felt more responsive and I didn't notice any turbo lag even though I'm at 4500 ft elevation. Otherwise I liked the way the Ram drove better, although it's hard to tell on a relatively short test drive. But I'm leaning towards the Ford due to some other features I liked, the Ram's low payload capacity, and a few other things. Interesting comment on the negative aspects of the coil-spring suspension for towing.

I never made it to the Chevy dealer but I've heard good things about the GM 6.2, but as mentioned you can only get it in the highest trim level(s). The Hemi is also fine, but I'm really leaning towards turbocharged engines. The torque is in a more usable range and they don't lose it with altitude.

I mainly now need to decide if I can get by with the base models or need to upgrade to get power seats. My back needs lumbar support, and although they both felt fine initially, over the long haul I'm not sure they would suffice. It's a big premium to the next step up for a lot of things I don't care about, although they both have bigger rebates on those trims right now.

It's true that both of these engines have a fairly light tow rating, but I won't be getting anything too big. I've had a big trailer and it didn't work for a lot of the places we like to go. I agree that a 2500 is a better option for towing, and I saw one advertised price that was low but it was only for a regular cab. Otherwise I haven't seen anything too comparable, and the HD diesels are just too expensive. If I upgrade to a higher trim level I might try to find a 3.5 ecoboost.

At this rate though I may have to get used. I've had bad luck with many used vehicles in the past, but if I can get a reasonably priced extended warranty that might be the best option.

What sort of prices are you seeing on these half tons?

I got my Cummins at Dennis Dillon last spring for $39k before tax and title, and it's a 4wd crew basically optioned out like a standard SLT Ram or XLT Ford. A 6.4 would run more like $34k. Just throwing it out there as a basis for comparison. Their website would list their current deals, which may be a tad higher because the sticker went up some on the MY 2016.

FWIW, if I were buying a half ton I'd be leaning towards a 3.5 Ecoboost. I like the way the engine behaves in terms of the torque curve. Ford makes a really good half ton truck, imo.