2015 RAM 3500 VS 2015 GM 3500?

[pressure_welder]

Good morning fellas, ladies! hope everyone is well. While this isn't a "which should I buy" thread I thought it would be an interesting thread to start to get opinions from both sides.

my story.... My wife and I factory ordered a 2015 GMC sierra Denali dually back in the summer of 2014, we drove it for a year and loved it, I deleted it and the mileage sky rocketed. towed amazing, and gave us great reliability.

Fast forward to august 2015 after we get back home from the lake, a close family friend brings over his new 2015 RAM limited cummins, ive always been a fan of the cummins engine but didn't think a whole lot of dodge/ram interiors MOSTLY because I hadn't been in one since the old body style and interior. Needless to say I was blown away by the limited interior and all the options and creature comforts that the limited had versus my denali. I have always said I never did buy my GMC's for their interiors rather the duramax/Allison combo, while I believe GM did pick up there game in the 2015s I still feel they lack some very common sense ammenties that should come standard on a
80,000$ truck.

Long story short, my wife and I decide to go check out a 2015 RAM cummins the following week, wife never usually says anything about our trucks just "as long as itll pull our camper/boat to the lake" Ive never seen her so excited about a truck. Anyway as of October 2015 we've been driving a 2015 RAM 3500 dually limited with aisin transmission. Being a GM guy all my life and having owned 5 duramax's I can honestly say I am extremely pleased with my switch to RAM, performance wise I am sure the trucks will be on par stock for stock. However I feel RAM has taken a very bold step forward in providing what I refer to as a "luxury" interior with amenities that I feel should also be standard on my denalis ive owned. I must also confirm that I still LOVE my duramax trucks ive had flawless KM on every single one ive owned. I think we switched this time just strictly on an interior basis. I also love the fact that its completely "turn key" tow ready from factory, just set your fifth wheel hitch in the bed and go, HOWEVER these puck style hitches are **** expensive.


So I guess my purpose of this thread, is not to start an argument of what truck is better. Rather to see who may have made a switch either way, your opinions, your likes/dislikes, and how you feel one tows over the other? I personally have yet to tow with my RAM... camping season is incredibly close for us and I have a severe itch to hook up and pull with this thing to get a compairison.

cheers!

[pressure_welder]

Dadoffourgirls wrote:
Can you identify the specific "very common sense ammenties that should come standard on a 80,000$ truck" that are missing?

Well what I mean by this, in comparing my denali to this limited is what the RAM comes with and Denali didn't.

- Fold Flat rear floor

- In-floor storage compartments

- BIGGEST* Ducted heat/AC to the back seats, AND heated rear seats. Absolutely blew my mind the denali didn't even have this option.

- Wheel well liners on the duallies *big positive in my opinion

There are a lot of other options that the RAM had available that the Denali didn't, but I felt these were the most common sense ones. On the other end of the spectrum, our 15 denali DID have a few cool options that the RAM didn't.

[NC_Hauler]

I owned Chevy trucks from 1975 till mid 2010..last 4 being D/A...LOVED them, all in LTZ trim and loaded out..THEN I saw a 2010 Ram and thought, "what the heck"...the EB was awesome..thought I'd miss the Allison, but EB and T/H made the Cummins with the 68RFE just fine towing my CAT scaled HR at 16,300# in the mountains of NC, SC, TN, VA and WVa...love the truck and looks...bought a 12'...bought a 13', those in Long Horn trim, and my 16' came in today, (will pick it up tomorrow (:)..Aisin with 4.10 just like the 13'..rear air assist, camera looking into the bed..900TQ, 14K GVWR and 39,100# GCWR...The truck is awesome looking inside and out, and in my opinion, having tried out the new Denali and the Chevy High Country(?)...I think inside is better looking on the Ram and ride of the Ram very smooth..course I'm comparing Dually's and not 3500 SRW trucks..If I'd ever change, I'd go back to Chevy, but the Cummins and the Aisin with 4.10 is a formidable towing beast loaded with creature comforts that rate it an "awesome"..:B

[pressure_welder]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"HOWEVER these puck style hitches are **** expensive."

I laughed my AZZ off on the above comment! At $1,159 the B&W RVK3600 is for sure on the upper end of non air ride hitches. You just bought the most expensive RAM and are complaining about hitch prices.

Curt/RAM makes a 25K hitch that is about $800 and Chinese made that may work for you.

Sorry I could not resist.

I am not sure why you find it so funny? Iam not complaining about hitch prices I am merely stating for this setup they are expensive. your right I did just buy a 90,000$ truck. However I have no problem saying that while the new puck system is great for a nice flat bed, the hitches required for it are much more expensive than a conventional rail style hitch.

In my denali I had the rails which was fine, I had a reese 20k elite series which was 1,000$ all said and done Canadian. I bought the exact same hitch except for the puck style system for the RAM and it was 1700$

I priced out the B&W, and with a discount through my salesmen friend at my dealer it was 2200$. Went to a few other places and they were +/- 100$ These are all Canadian prices.

sorry.. couldn't resist.

[transamz9]

squidnapper wrote:
So I just went the other direction, traded a 13 ram 3500 for a new Denali 3500

I miss the push to start feature and agree the interior is very sharp on the ram. I loved the look of the leather wrapped dash.

What I don't miss is the 3.42 gears, the Aisin was always hunting. Also imo the ram ride quality is inferior to both ford and gm. Over expansion joints my ram felt like it was punching me in the kidneys.

My 3.42's don't hunt with my Aisin. When towing anything I will lock it in 5th. I have never liked the Ally trans and the way it is programmed. It seams like you always have to be giving it gas when you could be coasting. The Ford trans feels good but I don't like the fact that when you lock it in a gear it won't gear down normally until the engine gets down to idle speed. I do wish Ram offered a 3.73 in the SRW trucks but it really does great with the 3.42 with a heavy load.

[transamz9]

I think a lot of people get the Laramie Limited confused with the Laramie. The Laramie has Leather TRIMMED seats with a lot of the nice buttons to go with it. The Laramie Longhorn and the Laramie Limited are really a step above the Laramie trim and down. The leather in the Longhorn and Laramie Limited is really top of the line. My wife didn't believe me when I told her this until she actually sat an a Limited. When we bought our current truck which is a loaded out Bighorn we were going to buy a Laramie until we sat in it. The Leather trimmed seats were hard and uncomfortable to us. We found that the upgraded cloth seats were a lot more comfortable and supportive. Well our dealer received a Laramie Limited in one day so I took the DW in to check it out. Needless to say that will be our next truck, the only problem is that they are hard to come by in a SRW 3500 with an Aisin.

We have been driving a lot of trucks here lately from all the Big 3 because we do have an open mind about it and every time they have had things that just felt lacking or missing. The GM's and Fords do feel like they have equal drive trains to the Ram and some of the things about them we like better and some things we like better on the Ram but when we go to comparing the three back and forth the Ram always comes out the winner for us. Call me lazy but the auto dimming headlights and wipers are the cat's meow.

[transferred]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
The comment about the 3500 with Aisin constantly "HUNTING" and 3.42's not being good gearing.

If the truck is placed in TowHaul it won't hunt. Aisin makes the 3.42's work within it's GVWR because of the lower starting gears. When towing lock the trans in 5th it will be exactly the same RPM's as if it were in 6th with 4.10's.

Bonus is better economy running solo with 3.42's.

I towed 28-29K combined with 3,42's and only negative was starting on a grade. That would have been cured if I had the Aisin instead of 68RFE.

This post is spot on. I have 342s in my 2016 in sig and it pulls v strong, I've towed at 24k GCWR across three states and on job sites have gotten trailer with a small-medium 'dozer on it moving with no issue.

[Cummins12V98]

The comment about the 3500 with Aisin constantly "HUNTING" and 3.42's not being good gearing.

If the truck is placed in TowHaul it won't hunt. Aisin makes the 3.42's work within it's GVWR because of the lower starting gears. When towing lock the trans in 5th it will be exactly the same RPM's as if it were in 6th with 4.10's.

Bonus is better economy running solo with 3.42's.

I towed 28-29K combined with 3,42's and only negative was starting on a grade. That would have been cured if I had the Aisin instead of 68RFE.

[Cummins12V98]

"HOWEVER these puck style hitches are **** expensive."

I laughed my AZZ off on the above comment! At $1,159 the B&W RVK3600 is for sure on the upper end of non air ride hitches. You just bought the most expensive RAM and are complaining about hitch prices.

Curt/RAM makes a 25K hitch that is about $800 and Chinese made that may work for you.

Sorry I could not resist.

[donn0128]

There all decent trucks. But approaching 75K they better be. Heck I can remember when we were satisfied that our truck started on a cold morning. Now its heated seats, stearing wheel, mirrors, remote start, and back up cameras!. Next people will want auto hitching option. And to top it off, we want to trade for the newest gee whiz gadgets before we have the old one paid off. INSANITY!

[Me_Again]

brulaz wrote:

pressure_welder wrote:

...

anyone have a towing compairison between the two? iam thinking gears would have an adverse effect on towing quality, I have heard the 3.42's are not so desirable, however I have the 3.73's which I had on my duramax. I can only presume that the 3.73's coupled with the aisin would make a good match. It definatly shifts differently than my Allison did but feels as strong in my opinon. Time will tell I suppose!

These guys sort of did:
http://www.tfltruck.com/2016/03/2016-chevy-silverado-3500-hd-surprises-on-the-ike-gauntlet-video/

Wow, the GM was 10 seconds faster on a 9 minute run up a mountain pass. Everyone should run and buy the GM, because it is 1.8 percent faster up the mountain.

At 397 HP the Duramax has 12 more HP or 3 percent more, however it was only 1.8 percent faster. Horse Power is what wins races. Torque gets things moving.

I am happy with what we bought and hope everyone else is happy with what they bought. We kept the last truck 14 years, so at my age this will most likely be our last truck!

Chris

[Dadoffourgirls]

Can you identify the specific "very common sense ammenties that should come standard on a 80,000$ truck" that are missing?

[GBuilders]

I can't speak for the new D/A but I'm sure it's very nice as the Ford is as well. My new Ram Laramie is loaded with comforts and features and with the Aisin it's a pulling monster. The Ford I test drive before I bought the Ram was quicker off the start but I think it's because of the Aisin in geared lower in 1st.

[brulaz]

pressure_welder wrote:

...

anyone have a towing compairison between the two? iam thinking gears would have an adverse effect on towing quality, I have heard the 3.42's are not so desirable, however I have the 3.73's which I had on my duramax. I can only presume that the 3.73's coupled with the aisin would make a good match. It definatly shifts differently than my Allison did but feels as strong in my opinon. Time will tell I suppose!

These guys sort of did:
http://www.tfltruck.com/2016/03/2016-chevy-silverado-3500-hd-surprises-on-the-ike-gauntlet-video/

[pressure_welder]

squidnapper wrote:
So I just went the other direction, traded a 13 ram 3500 for a new Denali 3500

I miss the push to start feature and agree the interior is very sharp on the ram. I loved the look of the leather wrapped dash.

What I don't miss is the 3.42 gears, the Aisin was always hunting. Also imo the ram ride quality is inferior to both ford and gm. Over expansion joints my ram felt like it was punching me in the kidneys.

I agree, I noticed quite immediately that the ride on my GM was better, and also that the RAM requires a lot more driver input for the brakes which is somewhat annoying at times. I also didn't understand why the passenger seat on the RAM isn't fully adjustable like the drivers. One huge plus I noticed moving to RAM was the headlights were so much better, the new lights on the GM were dangerously horrible

anyone have a towing compairison between the two? iam thinking gears would have an adverse effect on towing quality, I have heard the 3.42's are not so desirable, however I have the 3.73's which I had on my duramax. I can only presume that the 3.73's coupled with the aisin would make a good match. It definatly shifts differently than my Allison did but feels as strong in my opinon. Time will tell I suppose!

[MFL]

To me, any of the new trucks are nice! It makes a lot of difference on use of the truck, as to all the options. I mainly use my Ford to tow, or get me to an area to hunt. When I built/ordered from my dealer, I told him I just needed electric start and AC. Well of course I wanted nice comfortable seats, so XLT option minimum. With this I get many things not needed, such as stereo controls in st whl, lots of computer stuff, and of the course the telephone button on st whl, that I do use once in a while.

I guess what I am getting at, it is a truck, but has gone up in price partly due to people wanting so many options, such as the mention above "cowboy Cad".

I have never owned a Dodge or now Ram. I don't want to make my Ram friends upset, but in the earlier years, I often wondered why anyone would spend the money to buy a new Dodge truck, when it cost about the same for a Ford or Chevy.

I also thought with the early diesel trucks being so noisy, 7.3 or 5.9, who would buy a new truck, that sounded like it was going to fall apart from day one?

Ok, so a lot has changed over the years, and my long time Ford dealer now is a Ram dealer too. He owns a Ford dealership, and a Chevy dealership as well, in another city. I can deal with him, the actual owner, a long time family friend, on any of the big three. I like my Ford 6.2 gas, for what I use it for. If I needed a diesel, I would surely give the Cummins/Ram a test drive, and if they are now as nice as most owners are saying, a plain, but comfy model Ram would likely be my choice.

Jerry