I'm looking to get a truck to use for commuting, light utility work (stops at Lowe's, moving furniture to & from storage unit, etc), and part time towing. My wife and I would like to get a TT or FW, but we don't really plan on getting a big one. We have one child still living at home, and are a couple of years from being empty nesters, so we won't be needing something capable of sleeping 6. I suspect we'll stay under 10K lbs. This is on the high side for a 1/2 ton, so I'm favoring a 3/4 or 1 ton. And for the near future, I'll still be working, so we won't be full-timers. Most of the driving will likely be on my 9 mile daily commute. I also want some decent range on a tank of fuel. We live in an area prone to tornadoes. A few years ago, we lost power for about a week. Luckily, we had a vehicle with almost a full tank, and we had a place to go. We had to drive about 100 miles before we could get fuel. I would like to be able to get at least 100 miles on half a tank while towing. 150 or 200 would be better.
We don't plan on towing over 10000' mountain passes either. Most of our trips will likely be relatively flat roads to the beach.
Historically, I've been a Ford guy. Years ago, I wanted an F250/F350 with a 7.3 turbo diesel. Seems that they were always too expensive or had 300K miles. In looking over the various year models from Ford, I find that the 7.3's have the best reputation (by FAR) for being the most reliable. The 6.0's are the worst. The 6.4's and 6.7's are a bit better, but still aren't as good as the 7.3's. And the 7.3's are priced accordingly. My research has also shown that V10's have about the same tow ratings, but I know very little about their reliability and cost to operate. I've read through some of the "Diesel vs gas" thread (no, I haven't read all 400+ pages), and from the discussions there, the diesels are still cheaper in the long run than the big gas engines if you do a lot of towing. However, reading about problems with some of the Ford engines, I'm not sure that this is true for all of them. Then I came across ***Link Removed***this article (http://gearheads.org/15-used-pickup-trucks-you-should-avoid-at-all-cost/). According to that one, there are a LOT of lemons in the truck world.
I'm more interested in total cost of ownership and cost to operate vs mpg's. There's more to the cost of operating a vehicle than fuel economy. This was driven home with me a few years ago when I was into motorcycles. The maintenance costs on a high performance motorcycle (mostly tires) can exceed the fuel costs.
I also read about Cummins "common rail injectors", and how they're $5000 to replace. And I realize that there's a lot I don't know about diesels.
I've also historically not been a fan of Chevy's, but in this case, I'm looking for a tool to do a job. So whatever gives me the best bang for the buck.
I briefly considered SUV's like the Expedition. Some of them can tow over 9K. But I need the utility of a truck.
I'm no longer sold on Ford being the best. I'm not convinced that I need a diesel, but I'm also not convinced that I don't need one either. Due to the likelihood of it being used mostly for commuting, I'm favoring a gasser. I do know that I do NOT want a dually. Those things are great if you do a LOT of towing, and nothing else. But if I had to drive one to work every day, I think I'd be hating it. So... instead of asking on a mfr specific forum, I thought I'd ask here. You folks should be more knowledgeable on what's needed to meet the demands I'll be facing.
What would you guys recommend?
