Which should I get and both is not an option

I'm familiar with Dodge products from my current car and what I drive at work. However never had a Chevy.

Just looking for some insight with people who have either one. I've done a lot of research but looking for some real world experience before I pull the trigger on anything.

IBTP.

Chevy over Dodge.

ETA: Oh, you were looking for current owners . Everything I've ever heard or read says go away from Dodge.

Ford...

I'm a tahoe and suburban owner.  I'd go for the Chevy.  The new electric steering is great.

I'll take Chevy/GMC every time over a Dodge or Ford.

Drove them all,  '13 F150 appearance package.  Because twin turbos, non fugly front end and wheel wells, air con seats...

FORD

Ram.  Hemi.  /thread.  

I was faced with the same choice........I chose the Ram over the Chevy.

Then I bought a Tundra.

Get the chevy. The ram feels like a truck you could buy at Walmart,cheap.

You got the miley cyrus of half tons.

You really have to wait to see what the new, aluminum F-150 turns out to be.  Initial reports and test are very favorable.  Most things I've read say the 8 speed trans and coil springs put the Ram ahead of the Chevy.  But, GM and Ford are actually working cooperatively to develop a new, 8 speed transmission.  This is a good time to wait for the next wave of technology in trucks and SUVs.  If your situation will allow you to go another year without a purchase, it would be wise to do so.

Silverado.

I own a 90 324,000 miles. Starts every time. Original Ball joints shit at 300k. Still have OEM tie rods. Haven't been touched. Still good. Did I mention it pulls trailers/works off road..

Friend bent the frame on his 96 and it fires right up to this day

Dad has a 08 2500 6.0 120k. Still has incredible power and was worked hard for most of it's life

Company truck is 09 Duramax 3500. Overloaded religiously with oilfeild tools.  Not one transmission or major motor issue.

The most dependable longest lasting trucks on the road. I know it sounds like hype but they aren't kidding. I won't own anything else



Old picture but you get the point

I'm pretty open minded about vehicle brands but for some reason I keep choosing chevy when it comes to fullsize trucks/Suvs.

Just got a great deal on a 2014 Ram 2500.  Couldn't be happier.  I was looking at F150s pretty seriously but I like the styling of the Rams better and I got this ram 2500 for MUCH cheaper than I could have ever got a Ford.

I've been in both. I like both.   I've owned 5 Chevy trucks and don't intend to change that.

That being said, buy whichever one has the better dealer, incentives, warranty, pricing and options.    Most all half-tons are so similar as far as power, braking, room, etc. that it's almost a wash that's decided on price and personality.  All three are offering great pickups that would do 99.999% of what the owner will ask.

i had 2 ram 1500 hemi's.  i just bought a 2500 cummins, best decision ive ever made.

pics, I'm hoping to buy one of those late next year

2.5 level kit/295-65/20 Toyo AT's.

I can say the same for Ford, and someone else can say the same for Dodge.  Every vehicle is different, and every owner drives, and takes care of their vehicles differently.  There's also a reason why Ford has been #1 for 36 years in a row.  


IMO, buy a Chebby if you want a car with a pickup bed.  Buy a Ford if you want a real truck.  Buy a Dodge if you want something in between....

In the end they are all gonna get the job done. Every mfg has a great vehicle come off the line and the next be a lemon. Buy a truck and use it.

I had a 2014 Silverado All Terrain 1500, but needed a full crew vs the club cab.  I also decided I wanted a 3/4 ton.



I looked at all 3 brands and ended up with a Mega cab Ram Laramie 5.7   Couldn't be happier.

Chevy Silveraydo

What is the end goal?  If its just a driver with an occasional load, the Ram with coil springs, active air suspension, Hemi and 8 speed is definitely the more nicely equipped vehicle. It is quieter, rides smoother and for the money will generally have more features.  If you want to haul a heavy trailer a few times a month or get a large load of gravel, id go with the Chevy.  They handle loads a lot better than Rams's in the 1/2 ton trim.

Goal is to eventually have something that I can haul but it will mostly be a driver with a bed for me to throw my crap in and out of easily. Play a lot of sports and fish a lot. 4x4 is a must.
I'm very interested in the Ram Ecodiesel mileage since my commute will quadruple in April but it might be a little out of my price range.

I pretty much can't do anything till April when I close on my house so I have plenty of time to look.

The more I learn and read about Chevy's I like them but the Ram incentives are great. I love the F-150's but for the options I want compared to Chevy or Ram when put in the F-150 make it too expensive.

Stay away from the hemi if u want mileage, great motor but it loves the petrol.  

Maybe find a used ecodiesel?

I f budget is a concern get the Ram. If resell later is wanted get the Chevy. A Chevy used will always be worth more than Ram. If I had the coin a GMC Denali with the 6 .2 would be mine. I have owned tahoes from new to 250K miles with great luck, I bought a new 2006 Chevy Crew Cab, Duramax/Allison. 2500, 4x4. I put MBRP full exhaust, some intake, Cognito braces, Secondary fuel filter, that was frame mounted, Nicktane(iirc), 90 gallon toolbox/transfer tank that fit under bed cover, gravity fed to main system.

I was towing a loaded down  32' travel trailer all over south-east United States. Setting the cruise at 72-74 and letting the truck work. Going to Gatlinburg, Over Mount Eaqle, it never down shifted stayed around 2K RPM and flew up the mountains. I would pass a string of Semi's and when I would get to the top of the grade the speeds I was going when I finally paid attention where not safe for towing.

My fried bought a new RAM 2500 Diesel last year. He has had the entire dash out 2-3 times fixing a AC water leak, and the rattles that ensued.Another friend bought a 14' Hemi and put true duals/programmer on it and loves his RAM. Maybe I just was a anomaly and had great luck withy 2 Tahoes, 1- GMC Tahoe clone, 2- Chevy trucks a 2006 and a 2002 4x4 Z71.

And yes I agree FBHO and the Unions. I agree RAM has come a long way. But in the end it it's still a Dodge with new features. I hate to say it, I like the way the way the new RAM trucks look. And it seems they stopped puking trannys. Right now the RAM is the "best bang for the buck", IMHO. Ford has the nice Eco-Boost, but only as a daily driver would I own one. I would not tow heavy with it and plan on keeping it a long time. I do like the saddle leather of the king ranch. But when  I get in a new Denali I just feel at home.

Should be able to get a good deal on a 2014 F150 as the new 2015 model rolls in.

I would go ford but chevy before ford, my uncle specially ordered a half ton silverado with the cheap options power windows,locks, and the shitty radio cloth seats and the 6.2 in it and it is a very nice truck

Ford F150 , 2014 , 5.0 , 360hp standard!  -  Chevrolet has had quality issues for the past 3 to 4 years, little things break all the time. Chevy is not the truck it was in the mid to late 90's through 2007 ish. I've had 4 and didn't want to get the new year models , everyone I know that has one has had issues, many issues.. The Ford is a beefier truck, check out the leaf springs on Fords vs Chevy ,  Ford has big wide high springs, Chevy 4x4 sits 6" of the ground ,  zero clearance compared to a stock F150 4X4.

Dodge is ok, problem is they don't last , if you make it to 100k miles , they fall apart

It's 2014 and Ford finally offers a 360hp engine, how cute.
The F150 is a nice truck no doubt, but don't fool yourself into thinking
that it somehow sits head and shoulders above the competition.
 

 

Every Ram I have evewr seen rusts out at the wheels wells. Every. Single. Time. Shitboxes, the lot of them.

another...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f3CAnH7WIM

Fully boxed vs C frame, number of reasons the C frame was chosen for the 250/350.  At any rate, the f-150 has a fully boxed frame, so it's idiotic to apply that comparison for half tons.  

Can't say I agree.  It feels more solid than my F150 I traded it in for.

Um, yeah...those are NOT 1/2 ton trucks that the OP is looking at.  Nice try.  
Have you ever seen a semi with a boxed frame?  Nope, they are c-channel for a reason....some flex is good.  
Lastly, who in their right mind is going to park their truck with opposite corners of the truck off the ground in a full flex situation?  If your driveway at home is that bad, you have other issues to address first.  I'm an avid off-roader, and I have never, ever, came upon a situation that warranted parking like that.

Sounds like a Ram will suit the OP the best...



This is pretty neat...I haven't seen this one before:

What it simulates is trucks going down rutted out roads with loads or a 5th wheel on it. Some flex is good, however repetitive flex leads to fatigue which leads to fracture.

Now I haven't been in the 2014 GM trucks. The 07-13's were my favorites in the half tons. They are well made though the 5.3 is a little lacking. They'll last 150k miles or more. The only real problem across the board with them is that the dashes in all of them crack between the passenger airbag bezel and passenger A pillar. The LBZ was my favorite Duramax and as posted previously with Cognito CAs, custom tuning, a decent exhaust, etc. they will out ride and drink less fuel than any comparable half ton trucks of the same time period.

My dad has a 14 Ram. It's his 4th Dodge truck in the last 15 years. He's had it for 14 months, has 35k miles on it and the only problem he's had with it was the fender flares came loose. They do not fall apart after 100k miles though. They fall apart because people either don't take care of them or they don't put them back together properly (why people work on warrantied trucks themselves, I don't know). Long story short, my dad hung an injector in his 06 5.9 at 150k, got lucky and only fried the rings in #6 and didn't have time to wait for it to get fixed. He took it to a Dodge house, got 18k on trade and drove off with a 14 1/2 ton. He loved that 5.9…he loves his new half ton just as much even though he took a 5 mpg hit in fuel economy going to the half ton (but gas hit under $2.00 a gallon in most of Texas this week…diesel is still nearly a dollar more). That Hemi is rated at 395 hp…the 8 speed does a lot of shifting but if your going 55 and aren't paying attention, you'll be doing over 100 before you know it. The factory dual exhaust also sounds pretty decent though it can be a little lacking while idling as both my dad and I walk away from the truck with it running because we don't realize it's idling.

My grandfather (Dad's dad) has a 2011 Ram 1500. He traded for it as soon as he hit 100k in his 03 Ram 1500 (he lived and worked in a time where a truck was done after 100k though). He also loves that truck. That was the first Dodge I got to drive with the coil rear end (out of his 4 grandchildren, I'm the only one he's ever trusted enough to drive his trucks). Apparently he thinks the exhaust in his is adequate enough as well as it took him less than a month to put a Magnaflow exhaust on his 03 after he drove it off the lot and he hasn't done anything to his 2011.

If I were in the market for a new half ton…I'm starting to look for a 06 5.9 with a 6 speed…I'd honestly go after a Laramie 1500 like my dad's. Maybe one with air suspension…not sure I'd commit to the Ecodiesel though, I'd probably want to wait and see how that engine does for another year or two. I hate automatic transmissions in 80% of applications. The 4 wheel drive 5.7 Ram 1500 are GTG in my opinion.

 

It depends on the application.  C-frame allows for ease of fitting different bed configurations.  Think ambulance, line truck, etc.  The C-frame has a couple other benefits for doing this as well.  Look around, basically all of these are ford.  The box frame vs C-frame is a design choice for the super duty trucks.

It's disingenuous to say that Ford can't make a good stiff box frame, because they do on the f-150 and have for a long time and do for the cab portion of the Super duties.  If you want to take issue with on this, your argument is that Ford says stiffness = good in the F150 and then not a peep on it for their super duty line.  I wish they boxed the frame for consumer super duty trucks vs fleet, but they choose not to.  Why don't they?  Probably because literally zero trucks come back to them with any issues on the C-frames in either sector - -  and all the other sellers until most recently didnt box either - - so they chose not to make two different frames for simply a marketing win applicable to. 01% of customer use cases.

I believe GM also offers C-frames still if you wanted, sooo... If it's that deficient it's still in their product line as well, color me surprised.

You think you know, but you don't know.

Drive them all and pick the one you like. I drove them all and picked a tundra because it made the others feel like junk in comparison, and I've owned plenty of ford and chevy trucks.

I'm hoping to not spend so much quality time getting to know my service adviser. Time will tell....

I drove them all and chose  a Tundra.  I have been a dodge man for many years.  I was sick of them falling apart and being an unreliable pos as they neared 100k.  And I did take care of them. . .

Box frames is a scheme to sell trucks. When it comes down to the engineering, a box frame versus a comparable strength c-channel frame uses nearly the exact same amount of steel. Channel frames are a little easier to interface though.

2014s use a new 6 speed auto and get decent mileage.

Chevy

I believe they are 8 speed now. My 2012 1500 was a 6 speed and i got about 12mpg-15mpg.

Dodges have both 6 spd and 8 spd. If the shifter is a knob you turn it's an 8 spd, most behind hemis. The quality of Dodges/Rams are getting better, but they are still problems especially with electronics. I've driven both a Chevy and Dodge 1500 in the same day, the Chevy/GMC just drives/feels better, both can get over 20 MPG if not beat on.

Good looking truck.



LOL dog....



 

Gotcha.  See, ive found the opposite, my friends who all drive GM trucks have electrical issues.  Their trucks do ride/drive better.  I didnt have my 2012 Ram long enough to have any issues, traded it w/ 36k on it.  My 03 Ram hemi I had to replace brakes/cv shafts and thats it.  I ran that to 100k.  My 2014 cummins seems GTG so far.  

flip a coin i guess.  

I've had a few electrical issues in my Trailblazer. Throttle body servo went out at 70k miles, and then again at 80k miles. The driver seat motors went bad at 109k miles. Cam-phasor sensor went bad at 146k miles. At 192k miles, it's gone into limp mode once. Everything under 100k was covered under warranty. 192k miles so far and still running mostly strong.

I've yet to see an electrical issue in a Dodge that wasn't caused by the DPF filter.

I think my dad averages between 19 and 21 mpg in his 14 (4wd with the 8 speed). The OD ratios of the transmissions haven't changed in 15 years…they are just adding more gears between to keep the engines at lower revs while accelerating. He was a little depressed about that fuel mileage though.

A boxed frame is only important to the city slickers and urbanites whom for its important that a truck handle as much like a honda accord as possible to prevent them from harming themselves and others. Trucks had c channel frames for the past century yet NOW it's some kind of a problem? I DONT BUY IT

For the rest of the truck buying universe it's a rust and rot prone gimmick that just makes things a little harder to customize to suit the need