When I was a kid, I had real aversion to Chevrolet trucks. The school bus I rode was on a,1946 Chevrolet chassis and the oldest bus in the fleet. Unfortunately, it was the most reliable. We were never late to school. The temperature could drop below -10 and that bus started right up. Kids on other buses would miss the dreaded arithmetic class because their driver couldn’t get the bus started. Years later, when I bought a 22 year old 1950 Chevrolet pickup for $115, I could start it without any trouble in subzero weather. All I had to do was pull out the choke, step on the starter pedal and I was off. That old truck would start when nothing else would. I guess if it is important to get going in freezing weather, maybe the Chevrolet is the one to buy. On the other hand, if you need an excuse to stay indoors, you should consider another make.
While not liking Chevrolet trucks as a kid for the reason given in my post above, I did have a liking for Ford trucks. A bus that I didn’t ride was on a 1947 Ford chassis. I was in 8th grade when that bus, while bringing the kids to school, threw a rod. To get the kids who rode that bus back home, the kids were split up among a couple other buses that had routes near the one services by the disabled bus. Our bus took some of the kids overcrowding the bus. The cutest girl in my class ended up on my lap. All the way to her house I prayed for a bearing failure on our Chevrolet bus. I tipped my hat to Ford for making that bus chassis.
"Pick the one you like best and gives you the best deal. You might consider the Ram 1500 diesel. It gets great fuel mileage. "
Doesn’t the 1/2 ton Dodge have a greatly diminished payload capacity as a result of its
coil-spring suspension? That would rule it out for me.
No,MJ,I think you can get the air suspension,which should more then make up for it(seen a newish Ram setting at a body shop the oiher day with its front wheels askew)A half ton isnt really rated for heavy stuff,the days of the F-100,with double acting overload springs is gone.
A recent Consumer Reports has a review of the new Ford pickup. I would read that and consider what they say about it. Their reports are based on a testing protocol they use on every vehicle they test. CR is pretty well-regarded (or at least influential) and issues CR raises are often addressed by manufacturers in their newer versions.
@meanjoe75fan The 1/2 ton Ram has a 10,650 lb tow rating (w 3.92 gears) even with the coil spring rear. It is an old-wives tail that leaf springs are needed to get a good tow rating. My BIL has a 4-door with a 5.7 liter Hemi V8. Rides great and has that 10K tow rating. They are nice trucks.
The 3.0 liter diesel loses a bit of towing capacity dropping to 8300 lbs. Not because of the coil springs. Must be the capacity of the engine. The V6 makes more torque at 420 ft-lbs than the Hemi’s 410 ft-lbs but the gas V8 out powers the diesel 395 to 240 Hp.