It’s impossible to talk about modern cars without addressing the elephant in the parking lot: full-size crew-cab pickups. These behemoths have taken the place of family sedans for a lot of people, for better or worse, and they sell so well that they’re going to be part of the used car landscape for a very long time. So I guess I had better get used to writing about them.
Yesterday’s cars were the polar opposite of big pickup trucks when it comes to fuel economy. Hybrids are here to stay in the used car market as well, and I feel like my knowledge of them is lacking. I need to brush up on these things. I had no idea that the third-generation Prius was less reliable than the others. Even so, most of you trusted it more than the upstart Hyundai, and gave it an easy win.
I think that’s the way to go. You don’t buy a car like this because it’s cool, or fun to drive. You buy it to rack up as many miles as possible while stopping for fuel as few times as possible, and absolutely no vehicle on the planet does that better than a Toyota Prius. If I still had to commute, which thankfully I don’t, a good used Prius would be a solid choice.
Love them or hate them, trucks are an inescapable part of the landscape on US roads. And nearly all of them are full-size models with four doors and a shortish bed. Proponents like to say you can “do anything” with such a truck, but parking them is a pain in the ass, most garages are not built for them, and their fuel economy is mediocre at best. So why do so many people choose them over a sedan or a crossover? Honestly, I’m not sure. But let’s take a closer look at these two, and see if we can find the appeal.
2011 Ram 1500 Big Horn Edition – $6,999
Engine/drivetrain: 5.7-liter OHV V8, five-speed automatic, 4WD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 146,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
If you look at this and think, “That’s a Dodge truck,” you’re not alone. Chrysler’s decision to split its pickup trucks off into a separate brand called Ram in 2010 was just plain silly. However silly the name is, the trucks are all business. Chrysler cracked the code on the pickup market in 1994 and has been refining that formula ever since. This generation of Ram pickup was so successful that it remained in production as the “Ram 1500 Classic” for five years after it was supposedly replaced by a new generation.
The most important question when it comes to any Ram pickup is, of course, “That thing got a Hemi?” In this case, yes, in fact, it does. The 5.7-liter Hemi V8 is not without its faults, but it does make a healthy amount of power and torque, and it sounds really good. Here, it’s backed by a five-speed automatic (a Chrysler design, not the Mercedes-designed transmission in the LX/LD sedans) and drives all four wheels. This truck runs and drives great, the seller says, though in the interest of full disclosure, it does have a salvage title from a previous accident. It’s probably worth getting it inspected to make sure everything’s in good shape.
There’s a little wear inside, but it’s not bad at all. It’s a pretty fancy truck, with leather seats, and it has an aftermarket stereo with Apple CarPlay and an annoyingly large touch screen. Well, it’s annoyingly large to me, anyway; some people like that sort of thing.
The outside looks good too; I can’t see any evidence of the damage at a glance, except that I think the trim piece between the grille and the front bumper is supposed to be body color. I guess you could paint it if it bothered you. The dent in the rear bumper, though, you’re required to leave. Every pickup truck should have a dent or two somewhere.
2013 Ford F-150 FX4 SuperCrew – $6,999
Engine/drivetrain: Twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter OHC V6, six-speed automatic, 4WD
Location: Portland, OR
Odometer reading: 173,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Here it is, the best-selling vehicle in the US since the end of the Pleistocene Era: the Ford F-series. Ford sells about 800,000 of these things a year on average, or one every 40 seconds or so. In the time it took you to read about the Ram truck above, Ford sold a dozen more trucks. It’s ridiculous. No wonder you see them everywhere. This is the twelfth generation of F-series trucks, which ran from 2009 to 2014. It’s now two generations old. Gone are the days when a manufacturer could keep the same truck in production for a decade or more – unless you’re talking about the Chevy Express, which may just stay in production forever.
Gone also are the days when a full-size truck needs to have a giant V8 in it. This F-150 is powered by Ford’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6. It’s twin-turbocharged and makes an astonishing 365 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. My sister-in-law has an F-150 with this engine in it. I’ve driven it a few times, and it definitely has no shortage of power. It drives a 4WD system through a six-speed automatic transmission. This truck has 173,000 miles on it, and the seller (the same seller as the Dodge, I’m pretty sure) says it runs great.
This one has a little wear inside as well, but hardly anything worth mentioning. These F-150s aren’t particularly luxurious inside; there’s a lot of hard plastic, and the seat fabric feels a bit institutional, but it all does what it’s supposed to do, and the seats are pretty comfortable.
It’s in good condition outside, but it’s a shame it’s white. White trucks are so common among contractor fleets that I don’t know why anyone would choose one as a “civilian” truck. It just disappears into the landscape. Or maybe that’s the idea; a white Ford F-150 is about the most nondescript vehicle there is these days. If, for whatever reason, you don’t want to be noticed, you could do a lot worse.
Actually, I think trucks like these are going to make a lot of sense as cheap beaters in the years to come. They’re sturdy, almost overbuilt in some cases, and they’re plentiful enough that finding parts is never going to be a problem. Sure, you’ll use more gas than you would with a smaller vehicle, but you’ll also have a lot of room and capability to play with. Just please, if you’re going to drive one, learn how to park it properly; that’s all I ask. Which one of these seems like a better deal to you?
IDK I just picked one LOL
I’m taking the non-salvage Ford today.
Honestly, either of these would be a great deal (not that I’m interested) because trucks of this vintage in my area are already beginning to rot, but sell for roughly the same amount of money.
I’d rather a smaller car, and rent a trailer for the few times that I need to move bulky items that don’t fit inside.
I have no interest in these suburban-dadmobiles.
I voted for the Ford, but I just got my own inexpensive pickup for hauling stuff and to use around our property. 97 F150, two doors, bench seat, standard length bed. It’s only the 4.2 V6 but most importantly, it has four wheel drive.
It was a pain trying to find something inexpensive that was both 4×4 and didn’t have four full size doors with a short bed. I have my daily to take people places in, I just needed a truck for truck things.
Dodge baby!
If the Ram checks out, for this price and fact that I’m going to beat the heck out of it, I don’t mind the salvage title. It’s got less miles and a column shifter. But if it looks sketch in person, I’d be happy enough with the Ford.
I own the 2012 5.0 V8 SuperCab version of the Ford. (It’s currently sitting outside attached to a 20′ trailer with Honda Fit sitting on it.) It’s an absolute beast.
That said, I’ll steer clear of the turbos, thank you very much. I went with the Hemi.
Tough choice between a salvage title Ram and an early EB F-150. Realistically I’d look for a 5.0 F-150 or pay the insane Toyota Tax on a similarly aged Tundra, but I’ll go with the Ford today due to the clean title and not having dumb ebay smoked headlight lenses that will be full of water in a few months.
Or go for a slightly lower priced, higher mileage titan. I feel like this thing would outlast either of these. https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/listing/446845399?#/
Ford is common enough and doesn’t have a V8, so that people in everything else won’t automatically assume the worst of you upon seeing you.
Neither of these fit in my garage though. IRL wouldn’t even consider.
Unless you do a muffler delete that Ford will make you invisible. It’s like the Corolla of trucks.
Muffler delete would also demand lowering, and fart cans. And an AK tune. Full A80 Supra.
Ya, no, I’m too old for that.
I’m a big fan of not standing out in trucks. I keep my Excursion full-on Paw Paw spec, since it gets so many looks. I may lower it though, since it’s 2wd anyways.
the things to look for is the MDS tick in the Ram, basically look under the oil cap and check for sludge. if the thing was properly maintained with the correct oil it should be fine at those miles. the 3.5 Ford is pretty solid, though the plastic parts oiling the turbo can be problematic. same inspection would be helpful here.
I feel like both of these are likely a bit of a gamble at those miles, but if you don’t ignore the warning signs and you are kind of handy with a wrench and can look something up on youtube, both of these would be fine beater work trucks. You will Cuss the ford a bit more when trying to get to some of the stuff that will likely fail, so maybe that would sway against that unit a bit, but I don’t know.
yep, and they never truly fixed it either, my 2021 has it at only 50k miles. Lovely. So really what you’re buying is either a head/cam replacement (hopefulyl not too many filings and gunk in the oil passages) or a timing/phasers job. Both well documented, both pretty involved, and both a pain in the ass. I’ll take the phasers and timing chain without a salvage title.
F150, in the hope that it gets 13mpg instead of the 12mpg of the Dodge.
My 5.0 V8 gets around 17 unladen, and that’s with a horribly unaerodynamic cattle guard on its nose.
I have a brother in law with a similar truck but an EB engine, and he claims about 22 mpg. Not sure if it’s the 2.7 or the 3.5, but I do know he had to put some money into those turbos.
Mine was an aluminum body with the 10 speed, but my ecoboost regularly returned 19-23mpg.
I have that engine but not that truck, gets 21.4 mpg. I think you’ll get more than 13, maybe alot more with a topper.
(edit:combined, not highway mpg)
While avoiding RAM stigma is my starting point, I will wait to decide until I’ve read the comments from those that are more knowledgeable about the reliability of these trucks. They seem pretty comparable.
Hard call. I have owned the ram’s powertrain in a jeep and know what I would be getting into. The ford is white and I HATE white cars. I just cannot choose today.
Given that the oil passages are undersized and clog causing phaser issues and eventually engine failure I’m gonna take my chances on the Dodge. I had a 2015 f150 that I loved and would still be driving if it hadn’t needed a new engine because ford wanted to get 2 mpg better with its shitty version of vtec.
Is that much better than having an entire cam lobe shredded in your oil system? Idk man, tradeoffs on both.
Ram, even with a salvage title. That gen of F-150 has the stench of Great Financial Crisis (that time when the financial industry boiled all the water out of the pot and then smothered the fire with our money while also avoiding jail. No, the other time. Nope, the other other time. Yes, sounds familiar. Whatever.)
The interiors are even more cheap and plasticky than you can discern in pictures.
The brine in the northeast disintegrates them.
And the EcoBoost is the final nail. Twice the turbos, three times the failure points. I bet it smells like creosote at warm idle.
I’d cam-swap a Hemi every month for a year, instead. TIRED of turbos and their Valdez impression. The huffers are reliable, they just get leaky and I’m over the amphetamine-style power curve.
The Ram was the one we raved about as car writers. Comfortable, nice interior, punchy (if kinda peaky) Hemi. And its long production run is a benefit for salvage parts supply and keeping it going.
The seller can keep that awful radio, tho.
I have a nit to pick. Those are not “shortish” beds. They are “useless” beds. My 94 Roadmaster wagon was more useful – it could haul 3 tons if it wouldn’t fit in the back – but they cannot sell it anymore because it’s a “car” and CAFE would kill it.
I wish government regulators would admit that all CAFE did was force people into trucks because people still have to haul stuff or a trailer. If you hate all these trucks, help dump CAFE.
I also have a ray of hope. The other day in my small Southern town I saw a proper single cab 8 foot bed Chevy truck that was brand new or very close. I had been wondering if they even made useful trucks anymore. Maybe sanity has a chance after all.
you could try your luck with a Yukon, though choose wisely when it comes to AFM/DFM equipped GM motors over the years.
I believe CAFE has been effectively dumped.
I actually argue that 6.5′ is the sweet spot for bed size on a half ton. Tailgate down gives you 8ft.
And unlike my Excursion, which IS cavernous, the load size doesn’t have hard limits on dimensions like height in a truck bed. (like when I hauled my 80 gal compressor home on a shipping pallet)
I also really liked being able to hit up my local landscaper and buy gravel and soil by the bucket load. I also don’t have to worry about junkyard parts leaking on my interior.
I like my excursion, but I miss my 6.5′ crew cab
Sitting this one out. Probably an unpopular opinion but I can’t stand these suburban Dad trucks that are all cab and no bed. Get why people get them. 1 vehicle that can kinda do everything sorta ok.
I’d much rather have multiple vehicles that all do something really well, even if it doesn’t make economic sense. I hope to always have a beater truck with 8 ft bed for hauling stuff and an econobox for the daily driving. And an old XJ for offroad and the snow, and Vanagon for camping, old British sports car and motorcycle for nice day wandering, and…
My unpopular opinion is that almost nothing that people here say is “unpopular” actually is.
There is no opinion safer to utter in these comments than hating full sized crew cab trucks and their drivers. This is like going to a bar in rural Wyoming and saying “Unpopular opinion, but I like this Donald Trump guy”.
Point taken. Not unpopular here, but definitely in my town.
Slamming anything Dodge / Ram as unreliable garbage driven by people who never matured past 12 is pretty safe here as well.
They’ve all reached an age where they have grown facial hair into a goatee. And then stopped maturing from there.
I know too many people with trucks that have never carried anything bigger than a duffle bag.
I have a utility trailer I use when hauling and it was only $200 and it lives under my deck.
I pretty much loved the Avalanche design for this very reason, but the Truck Gang thought is was not truck enough I guess.
I took the same standpoint on multiple vehicles, but it started to not make sense. I like to tow a boat trailer, fish, and hunt – so having a truck is part of the lifestyle. But I’d rather not drive a truck in the city and deal with parking and fuel economy, so I kept an old GMC beater as a third vehicle – but parking 3 vehicles and a boat trailer became problematic, and license and insurance costs for multiple vehicles got expensive. So we ditched one car and have a Ram EcoDiesel as a second vehicle. It’s not an ideal solution, but it mostly works and doesn’t break me on fuel costs like the old 5.3. Looks like I’m a poster child for that ‘do everything sorta ok’ compromise.
F-150 for me, mostly because I don’t want to put gas in that Hemi.
Got to wonder about the trailer hitch on the back of the Dodge. Did it have an abused lifetime of towing a monster trailer?
First off, the Ram is a ‘double cab’, not a full crew cab.
They both have too many doors, though. I have zero desire for a pickup truck with a back seat.
Not voting today. I already have a regular-cab 5-speed GMC pickup and an El Camino. No need for either of these ugly 4-door trucks.
I need the Dodge (assuming it passes a look over by a mechanic). Rip out that absurd head unit and replace it with an OE one from a yard and I’m good to roll.
Better than being seen in the Camry of trucks, at least.
Salvage title vs unbranded title. Hmmm, which shall I choose? Also, A friend of mine had a Ram of that era and the back window leaked in the rain, so Ford all the way.
Pass
I’ll got with the Fjord not a rebuilt title and will most likely be way more reliable and never heard great things about those hemi’s.
Kinda surprised there is no Punisher sticker and coffee can exhaust tip on the RAM, but its a pass on that for so many reasons
The Punisher thing is so hilarious. I guess they like the skull but don’t bother to understand the lore, which is exactly backward to how the iconography is being used. I guess that by now, it’s been fully co-opted.
I’ve found it’s best not to dig too deep on some of the symbolism those people choose to steer into.
One of the best parts of the Dardevil Born Again show is when the Punisher himself tells off the cops who are proudly displaying his logo.
Modern-day totenkopf.
No interest in either. The Dodge has a rebuilt title. You’re making me pick a Ford today?