Truck - what do you drive, and why?

[PARA45]

Dealers don't care about customers loyalty anymore, because they know another one will come. My local dealer didn't give a sh*t about my issues with my truck or the fact that I had purchased 4 vehicles from them in the last 10 years. I told them they were losing a loyal customer, and I basically got the cold shoulder. Never again. I still have a Nissan Armada, and I go to Macon (21 miles) to get it serviced, not going to this dealer ever again.

 

[poco]

I did the diesel thing for years, but when I quit hauling tractors and heavy machinery
went to gas , in the 2021 blizzard I was so happy because most of the diesel trucks around here where lining the road broke down with CP4 pumps or DEF fluid freezing
I have a 1/2 ton Chevy, but would probably go with any brand 3/4
a Toyota Tundra has 0 room in the bed to haul much more than a ice chest or two
and lives @ the fuel station
diesel engine is expensive general maintenance, def , fuel , fuel filters, oil change

 

[wesheltonj]

Yeah… e cars aren’t my thing… no way in hell I’d consider either a rivian or a cyber truck…

I think I’m down to either a Ram 1500 Laramie or a Tundra Limited after driving both and looking at more reviews than I can count..

Each have pretty big pluses and a handful of minuses on my personal wants/needs checklist.. and end up weighing out pretty equally…

It’ll most likely come down to who offers the best deal and doesn’t try the high pressure car salesman routine with me (I don’t play nice with that sort of personality or business process)…

It’s possible I’ll be driving something different by the end of the day depending on how a couple of phone calls go this afternoon

I would suggest skip the 1500 and move up to the 2500, not sure what the 3/4 ton is in Toyota, but you will be much happier. The ride may not be as smooth as a car (1500), but you can haul more, put a winch on the front if necessary.

 

[Scott CWO]

I have several F350, 4X4, diesel trucks. I live on and operate a ranch and there is nothing better for me here with what I do. I sometimes wish for a Toyota Tundra or something similar for a personal vehicle because it is smaller. Also I have all diesel vehicles partly due to having diesel delivered to the ranch. My wife's Escalade is a diesel!

I know what you mean! My wife had a diesel Ford Excursion that she loved!

 

[dailordasailor]

Toyota tundra. I’d plan to keep it long term you can’t beat it.

I drive a 23 Ram 2500 lease thats a work truck. We get a new one each year and every time I have bunches of recalls and weird tendencies/issues. It’s convinced me to not buy one myself. Also rides like complete garbage if aren’t carrying a load.

 

[Duke1966]

I would suggest skip the 1500 and move up to the 2500, not sure what the 3/4 ton is in Toyota, but you will be much happier. The ride may not be as smooth as a car (1500), but you can haul more, put a winch on the front if necessary.

My daughter has a half-ton Tundra and the ride is very stiff and harsh so I'd hate to see what the 3/4 ton rides like. I have a 2017 Ram Longhorn Laramie 1500 and it rides like a dream, has plenty of towing power and mileage is usually about 20 mpg. It's the only vehicle that I've ever purchased new. It's been very reliable and trouble free for over seven years and 130,000 miles. I have replaced a battery and brakes, nothing else.

 

[sgt_zim]

Im in the market for a new(ish?) truck...

To be honest, I have zero knowledge of what is "good" or not so good these days..

I typically buy something 1-2 years old (let someone else take the depreciation) and then drive it until the wheels fall off of it...

I bought my last truck in 2013.. Someone else had bought it new in late 2012 (its a 2013 model) and then turned around and traded it in 4 months later with 6000 miles on it.. Its now at the "wheels fall off of it" stage (215K fairly hard use miles and starting to fall apart)..

My priorities are must be full size, must have 4WD, must be able to tow a reasonable load long distances (I own an 18' center console boat that gets towed up to 300 miles at a time.. a 10' trailer and mid sized UTV that gets towed all over the place, regularly.. a "typical" trip is about 150 miles each direction.. but it will also get pulled from N TX to N ID later this year).. and the truck must be durable (again, my intent is to drive it a minimum of 8, up to 12 years.. until its falling apart.. only then would I buy another truck)..

Fancy options are cool and all.. but honestly arent a huge motivator.. pretty much any base level package on a 2022-2024 truck is going to have tons of stuff that my 2013 doesnt have (I have a CD player in my current truck lol..).. So neat stuff like oversized screens, sunroofs, etc arent really a big deal to me.. thats just something else to pay for that sooner or later will break, that I likely wont use much in the first place..

As long as it will last a long time, stand up to a pretty regular beating, can get me onto and off of our snow covered property in Colorado and our gumbo mud covered deer lease in E TX, can haul up to about 4000lbs without struggling to pull said load over the rocky mountains, etc... the biggest purchase motivator will be price (I really hate the idea of spending $60K - $80K on a freaking pick up truck... but it appears thats about where the market is right now)..

Currently Im looking at the Toyota Tundra, Dodge Ram 1500, and Ford F150.. My current truck is a Chevy Silverado.. and I have to admit.. while it has taken a beating and kept on running, I have pretty much hated the truck since the day I drove it off the lot.. I just dont like the handling, and its really struggled when pulling loads..

I test drove a tundra last night.. will probably go test drive a dodge tonight..

Does anyone have any insight or preferences I should know about? Any particular truck out there I should consider that isnt on "the list"?

Im not a car/truck guy.. I just put a key in the ignition and go.. this really isnt an area of expertise for me in any way..

I like Toyotas, but my chief gripe about them is the range. If you're pulling a load and only get 15 mpg on the highway, you're going to be stopping to take on fuel every 3-4 hours.

Unless they've changed in the last couple years, they only have 22.5 gallon gas tanks.

 

[mdwest]

I like Toyotas, but my chief gripe about them is the range. If you're pulling a load and only get 15 mpg on the highway, you're going to be stopping to take on fuel every 3-4 hours.

Unless they've changed in the last couple years, they only have 22.5 gallon gas tanks.

They fixed that..

The limited tundra has a 32.2 gallon tank

The mpg still sucks..

But you have more gallons on board lol

 

[cash_tx]

For a truck thread, the Jeep Gladiator has been seriously underrepresented here. ;-)

 

[mdwest]

Much to @cash_tx chagrin… I’m now the owner of a 2024 Toyota tundra limited…

I was actually surprised how willing they were to not screw around and simply give me a bottom line number… we did 1 round of what’s your best price that was followed by me telling them “you’re not even close”… we’re far enough apart we probably should stop now….

Which was responded to 5 minutes later that was a price I was willing to pay.. (a bit below what I believe is normally offered based on what I could find online)…

Thanks for all the inputs and advice… I think it’s always better to hear from actual owners than just to read random reviews and articles online.. you guys were most helpful!

 

[WyoBull]

They fixed that..

The limited tundra has a 32.2 gallon tank

The mpg still sucks..

But you have more gallons on board lol

I had a 2007 Tundra and loved everything about it except the size of the fuel tank and the gas mileage.
Love Toyota for their quality and reliability but until they have a true 3/4 or 1 ton with really good payload, I will stick with my F350.

 

[PARA45]

Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[93marlin]

I bought my 2022 Chevy RST 1/2 TON diesel new 2 years ago. 60,000 miles as of today. Averaging better than 31mpg, the best MPG I got was a trip across Minnesota and N Dakota, 43.7mpg! It's kinda flat with no hills or ant mounds on US-2...
I'm not getting rid of it! Amazing truck with great fuel economy.

 

[450 Dakota]

2020 Tundra

 

[mdwest]

Pictures or it didn't happen.

I can accommodate!

 

[poco]

Much to @cash_tx chagrin… I’m now the owner of a 2024 Toyota tundra limited…

I was actually surprised how willing they were to not screw around and simply give me a bottom line number… we did 1 round of what’s your best price that was followed by me telling them “you’re not even close”… we’re far enough apart we probably should stop now….

Which was responded to 5 minutes later that was a price I was willing to pay.. (a bit below what I believe is normally offered based on what I could find online)…

Thanks for all the inputs and advice… I think it’s always better to hear from actual owners than just to read random reviews and articles online.. you guys were most helpful!

Congratulations!
now I can’t badmouth how bad the MPG & bed size is on a tundra
best truck wife and I have owned was a Taco

 

[mackenzie280]

I drive a 2023 AT4X, last 3 trucks have been Chevy. I have had real good luck with them. But for every person that says Chevys are good there is just as many that say they suck.
Not sure if any of the manufacturers are really better than the rest, it boils down to personal experience and experienc.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I can accommodate!

View attachment 586048

From what I’ve read, the 2022 version which was the first year of the new model was plagued a bit with quality issues. This continues into 2023, but about midway thru the model year they had been mostly resolved. At least that’s what I’ve read.

 

[BourbonTrail]

I can accommodate!

View attachment 586048

I remember sitting in on design reviews for the tooling on that truck. Fun fact: the top of that dash behind the meter cluster is technically called the “top pad”, but we called it the “top hat” because it was done via teams meeting, and our engineer couldn’t hear what the design engineer was saying.

Long way to say “way to keep it classy with your ‘top hat’ wearing Tundra

 

[Huntsmans Bane]

This is a topic near and dear to me. The last fifteen years of my career were spent working for car magazines and classic car auction companies. Heck, my first favorite toy was a Tonka truck.

I drive an Audi Q5. It is my forth Audi with Quattro all-wheel-drive. There is no better brand for snow, although Subaru has a good AWD system, too.

We don't get much snow here, but when we do, I love it! Having Quattro in snow is like driving most cars on wet pavement, and having Quattro in the rain is like driving on dry pavement.