I've always made mental notes of other brands when on long"ish" trips. The family is vacationing above Knoxville, Tenn for the holidays, so on the way up yesterday I thought I would keep an official tally.

People throw out phrases about the ratio of brands in the campground, in their areas and what not.

From Cartersville, Ga to La Follette, Tenn (205 miles) up one of the busiest interstates in country (I-75), here is my official total from what I could make out. Wondering what you guys see when you travel.



l=truck
•=truck towing
X=broken down on the side of the road

No matter how crazy this seems, I had a good time

 

interesting. We are headed out next week I may keep track of that run for a comparison. It will be about 400 miles one way so should give a good idea.

 

I always count each brand as I walk the dogs in the campground. I usually just keep a tally running in my head. Seems like the last time I did it Ford was ahead about 2:1 over the other 2 combined (I group Chevy and GMC together). Ford has even a greater ratio when I just count trucks pulling larger trailers and 5th wheels. I think I only do it so I can brag to my wife about how much more popular Ford is. The one thing I have noticed is how Ram seems to catch up a little in Texas. Rams seem to be more popular in central Texas, but I could be wrong. I think Ford jumped so far ahead when they introduced the Superduty in 1999. It was a completely different truck from the F150. The others are still using the same trucks across the board. In other words, a Chevy 2500 is the same truck as a 1500 with heavier everything and an available diesel. I think this has given Ford the advantage when someone is shopping for a tow/haul rig.

 

Nice job thanks for posting !
Interesting to see, X = Dirtymax. LOL

 

I was just going to mark it as a truck towing a trailer, but all the fond memories on other forums stating that Power Strokes litter the sides of the road made me do other wise.

The list would have been a lot larger but the stretch between Chattanooga and Knoxville has a lot of mileage with divided highway sections and concrete median walls.

I think I am going to do a tally of how many 2015+ F-150s there are on the road. I swear I passed 200 of them. Got to drive my paw-in-law's new '15 KR about 40 miles up the interstate today. I am in LOVE with the interior and all the new tech goodies. That "adaptive cruise control" is AMAZING! I don't use cruise control hardly ever on my '12 350. After using it today, when I trade up it will be a must.

 

Hmmmmmmm.............here in AZ in the winter/snowbird season, among the SRW's pulling mid size units, it seems to be a pretty even mix, but with the duallies pulling bigger units, it seems to be probably on the neighborhood of 80% Fords and Dodges, and not so many GM's. But, I havent kept an actual count, so it may be just my imagination.

And just a PS. In all my travels, I have seen more Dodges sitting on the side of the road than anything else! Although, with my '15, which was troublesome, I was actually there more than once. And if I could have found a Dodge dually on the lot with the HO engine and the Aisin transmission, I would likely be driving one today! But, as it is, I traded the troublesome '15 for an identical '16 and that has been great!
I had an '83 GMC half ton , with the 6.2L diesel that gave me trouble, but that was mostly transmission and transfer case trouble, and the fact that at the time, the 6.2 was brand new and GM dealers in my area couldnt seem to get fuel filters for it!

 

My imagination is what got me to put pen to paper. Where I live, Ford has always had a bigger showing on the road. Since the 4th gen Rams came out, I see a bunch of them on the road. They have been a good truck and Ram really got back in the game with them.

In the last year or so, it seems that I am starting to see Ford get their diesel "street cred" back in my area. As the number of Rams and Fords are increasing, the number of GMs seem to be declining. There has been an explosion of '15 and newer PSDs in the area. I just find it interesting how it varies from region to region.
'

 

Ford by far in Alaska... Stores around me look like used Ford Truck lots. Doesn't really matter to me as I am not really brand loyal. Even though I have had way more Ford Trucks than any other brand.

 

Here in San Diego county, CA. Super Duties by far outnumber the rest. I visit Durango, CO. often and it's definitely Dodge country.

 

Here in NH /VT it is definitely GM country. There are still a lot of Fords, but far more GM half tons than 150s, and although it's closer in the HD market, I think GM still has the edge. Dodge/RAM is definitely third. Big reason is lack of Ford dealers compared to several very large GM dealers. Fleet use, however, still belongs to the Super Duty in my area.

 

I have played this game in my head on our trips. Most of the local campgrounds the family and I go to seem to be more GM and Dodge than Ford. Our longer local trip to Knoebel's or Hershey's can be more blended to about a 1/3. When we go to Disney, I see slightly more Fords than GM or Dodges. However, the last time I was the only Ford in our loop which was average size. However, the next trip to where ever, I might need to play the truck counting game with my daughter while she is entertaining herself the license plate game.

 

I wonder if it has anything to do with the amount of dealers in the area or the amount of volume dealers? I know in Idaho, there are a lot of Dodges there, but it makes sense with it being well know of a couple very high volume dealers in Idaho.

 

In my opinion I think it has more to do with money and weight than brand, if a buyer can get a good deal on a truck that's what they purchase we seen it right here and some of those guys still use the site. My personal reason for a Ford truck is I believe they are better built "WORK" style truck. They have bigger, beefier parts which means heavier and more expensive trucks. I do wish Ford would step up with a little better warranty like the others makers but in my experience never had to use it except for a door speaker.

 

I think it's mostly about dealers. If there is easy availability for one particular brand but not the others, there you have it.

 

I'm impressed by the large numbers of the newer F150's on the road as well. The price increase was noticeable and I didn't think they would take over as quickly but I was wrong. I drove one for a few days back in the spring and they are nice trucks so if a lot of F150 owners were wanting a significant upgrade in features and technology, I know why!