Here's some food for thought on the 14 Ram heavy duty( yeah right). First if you look at the front suspension on the 4x4 they completely copied the design the super duty truck have been using since 05 on up. Which is fine. It's a lot better then what they were doing before. But for the 2500 trucks they are getting the coil spring rear suspension just like the 1500 trucks just in a heavier version. What a joke. They can keep the Ram and I'll take the Ford on any chassis it doesn't matter. I just like how the competition is always saying how their trucks are superior to Ford trucks. But they always end up in some way coping or try to copy what Ford has already done. Then there are some on this very site that think Ford is losing their touch and falling behind the competition. Give me a break.

 

I've watched some of those "comparison test" videos and how those guys are saying how the Ram and the Chevy ride better then the Ford too. But if you look at them in those trucks when they hit a bump of some sort they seem to get jostled around more in the ranm and chevy then they do in the Ford on the same road.

 

Yeah, they (the comparison vidoes) are usually slanted, for whatever competitor, against Ford. More so GM than Ram, but they can't deny that they are constantly playing catch up. One particular test, they had a 0-60 test, they actually ran the Chevy 4 times (different times of the day) to finally post a time faster than the Ford, and called it a fair test. Anyway, as someone posted earlier, alot of folks are buying Ram trucks because of the marketing hype. Look to have a lot of late model (Ram) trades on Ford lots pretty soon, that is of course if these folks actually use them as trucks.

 

I remember that first episode of the US Top Gear with those 3 idiots comparing the GM Duramax 3500 to the Ram Cummins 6.7L 3500 and the Ford F450 6.7L PowerStroke. The only real test that proved that Ford could tow more was when they had it chained up to a train (more than likely a real train that weighs in around 30 tons) and the other 2 bone heads were calling BS on it because the train had wheels. I knew the show was rigged when somehow the GM pulled a house down (looked shoddy from the beginning and you can tear a house down with a 1/2ton truck if you get it around the load bearing wall)...the fans there all voted for the Chevy. So after that I lost interest in the show...they had to have been bought out by GM.

Well I can't find the video on YouTube but I did part of it:
Maybe some of you vaguely remember this one. But I lost respect for the series for being incredibly GM biased.

 

It seems that most venues are incredibly "GM biased" especially since the buy out. Sad part of all that is you and I are paying for the commercials, with our hard earned tax dollars, I'm sure I'll get slammed for that statement, people say that GM paid back the loan, true enough, but with a government line of credit. Back to the subject at hand, you can rig a test and make a mid size truck out perform a full size, the options are limitless, but in the real world you can't deny that the F150 is the number 1 selling vehicle for a reason (not just truck) and it is generally the highest price truck offering, and people still purchase more than all of the others, You can't argue with that. As far as the US version of Top Gear, I never have liked the show. They try to mimick the UK version, it just ain't happenning.

 

You tarnish your reputation taking any type of Government aide. Not sure how big the shift was on how many right off the bat bought a new Ford after GM and Dodge too a bailout.

Few weeks ago I read and article in I think it was Diesel Power Magazine about the "Sibling rivalry" between Ram 1500 Diesel and the Ram HD diesels (mainly 2500). I think they stated the 1500 got around 28mpg on the test run while the 2500 was around 19 or 21 mpg. Though I do remember at the end they said that it really depends if your doing something on a daily basis go with the truck and engine that can do that with ease...it was something along those lines.

Its hard to get unbiased info anymore...everyone leans one way or another and then comes the long war of whose is bigger.

Not sure how much the EcoDiesel 1500 will be on them since they seem to be flying off the shelves...though I recall same thing was happening with the F150 Raptor not too long ago where they couldn't make them fast enough. Either way truck is a truck, you buy America your alright by me...buy anything foreign I think you had one too many that morning.

 

According to Forbes, The Best-Selling Cars Of 2013 Aren't Really Cars At All - Forbes
Ram sales were up 22.7% in 2013, the most growth in the segment, but they still only sold 292,633 units, Chevrolet saw a 19.7% increase in sales @ 403,435 units, while Ford had 19.8% increase in sales @ 623,309 units. And the kicker here is, both Ram and GM had scrambled to release the redesign, which boosted their market share. I would say that had Ford released the new F150, they would have had an even larger piece of the pie in 2013. As far as the popularity of the Ram, it was still a distant 5th in overall sales, while the F150 was number 1 and Chevy number 2. And the F150 still outsold the Silverado by 220K units and outsold Ram by 300+K units. So, while the Ram may be "more popular" than it once was, it still has a long, long way to go. You can have all the marketing hyperbole you want, sales figures tell the real tale. It's a testament to the f150 that it is by far the most expensive (for a reason) and still destroys the other two offerings in sales year after year.

 

I think around 1995 or so when Dodge did the Redesign they should nearly a half million trucks...and with free advertising in the movie Twister that somehow helped out as well. The second Gen Dodge is my favorite from them. Fords has to be the 1977 generation...Chevy....not a single generation was my favorite...in someway or another it was just a copy over the last with a few changes.

 

If, and this won't happen, I were to buy something other than a Ford, it would probably be the Ram. I just do not like a GM product.... We had two GM products in 2008, stayed in the dealership for something. Worst experience I have ever had with a vehicle, although neither vehicle were trucks. I too like the 1970's Fords, my favorite from that series was the '78 and '79.

 

I would rather have my "unit" removed with a dull knife than buy a GM vehicle. My dad bought a 1990 about 17 years ago when I was knee high to a grasshopper (about 4 or 5). Truck had 110,000 miles on it, at 140,000 the 350 throttle body needed a new jet injector, at 150,000 the fuel pump and gas tank needed to be replaced, at 175,000 the gear select on the needle did not work so you had to know which gear you were in, around the same time the t-case would need to have work done to it but we never did and finally at 212,000 miles the stupid Turbo Hydra 350 transmission gave out.

The only upsides to this truck were:

Easy to work on with no emissions under the hood
short bed (compared to a long bed)
And the fact it held up when we had to drive 10 miles to the dump to unload 2,345lbs of concrete (still have the weigh sheet from about 10 years ago) in the bed of the truck...maxed out probably was not legal but it was all we had. Top of that four times when my dad had bought the truck, they surprised me with a sandbox...think it took 2 truck loads each time to fill it...with about 1,500lbs of sand in it.

Never had any suspension problems with it...just the fuel economy sucked (17.1mpg tops).

I have yet to buy my first truck but when I do, you can bet 100% that'll be a Ford, more than likely it'll be an F250 with a V10. Yeah the economy sucks but the ol lady needs a crew cab and I need a 6.5' bed. I like the Modular 5.4L but there maybe times when I need the extra power the 5.4L lacks and I don't want to pay a premium for a diesel when I can get a V10 for cheap since no one wants one (expect for me and a few others on here).

If I could afford the Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, I would buy one. I've looked into the Hemi 5.7L, but looks like doing the plugs on it will be a bear, 7 quarts of oil. But that's if I had the money upfront (no payments) and was 100% GUARANTEED that it would last me well over 400,000 miles with no arm, leg and a lung (costly) issues.

It may be a great truck and I might buy one in a few years down the road used...unless the F150 comes out with a diesel then I'm going to pounce on that right away...even make payments on it if I had too and it just sat in the garage looking showroom new.

 

If you are looking for absurdly extended warranties... (how do I say this without being overtly insulting?) ......

 

Awww, just come on out and say it! Got pretty thick skin, most things don't bother me at this stage in life......LOL!

 

They don't make warranties that go long enough, If they stand behind there vehicles they should be the life of the vehicle...not 5 years 150,000 miles (which ever is shorter).

 

I personally like dodge/ram trucks. I also love my 5.4L superduty, it does everything i need it for. But i did hear a couple comments about the hemi needing 7 qts of oil, don't know if people think it too much or what, but my 5.4 takes 6.5 quarts to fill, so I have to but 7 qts for it regardless, and by the way, how many quarts does it take to fill the ford 5.0? (it's more than 7 btw) I am both a ford and Mopar guy. I have owned 4 mopars, and 3 fords, and all have been good to me. I hope ram does well with the new eco diesel, competition brings innovation. All of the truck manufactures push the others to be better.

 

As stated in an earlier post, if I was to purchase something other than a Ford, it would be a Ram. My thing is, I can't see the need in the Eco-Diesel, it just doesn't make sense when a Ram with the 5.7L Hemi outperforms it in every way and is only a few MPG lower as far as fuel efficiency and the Diesel truck costs more.