I believe that most people, after driving each of the three, definitely walk away with a favorite (sometimes depending on what they wanted to like going into the drives). Last fall I test drove the big three and ended up liking the Dodge the best. I did like the Chevy/GMC seats, they seemed to feel the most comfortable for the short test drive. It also had automatic climate control, and I like the idea that heating/air should have thermostats. That was about if for my favorites on the General. The Ford seemed to have the highest build quality and I thought was the "heavy dutiest" of the bunch. It was also the quietest in the cab, very important. I did not care for the vagueness of the steering, the turning radius, or the steering ratio. It also felt much bigger than its measurements, but I could get used to that real quick.

Then I test drove the Dodge. While I have always liked the Dodge styiling and the fact that every other vehicle that you see running down the road being a Ford or a Chevy, my family has not had the best of luck with the Dodge autos. Their redesigned steering on this generation was the first thing that I noticed. I really liked that. The turning radius was much tighter than the other two. The bed is too short. The quad cab splits the difference between extended and crew, some will hate it, others like it. I don't have passengers all that often, but I like to throw stuff in the back seat. Good compromise for my purposes. I would be able to get away with a supercab maybe, but I wish that you did not have to open the front door to get access to the rear door. Dodge (and Chevy) were defiinetly louder going down the road. Better sound insulation would go far with these guys.

Biggest thing was probably price. I could get the options that I wanted on the Dodge for several thousand less.

As most of you know, I have been wishing that I had gotten something different ever since the new wore off of this one (about a month or two). I wanted diesel, very pricey. Ford would not fit in the garage at work or home, not too happy about that. Everything that I liked about the Dodge still holds true (Hemi is strong but thirsty, it is still loud, still drives great). The weaknesses just are getting more annoying (especially at the pump).

I have never been one to stay satisfied for long, though. Will prob get a 2005 CC F-350 this fall and trade it off in 2007 or 08 depending on the growing pains of the next gen. Unless, of course, GM or Dodge can fix their faults with their next redo/gen.......

 

I agree with you about the gas thing EKU grad. I just filled my truck up yesterday. One tank 30 bucks. This fuel thing is rediculous. Im definatly driving less because of it. This has got to be hurting the economy. Its ure is hurting mine. I hope they come out with better gas mileage in the trucks in the future.

 

JMO but my favorite engines are 300I6 in light duty and ford/international 8.0I6 Deisel in a f-800 flatbead. Yes, neither one of them is fast, but for what I need they are reliable, and tourqy down low where I need it and very reliable. Now quit fighting(just kiddin)My 2cents

 

Ladies,
I must be on the wrong thread. I thought this was Ford vs. the competition, sub-group PSD vs. Cummins. That means "Ford" to me. Stock. Off the showroom floor. Average-Joe owner ... the 99.99% of owners.

As I saw on another link that was posted, all these fellows (cummins, duramax and PSD) had ALL tweaked their engines to be putting out over a 1000 lbs of torque. Whoop --- de --- dooooo. So if I buy a predator-this, and a 4-inch that, and a hokey-palokey thing-a-ma-jig, and a Japanese whatchamacallit, and a chinese bolt-n-screw and yadda-yadda ... bolt it all on ... and wham, I got more of this and that. Maybe some Jap tires to boot. Well, stand me up and blow me down, girls. That's an easy one. Whichever engine has been out there on the market the LONGEST wins. Nothing to do w/ inherent anything. I can give you countless examples of the same phenomena. The "thing" that is out the longest has the longest arm-length list of manufacturers who make accessories and customization parts. The longer the "thing" is out ... the more parts and customization. The 6.0L PSD ain't gonna be winning many custom-races anytime soon. Give it another decade.

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, my point has been simply this: STOCK ... out of the box, the PSD and Duramax have taken the path of optimzation for the class of vehicle they go into. At that size/weight, a V8 diesel gives you EQUAL power w/ less size & weight. Thus, CUmmins came in 3rd in that independent test.

So ... in PSD vs. Cummins, the PSD is ahead performance wise. Now what about longevity? Since this is a 6.0L PSD vs. new Cummins .... WHO KNOWS? Given the general history of PSD's and general history of dodge-Cummins ... there's no clear winner. Some small statistically insignificant few will go a million miles ... but generally they give you life beyond the life of the truck-body which contains them, which is GOOD ENOUGH for the Average-Joe.

As someone else pointed out ... one day ... your kids will be looking back and say ... "now when my DAD drove his old-fashioned 2004 super-duty (or dodge) ... now THOSE were the days" ... just like people wistfully tear up over the 300 or old slant-6's today.

You want massive power? You want a big pickup? You want king-of-the-hill status? Put this in your pipe and smoke it:

http://www.f650pickups.com/indexb.html

There: Ford and it's "mid-range" medium duty Cat7, with a monster truck (SUV's too).

Let's get a tow chain and hook the biggest Dodge Pickup and Cummins .... up to the backend of an F650/Cat7. How many seconds before the F650 pull the rear-end clean off that Dodge, girls?

If there IS a tinman ... let him come defend his line of Dodge trucks ... cause the IRONMAN is ready.

Marine Ironman

 

I beg to differ. An engine can be out forever but if the V-8 outsells it 20 to 1, I think accessory/mod people are going to capitalize on the V-8 epidemic over the loyal I-6's boys. E.G. the Ford F-series are the most popular trucks in the U.S. by far so I'm gonna reach out on a limb here and say the demand is highest for Ford accessories and mods. I just made a casual statement about modifying I-6's lets not take it out of proportion now. The V-8 has higher stock power blah blah blah old news. Some people, like 150Ford still worry about gas mileage.
Those trucks on the Link are BAD though! I would love to have one as a personal use/cruising truck.

 

You can beg to differ but you are incorrect. Until recently, there wasn't even much of a choice for oil filters for the 6.0. The aftermarket companies are still playing catch-up with mods for the 6.0. I could go on and on, but do your own research.

 

Only the latest poor comparison you make MI. ford f650/cat7 vs dodge pickup. I don't know which is worse. ford 5sp auto vs dodge 4sp auto(the 6sp vs 6sp comparison was not valid because what?). OH yeah, probably your best one is you 96' dodge vs your 04' suv. Is that how they teach engineering. Take an outcome and make any comparison to show it, no matter how ludicrous?

Take a chance. Go out and drive a 04' dodge truck and an 04' ford. Auto or manual, probably both. Make observations. Compare. Seperate when you talk engine and transmission or both. Your observations along with your sarcasm and elitism (sp?) really shows your true colors. Your obvious prejudice towards everything ford shows no matter what the degree how much to trust your posts.

Really wouldn't hurt to be objective.

 

Sweetheart,
Nope. The one with the most demand will have the most aftermarket products. Case in point. Go buy a dual carb high rise intake for a 300. Now go get one for a 302. You will find it much easier to do so for the v8. Even though the 300 has been around longer. Bigger demand. I had to look around a bit to get performance parts for my 300.

The cummins is the only one that can deliver 1000lb ft on just a box. Correct me if Im wrong. This is the new engine with the new fuel system. They had to design from scratch. Everytime the fuel system changes its a redesign on uprate boxes.

We just got through comparing sales figures. 2.25 million PSD to 1 million cummins. There is another force at work here. I used to hang out in a diesel uprate shop. You mention uprates to 90% of cummins owners and they skoff. The average age of a cummins owner is over 45 years old. They give a poop less about more hp. If they wanted more hp they woulda bought a PSD. Offer em better fuel mileage and they tend to be a bit more interested.


Now what year did the PSD come out. Late 94 I thinks. This is the same year as the Ppump on the cummins. There is little aftermarket before this pump for the cummins. In fact hardly anybody uprated till the late 90s. So the market developed for both trucks about the same time. The difference is. Not only can the cummins deliver more fuel. It can handle more power on stock parts than the PSD. The reason whey the 7.3 never caught up. It couldnt handle the power.
Ford has been putting diesels into pickups longer than anyone else. If anyone should have the lead it shoiuld be Ford.
Does this seem logical to you?

 

Some people would say that...and in the case of some companies that would be correct. But if the person who is saying that is correct, they just don't know where to look.

 

I went and looked. Ford has changed at the same rate as dodge for the aftermarket products. 94-97 uses one chip on the ford. 94 to early 98 for dodge. 98.5 to 03 for ford. 98.5 to 02 for dodge. So they have almost an identical background as far as uprates go. 03 is completely new for dodge and ford. The dodge actually got off to a slower start than the ford for 03. The aftermarket companies had a hard time with this fuel system.

 

Let's remember that this is a comparison of stock engines (I started the thread and that's what was intended). The HP/torque limits of most engines are determined by how much money you want to spend. Stock vs stock the PSD still wins no matter how you look at it.

 

John got you all on this one

Let's remember that this is a comparison of stock engines (I started the thread and that's what was intended).

 

Does anyone know if there are other diesels that operate as wide a powerband as the 6.0 in routine applications? I know that things can be modded to do whatever, but how about from the factory? I think that is where the 6.0's advantage is -- it delivers near peak torque over a wider range of rpm before the (better) tranny has to shift (when compared to the 48re).

 

"The reason whey the 7.3 never caught up. It couldnt handle the power."

I have NEVER heard of people talking about blowing up their PSD because their power level was too high. This is BS!!!

 

I agree. The reason the 7.3 wasn't updated and Ford came out with the 6.0 was for emissions. The 7.3 was one of the most durable engines ever built IMO. MANY people are running HP almost double what a stock 6.0 puts out. Same with the Cummins 5.9.