Hello All,
I just wanted to let yall know about a comparision b/w the an 04 Dodge ram Hemi 4x4 Quad Cab and a 2004 F150 Reg 4x4 w/5.4 V8. My father bought his Ford in first week of June 04 and I bought my Dodge in second week. First off, i like both trucks and will try to be as objective as I can. My previous vehicles were a 86 Ford Mustang, 99 Ford Ranger, and 2001 Dodge Ram. So i always say I am a Ford/Dodge man. I have driven both trucks regularly, so I know a great deal about them. I will try to compare them on several different issues.

Cost

Pop's Ford 150 Reg cab 4x4 W/5.4 V8 fully loaded w/towing package/bedlinner/ 255/70/17 general tires on chrome rims (Tire size might be slightly different) on 3.73 diff. I don't know if its a limited slip our not. = $28,350.

My Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 SLT fully loaded w/towing package and towing mirrors/transmission cooler/bedlinner/265/70/17 Goodyears on 17" Chrome Clad Rims on 3.55 Limited Slip Diff. = $23,400

Diff in price = Approx. $5000 Advantage Dodge

Current Resale Value (According to Kelly Blue Book)

Pop's Ford= $25,395

My Dodge=$29,875

Diff in price = Aprox. $4,500 Advantage Dodge

Towing Capacity

We tested both of them out towing approximately 6500 lbs. The dodge was able to hold gears more smoothly and accelerated alot faster than the ford. Honestly a huge difference. Both trucks off the line were about the same but the dodge took over going into third gear.
-A Side Note- We have a large amount of property away from our houses and have to tow equipment to it somewhat frequently. One day on stetch of road that no one uses we got side by side to really see who could tow better. We both had tandem axel trailers. I had three 4x4 400 Yahama big bears on the trailer plus a tool box with lots of tools and chains in it also had a polaris 425 4x4 fourwheeler in bed of truck while pops was pulling a old Ford Tractor with a plow. So we were pulling about same amount of weight give or take some lbs. We got side by side and punched it, lol he of course signaled who would go first so he got the jump on me but when I hit punched I started out slightly slower than he did but then caught him at about 75 yards and blew past him. He said he really respected hemi after that.

Towing Advantage Dodge

Acceleration

This is Def. Advantage Dodge b/c of hemi 345 h/p with 371 ft lbs of torque against Ford's 300 HP don't know the ft lbs.

Looks
This is very subjective but i like both of them very much so I would Have to Say Advantage PUSH.

Gas MPG

Ford = Dad says he gets 14.5 city and 18 Freeway

Dodge= I get 13.5 city and avg around 18 Freeway

Advantage Ford

Durability

Since both trucks are new this is hard to determine, but so far neither of us have had to take our trucks to dealer to get any work done. This could be better determined in a couple of years. Advantage Push

Interior

This is kinda hard to compare a quad cab to a reg cab., but Ford's interior far surpasses Dodge. Advantage Ford

Warranty

Ford= 3yr/36,000 mile bumper to bumper
Dodge= 3 yr/36,000 bumper + 7yr 70K mile powertrain thats transferrable to help with resale.
Advantage Dodge

Suspension

Ford= Has a lot better payload and better off road ride, but there is not a real huge difference than the dodge.

Advantage Ford


I tried to be as objective as possible with this comparison. I feel that for the value of your money, the performance, and towing. The Dodge is Better than Ford. Both me and my father feel this way. He is thinking about trading his ford in on for a dodge. I am not trying to troll, but state my opinion b/c i am familiar with both vehicles.

 

Fair for the most part. The one area that is not is cost. If I was not stuck on dial up I would check it out but the cost difference is due to your superior truck buying skills and your father's poor skills.

 

LOL, Thats what I told him. But in Fairness My truck's MSRP was $32,750 and His was $32,800 (Approx. numbers) I got over $10,000 in discounts and rebates and at the time Ford was not offering really steep rebates or discounts.

 

Did either one of you trade a vehicle in, per chance? That would skew the "selling price" picture quite a bit. Actually muddy it to the point it'd be impossible to determine the actual selling price unless you were privy to the dealers books.

Good comparison. What it doesn't take into account is the different "personalities" the Dodge and the Ford pickups have. Objectivity plays a very small role for most people in the ultimate purchase decision.

 

Actually my trade was upside down by $400, and dad traded his car in which was paid off and got a couple of thousand for it, but the prices I quoted were the prices with discounts and incentives before trade in. What are the trucks personalities, i have heard of car vs. truck personalities but not truck personalities besides 1/2 ton vs a 3/4 ton.

 

That's the main reason why a haven't traded my truck, upside down.

 

I'll repeat that statement- if there was a trade-in, the only way you could actually determine the net selling price was to be privy to the dealers books. No one but management knows what that trade was inventoried for. The amount owed has no bearing on the numbers- just the amount financed (a completely different transaction). There's other variables involved in a transaction that could be working behind the scenes: factory volume based incentives, sales contests, competitive trade bonuses, same make trade bonuses...it's a pretty long list, and it's a moving target. Since it's all dealer cash instead of consumer cash, there's zero discolsure requirements. In retrospect, it's probably just as well, since all this clouds an already murky situation, and most are time/situation contingent.

re: "personalities." This is touchy-feely stuff that can't be measured objectively. Trucks typically aren't appliances, and consumers react differently to the feel, ride, drive, and image that a particular model projects. What the Ford gives up to a Dodge in performance it gains back in solidity and refinement.Whether that's good or bad depends on the customers priorities. Ditto styling. How often have I read how much folks on this site dislike the Silverado's styling? 688,000 customers (plus 190,000 GMC customers) might disagree this model year. Doesn't mean the Ford guys are wrong- just that not everyone agrees. So you can measure performance, gas mileage, towing ability, etc until the proverbial cows come home- the raw numbers still won't define the "best" truck.

 

Not a bad comparison. I own a 04 F-150 super cab 4x4, and a good friend owns an 04 Hemi QC 4x4. I've driven his truck and I agree with most of what you said. I have the 5.4 with 3.73 gears and 18 inch wheels, he has the Hemi with 3.92 gears and 20's. Here's my take:

Price: My F-150 stickered about $450 higher than his Ram at $37,000 and change. Both are comparably equipped, but the F-150 interior is a fair bit nicer, so I think the extra cost is mostly justified.

Power: No contest. The Hemi will out run and out pull my truck under any circumstance. I know some say the 5.4 has a low end advantage, but I certainly can't see it. The Ram gets my truck right off the line and just keeps widening the gap. Even loaded there is a significant difference. I really can't see any low end advantage for the Ford.

Looks: This is a hard one to judge since looks are subjective. Of course I'm a bit partial to the Ford, but I don't think the Dodge is ugly either.

Quality: Both trucks are within 1 year old and have less than 12,000 miles on them. So no problems with either. Wait, my gas gauge quit working at around 1200 miles. Fixed under warranty, no big deal. Both trucks are solid, well built, and squeak and rattle free. I know Ford wants everyone to think their trucks are far supperior (take for example the stupid bed bolt comercial), but I really think all the fullsize trucks are built pretty solid. And no, the super strong bed bolts had no influence on my decision to buy the F-150.

Interior: As I said before, the F-150 is nicer than the Dodge. The Dodge isn't really bad, the Ford is just quite a bit better.

Towing: everyone says the Ford has the highest available towing capacity for 1/2 ton trucks. That may be true, but not everyone has that particular model. With these two trucks which are similarly optioned, the tow ratings are within 200 lbs of eachother. Not an appreciable difference, and the 9900 lb rating available on the F-150 means nothing in most comparisons.

As far as how well they tow, both do a great job. The trucks pull straight, stop well and handle the loads excellently. As I said before though, the Dodge is significantly more powerful than the Ford and it is even more noticeable when towing. Most people don't drive flat out all the time, but it sure nice to have the extra power when you need it, and the Dodge certainly has the advantage here.

Fuel Mileage: again, despite what people who have never owned or driven a Ram would like you to believe, both trucks get similar mileage. I rode with my friend on a 600 mile trip a few months ago and the Ram got 18.6 MPG on the highway. that is about the same as my Ford. The F-150 does get better in town and short trip mileage at around 13 MPG where the Dodge is down around 12. Either way, the difference isn't as large as some say it is.


Anyway, that is my take on it. I like my Ford, he likes his Dodge. Both are good trucks and I don't think you could go worng buying either. If I could change one thing about mine though, it would have more power. I thjink Ford did miss the boat a little with the 3V 5.4. They had the chance to make a motor that would be at least equal to the Hemi, but as it turns out, it barely keeps up with the 285 HP 5.3 GM trucks.

 

Wow a REAL 04 F150 5.4 owner just said "Power: No contest. The Hemi will out run and out pull my truck under any circumstance. I know some say the 5.4 has a low end advantage, but I certainly can't see it. The Ram gets my truck right off the line and just keeps widening the gap. Even loaded there is a significant difference. I really can't see any low end advantage for the Ford." I think this site is about to overload and blow up. Although I can't wait to hear some people who have NEVER driven either of the two say "No way, the 04 F150 has 80% of its torque at 1000RPM's,and its built Ford Tough". BTW- I have a 94 F150 which I love

 

It all ends at loyalty, if you like Fords, you'll get the F150, like Dodge, get the Ram.
Is simple.

 

Not necesarilly. Price, performance, comfort, reliability plays a role.

 

It might be, I always had Ford went to GM for better comfort and performance, came back to Ford 6 months later with a GM lemon.

 

My father is a Mechanic, owned his own shop and worked on tons of vehicles. He always said, "dodge them dodges." I felt the same way and only drove Ford. I am only 23, so I have limited experience with vehicles. I bought my first car at 15 (86' mustang drop top 3.5 v6) me and pops rebuilt it from wheels up, and Never had any problems with it after the rebuild. Drove it over 100,000 miles after rebuild and took really good care of it. I then bought a 99' Ford ram super cab 4x4 w/4.0liter v-6 w/28K miles on it. Around 55K miles the both the engine and the tranny were not doing well and after pops put it up on the rack, I decided to trade it on before paying out a lot of money to fix it. I then decided to buy a used 2001 Dodge Ram quad 4x4 w/360 v-8. Great truck, no problems except terrible gas mileage, but A Great towing and off roading vehicle, I then fell in love with the new 04 hemi quad cab. I loved the look and that great hemi performance which also gave me better gas mileage w/a great standard warranty. I feel like I made an investment in this truck and I will take extremely great care to make sure the vehicle lasts a long time. The point of this post is to show that whatever you get you should take pride in it, and take care of it to allow it to perform and shine to its full ability.

Also, to show that I am not a completely biased Dodge man. I read in my local paper's bus. section that its expected for Toyota to take over #3 spot over (SNIP) Chrysler by the end of the decade w/ Toyota having 14.1% to DC's 14% in sales market share. To me these predictions and forecasts are extremely farfetched, but i thought i would mention it. The expected growth is suppose to occur w/baby boomers bying more luxury cars (lexis) and the (removed) Scion. I guess time will tell but 5 years is long way away for this prediction.

 

A couple of little things. My truck is very similar to your Dad's without the bedliner but with polished alloy wheels and bed mat but I paid $22,549 for mine.

Also, you paid $6,400 less for a new truck than it is worth used?

My math skills are not good but something doesn't seem right.

 

Got to remember - this is KBB, a book written by dealers, for dealers, to be used by dealers. In what direction do you think "the book" is going to be weighted? If you believe it, start comparing trade in values to retail values, every dealer out there is making 40%-50% on every vehicle they sell. Their "private party" sales price is much closer to real world dealership pricing then their retail listing.