Hello, this is my first post and I hope I'm putting it in the right section.

Here is where I stand. Over the years I have only purchased Japanese vehicles and have been very pleased with them. In my case the general consensus concerning reliability of Japanese cars has been correct, they have all been great. I did not avoid domestics because I felt they were unreliable, just that my experience with Honda and Toyota have always been good so I kept purchasing them, but always felt guilty about doing so. Now I am in the market for a new truck, and have pared down my choices between the totally bland and underpowered Tundra and the truck that I really like, the F-150 FX4. Now I am almost certain from past experience that the toyota will be top notch quality and reliable as well, also I have three friends that own them and all tell me they are great trucks. I know this question may be hard for anybody here to answer but will I be setting myself up for disappointment from my past experience with the reliability of past cars I have had? From what I have been able to research, Ford has had some quality control problems in the past, have these been taken care of? I really would much rather buy an American truck like the F-150, but I'm just a little concerned about the durability and reliability. Thanks for any help

Mike

 

If I was buying a half-ton truck, I would buy a Nissan Titan. A friend of mine works for Toyota and they bought one and tore it all apart and he said it was very well built, much more than the F-150 and a whole lot more than the chevy. You might want to wait for Toyota though because they are coming out with an even bigger truck, or so my friend tells me.

 

Ive put my fair share of Ford through hell and back, and the last F150 we had (97 4.6) was the most reliable truck we ever owned. Did nothing but brakes shocks and tires in the 140k that we have owned it. Starts everytime and has seen more weight than most 3/4 tons do these days. Ford reliability for me has always been A+

 

I currently have a 1998 F-150 XLT Supercab 4x4 and have zero problems and it has 99K on it. . . I think as far as trucks go, Ford is the best out there for quality and longevity. True Japanese trucks are good too, but I don't think American trucks are second to them.

 

Thanks for the replies

I have heard that Toyota is producing a "true" full size truck to compete better with the offerings of the domestics. I have considered waiting but from what I have learned the truck wont be out until 07' and my camry is on its last leg, it has 230,000 miles on it and I dont know how much longer I can milk it.

I have also considered the Titan, its more of a full size than the tundra, but Nissan is in the middle of serious quality control problems and until they straighten the problems out, I wont be considering one they sure are nice trucks though.

 

Consumer Reports rated the 2004 F-150 as the least reliable full size truck. I believe the Tundra was most reliable. Ford still may have some problems to work out with the new design. The Americans have come a long way in reliability but I still think they will need more visits to the shop over the long run than the Japanese. My dad's Tundra is not as good as we are used to from Toyota but it still has been pretty reliable. Been in the shop for non-routine maintenance twice: Squeaky serpentine belt and front brakes. It has 65k miles on it right now. So far it has been enough truck for us and has been a good replacement for the '91 F-150 which visited the dealer every couple months.

It takes 2000 lbs of gravel in the back well enough and is fine with our relatively small boat. The engine would probably be a bit taxed if you hook up 6000 lbs but I feel it's better than any of the other sub 5L V8's in trucks these days. It is smaller than some others but that has been as much of a plus as a minus for us. It fits in our garage while the F-150 didn't, it is easier to park which is nice because it is basically my dad's car on weekdays, and it is narrow enough to drive between our cabin and shed down to the lake, something that no other full size truck can do. It has also impressed a few Ford truck fans, my dad being one of them. Hope my little mini-review has been helpful.

 

I have the Consumer Reports magazine in front of me. The F150 is rated as least reliable ... but it isn't the least reliable of ALL trucks. If you check closely, you'll find Chevies and many other makes that have the same "least reliable" rating.

That said .. I'm not planning on renewing my subscription to Consumer Reports. They have some vehicles rated as tops, that have received some pretty poor reviews here, in various threads. They have the Hummers rated higher than the Fords and I have to think that is a total load of bull puckey, since the Hummers are based on the some of the same Chevy frames and drivetrain that received poor marks in some of their other ratings.

These ratings are based on the 05 models. Past F150 ratings, as per this issue, averaged higher than the current rating. From what I read on most of the ratings, I seriously can't see where Consumer Reports is actually coming from and what their ratings are based on. Maybe I missed something in the translation..... heck ... who knows? I think CR is just another opinionated/biased magazine. But that's just my own biased opinion.

 

The F-150 was actually rated worst of full-size trucks, you can see at http://tinyurl.com/46g3e. H2 wasn't rated so hot either. I feel that CR does have some bias towards the Japanese but that doesn't mean the F-150 has to place behind the Ram and Chevy. CR actually commented that the F-150 had become decently reliable before its redesign.

 

The drivetrain, and body on a F150 is fantastic, extremely reliable, as long as you aren't planning on drag racing people at the lights, but considering you are considering a Tundra I doubt that is your plan.
It is IMHO the best allround truck available, but having said that, I don't think you can go wrong with any of todays trucks.
Test drive them, price them all, haggle, and choose the one you WANT.
If you don't, you will always be wondering, especially if anything goes wrong on it, what if I got the other ....

BTW, if you want an F150, there is a top guy, Jeff, in the New Car buyer Forum that will do you a fantastic deal.
Also if you do purchase an F150, and in the unlikely event that something does go wrong with it, you have one of the best resources available here to sort out your problem.

 

seftonm, thanks for your take on the tundra. I do expect the Tundra to be mostly adequate for my needs. I beliieve the towing capacity is 6800# and I'll be towing a 5500# boat often, so it would be nice if it was a little more. Im sure it will pull it, but I'm assuming the Ford will do it wth more ease. I know the Tundra would most likely be safe bet and reliable, I just wish it was more truck.

Fordlover, After subscribing to CR for a long time, Im beginning to see discrepancies in their ratings that I have yet to be able to figure out. Like how the new F-150 got a near perfect score when they broke down the different areas like tranny, engine etc yet they rate it as the least reliable truck. They seem to be really high on Japanese cars, you hear little if anything negative about them. Ford must be doing something right as people keep coming back to the F-150, I think Ford sold something like 900,000 of them last year. Besides I understand that when someone is upset with something that goes wrong with their car they are more likely to respond to CR's survey about reliability, people are not always honest or objective when they respond to these surveys.

As you can probably tell, I do want the Ford more than the Toyota, I just have a hard time doing it as I have zero experience with Ford products.

 

F350, I was wondering the same thing. If I go with the Ford and something goes wrong, I know I'll be wondering, "what if I bought the Tundra< would this have happened" but, after getting price quotes the F-150 is coming out to about 2500 less than the Tundra, that amount could go towards the repairs if needed. I also get way more truck for my money with the F-150

 

As someone whos every new car purchase has been with a blue oval on the front (with the exception of a Toyota Landcruiser, before Ford imported F-Series to Australia, which was admittedly a darn good vehicle, if a little utilitarian) I have rarely had any problems with any of my vehicles that wasn't caused by me.
I had injector cackle on my 7.3l F-Truck, but that was fixed by some helpful guys here (thanks cookie).
Thats about it.
I have owned around 9 Fords in total in the past 6 years...

I am also fortunate enough to know a bit about the quality and problems with Fords.
The F150 is a darn good reliable vehicle.
The quality of the interior has improved in leaps and bounds, and it has 4 wheel discs, while the Tundra has rear drums, which are no good if you want to be towing. IMO drums are no good fullstop.

 

yes, that is something I forgot to mention, the drums on the rears, I dont understand what Toyota was thinking on that one, totally inadequate for towing, which I will be doing a lot of. I was very impressed with the interior of the 05' F-150, very solid. My only previous experience with a ford interior was with my brothers 97' explorer, it wasnt what I would consider stellar quality very cheap looking.

 

Also, youve stated that youve owned nine fords in the past six years. Are you trading them in for new ones frequently or just putting a lot of miles on them?

 

I used to get a new car with the company I used to work with for every 7-8months, they said it was cheaper to replace them that often.
I used to average about 10-12000miles on them in that time.
Those 9 cars were company cars.
Our Family have also purchased 4 Fords in the last couple of years.