The flame thrower issue was solved long ago. And if you dont mind spending about $1500 on a spartan tuner, you can easily get the better side of 20mpg.

 

My 2cents, get what you want, its your money, but I truly believe its luck and a vehicle that wasnt built on a friday or a monday.
Just for the record.
I owned a ford truck (no problems), then went to a dodge in 98. Because it was a better deal $ wise. Everybody said, (and I mean everybody), good luck that tranny is gonna fall out.... What the heck did you buy a dodge for..etc...

I thought I was in trouble as only a few day after owning it, it was dead in the driveway. It wouldnt start. dealership sent a flat bed tow truck and hauled it back to the dealership. Something about a bad computer chip. Dont remember the details. But ya know after that, I had zero problems with that truck. No returns to the dealership for anything. That includes Fit/Finish items, or little things that were wrong.
All I ever did was the regular maintenance items, brakes, tires, battery, oil.

Now spring of 07 arrives, I make the decision to get a new truck, but want a ford, I keep the dodge, because......Its used to plow snow..... in January of 08 the transmission finally gives in, with 120,000 miles on the clock. Do the math---10 Years later.
If you ask me, I think the tranny did fine considering - I plowed snow with it, and also ran a larger size tire on it. My brother in-law had put one in his at around 60,000

Now my current ford has been in the shop more times in the past year and 3 months, than my dodge was in 9 yrs.

Wiper Cowl - 2 times
IWE -2 times
Replaced - Rear Leaf Springs - 1 time
Auto Climate Control - 5 Times (2 different dealers)
Thud in door - 3 times still trying to resolve
Rattle in rear behind seat - 2 times

1 dealer who scratched truck
1 dealer who told me its in my head
1 dealer who finally gets it and had fixed 4 of the issues mentioned above, without creating another issue.
There are some stories behind each of these visits to the dealership, which would take all night so I wont go there.

All of these dealership were anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes from me, 1 way. Those of you who know what "cannot not duplicate" means can see where this is heading.--Many pissed off trips that were nothing but a waste of my time.

I like my ford, in fact I think I like it better than the dodge, but not when it comes to making out of town trips to the dealership for things that should not be a issue.
Ford needs to improve their quality control or whatever you wanna call it.
I get a feeling that I got a truck that was thrown together, with the feeling that the powers that be secretly said to themselves, build it.. get it out the door..we will deal with it...when the customer brings it back for service.
I know that new vehicles will have bugs to iron out, but my gosh 14 trips to dealerships in a year and 3 months. Give me a break.

Im not taking sides here with anyone, just thought I would post my thoughts on the subject. Because it seems the OP is taking flak for getting a dodge, Like I did. I didnt have the trouble with mine like the naysayers said I would..

Its your money dude if your happy then good for you. Maybe you got a good one, maybe you didnt. Hope that it wasnt built on a Monday or a Friday, and was built by somebody who actually cared about the quality of their work and wasnt there just to get a paycheck at the end of the day.

Me Im hoping that I will eventually get all the bugs ironed out of my Ford, so that I can enjoy it, instead of taking it to the dealership all the time. I still like it, but am not sold on the quality of it. I have a while to go, (I hope) before I will be looking again. Only time will tell if I will get another ford or not.

Sorry to rant

 

Thanks SD Truck man. Finally a person who can see eye to eye with me. I don't know what all this brand loyalty is. I for one can say that GM, Ford, and Dodge all make good trucks and yes they ALL have their issues. I've had all three, and am least impressed with GM. From repeatedly bad fuel pumps, to failing instrument clusters, to a bad engine in one of them. Call me stupid, I still gave them a chance and test drove a GMC. Price was nearly as bad as the Ford though.

I really liked my F-150 although at 25k miles was due for a warranty trip to the dealer, but I was waiting for cold weather so they could duplicate the climate control issue. The rearend had recently started a mysterious leak, and the brakes felt like crap, the passenger seat had a squeak that was killing my wife which in turn was pissing me off too. Oh, and I was dreading the spark plug issue. Despite those issues, the main reason I traded it was because I needed a heavy duty diesel truck period despite the minor annoyances.

I at one time owned a 01 Dodge 1500 Offroad 4x4 SLT Auto, and that was a good truck. That is one truck that I can't say had repeated trips to the dealer. The only issue I had was that it was a gas hog with the 5.9 12mpg average. No complaints at all other than that. It was a great offroader and just a great truck.

Honestly my heart was set on a 08 Super Duty Lariat 4x4 crew cab, but the numbers were just ridiculous, so that was that.

A few of my buddies run the Dodge 2500 Cummins and they are more than happy with them. These guys don't baby them either. One buddy pulls a backhoe with his and regularly hauls big loads of hay. The other has horses and also hauls hay frequently as well as being an every day driver. And yet I know another family who farms Alfalfa, and they all swear by their Cummins Diesel trucks. I haven't heard a complaint from any of them at all. At most a trip to the dealer for a bad A/C compressor on one of them. At work they run a good share of Dodges old new 1500 and 2500, and the way I see it, the ones that are in for tranny rebuilds are the older ones the "kids" or younger immature type guys drive. The more mature directors and foremen's trucks go and go and go and don't see tranny problems till after 150k miles. They are maintained well, but I know for a fact that our fleet repair shop does NOT change trannny fluids. It's just like anything else I say. If you take care of it they will last, if not they won't. That goes for any vehicle. Not just maintenance, but driving habits mean a lot.

Bottom line, is I am extremely happy and that ends that. If anyone wants to see a pic, PM me. I don't want to just post one and get my head ripped off.

Thanks. Good Luck guys.....Matt

 

Congrats on the new truck I hear those 6.7s are a real powerhouse. If I was going to get a new diesel Id get a Cummins too. Cummins even won an Automotive News PACE Award for the new 6.7. I used to drive a dodge myself and I had the same experience as you did, crappy gas mileage but that was the most reliable truck Iv ever seen. It was a 99 1500 4x4 5.2 regular cab and it had around 200,000 miles on it when I got my f150 and it had never been in the shop for anything serious. I had to replace the front u-joints once, replace the battery once, and other than that it was just regular maintenance. Good luck with the truck.