Hi Everyone,

I'm a prospective owner. Just mulling over the F-150 and the Dodge Ram 1500. I'm hoping to be in my new truck by spring at the latest.
I was dead set on the new Ram, but a buddy who is an F-150 owner swears by the Fords and suggested I take one out for a test drive before making my mind up. I love the F-150, but love the power of the Hemi with the 3.92 gears.

Joe

 

I researched the hell out of all Half ton trucks on the market. If your looking for power then the Ram may be the way to go. However, If you want to use the truck as a truck the Ram is lacking. Ram only has coil springs in the rear, basically heavy car suspension. To sum t all up the F-150 leads in every catagory except horsepower. They are the best in class towing, payload, have the best safety features standard, Etc. . . I was going to buy a Chevy but did the research first. For what I needed nothing compared to a Ford. Hope this helps.

 

Welcome to the site! The Ram will have the Ford on speed, and that is about it. Much better quality in the Ford.

 

Aside from horsepower, the only thing that the Dodge might have on the Ford is interior luxury - in that although Ford has stepped up its game, Ford has left way too many hard plastics in the cabin. Other than that, Ford puts away Chevrolet and Dodge in my opinion. I was torn on looks. I think I'm somewhat partial to the aggressive look of Dodge, but for me, Ford represented something a bit more lasting and classic.

 

They are both good trucks. I used to own an 03 RAM 1500 with the hemi and it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly, this 5.4L Ford F150 with the 6 speed seems almost as quick. Then again, the RAM got a nice HP boost for 2010, so it's going to be way quicker than the F150.

X2 on the towing and payload comment above.

I think the Fords are little more reliable and quieter inside than the RAMs. My RAM started throwing all kinds of emissions systems codes after I had it a couple of years, so I jumped into an 06 F150 XLT and traded that for my 09.

Good luck with whichever one you choose, although you probably won't need as much luck if you choose the F150.

 

I was in your shoes in November. I found a leftover 09 Ram w/ 3.92 and the Hemi. The power was AWESOME. Very fast truck. On the day I was going to sign the papers to buy it, I convinced myself to at least test drive an F150first. I then proceeded to buy a 2010 XLT CC 4X4.
I know this is a biased forum, but truth be told the Ram is a really nice truck, IMHO easily the second best truck out there.
But the Ford just felt better overall. It seemed quieter, and I know this is subjective and vague- but it just felt more solid. The Ram crew cab back seat also has this silly indentation in the middle seat which makes it really short and almost worthless. I needed all three seats in the back of my F150.
The Ram's backseat also doesn't reveal a flat floor when folded up. Plus while not trying to be too political, I gave Ford credit that it wasn't accepting all the taxpayer's money to stay afloat. Ford's products seem to be good enough to keep Ford a successful American company.

Add F150's reputation for good reliability and solid resale value, and I think the Ford's the winner here. Good luck in your decision. You are choosing between two great trucks.

 

What are you going to use your truck for? Speed is nice but there is a limit... If you are going to tow or carry heavy loads, look closer at the Ford. With the stability control, extended leaf springs, and class leader in towing and load carrying ability, go with the F-150, you won't be sorry...

 

Dodge may have Ford in horsepower for now. But not when the 6.2 comes out.

 

Ford has a nice solid chassis, trans and interior. Ram is a hot rod with car suspension, that is about it.. Hemi and 3.92's translates to gas hog IMO... Yes the 5.4L is not fast, maybe you can wait for the 6.2L option, or EcoBoost twin turbo V6... I'd drive a GM truck with their 403hp 6.2L before a Dodge.

 

They did for the past ten years or so, but...

The redesigned ones for 2009 (ram) don't look aggressive anymore, now the front end droops to the ground, coupled with the poorly designed bumper/fog lights area, it makes the entire front end of the truck look like it's melting towards the front, towards the pavement, looks very sad and, well, droopy. Not at all like the aggressive (yet unattractive) grille's/front end's of their past trucks since the late '90's. I mean, the grille itself appears very similiar, but the whole front end of the truck itself slopes down towards the pavement. I was really surprised at how weak the front ends of the ram's look, has even more of that slope-to-the-ground look than the tundra has. Very weak looking, makes the truck look like it's unhappy or something, almost like a sad droopy face. The tundra also gives a sloping towards ground impression the way that stupidly large chrome grille surround flows, but isn't as immediately in your face noticable as the new ram. Takes a sec or two before your eyes start to flow downwards since the front hood lines slowly fall in that direction. But ram is much more pronounced slope. Poor job there, dodge. Makes your ram look like the face of your company, poor, sad and broke.

I hear the ram has a heated steering wheel and a better remote start system, though. And of course it has more power if you're looking to speed around a lot, somewhere, somehow without getting pulled over.The power thing always confuses me, I'm not sure what you'd need it for unless you were hauling or towing stuff all the time, but then you'd most likely buy a SuperDuty if you were always doing that heavy type of work with a pickup. I had my 2004 F150 over 100mph before on the highway just to see if I could hit triple digits before trading her in. So other than acceleration from a stop, not sure where more power would come in handy, I'd rather have much better MPG, plenty of power in my '97, '98, '04 and '09 F150's.

I see you need it by spring, otherwise if you could wait until the fall you could get a 2011 with the new engine options, they're supposed to have a LOT more HP for those, again, who need to speed for some reason or other. Seems risky, both from a financial sense (tickets) and a safety sense (injuring innocent you don't see from going faster than is safe).

I know I've only had Ford pickups so far, but I am not brand loyal. I will buy whatever car or truck is the best on the market for what I need. Of course, I'd prefer to always buy American as long as a choice exists. Right now, the only choice for American is Ford. If GM pays back the loans all of us gave them, then GM will be back as a contender also. But from current reports, it looks like chrysler may never pay back any of the loans that came out of all our pockets in taxes, and if they default, than they can suck it. Their vehicles have always had awful crash test ratings and looked pretty over-the-top trying-to-be-aggressive ridiculous anyways, so that's no big loss when it comes down to it. personally I would NEVER consider a ram until they pay back their loans in full (GM too). At least GM has the decency to have a plan in place to do that, pay back the taxpayers who saved their butts.

I dunno. I'd look very strongly at Ford for many, many reasons. And if that's a no-go, start looking at the foreign makes. Even though the GMC is the only truck even close to looking somewhere near as luxurious as the F150, they don't get a vote yet until the loans are paid back in full.

You might want to take a look at the gobs of awards that the F150 has won. between 1997 and 2009 it's taken way more than the lions share of them, and it's been the best-selling vehicle for practically forever. Been the best-selling truck for even longer as well.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'd like to have the truck by spring, but I don't absolutely need it by spring. When will the 2011s be available for factory order or showing up in the showrooms? Any guesses.

Joe