Bingo. There are 3 guys I work with looking to buy a new truck. They are all 3 only looking at Chevy's in spite of another guy in the office that just bought a new Ecoboost and is constantly raving about it.

 

If your point is a lot of people are very brand loyal and do not cross shop you are dead on. I can't say too much because the only vehicles I will buy are Ford or VAG, I won't waste my time going to another lot. Of course I have my reasons for this. A large part of this is I work as an engineer and I will not give money to a company that I feel does not support their engineering departments. Copying, ripping off and reusing old designs mean less money can be spent paying engineers and this can impact my salary.

I hate GM because of all the scars their junk products have put on my hands from fixing them. I hate how they do not create anything really new, it's just a warmed over rehash of something they have done for years. Throw in the .gov bailout and I will never own a gm product again. This is completely evident in this test. They had years to catch up to Ford and yet they still lag behind. They warmed over their tired offerings with just enough to appease their loyal customers and possibly entice a few new buyers. It's boring, lazy and we the customers suffer for this. I would have loved for gm to have set the truck world on its ear. This means Ford would have to top them and us customers would have better products for it.

Dodge/Ram has always been second rate in my opinion and now that Fiat owns a lot of them they are looking more like third rate. I lived in Europe and have driven Fiats, they suck.

I'd rather pull a rickshaw than drive a jap car. They wait until a US or Euro company takes the risk in developing new tech then blatantly copy it. I see no reason to reward thieves.

 

The GM 5.3 motor is strong.... until 100k miles itll fall apart after that. Only GM truck I would own currently is a duramax/allison....and well sadly that's just how it is. Ford hasn't redeemed itself from the failure of the 6.0 and 6.4's .... I've even heard several people around the oil field stating the new 6.7 Ford diesel isn't much better. Time will tell.

 

As someone who works at a very large used car dealership and drives all of the tested vehicles on a daily basis (excluding '14 GMs; have driven at least '12s for all others), these "results" don't surprise me. I don't put stuck in things that don't value reliability.

The Titan and Tundra are both ancient. 2013s with low miles feel very old and outdated, and above all, very unspecial. High trim versions feel very similar to low trim level ones. The Titan is horribly built and oozes cheapness out of every pore. The Tundra is at least built very well and is extremely spacious.

Something that I believe needs to be addressed is extended cabs. Toyota is the only company using independent exterior door handles for the extended cabs. I would never own one and don't are for the Tundra much, but this is one of the greatest ideas I've seen in years for all vehicles. Needing to open the driver door to access the rear is a total PITA and the others have had years to catch on.

Fords absolutely blow the competition away with smoothness and strong pull from all motors other than the 3.7. The interiors feel really nice and give you that "special new car feeling" that GMs lack. I'd love to see what they did for the '14. I don't find the F150 particularly good looking and I find the Atlas to be God awful hideous. I also find the new GMs to be even more hideous, the Sierra being much worse than the Silverado. New things take time to get used to, but they all look horrible to me.

Ram/Dodge and Jeep are absolutely on their A game. I wouldn't buy one based on resale value and longevity/reliability being huge question marks. Fiats ARE crap and are known in Europe to be cheap and relatively unreliable. However, all of their new vehicles have absolutely top notch interiors with very chunky steering wheels and other components that promote driver confidence and the Rams are very nice all around. I also find the Ram to be the best looking truck.

Nissan and Toyota are going to lose out big time without huge overhauls, not improvements. I think Nissan should seriously consider dropping out of the truck market altogether because no one in their right mind should buy a new one. I'm glad Toyota is set to make big changes, but they had better wow consumers. A lot of people are more concerned with looks and newness than reliability and this will hurt Toyota.

Something that Ford has understood and certainly taken advantage of is the highly diverse truck market. New truck buyers are, now more than ever, buying the trucks as status symbols and components of image and lifestyle with no intention (or not a lot) of using them for any hard work. They outsell all other because they capture almost all of the "pretty boy" truck market with the Harley, King Ranch, and Platinums. Only Ram's new Laramies can really compete. Denali and LTZ GMs feel like any other of their trucks and Limited Tundras are in the same boat.

I think GM 5.3s are plenty strong and will last well, but none of this is fact.

All new diesels are utter crap without removing all the emissions junk. When you're paying another $15k for a diesel motor, it needs to be worth it. The EPA is forcing consumers to take illegal action is order to make their trucks last and do what they are needed to do. The Ford 6.7 is a noticeable victor among the diesels power-wise, but again won't last without proper modifications. I am very excited about the half ton diesels potentially coming down the pipe. But, unless the companies figure out a way to make the emissions controls MUCH less restrictive and damaging, no diesel will prove to be cost effective IMO, sadly. Something that most Americans never think about is that diesel should be the near future plan for fuel economy; Europeans have known this for decades. Old 12 valve 5.9 Dodges can get 25 mpg. That needs no explaining.

Hey EPA, when exhaust emissions are being lowered, but up to 70% more fuel is being burned in the process, is it worth it in emissions per mile? I think not.

 

I agree that the current gen 5.3L motor is plenty stong-I was pleasantly surprised when I drove my MIL's avalanche. With that said, I group it with the Ford 5.4-a good motor for its time but unable to compete with the newer offerings. Also, its worth mentioning that Dodge/Ram has had four full doors for their ext cab trucks since 2002-their quad cab is the equivalent of an ext cab for other manufacturers. I will also agree with Wookie that I tend to try and give my business to companies that work to innovate. While I realize that MyFordTouch is not perfect, I give credit to Ford for taking the risk and trying to do something new and push the envelope a bit. I can say that I was very jealous of my fiance's Sync on her Fusion, and is one of the things that pushed me to consider an F150 when I went to replace my Silverado a few years ago. Its the same thing for the new Ram trucks-even if you would never own one, you have to admit that they are pushing the other manufacturers to be better.

 

Very well said. People can flame me all day, but they're trucks are beautiful.

 

Thanks!

Good point, Gerrard. Dodge just recently in 2011 or so implemented a true quad cab truck. Nissan's are the same way, backseat is very small in the crew cabs (new ones are still this way). Nissan's ext cab is the size of a Ranger's backseat almost. The 09+ F150 and crew cab Tundras are huge and dwarf the updated Dodge and even the Silverados. 3/4 and 1 ton Silverados have noticeably smaller cabs than 09 F150s, and that needs addressing, if it hasn't been for the '14's.

 

Nice job Ford on the win. I was disappointed to see the base XLT interior that Ford sent - especially since I have the Plat and it would have taken the interior competition hands down. My 2013 Plat SCREW 4x4 fully loaded was $51K - I would have thought that Ford could have supplied a truck with an upgraded interior for $45K??

 

For $45K Ford could have sent a Lariat-but it wouldn't have had much. Pretty much the base level option-less lariat with an ecoboost. I think that the train of thought was that a fully loaded XLT was a better choice at that price point-and I agree with that. With all that said, I agree with your assessment-the XLT 150's just arent quite up to par with Ram/GM midrange trims. I'm curious to see how much that changes in the next generation of 150.

 

What does a fully loaded XLT have that a base Lariat does not? Unless you are referring to the tow package.

 

Leather seats, captains chairs, better infotainment system, lots more little add ons etc. The Ford was dinged for the interior not being as nice as the GM trucks. The higher trim packages would have made up that gap.

 

Keep in mind the Lariat actually ISNT all that well optioned in base form. For them to send a base lariat would have meant it wouldnt have had items like tailgate step, rearview camera, TBC, etc. A base lariat doesnt even have the captains chairs-those are optional. Think a base XLT with leather seats and an infotainment center-thats a base level lariat