Lt CHEG
Platinum Member
So in November of 2010, I picked up the last extended cab F250 Diesel in my area. I bought it at an excellent price and for the most part really liked the truck. I knew it when I bought it that I would be trading it in within a few years for a crew cab because once my wife and I have a child I felt that an extended cab would not do the trick. My wife convinced me that I would rarely have a passenger aside from her so I would be fine with an extended cab for a few years.
So I enjoyed the truck. I loved the power on tap, and felt like it was a well built truck. Although much more expensive to maintain than my previous trucks I felt that it wasn't any more difficult to maintain. It towed very well, and it made me a believer that the integrated trailer brake controller should be standard equipment on an HD truck, not an option, it's just that good. The problem is that towing was still a small portion of what I use the truck for. My wife and I generally drive her CR-V when we go out but I don't like the truck to just sit there either.
The 6.4 Powerstroke, while a great engine in my experience is beyond pathetic in the fuel economy department (as are all non SCR DPF equipped diesels in my opinion). I only put 7,000 miles or less a year on my trucks so it's not like the price of fuel was eating into my budget that much but I hate giving the oil companies more than I have to. Also, I realized that I was really beginning to miss the crew cab. It seemed like lately, I have been having more and more passengers and quite frankly once you've had a crew cab, an extended cab just sucks for passengers. So I decided to take a look at what was out there.
When I bought my Ford F250, aside from the Ford V10, there weren't any gasoline powered engines (of that model year) rated to pull the pull GVWR of my equipment trailer, so I pretty much had to go with diesel. There weren't much in the line of incentives for the newer 2011 models so they were out of the range that I was willing to pay. So it was either continue to make do with my 1/2 ton Silverado or buy a diesel. I obviously bought the diesel, and got a great deal on it too.
So fast forward to the 2011 and newer trucks and GM, Ford and Dodge have gas powered trucks rated to pull the GVWR of my equipment trailer or close enough to it that I wouldn't care about 500 pounds. I looked at them all. Dodge was eliminated fairly early as they didn't have what I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay. There weren't a lot of good deals to be had on 2012's and the 2011 crew cab HD's with RamBoxes were all sold out, so Dodge was eliminated. Ford was a natural contender and my dealer fought hard to get me where I wanted to be, but 2010 was a banner year for incentives and they just couldn't get me where I wanted to be price wise now. So I went back to my GM dealer who has been a family friend for many years. He worked me out a package on a 2011 crew cab gas Z71 2500HD that was pretty much right where I wanted to be. My payments actually went down and I'm driving a crew cab again. I paid a bit under invoice, plus got a little bit of rebate money AND got 0% interest through Ally. All in all, my F250 cost me about $3,000 to drive it and use it for a little over a year, not too shabby in my opinion, and a tribute to the truck if you ask me.
I would definitely buy a Ford truck again. I would even buy a gas powered Dodge, or a diesel with an Aisin transmission. I obviously have no problems with GM. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a cheap skate when it comes to getting a good deal on a truck and I'm not loyal to any one brand if the deal isn't right. I can honestly say that I would have no problem buying a Ford, GM or Dodge with the full comfort of knowing that I can get what I need done now.
As far as my impressions on the Chevy vs. my Ford, I can't really evaluate too much just yet. The Chevy definitely rides better. I like the 2.5 inch receiver hitch that is rated for 13,000 pounds without a w/d setup on the Chevy, vs. my F250 that was only rated for that weight with W/D. I picked the truck up in a bit of a snow squall and the GM definitely has better traction. Granted there's not as much of a weight bias to the front with the lighter gasoline engine vs. diesel, but I was really disappointed in the Ford's traction. I miss the front end height of the Ford. The Ford was pretty much the same height front to back, whereas the Chevy is a bit lower in the front. The overall height of both trucks is very similar, but I liked the Ford's setup a bit better in this area. The Ford was also superior in terms of visibility. The lower door area in the area of the outside mirror is a very nice feature of the Ford Super Duty, and I wish GM and Dodge would adopt a similar setup. My Chevy has a few more interior amenities than the Ford did and I appreciate some of the things that I was missing.
All in all, I'm happy and will report any issues that I have as they come up. Hopefully, like the F250 my ownership experience will be pretty trouble free (as my last 2 GM trucks were as well). I figure that with the slightly better fuel economy overall of this truck, coupled with the lower cost of gas vs. diesel, plus the lower maintenance costs that I will save a few thousand dollars over the life of the loan. I am looking for an older 7.3 Powestroke equipped regular cab 4x4 F350 SRW, probably in the older body style as a project truck once my new house and garage is built. I am thinking that if I have an older diesel powered work truck it may satisfy my lust for that diesel growl and have a truck that takes the beating when I need to work it hard. I also like the idea of being a two truck guy to cover all of my bases as well. Thanks for listening to my long post. Once the weather is nicer, I'll try to post some pictures.
So I enjoyed the truck. I loved the power on tap, and felt like it was a well built truck. Although much more expensive to maintain than my previous trucks I felt that it wasn't any more difficult to maintain. It towed very well, and it made me a believer that the integrated trailer brake controller should be standard equipment on an HD truck, not an option, it's just that good. The problem is that towing was still a small portion of what I use the truck for. My wife and I generally drive her CR-V when we go out but I don't like the truck to just sit there either.
The 6.4 Powerstroke, while a great engine in my experience is beyond pathetic in the fuel economy department (as are all non SCR DPF equipped diesels in my opinion). I only put 7,000 miles or less a year on my trucks so it's not like the price of fuel was eating into my budget that much but I hate giving the oil companies more than I have to. Also, I realized that I was really beginning to miss the crew cab. It seemed like lately, I have been having more and more passengers and quite frankly once you've had a crew cab, an extended cab just sucks for passengers. So I decided to take a look at what was out there.
When I bought my Ford F250, aside from the Ford V10, there weren't any gasoline powered engines (of that model year) rated to pull the pull GVWR of my equipment trailer, so I pretty much had to go with diesel. There weren't much in the line of incentives for the newer 2011 models so they were out of the range that I was willing to pay. So it was either continue to make do with my 1/2 ton Silverado or buy a diesel. I obviously bought the diesel, and got a great deal on it too.
So fast forward to the 2011 and newer trucks and GM, Ford and Dodge have gas powered trucks rated to pull the GVWR of my equipment trailer or close enough to it that I wouldn't care about 500 pounds. I looked at them all. Dodge was eliminated fairly early as they didn't have what I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay. There weren't a lot of good deals to be had on 2012's and the 2011 crew cab HD's with RamBoxes were all sold out, so Dodge was eliminated. Ford was a natural contender and my dealer fought hard to get me where I wanted to be, but 2010 was a banner year for incentives and they just couldn't get me where I wanted to be price wise now. So I went back to my GM dealer who has been a family friend for many years. He worked me out a package on a 2011 crew cab gas Z71 2500HD that was pretty much right where I wanted to be. My payments actually went down and I'm driving a crew cab again. I paid a bit under invoice, plus got a little bit of rebate money AND got 0% interest through Ally. All in all, my F250 cost me about $3,000 to drive it and use it for a little over a year, not too shabby in my opinion, and a tribute to the truck if you ask me.
I would definitely buy a Ford truck again. I would even buy a gas powered Dodge, or a diesel with an Aisin transmission. I obviously have no problems with GM. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a cheap skate when it comes to getting a good deal on a truck and I'm not loyal to any one brand if the deal isn't right. I can honestly say that I would have no problem buying a Ford, GM or Dodge with the full comfort of knowing that I can get what I need done now.
As far as my impressions on the Chevy vs. my Ford, I can't really evaluate too much just yet. The Chevy definitely rides better. I like the 2.5 inch receiver hitch that is rated for 13,000 pounds without a w/d setup on the Chevy, vs. my F250 that was only rated for that weight with W/D. I picked the truck up in a bit of a snow squall and the GM definitely has better traction. Granted there's not as much of a weight bias to the front with the lighter gasoline engine vs. diesel, but I was really disappointed in the Ford's traction. I miss the front end height of the Ford. The Ford was pretty much the same height front to back, whereas the Chevy is a bit lower in the front. The overall height of both trucks is very similar, but I liked the Ford's setup a bit better in this area. The Ford was also superior in terms of visibility. The lower door area in the area of the outside mirror is a very nice feature of the Ford Super Duty, and I wish GM and Dodge would adopt a similar setup. My Chevy has a few more interior amenities than the Ford did and I appreciate some of the things that I was missing.
All in all, I'm happy and will report any issues that I have as they come up. Hopefully, like the F250 my ownership experience will be pretty trouble free (as my last 2 GM trucks were as well). I figure that with the slightly better fuel economy overall of this truck, coupled with the lower cost of gas vs. diesel, plus the lower maintenance costs that I will save a few thousand dollars over the life of the loan. I am looking for an older 7.3 Powestroke equipped regular cab 4x4 F350 SRW, probably in the older body style as a project truck once my new house and garage is built. I am thinking that if I have an older diesel powered work truck it may satisfy my lust for that diesel growl and have a truck that takes the beating when I need to work it hard. I also like the idea of being a two truck guy to cover all of my bases as well. Thanks for listening to my long post. Once the weather is nicer, I'll try to post some pictures.
