Well my parents went and bought an 06 F-150 in January of 07. At that time I owned a crappy little Cavalier, and had never driven a truck before. The first time I drove that truck, I made up my mind to get rid of the car and get a truck of my own. Bought my 04 1500 a few months later, and have loved it ever since.

I gotta say, the f-150's ride is smoother, feels more like a luxury vehicle. The interior almost looked cheap to me. My ram feels quite a bit more powerful, I think the interior is a lot better, and I have more ground clearance than the ford. I think either way, you'll have a good truck, but really, IMO it doesn't get much better than a HEMI.

 

Im going to take my time but it seems that its going to come down to which one i can get with more toys. I dont want plain. Im going to shop around take some f150 for test drives. Im a young single guy so looks and elegance are important. I know for sure i can get a f150 fully loaded in my price range, but if i find a ram with everything im jumping on it.

 

luxury or power... what to do? what to do? Look hard for power with luxury!

 

My last job was a driving job and I drove on average 100,000 miles a year! I drove E150 vans and not one of them had under 300,000 miles! Almost all these trucks still had the original engine and transmissions! One van that I drove was on it's 2nd engine and trans but had a wopping 560,000 miles on the clock! I used to do 600 miles a day in that damn thing a big chunk of it in NYC and long Island! Ok they had their fluids changed nearly every week but that's because they did 3000 miles a week! Now my Dodge at 79,000 (and I don't tow, overload, or go off road) has worn front upper and lower ball joints, worn inner and outer tie rods, worn uj's, Had two front rotors in the last 15k because they constantly warp, 2 computers, cracked dashboard, cracked instrument cluster (no clue how that happened, just appeared one day), all the heater vents broken, broken window switch cluster on the drivers side, short circuit front passenger window, short circuit rear drivers side door lock, rusty chassis, rust on the bottom of the drivers door, rattly, clunky transfer box (No I don't use 4x4 in the dry) etc, etc!

Still looks good though!

 

With you being a single guy and all, I think this truck would get more women then and Ferd any day!!





Dodges look way more pissed and way more sexy!

I had a 2005 F-350 work truck and it got bought back by the Lemon Law, and Now have a 2007 F-350 work truck that has been in the shop 5 times for injectors and something to do with the exhaust system! My dodge has been in the shop once for tranny computer programming and it was out in an hour!

My dodge has 61,000 miles on it and the Ford has 25,000

 

I'm also young and single. And to tell the truth, a friend of mine has a newer F150 and I have an 04 Ram 1500. I have had girls ask me all the time to drive my truck or say some kind of comment towards my truck. I have never once heard anyone say anything out of the ordinary about his. I think they are nice truck, but to me the outsides are just kind of boring and not very aggressive. The interior may be a little more elegant, but if you can find a Ram with a sunroof and leather and add in a double din headunit, I think it comes close to outclassing the F150.

 

I'll say go for a Dodge. But I'll tell you some things. (Watching a movie right now, so some things might not make the most sense, but you should still get what I mean.)
The interior:
My friend is about the most pro-GM you'll find. He just wouldn't own anything else. He has a GMC and absolutely loves it. He's not much to say anything about other vehicles, besides criticize, but some of the small things is that he first loves the room in the front, and the size of the windshield. It's amazing the difference that it makes, but you have much better view out of this huge windshield, better than you'll find on another truck in my honest opinion. Everything is so nice, and there is plenty of storage. I like the power supply in the center console, because that's where I charge my phone, so it doesn't slide around. The little separators in the console are nice, because it keeps my small things apart from my AXE and cd case. It's really ease of access in it. I love where the cup holders are, as opposed to my buddies GMC. Where his are, you don't hardly notice them if it's dark. Mine are really easy to find. The ash tray is real close, which I use mine to store my change in, but my brother commented on how it's a little bigger than like in his truck. The heater controls aren't far away, or hard to view while driving. My old truck was a little Toyota pickup, and it is easier to change temp in my Dodge as compared to that. The storage under the seats is also really nice. So it's a lot of the small things that make that really nice. It's not just one thing like a heater vent moved up a few inches to blow past your hand and get you, it's all the small things that you notice.
As far as exterior:
Really? It's a Dodge. They always look aggressive. The only front end that I think looks more aggressive than the Dodge ones are the Chevy 2003-2007 (classic only in 2007). That is mainly from the angled down headlights, so it looks like it's scowling at you. Now, don't get your heart set on the new body style, the older front ends (2003-2005) still look sweet. The still have the mean look to them. If you just decide to look at some pre-2006 trucks, you might find one that's already got some mods to it. Also, is the exhaust note of the Dodge. When I told my brother about getting a Dodge, he told me that one thing I'd have over him is the exhaust sound. So there are a few things that make the Dodge over the Ford on the exterior, but I really say the Dodge is the better of the two in the overall.

 

Go drive a Laramie model and then tell me the Ford's interior is nicer. I was completely open-minded when I was looking for a truck. I drove Ford & Dodge; decided against GM because while the interior was nice I didn't like the blah exterior.

I liked the Ford 'till I drove it. The 5.4 was slooooow, and that's coming from a 1992-vintage TBI 350 GMC truck. I didn't want to go back to a 4spd auto either. Ford owners seemed to be happier with power after adding a programmer.

I drove a Ram and was hooked immediately. I then found the color I wanted (white) with the options I wanted (Laramie, 4x4) and made the deal. I bought it because it looked classy and capable at the same time. 2 years later I'm still sure I made the right decision. Oh, and the Hemi responds well to a programmer too.

 

On the looks front, I have liked the Ram's since the 2nd gen. I had wanted once since 1994, and just finally bought one this year. I went back and forth between the Silverado and the Ram, but I kept drifting back towards the Ram. I took my wife with me for a test drive, and she said that we should buy a Ram because it looked so much better. The Hemi also drove better than the others. I can't speak to towing, etc. The interior on my Ram is fairly blah, although it's better than my Durango (most-boring-interior-ever).

I won't buy a Ford after the issues I had with my Mustang GT and Ford refusing to fix it. (Of course, that had nothing to do with the trucks, but more with corporate Ford.) So they lost a customer. I still love my '66 Mustang though!

Somehow I've ended up with an '07 Ram, an '05 Chrysler Town & Country, and a '98 Durango. I wasn't even trying to stay with Chrysler products, it just ended up that way. Weird. (I have had plenty of other makes in between.)

joe

 

I was a long time, hard core F-150 owner, I know all the strengths and the weaker aspects of Ford F-150's. I'm also a verry un happy ex Ford owner who is new to Dodge.

Truth be told, brand A is not going to better than brand B, Dodge's have thier issues as well as Ford, in the end, drive all the brand's, do not limit your self to just Ford, or Dodge.

My employer owns a fleet of Gm trucks that I drive on ocassion, unless you have the Z71 package, GM trucks are to low in the Front to be off any good off road.

The drive train ( rear diff ) on the F-150 has Dodge beat, hands down, the only thing that sucks abought Ford, is the 5.43v, 4 speed auto, and Ford dodge's ( play on words ) thier issues, Cam phasser issues, electrical issues ( 550 CAA batteries with the tow package ) were as Dodges are mainatance junkies.

Reserach the up keap on your brand of truck your interested in, might not sound like a big deal now, but issues with the 1500 Ram rear diffs, or Fords lousy rear in board shocks, hancook tires, axel seals ( 04 F-150 ) are common, but not well known.

Fit and finish may apear better on the Ford, but the quality of the rest of the truck is no where close to the standard Ford advertise's.

Something got lost in the design, and building of the F-150, cost cutting measures kill the F-150.

Now for Dodge, the 3rd generation Ram can never be close to the fit and finish of a Ford, but the hemi engine, is what makes a dodge, and to Date, my 06 2500 Ram hemi and 6sp has been the absoulte best truck I have owned.

Ford, and Dodge have the potential to the best truck built, or a total pile of crap, its all in who puts them togethier...