silverado/sierra vs. f-150

[f1r3s1d3]

The F-Series has been the best selling truck for 30+ years. Theres your sign.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: f1r3s1d3
The F-Series has been the best selling truck for 30+ years. Theres your sign.

Thats because GM breaks its trucks into 2 lines and as such even when they sold more were counted as 2 trucks, not 1.

Nice try, but you fail the basic math quiz.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
My generalizations (based on my experience and observations in my market):

-the GM truck will ride more like a car than a Ford
-the GM will get marginally better gas mileage than the Ford
-a used Ford will cost less than a comparable used GM
-they will all do what you want

You forgot to mention Ford is built closer to Truck standards which in turn cause the rougher ride.


If I had to buy a new truck, and actually used it like a truck there would be no point in having a 1/2 ton nowadays. They are all built like cars.

3/4 ton and up Ford is the way to go. That other pussy brand doesn't even put a solid axle in their 3/4 ton, and their shafts will break when put to a the test.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: f1r3s1d3
The F-Series has been the best selling truck for 30+ years. Theres your sign.

If you combine Chevy/GMC as just GM trucks they outsell Ford in most years.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
My generalizations (based on my experience and observations in my market):

-the GM truck will ride more like a car than a Ford
-the GM will get marginally better gas mileage than the Ford
-a used Ford will cost less than a comparable used GM
-they will all do what you want

You forgot to mention Ford is built closer to Truck standards which in turn cause the rougher ride.


If I had to buy a new truck, and actually used it like a truck there would be no point in having a 1/2 ton nowadays. They are all built like cars.

3/4 ton and up Ford is the way to go. That other pussy brand doesn't even put a solid axle in their 3/4 ton, and their shafts will break when put to a the test.

This thread is about half tons. When I see a Ford F150 pull a dump truck with a flat bed trailer an a back hoe I'll be impressed. I've seen a old beat up mid 80's chevy do such a thing.

As far as shafts breaking, the guy on "Trucks!!" pulled a semi with a trailer loaded with 80,000lbs (a little over 100K lbs total) with a Chevy 3500 Duramax. He didn't break anything.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: JDMnAR1
My generalizations (based on my experience and observations in my market):

-the GM truck will ride more like a car than a Ford
-the GM will get marginally better gas mileage than the Ford
-a used Ford will cost less than a comparable used GM
-they will all do what you want

You forgot to mention Ford is built closer to Truck standards which in turn cause the rougher ride.


If I had to buy a new truck, and actually used it like a truck there would be no point in having a 1/2 ton nowadays. They are all built like cars.

3/4 ton and up Ford is the way to go. That other pussy brand doesn't even put a solid axle in their 3/4 ton, and their shafts will break when put to a the test.

This thread is about half tons. When I see a Ford F150 pull a dump truck with a flat bed trailer an a back hoe I'll be impressed. I've seen a old beat up mid 80's chevy do such a thing.

So a half ton chevy did this? Because you mention nothing about that. Most trucks can pull anything, hell I could pull a hoe on a trailer with my car if it built a receiver for it. It's a matter of stopping which no half ton can do properly.

As far as shafts breaking, the guy on "Trucks!!" pulled a semi with a trailer loaded with 80,000lbs (a little over 100K lbs total) with a Chevy 3500 Duramax. He didn't break anything.

A. That show is a joke and nothing but an infomercial

B. I haven't seen a trailer that can fit a Semi and it's trailer so I highly doubt they were truly pulling it and the weight of the semi and trailer. Again you could do that with a v-8 car and a full frame if you are just pulling a rolling load.

The claim of no broken shafts is something totally different. Does chevy use a SFA in the 1 ton trucks? If it is IFS did they have it in 4wd even? Did they give it gas while turning sharply? I can't count how many people with stock half tons have had the fron CV's blow on chevies in the dunes while trying to unstick themselves.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: joutlaw

That's the only issues I've had with the truck. I know the 03 models have speedometer issues too. They made a big change to the interior noise dampening and wire system in 03... so thats why I say 04 and up on the GM trucks.

QFT, my brother has an 03 silverado, his speedo and tach will just go wacky sometimes.
Shoot to redline, bounce aimlessly or just be dead.
Other than that I don't think he has any real issues.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit

Originally posted by: joutlaw

That's the only issues I've had with the truck. I know the 03 models have speedometer issues too. They made a big change to the interior noise dampening and wire system in 03... so thats why I say 04 and up on the GM trucks.

QFT, my brother has an 03 silverado, his speedo and tach will just go wacky sometimes.
Shoot to redline, bounce aimlessly or just be dead.
Other than that I don't think he has any real issues.

The '04's still had the speedometer issue, mine definitely had it. Even got a recall notice from GM regarding it.

 

[Squisher]

For what it's worth, the Ford will probably be a little more reliable that the GM product according to Consumer Reports.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Squisher
For what it's worth, the Ford will probably be a little more reliable that the GM product according to Consumer Reports.

And consumer reports has been blown out of the water when it comes to reviews and reliability ratings. Please don;t tell me you are dumb enough to believe anything they print about cars?

 

[joutlaw]

I'd like to point out something that the GM trucks have built into their ECM tuning... it's called Torque Management and 95% won't know its there... More manufacturers are probably putting this into their vehicles, but basically this is how it works.

The ECM knows when you are abusing the vehicle... flooring it... going around corners doing fishtails etc...

i.e. If you floor it... the ECM retards timing drastically and basically makes the truck bog off the line. It also does it on the 2-1 and 3-2 downshifts. If you give it 80% throttle its actually faster than giving it 100%.

I think the 03 and up trucks utilize more torque management than previous years b/c they went to drive by wire.


The 6.0 liter has torque management and power enrichment... these are safety measures to protect the drivetrain.

I'm going with a custom tune to get 80% of these "nannies" off in regular mode and 100% removed in tow/haul mode.

 

[Raduque]

If you go with an F150 with the 5.4, get an '04 or up, unless you really love the '97-'03/Heritage body style. The 5.4l from that generation is well known for blowing plugs if somebody hamfists the plug change.

I've been going for 95k+ on the factory plugs - I'm scared to change them or have them changed because most people report they blow after the first change. =|

I've got an '01 F150 4x4 SCab 5.4.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit

Originally posted by: joutlaw

That's the only issues I've had with the truck. I know the 03 models have speedometer issues too. They made a big change to the interior noise dampening and wire system in 03... so thats why I say 04 and up on the GM trucks.

QFT, my brother has an 03 silverado, his speedo and tach will just go wacky sometimes.
Shoot to redline, bounce aimlessly or just be dead.
Other than that I don't think he has any real issues.

This is covered by a GM recall. It has to do with a fault in a wire that goes to the transmission is the wrong gauge and causes a short in the gauge cluster.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Squisher
For what it's worth, the Ford will probably be a little more reliable that the GM product according to Consumer Reports.

And consumer reports has been blown out of the water when it comes to reviews and reliability ratings. Please don;t tell me you are dumb enough to believe anything they print about cars?

Well I did start the statement with "for what it's worth."

I understand anybody's distaste for CR's car reviews, but when it comes to comparing reliability ratings of products this similar you can give CR's numbers some weight. I realize these are only the result of surveys and people don't usually complain about things that they are trying to reassure themselves that they were smart to have purchased, but I don't see how in this case each wouldn't have the same margin of error.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Squisher
For what it's worth, the Ford will probably be a little more reliable that the GM product according to Consumer Reports.

And consumer reports has been blown out of the water when it comes to reviews and reliability ratings. Please don;t tell me you are dumb enough to believe anything they print about cars?

Well I did start the statement with "for what it's worth."

I understand anybody's distaste for CR's car reviews, but when it comes to comparing reliability ratings of products this similar you can give CR's numbers some weight. I realize these are only the result of surveys and people don't usually complain about things that they are trying to reassure themselves that they were smart to have purchased, but I don't see how in this case each wouldn't have the same margin of error.

The surveys are not scientific. They survey people that pay for their magazine. They violate the first part of a good and scientific survey and that is the survey group must be from a large enough pool and each person has an equal chance of being selected. In this case their ?survey? is nothing more than a group think of Consumer reports subscribers.

 

[marincounty]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: Squisher
For what it's worth, the Ford will probably be a little more reliable that the GM product according to Consumer Reports.

And consumer reports has been blown out of the water when it comes to reviews and reliability ratings. Please don;t tell me you are dumb enough to believe anything they print about cars?

Well I did start the statement with "for what it's worth."

I understand anybody's distaste for CR's car reviews, but when it comes to comparing reliability ratings of products this similar you can give CR's numbers some weight. I realize these are only the result of surveys and people don't usually complain about things that they are trying to reassure themselves that they were smart to have purchased, but I don't see how in this case each wouldn't have the same margin of error.

The surveys are not scientific. They survey people that pay for their magazine. They violate the first part of a good and scientific survey and that is the survey group must be from a large enough pool and each person has an equal chance of being selected. In this case their ?survey? is nothing more than a group think of Consumer reports subscribers.

Of course nothing is perfect. But Consumers makes a good faith effort to be even handed in their review. And it has a larger sample size than any other I am aware of. If you have better information please share it.

Text

Our 2007 survey, which was sent to subscribers of Consumer Reports magazine and to ConsumerReports.org subscribers, gave us feedback on our subscribers' experiences with nearly 1.3 million vehicles. This high number of responses allows CR to provide the most comprehensive reliability information available to consumers.

While we do not publish information on individual sample sizes for specific models, we require a minimum of around 100 cars to publish reliability information for a model in a given model year. Our sample sizes tend to track quite closely with market sales. Individual sample sizes vary from year to year and range from a hundred to several thousand for the more popular models. A typical model has about 200 to 400 samples for each model year and engine variant.

We have strong evidence that our survey is both valid and reliable. The questions in the survey are designed professionally by experts in CR's National Research Center, in consultation with our automotive engineers and statisticians. Members of our survey team have more than 30 years of experience in conducting all sorts of consumer surveys. The survey uses an aided response technique that leads respondents through well-defined specific items and gives each respondent the same perspective in answering the questions.

The data we report tracks well with other sources of repair and reliability information available on the market. Although we know that auto manufacturers pay close attention to our reports, they have not formally disputed our survey findings, which often identify problems that the manufacturers see in the warranty experience of their vehicles. We conduct a validation test every year and, in more than 30 years, have not found any evidence of bias. From year to year, our subscribers' reports of their problem experiences are fairly consistent; when there is a difference on a particular model, we can often attribute it to known issues with a particular component of a car.

 

[Squisher]

What I was trying to get at was the fact that the only thing that would skew reliability rating at CR would be an emotional attachment to a vehicle. This would usually be seen in higher priced vehicles or ones that are sporty. However, the only time this might come to light if you were comparing two dissimilar vehicles, like say a Malibu against a Lexus. Chances are the Lexus owner will probably discount some small problems whereas the Malibu owner will be less likely to do so. But, if you compare say a BMW against a Mercedes, both owners will probably have the same mindset and fill out their surveys with the same bias.

As a recent shopper for a truck I looked at vehicles from '95 through '03 and every Ford model had better reliability ratings than the comparable GM or Dodge product. Seeing that my truck is not my daily driver and it is only used when I need to, I made reliability a major factor in my decision. If I had to drive the thing everyday I might have put other refinements ahead of reliability.



My truck. Not bad for $5000 ('98 with 116K mi.) and this was before the jump in gas. I'm sure I could do better now.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I just saw an 09' F-150 limited in the college parking lot and I got to say that is one NICE looking truck..

Fay is moving through so it was all wet and shaded and made such a dramatic, beautiful view of it to me.. Kinda like those commercials you see where your car in reality would never really look like that.. But this one did. Gorgeous.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: f1r3s1d3
The F-Series has been the best selling truck for 30+ years. Theres your sign.

If you combine Chevy/GMC as just GM trucks they outsell Ford in most years.

Not to mention there are more Chevys on the road than there are Fords.....so if Ford sells a little more, but there are more Chevy trucks actually still ON the road, that means the Chevys last longer, which anyone who's objective and in the business can tell you.

 

[spaceman]

updated for update.

 

[Chunkee]

do the employee price thing...still on i believe... i would still think heavily about a 2005/06 model and save yourself some big money. there are many nice ones that people have traded in.