You're buying a new truck, what you gotta have?

[chevytaHOE5674]

Unless you tow heavy and frequently I would shy away from a new diesel. The emissions and fuel systems are fairly reliable when used hard, and less than reliable when used to putt around town.

Add to that mess the cost difference in the diesel option and the ridiculous fuel prices diesels are expensive to drive and maintain. 

This coming from a guy with 2 diesel trucks that stay parked most of the time anymore and I drive around a gas SUV. 

[wkf94025]

Unless you tow heavy and frequently I would shy away from a new diesel. The emissions and fuel systems are fairly reliable when used hard, and less than reliable when used to putt around town.

Add to that mess the cost difference in the diesel option and the ridiculous fuel prices diesels are expensive to drive and maintain.

This coming from a guy with 2 diesel trucks that stay parked most of the time anymore and I drive around a gas SUV.

My daily driver is a Mach-E, and the F350 gets a solid workout a few times a month.  I seriously doubt I'm going to experience "less than reliable" in any of my Power Strokes (7.3L, 7.3L, 6.0L donor, 6.7L).
I also looked at a RAM 2500 Cummins pretty seriously before pulling the trigger on the F350.

[Patrick NC]

My ram has a 6.2l gas and my Chevrolet 2500 work truck has a 6.6l gas. Both will tow a skidsteer, mini excavator,  or load of logs just fine. The new gas burners are pretty impressive. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Why do you think you need lever activated 4wd ?

don't need it, want it. buttons are fine, but I like the lever to engage 4x4.
I know it still has some electronics, but I'd like to keep that stuff to.a minimum

[Dom]

For a list of options/features that I want:
-key fob for keyless entry and start button. I had a fob in my prior car, and my current truck has a traditional key and remote. It gets old quick. It's bulky to carry around and more of a pain than I remembered.
-good headlights
-heated seats is a minimum
-heated steering wheel would be nice
-an easy to use hands free. I use mine to adjust heat and radio, but they are not all easy.
-a screen that can be blackened/turned off for night driving. The light is a distraction. I didn't think I could in my truck, the toddler figured it out in 30 seconds. 
-lock or limited slip rear diff

I understand your comment about trucks getting so big that it's hard to get in or use the box. Now they have to come with ladders.  :D
I'm the tallest of my surroundings at 5'11", everyone else around me is 5'7" and shorter. My wife couldn't even see what was in the box of a f150, and it was shoulder height for my father. It's one of the reasons I went with a Colorado, the other being the driving dynamics. If you need the rig for towing though, you gotta go big. Just seems so excessive nowadays in my opinion, but they are nice and people like them.

[Don P]

4x4, 100 mi range or better, defrost, a bed and a seat.  Cheap, it will be destroyed. What happened to the regular working man's truck?

[Stephen1]

I picked up a new 4x4  Toyota Tundra last March. I bought it site unseen. The lot was empty, they had 5 on order with no deposit so I picked the lessor model, SR5, put my deposit down and waited. Sold my 07 Tundra with 250,000 miles for 7k. It was just about worn out, but it was a Toyota and they always bring money on the way to the junk yard, not like the N. American stuff that you almost have to pay the junk yard to take. 
New Tundra was $53,000 Canadian $ so %30 less for the USA market. It has a V6Turbo, great mileage, can tow 11,000 lbs. I tow a 10,000lbs trailer all the time, and I bet I overload it more than I care to think about,  and my mill is 4500 lbs, which gets towed almost weekly. This truck pulls all my stuff as well if not better than my old truck, and I get double the gas mileage now. 
It has Heated seats and Steering wheel 8) and the best of all is the Backup Camera. It has all the options I need , in fact it has too many options in my opinion.
It is missing front tow hooks, and Limited slip differential , which the old truck had on both axles. I miss both of these options. 
It has way too much media technology on this truck. I am way more distracted driving it with screens and info flashing at me. I was safer TXTing and driving my old truck than trying watch all the info this truck throws at me. changing the radio station requires me to look at Display instead of just reaching over and hitting a button on the radio.

[21incher]

4x4, 100 mi range or better, defrost, a bed and a seat.  Cheap, it will be destroyed. What happened to the regular working man's truck?

Up here contractors seem to be switching to the stripped down Ford Transits to get that plus a secure area for equipment. 

My new ranger is about the exact same size and capacities as the 1998 F250 light duty Lariat super cab that I bought but weighs 1500 pounds less.
About distraction, Reading texts to you as they are received causes less distraction to me and adaptive cruise along with auto breaking and blind spot monitoring make them so much safer if distraction occurs. Safety is definitely worth the extra investment and reduces insurance cost tremendously.  

[chevytaHOE5674]

@wkf94025 i wouldnt bet the farm om that. Local ford garage in my po-dunk area has 1-2 6.7 trucks in the shop for emissions or fuel related problems at any given time.

Don't think I'm bashing ford either it happens to GM and Dodge also. I seem to see less of it with the Dodges though. I see it all the time with heavy equipment (skid steers, tractors, forwarders, processors, end loaders, etc) in my shop (egr coolers, doser valves, def heaters, CP3 failures, etc).

When the old school diesel got brought into the emissions world with egr, def, dpf, common rail, etc the idea that the "engine will run forever" went out the window, this is a proven fact.

[barbender]

 I like a common rail diesel, they run great and are reliable. When all the emissions stuff gets added to the mix though, not so good.

 Do Dodges (Rams now I guess🤷‍♂️) still have the full time engaged axle? On my 03 (gosh 20 years old) there is no disengagement mechanism except for the transfer case. The whole front drive line spins all the time, which is a foolish design imo. Ford uses the same axle with lockouts, I'd prefer that. At least you could manually unlock them. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Problem with a common rail injection system is when something goes wrong like a CP3 failure then the whole rail and injectors is contaminated. Resulting in huge expense to remove, clean, replace just about everything in the system. No more 15 minute injector swaps, or 2 hour injector pump replacements.

Depends on the year of the dodge. Some years had a CAD (central axle dissconnect) others did not. Going from memory pre 2002 had CAD, 2003-2018? did not and were engaged all the time, 2019+ have CAD again.
.

[chevytaHOE5674]

As an example my NH tractor with an FPT 6.7 in it (almost the same as a cummins 6.7) just got put back together at 4100hrs with a new CP3 and sent the injectors out to be cleaned/checkee to the tune of nearly $4k bucks in parts and many hours of my free labor.

Coming to my shop soon is an older Ford tractor with 14,000 hours and one motor rebuild and the original fuel system. And if needed a new pump and injectors could be tossed in for less than 1500 bucks and 2.5 hours of time.

[barbender]

Ah, I didn't realize that the CP3 would take everything out👎.

 It is hard to beat the simplicity of a mechanical 5.9 Cummins. I think you can get a whole set of injectors for the price of one electronic injector. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Common rail is just that all injectors on a common rail. Therefor any trash coming out of the pump gets spread thru everything on the rail.

Its all about tradeoffs. The old mechanical diesels are reliable and "cheap" to maintain. But they tend to be dirty and smokey. 

[wkf94025]

About distraction, Reading texts to you as they are received causes less distraction to me and adaptive cruise along with auto breaking and blind spot monitoring make them so much safer if distraction occurs. Safety is definitely worth the extra investment and reduces insurance cost tremendously.  

Totally agree.  The only regret on my F350 in that regard is that it doesn't have the the Blue Cruise autopilot that my Mach-E does.  Talk about lightening pilot workload and improved safety.
I love my '97 F350 7.3L CC Dually, but it's nowhere near as safe on a long haul as the new F350.

[Stephen1]

I find there is no Txt I need to hear, that can't wait until I get to where I am going. The cruise is always cutting out now due to winter, snow and crap on the truck. If I could just have regular CC back I would be happy. I've been driving all these years with just regular CC and haven't run into anyone. I shut off the lane centering in the 1st week I had the truck, I live on a twisty turnny road and always crossing the yellow line. The beeping drove me crazy. 
I would be happy with vynal floor mats, easier to blow the sawdust off. 
 I have to have the truck running to charge my cell phone. What a pain that is. 
No I do not need all the technology or "Safety" items
I had a hard time with 'Siri" just asking her to call someone and now we expect her to drive our cars without a driver..... no thanks 

[Dom]

I have to have the truck running to charge my cell phone. What a pain that is.

If it happens to be a GM, there may be fuse you can relocate to make the USB powered all the time. 
I just had to move the fuse from one slot to another. 

[Wlmedley]

Bought a new truck in 2015.GMC 2500.At the time I didn't think I could afford what I wanted but dealer spec'ed out what they called a work truck.6.0 gas engine,auto transmission,4x4,Power windows,ac,blue tooth,towing package,spray in bed liner,power mirrors,cruise control and several other options I'd never had before.Doesn't have carpet and has cloth seats but still nicer than any truck I've ever had.Paid $37,000 at the time.Rides a little rough on bad roads but is the quietest vehicle I've ever owned.Worst thing is 12 mpg but I don't drive it that much.I think it's got 30,000 miles.May be the last truck I ever buy.

[Ljohnsaw]

I have to have the truck running to charge my cell phone. What a pain that is.

If it happens to be a GM, there may be fuse you can relocate to make the USB powered all the time.
I just had to move the fuse from one slot to another.

Same for newer Rams.  Worked putting a dash cam in a guys truck.  The instructions in the owner's manual are worthless.  Need to YouTube it.  Something like move fuse 91 to the 92 position.  Yeah, 90 plus fuses! :

[btulloh]

Lots of good input already. Really comes down to getting what you need for it to perform the function plus doodads you want. I kinda like all the doodads, but it is a little overwhelming these days. 

One thing I didn't see mentioned yet is a built in brake controller. Much cleaner than trying to stick one somewhere after the fact. Probably standard with a tow package, but something to check.

Wimedley is onto something about spec'ing out a truck.  Probably the best way to go.  I'd be curious to see the price of his truck today.  Still better than buying one off the lot though.

I'd also recommend finding the fleet sales people near you. They are a pleasure to deal with and not the usual dealer and sales types. They don't mind selling a single truck to an individual, they just don't want to deal with typical tire kickers and wheedlers that buy at the standard dealers. Good pricing is the norm at fleet sales, even for a single vehicle.

Some of my favorite comfort features are: heated steering wheel, electric folding mirrors, sonar front and back, memory seats (yes, really!).  The auto sensing wipers and headlights are pretty good these days too, although not that big of a deal.  It is nice though to get in my truck day or night, rain or shine, and everything is set for takeoff.  they only time I really need to mess with controls is with trailers, and the onboard brake controller has 5 different trailer memories so it's pretty easy to just yse my different trailers with different braking parameters. Still have to adjust the gain for empty vs. loaded, but everything else is stored in memory.  

It sounds like your towing needs would best be handled in 3/4 ton. 1/2 tons have some good tow specs these days, but doing a lot of heavy towing really works better in the 3/4 ton.  Or a one ton serious work.  You will give up ride comfort though once you go above the 1/2 ton version. Maybe air bags would help - I've got know experience with air bags. 

I hear that new vehicle prices and availability are coming back to somewhat normal. Its still pretty pricey to get a good truck though.  Good luck with your quest!

[sawguy21]

I cussed my 05 Ram because I had to keep the engine running to charge the phone. After years of this I discovered a live port to the left of the drink tray the charger stays plugged into. :

[chet]

Got in my 2011 truck awhile back and da steering wheel was tipped down and pulled way out.    DanG , now how did this git broke. Then da wife explained ta me she had moved it 'cause it was more comfortable' for her. 12 years and I never know I could adjust it.   :

[SwampDonkey]

4-cylinder Tacoma for me. I have towed a 16' foot trailer with roofing steel on it before. Of course I was on the back roads, not the 4-lane. ;D But I mostly just need a basic, reliable, cheap to maintain gaser to haul clearing saws around the county for work and haul firewood to the house. Going on 9 years, no issues, no rust. I had a small chev in the 80's that was reliable, but rusted to heck by 10 years and a Dodge 1500 that was a pile dog doo by year 8. :D

[woodroe]

Just had my 2nd F 150 taken off the road, failed inspection, could 
poke holes through the rusted out frame. Seen it coming but was hoping to get
another year out of it. 
So was ready to downsize anyway. Just don't need a big truck anymore.
Found a 2013 Tacoma SR5 auto. with 14K miles on it. Like new, nice truck, Like.
Gas mileage 21-22 mpg, Like that too. 

[Claybraker]

Vented cooled light colored seats. Any color besides Black sorta works around here, but my summer clothing tends to be shorts and sandals. Ever sat down on a Black seat in August? If it's too hot for a dog to walk on pavement that is too hot for my bottom. Remote start, cools the interior a bit.

Last year I started looking to replace my Pavement Princess 2015 Ram 1500 Diesel, not because I needed to, but some of the new electronical thingys are really nice. I thought I would like the 650-700 mile range but my bladder can't hold out that long on the highway. Super comfy ride. If I have to I'll just keep it until I find something I like enough to open my checkbook for.