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New pickups


Nightpath

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Lately I've been gazing lovingly at new pickup trucks, trying to find the best one to fit my needs of 4x4, crew cab with rear seats big enough to hold 2 x 6'2 adults comfortably for several hours of driving. After looking this rules out the Colorado, Tacoma, Ranger and those smaller sized rides. I won't be rallying it down dirt roads or rock crawling.

Right now I'm looking at a 2018 GMC Sierra, it's about the smallest cab I'd go. It drove nice, kind of a stiff drive but I hear it has shoddy transmissions. I've also rented a big old F150 and it drove fairly nice but I worry about all the recalls and problems I keep seeing on the sites. The Ram (Hemmmmiiiii) looks like a nice ride but is a bit of a premium price over the other 2. Then there are the Tundra and Titan which are nice but I have no experience with.

Anyone have any experience with the newer model pickups? I know something I kind of don't like is the hesitation off the line of the Dodge and Ford.

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My bother had a rented GM last summer.  4x4, crew cab, 1500.  He's used to a 2008 Dodge 2500HD Cummins 4x4 single cab.  He hated the GM.  Especially the start/stop engine management in traffic.

Other than that I have no comments to offer!  Good luck!

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When I bought my RAM I found it to be better priced than the GM / GMC truck (more features for the same or lower cost). What I'm finding now is the quality of the truck is ... poor. Truck is just over three years old and has about 52,000 kms.

  • Transmission shifts rough, dealer cannot diagnose (no CEL)
  • Engine hesitates between 4 / 8 cylinder mode - I'm told it is normal
  • Gauge cluster back lights flicker in cold weather
  • Parking brake required complete rebuild after 2.5 years ($1500 - requires disassembly of rear axle); I'm told this is a known issue and FCA refused to help
  • Dash squeaks and creaks in cold weather
  • HVAC has a chirping / squeaking noise
  • The touch screen / radio system randomly does not start or will freeze up (requires the truck being turned off and door open to restart)
  • Rear brake pads de-laminated from backing plates - squeal like you would not believe

I didn't have issues like this with any other GM vehicle I've owned. The H2 had transmission issues, but I'm sure a lot of that was self inflicted by the way I drove it in the trails. The RAM has never seen anything beyond a dirt road.

Also, my neighbor has a MY16 RAM, it's about six months newer than mine, it has the following issues that I am aware of:

  • Front rotors completely trashed (warped) around 45k
  • Paint bubbling on front right fender
  • Driver's door hinge failing - door will not shut properly without slamming, truck randomly thinks door is open
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40 minutes ago, Nightpath said:

Big old Hummer...sweet jeebus.

Did the Ram have a 6 speed or the newer 8 speed? I haven't heard much bad about the Eco Diesel and new transmission.

I have the 5.7L HEMI and the 8 speed transmission.

Avoid the first generation Eco Diesel (2014/2015) - they were garbage. They have a tendency detonate around 20k miles (bad cranks, bottom ends come out).

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XLT Ford trucks we have a fleet of them with the 5.0 engine and 10-speed Transmissions, they are all having issues with oil consumption all five of them 2017 and 2018 models one of them got a complete short block one of them got a pair of heads and the other two haven't been diagnosed yet and one is still in the oil consumption monitoring stage so that's five trucks all with an oil consumption issue the one that got the short block was using a leader a day with City driving, also the 10-speed transmission sucks it's always hunting never in a gear with up shifts and downshifts Skip shifts it just never seems to be in a gear it's always changing gears, I don't think any of them are over 20,000 or 30,000 clicks yet

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  • 2 weeks later...

Be sure to know the Ten speed transmissions are the same one in GM and Ford. Currently comparing with someone who similarly drives to me the brand new 5.3 gets 14.6L/100km commuting mainly highway. 

The best suggestion is to drive all of them, find the one whos interior suits you best. Ford will probably have best mileage, Dodge will be great for towing and use that way, GM is middle road all around with old Engine, and Toyota Tundra is overpriced and has higher mileage ratings (I own a 2015 Tundra its at 15.1L/100km calculated not using built in number). 

I would buy Toyota again, and I almost had a RAM 1500. The durability after putting it through rally conditions impressed me. A buddy of mine has a Ford F150 (sport first, now he has a Roush), the Sport had issues three years in with quality, so it was traded for the Roush. Which has some panel alignment issues. 

Honestly right now if you look at every spec, including cost, it would probably be GM as the best option. However I will go Toyota a few years older every time myself, plus the 2015 is the same as a 2019 minus brake controller and safety sensors.

I did the whole truck shopping thing about 7 months ago.

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  • 4 months later...

I have a Titan and absolutely love it! I've had it on rallies, to Newfoundland and to Quebec.  Like Tom already mentioned just drive them all.  Quality wise I find Nissan is right up there if not better than a lot of the others.  I have a PRO 4X and went to Antigonish this weekend, averaged 11L/100km. Up and back I used about half a tank and still have 400kms till empty (according to the onboard computer), my best mileage so far was in the 10L/100km range.

 

Overall I'm extremely happy with it thus far.

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On 2/22/2019 at 3:47 PM, autumnwalker said:

Update on my list of issues. Local dealership in Dartmouth replaced my gauge cluster as good will. It's only been a couple of days, but so far the flicker has been resolved!

I forgot about this thread …

My “new” gauge cluster malfunctioned shortly after installation - the speedometer needle jumps around +/- 5 or so km/h. I’ve been working with the dealer for a couple of weeks now on another replacement (issues with stock).

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