Anyone towed with the new Dodges or Fords?

TIme for a new truck. Currently a 07 F150 It has towed the boat okay, but the milage was really poor. The new F 150 has a 6 speed automatic box that should help but to be honest I think the lines on the new style are a bit soft.

Checked out the new Dodges, with the sport package they look really good! But I have no experience with the 5.7 Hemi and 5 speed automatic box. I like how they have geared the truck with a 3:93 as well.

Anyone tow with one? how are the brakes? Does the boat push the truck at all? milage?

If your worried about millage and getting pushed around get a diesel. You'll get far better millage and there aren't many wakeboard boats that you'll feel behind you.

I have an 09 2500, 5.7 4X4. I have towed a total of 10k with no problems power wise. I want to add an electric brake controller, but don't really tow that much. As for MPG, it likes to drink the gas. I average about 14-15 regardless of towing, hauling or empty.

Oh yeah, the diesel was almost $7k more than the Hemi.

I tow with a dodge ram 1500 4x4 with a 4.7. No issues. Gas mileage is not great. I'd go with a diesel if you plan on towing a lot and could afford it.

The 2011 ford looks cool. New diesel built by ford instead of international. It will be cool to see how well they do.

From what I hear, most of the new diesels get crappy mileage due to the emissions equipment.

Have an 09 f150 and it tows my supra launch 21v no problem. You do feel the boat some behind you as compared to my dads 08 f350 with the v10, but compared to the 05 f150 that I had you really don't feel the boat much. I only tow my boat about 2 miles to the ramp so my mileage for towing isn't really know. But the on board computer says I'm at 14.9. And I have 5500 miles on my truck.

What I would do if I was you. Is take whatever truck you are thinking about buying on a 24 hour test drive and tow your boat with it. That way you know personally how it tows.

The new 6 speed in the ford will do no good as far as mileage goes when towing. I came off of a 03 tundra that I used to tow my boat all over all the time. I just got a 2010 ram 1500 quad cab hemi with the 3.55 gears. I didnt even think about how it towed or whatever. My toyota towed just fine, this will be even better. If you dont want to feel it, get an electric brake controler and electric brakes on your trailer and a deisel. If you didnt like the way your F150 towed it before, a new one wont be any different. You probably wont be happy with a ram either for that matter.

If the boat is pushing the truck, your hydraulic brakes are not set right on the trailer. My truck is getting 16 or so fro mileage and I just have 1000 miles on it right now with it being in the middle of winter. You are going to have to give up something. You want it cheap, buy gas. If you want it to tow awesome, buy big, you want it to have good gas mileage, buy small. If you dont like how your 1/2 ton pulls now, nothing 1/2 ton out there will be so significantly different to wow you I would guess. Nothing has changed in the f150s since 07 to be stunningly different than what you have.

I dont get it when people complain about feeling a 5000+ boat and trailer when towing. For the love of god, it is 5000lbs you are pulling, not an alumunum fishing boat with oars. You will feel it. I do. I dont care, it comes with the territory. I daily drive my truck to work and the store and haul stuff in the bed. It rides good and gets decent mileage on the road. It isnt a stiff pig like a 2500 or better and gets better than 9mpg too. It is a fair trade off for when I am not pulling the boat the other 85% of the time. It isnt that big of a deal.

New Dodge is great.

I'm a Dodge diesel fan but they are more expensive initially but pull great. I'm fortunate to have the last year the 5.9L was available. The Hemi's are good but one thing Dodge is crazy in designing that motor is the spark plugs. You have to take off the intake manifold plus alot of other stuff to get to them. Pain in the butt and dealer wants $500+ just to change plugs.

(Message edited by you_da_man on February 14, 2010)

I've got a 1500 Hemi and absolutely love it. Gas mileage isnt great, but its a truck. Most dont get good mileage anyways. I reluctantly bought an F150 the day before I got the Hemi, and turned around and brought it back the next day (the dealership allows 3 days to bring it back). It just didnt have the same feel that the Hemi did. I like the interior a little better in the Ford, but the Dodge was the better overall product IMO.. As for diesels, they are nice, but they are way overblown by some around here (not all). You dont need a diesel to tow a boat. Its nice, sure, but I didnt want to get anything bigger than a 1/2 ton, so the Hemi was my choice

I love my 08 F250 PSD, it is an awesome truck. The only negative is the mileage...gets 12-13 around town, 15-16 on the highway. I own a shop, so about 50 percent of the time there is some sort of boat behind it, from a little aluminum rig up to 15K pound cruisers on our haul trailer. The truck tows extremely well.

Guys, to all of you thank you for the opinions.

I spent the morning driving the Dodges both the new 1500 and the new 3500 ( one spectrum to the other basically) The new 1500 is pretty awesome! Way more drivability then the F 150 I have now, the power is smoother and much more responsive. I really like how you can shift the 5 speed ( triptronic) it's a nice feature I cannot wait to use with the boat behind, easy to hold any gear going up a hill.

The ride is very plush with the rear coilover, overall I would say the best package in a 1500 truck.

On another note the 3500 is a beast, awesome truck but unless I was pulling something heavy everyday it is not really practical in my opinion. I would hate to drive it around town doing day stuff... If I do pull the trigger and go big it would be a F350.

Overall for my needs I think the new 1500 will be the best choice for day to day driving along with pulling the boat on the weekends.

Now it is time to see who wants to earn my business Im lucy I have 4 dodge dealers within 40K of me.

how did you like the Dodge 2500 Diesel?

you confused me when you said that you are Lucy

I'm sure that you meant lucky?

just harassing a bit.....

Yes Lucky...LOL

In B.C there are no 2500's at all ( all makes) we have a luxury tax here for anything over 50K. The difference between the 2500 and 3500's are eaten up with the tax so the dealerships will not stock them unless custom ordered.

The 3500's are exemp because they qualify as a commercial/farm vehicle.

ah...
thanks Kscales

Your reasoning is why I went with the dodge 1500 hemi. I didnt see myself buying one, untill I drove all the competition. It was pretty obvious after that. For reference, I bought mine 1.5 weeks ago, stickered out at 37,100 and bought it before tax and fees for 27,525. That was with the incentives made up for this month (including an extra 1000 for trading in a qualifying toyota, gimicky taking advantage of the recall situation, but, hey, I got an extra 1000) I believe I negoiated around 3500-4500 off after the incentives and I also got on top of that an extra 2500 over what blue book trade in on my truck was.

They have a lot of room to play and if they say they dont, find a new dealer. I, Like you, have many dealers in my area to pick from. I only went to 2 before I felt like I really couldnt do any better than that. I signed before they changed their minds.

Kscales, have you looked into buying in the US? Dave Smith is in Kellog Idaho. Biggest Dodge dealer in the world. I bought my 2500 HEMI for $500 over invoice with no bs. Hands down the easiest truck purchase I have ever made.

Just an idea.

i second the idea of Dave Smith. i bought two vehicles from them, and have not been able to find another dealer able to compete. i tried very hard to work with other dealers when i bought by 2010 Ram Crew Laramie with the Hemi, but in the end Dave Smith was the best price. I also appreciated that they went out of their way to find the closest thing to what i was looking for and were very up front about the pricing. I got my truck for ~$1,500 less than the other dealership were offering, and that INCLUDED almost $9k in accessories (including a 5 yr/100k bumper to bumper warranty).

I would love to buy in the Usa, but the warranty does not transfer over. The CND dealerships are very protective of this. I have had a few friends that have bought US cars and tried to have them worked on only to have "extreme" long waits.

I went to one dealer today, I basically gave him two choices in trucks ( Fully loaded Laramie in white or a Fully loaded Sport in Black)

When I build them both @ dodge.Ca they are right around 44K CND ( 41K USD) after the 6K factory rebate.

Fully loaded with Nav, backup cam, 3:93, tow mirrors basically everything.

I expect to hear back from one dealer tomorrow ( im guessing 41K CND) and then I will start fine tuning the deal. Just need a base line to start.

On a side note, do you guys have the crazy low finace right now? Prety hard to pass up @ 2.25% Ford is stupidly high @ 7.99%

Kscales, I just dug up my original invoice. 2009 Dodge 2500 SLT Quad Cab 4X4 Big Horn . MSRP $40,230. Invoice $36,147. I have the 5.7 HEMI w/5 speed auto. I had to add a class IV receiver and I added rear wheel well liners. Since then I added Line-X spray in bed liner, rock guard on the rocker panels and additional lights behind the grill.

Hope this helps some. Good luck.