its all on how you treat the trannys. my fathers went out on his 98 gmc with 80,000 miles.. my dodge lasted 220000 miles. but i change the fluid alot. chevy does get better mpg, but dodge seems to tow alot better. more stable. more capaible of towing.
I towed with a 2007 Chevy 5.3 to KY and back this past weekend. Got about 12 MPG. Towed great, but was a little underpowered in the mountains....just had to down shift a lot.
I would take the Dodge. I learned my lesson regarding small engines in full-size trucks with the first new Ram I bought (97 Club Cab, 6' box, 318). I bought my V10 a lear later.
i believe if you want a light duty truck you should go with a chevy. they get better mileage.
but if you want a heavy duty truck go with the dodge with a cummins. we have a 3500 mega and we get 17 mpg. which is pretty good for something that size.
All of the big three have their issues. The only thing that Chevy has going for it in my opinion is the availability of the Allison trans but that is only available in the HD trucks. I personally think that if you plan on towing go with at least 3/4 ton or larger. If budget allows go for a Diesel. I also think the new Chevy is butt ugly. If I were to go GM I would probably go with the GMC for the looks. As for transmissions take care of them and don't abuse them. Add the biggest trans cooler you can get. Heat kills transmissions. Change the fluid and filter at least once a year if you tow a lot. If you find the trans shifting a lot downshift to a lower gear. I drive a 2000 Ford F-250 Superduty with the 7.3 Powerstroke. It has almost 200,000 miles on it and I tow my Jeep on a trailer with a 2000lb camper in the bed of the truck. I have made many trips through the mountains with this setup with no catastrophic failures.:thumb:
Each truck is going to be similar in towing ability.... I believe what you are looking for is which, of the two trucks you are looking at, apeals the most for you.... you don't seem like you want to "buy" the vehicle but use it for a few years and turn it in... which it really doesn't matter which one you get at that point as you should be under the factory warranty for the whole period....
Now, I have towed my Humvee with an Escalade with the 6L in it down to GA and it was flawless. Set the cruise at 65 and it never faltered even in the mountains.... Even passed a few dodge diesel's carrying lighter loads...
I have also towed a 10k travel trailer with a 2500HD but it had a dmax.... it was amazing at pulling that trailer - much easier pull then with my Hummer...
Bottom line is.... get it setup to tow... get the one that appeals the most to you....
and since I work at GM, I hope you choose the Chevy, but the Guys down the street need sales too.....oke:
I drove to Indianapolis and back this week. Almost every hotshotter pulling travel trailers was driving a Dodge. I saw one Chevy. The pros are going with Dodge at this point. There were several Fords, but by far Dodge was the most common.
John, I would hands down go with a GMC or chevy on milage and drive quality. But with the big enclosed trailor you have I would strongly recommend looking in to a 3/4 ton. My dad has a 1/2 ton GM and we have towed my buggy cross country many times and get about 12 miles per gal, we tow at about 75mpg on avg.1500lb trailor 3500lb buggy
The 08's are out and ford is giving good rebates on the 07 5.4 supercrew's. I have one (really it's the wife's ) You should go test drive one and look at the towing capacity and cargo rating.....You can't drive 2 trucks. I tow 7,800 lb loaded trailer with mine and set the cruise at 70 and still get 13MPG/18 empty . Drive them all and make the salesman work for his money!
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