Thinking About Upgrading to Full Size Half Ton...Best Bang for The Buck?

[-LadyDirt-]

Im assuming every dealer is different, I was going by what Sherwood Park Toyota had listed currently for 2012 Tacomas, and they had no TRDs listed, just the bare bone 4 door 4X4's and they were listed between 36-38K, but the numbers are never going to be consistent and just because what their listed for doesn't mean that's what someone is going to pay, and of course I know that. Dealers will always list prices high and keep them high on the website listings because, from what my friend told me, its because the manufacturers dont necessarily allow them to list for below MSRP on the websites, which is quite understandable. But I'm simply going by private list prices here, not by what its actually worth. And the truck is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I'm not really concerned about what the dealerships are listing Tacomas for used, because their always higher so I'm just comparing what some are listed for on Kijiji, and there isn't a whole lot of comparison right now, but the few i've found that are similar to mine are listed for anywhere between 32K-35K, depending on mileage, extras, etc. So all i'm saying is that I THINK I can get around 30K for it. I'd list it for similar to what others are listed for, and since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot like mine on the market, atleast there isn't a ton of competition. But hey, even If i got 28-29 for it.. I'm still making money off it, and that's the only point I'm trying to get at, if I can make money I'm happy. Even if I waited a year from now, I might only realistically be able to get 23-26K for it, but I'll only owe 19K. I can only hope for the best obviously, buying and selling vehicles is always a gamble, and they are no doubt the worst investment ever becuase of depreciation, but I'm hoping my Tacoma resale value could potentially give me an upper hand. If it doesnt, then I'll gladly keep it.. I am very happy with this truck, she does her job well and suits us just fine for now

 

[-LadyDirt-]

I actually really wish my boyfriend would sell his little SUV, buy a different truck so I can keep my Tacoma, because there's been times where we've both needed or wanted it for our own seperate occasions and of course because its mine he doesn't win, so sometimes it would be handy for us to have two trucks but at the same time his is almost paid off, and isn't worth much so financially it makes more sense to keep his as the beater and sell mine becuase its worth more and can upgrade without costing much more, but its still a very tough decision for me LOL, and I have to make all the decisions.. I thought the men were supposed to be the ones making all these decisions! I buy the truck, the house, and he's just fine with whatever no input what so ever. "Hey honey I found a real good deal on a house today, gonna go look at it... might put a offer in.." .."Okay dear whatever you want". "Hey honey.. I bought the house..." "OKay dear..good for you". "Hey honey I found a good deal on a dirtbike..wanna come look?" "no thats okay you can go.." "Hey honey... wanna look at some trucks?" "No thats okay, you go look.. do whatever you gotta do.." lol.. like geez

 

[Toyboy]

Sounds like you just need to tell him that "he" sold his SUV and he bought a RAM 1500 for a good price!! It doesn't sound like he would argue that much and you get the best of both worlds. That way when it leaves him somewhere on the side of the road you can go and get him!! lol

Sorry could resist. Driving a Dodge would drive me nuts unless I needed a 1 ton diesel dually then there is not much choice!!

 

[-LadyDirt-]

SO.. we test drove a 2012 Ram 1500 Sport - Fully loaded, and a 2011 Ford F-150 Ecoboost, fully loaded. Apples to apples I think the Ecoboost is the way to go, honestly I found the Dodge to be a bit of a nicer drive for me, it hugged my little frame, was a lot better in terms of blind spots, etc than the Ford, I had to play around for 10 mins with the Lariat to get the adjustable pedals and seat to work for me where my little legs did'nt feel like i was losing circulation, but when it did it felt alright. I just can't help but say I enjoyed driving the Dodge more, but my boyfriend liked the Ford better (he would be driving it more). But I think the Ecoboost is the way to go. Here's what we found comparing pros/cons..

Dodge Pros: ATCO employee discount pricing (cost + %2), can get into a 2012 fully loaded with ALL the options we want, sticker price on the truck we want is 50K, can get it for 38K (depending on what I get from my Tacoma maybe less). Was nicer and funner to drive for me (seats felt more comfortable, the Hemi was very powerful and was hard not to stomp on it, smooth cornering, etc. The salesman wasn't pushy, no pressure what so ever.. all around was a great truck and great experience. Not sure how it would stack up to the Ecoboost when your talkign long term, towing, fuel mileage etc.

Dodge Cons: We pretty much need a minimum 6ft box, its the only way we can fit both dirt bikes and all our crap in the box and be able to close the tailgate, the thing is, we also want the big crew cab, quad cab is too small - You can only get a 5.5 ft box with the Crewcab in Dodge.. big bummer. Dodge finance rates is %6.. absolutely NO WAY we would finance through the dealership with these rates.. the only way we could get a Dodge is if we went and got one of our condos appraised..AGAIN, and as long as it came out to a certain amount we could pull an equity LOC out of the property and get maybe just over %3 to finance the truck, but there's a lot of chit involved with this... another bummer...

Ford Pros: They told us they will also honor the ATCO discount pricing (cost + %2), their finance rates are %3.9 considerably better than Dodge, we might be able to get the truck we want (F150 FX4 Ecoboost) fully loaded, for about the same price, maybe just slightly bit more then what we can get the Dodge for. My boyfriend really loved driving the Ford, for his bigger frame it suit him better. We like the whole concept of the Ecoboost, it was a very quiet truck to drive, was pretty peppy and I liked the electronic steering feature they have in it, how it adjusts at different speeds. Heres another kicker.. we can get the supercrew, nice big luxurious cab, HUGE backseat.. AND a 6.5 ft box!! It makes for an extremely large truck, absolutely will not fit in my garage, but we dont have to make sacrifices in terms of comfortability and convenience with our cargo space.

Ford Cons: I found the truck to be very choppy in sense of the transmission, every time I put it in drive, or park, or went from a dead stop to accelerate, the transmission clunked and made the truck lurch quite a bit. It was noisier as far as "wind" noise on the hwy compared to the Dodge, but thats probably because the throaty purrr of the hemi covered it up and the quiet V6 of the ecoboost didn't. I did like the sound of the turbos when they kicked in though, sounded like you were in a diesel or a jet. Also, you have to put premium fuel (or atleast it is recommended) in the Ecoboost. Premium is atleast 5 cents more/litre. Not a HUGE deal, overall, you're probably saving $ in gas mileage anyway. The truck is way too long for our garage, again, not the end of the world but I dont even know if the Dodge would fit either. I can just barely get my Tacoma in the garage, and you can't even fit a pinker finger between my bumper and the wall of the garage. The salesman at Ford was pretty pushy.. and when he realized we weren't going to buy a truck that day (They didn't even have the truck we wanted in stock) he pretty much sent us on our way and basically don't come back until we're ready to buy LOL..fawker..

So that was that.. both trucks have their pros/cons. Both of them want my Tacoma pretty bad but they both agreed we will get more for it selling privately then what the dealer will give us on a trade. So now we have a bit of work to do before we can list the Tacoma (seat belt repair and detailing). Then we'll throw er on Kijiji and see what we can get..

 

[Mikew5j]

The 6.5 foot box is a nice feature on the Ford. That's what I have on mine and it's great. As the the transmission, when it's new and still learning your driving habits, it can be a bit rough. Over 500 km it will smooth out. When I first got mine I couldn't tell if it was running half the time because it's so quiet. After 5K I still cant tell, but I just assume it is.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Overall it was a very nice truck and I think it suits our needs/wants a bit better. Just need to work out the pricing. Also, the FX4 Ecoboost with the luxury package (similar to Lariat) is extremely hard to get, so we could be waiting for a while and might even have to do a factory order on a 2012, but we'll see. Still in no mad rush, have to sell the Tacoma first as I don't think i'm willing to lose the amount of money on it that we would if we traded it in. There's lots of Lariat Ecoboosts but I absolutely hate chrome with a passion so its FX4 or nothing for me, and of course I also want the color that is hard to get as well. Haha, but I wont settle.. that's just the way it is.

 

[Slamnek]

I loved my 07 chevy 1/2 ton. 180,000 km and zero issues other than a wheel bearing on warrenty and tie rod ends at 160,000. I pulled a 3700lb 19 foot trailer with my quad no problem

 

[-LadyDirt-]

This is the truck we're after... with the ecoboost..I could probably do white as well but I have a thing for candy red

 

[underdog]

Red is definitely a hot color.

Sent from my Desire HD

 

[magnet]

two excellant choices dirt. i went with the ford because of the cab size over the dodge, and the dodge dealer was agummy, wanted the same price for a 3 yr old dodge with 100k on it as i could get the ford for with less k and more options. good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Yeah I definitely do not like the bright flame red, but the candy apple red's are really, really hot. I didn't like them until I got my Tacoma, now I'm not sure I can live without it. I do like white, but actually I'm far more impressed how clean the candy reds look compared to white when they're actually dirty. In the picture I posted of my Tacoma, it hasn't been washed for over a month, yet it looks like it was just polished. My truck can be filthy, grimey, muddy and dusty yet from a slight distance it looks shiney and clean lol.

Yeah the Ford has won the battle, my buddy is a manager at a GM dealership and he's trying to compete for my business as well, but I'm not sure its even worth it at this point. I really don't think anything can compare to this Ecoboost, plus the last time I test drove and looked into GM's, I was not overly impressed with their trucks in general. Their pricing also seems too high for what you get, but my buddy says he will put me in a fully loaded GMC for cost pricing as well. Meh.. I dunno.

 

[JaySimon]

but my buddy says he will put me in a fully loaded GMC for cost pricing as well. Meh.. I dunno.

Might as well drive one, then you've been in everything and it may help ease your mind.

Those eco-boosts sure look sweet though...

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Might as well drive one, then you've been in everything and it may help ease your mind.

Those eco-boosts sure look sweet though...

I've driven an 09', not sure how much difference there will be in the 2011's/12's, but I wasn't overly satisfied with the trucks. Agreed, the Ecoboost I think is going to be the future of pickups as someone has mentioned on here already lol. It doesn't sound like a very powerful truck, I think to some it is degrading lol. Actually, a buddy of mine got the 6.2 Platinum and the only reason why he didn't get the Ecoboost is because it didnt' sound manly enough LOL, like seriously? I mean, yeah the slight tick,tick,tick sound of the 3.5L V6 makes it sound like a Ford Ranger, but its unbelievable what this engine is capable of. The whistley diesel/jet sound of the turbos is kinda sweet though lol. Overall pretty sweet truck.

 

[jusDOOit]

Cant beat the sound of a hemi tho! I chose the dodge when i bought a truck in May this year. I was in love with this truck when they came out and when i went to the dealership to see if they had a black one... there she was with only 3.0 kms! 3 days later i drove it home. I love the black when its cleaned up like in the pic (after clay bar and wax..) but any little spec of dust shows on it..


But that Candy Red EcoBoost sure does look sharp!

 

[250mark1]

One problem with the fx4 is the painted bumpers will chip from rocks being thrown at them on the front and rear ( from the front) after a couple years they start to look crappy

 

[Mikew5j]

One problem with the fx4 is the painted bumpers will chip from rocks being thrown at them on the front and rear ( from the front) after a couple years they start to look crappy

That's why I went Lariat with chrome. However Lady doesn't like the chrome look, so I would suggest getting 3M rock guard applied as soon as she gets it. That will help. I had it put on the painted part of the bumper and the front of the hood. 5,000 km so far and holding up well.

 

[Mikew5j]

I've driven an 09', not sure how much difference there will be in the 2011's/12's, but I wasn't overly satisfied with the trucks. Agreed, the Ecoboost I think is going to be the future of pickups as someone has mentioned on here already lol. It doesn't sound like a very powerful truck, I think to some it is degrading lol. Actually, a buddy of mine got the 6.2 Platinum and the only reason why he didn't get the Ecoboost is because it didnt' sound manly enough LOL, like seriously? I mean, yeah the slight tick,tick,tick sound of the 3.5L V6 makes it sound like a Ford Ranger, but its unbelievable what this engine is capable of. The whistley diesel/jet sound of the turbos is kinda sweet though lol. Overall pretty sweet truck.

I put an Airaid intake on mine and the sound of the turbos is enhanced a fair bit. Not a whistle so much as the sound of the air rushing through. Livens up the engine a bit too. Not that it needs it. I want to do the exhaust to get rid of the "Model T" sound, but I haven't decided on a exhaust kit yet.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Yeah I don't think I would own a new vehicle and not have 3M on it. My Tacoma has 3M on the entire front end (hood, bumper, grill, headlights, etc), mirrors, and it has the rockerguard stuff on the rocker panels. Yeah I can't stand chrome, end of story haha. My Dad bought me a dodge truck when I was younger for my birthday, it was white.. and chrome! literally half the truck was white and half of it was chrome.. chrome bumpers, chrome rocker, chrome mirrors, even a chrome toolbox in the back, chrome strip trim all down the side, chrome wheels.. OMG, I hated it. I mean I happily accepted the truck becuase my Dad gave it to me as a gift and I pretended I loved it, but after that thing I just can't handle chrome!! LOL

 

[Mikew5j]

Yeah I don't think I would own a new vehicle and not have 3M on it. My Tacoma has 3M on the entire front end (hood, bumper, grill, headlights, etc), mirrors, and it has the rockerguard stuff on the rocker panels. Yeah I can't stand chrome, end of story haha. My Dad bought me a dodge truck when I was younger for my birthday, it was white.. and chrome! literally half the truck was white and half of it was chrome.. chrome bumpers, chrome rocker, chrome mirrors, even a chrome toolbox in the back, chrome strip trim all down the side, chrome wheels.. OMG, I hated it. I mean I happily accepted the truck becuase my Dad gave it to me as a gift and I pretended I loved it, but after that thing I just can't handle chrome!! LOL

Then you won't like mine...

 

[polaris011]

the new fords are sweet just bought one two months ago already have 12000 km on it and i love it gets good fuel milage and the big 130 liter tank or what ever it is is wicked... i downsized from a duramax and never thought i would like it but so for its doing the job... i priced out 3m rock guard for the front of my truck and it was over $500 is that normal???