give me the year and I will take a peek. We drove 40k+ per year for decades, the reports can be quite accurate.
Chevy Colorado, Motor trend's truck of the year. Don't take my word for it, I drive a 10 year old Subaru I quit buying vehicles new back about 1984.
I have a 2013 Ram 1500, 8 cyc Hemi in the sport quad cab trim and love it. Great ride, enough power, and reasonable gas mileage. The back seat is big enough for 3 adults to sit comfortably. Yesterday I had 1,250 pounds in the bed and barely noticed the difference in acceleration, ride, & handeling. The 2014 is basically the same with a couple of more bells, whistles, and engine options. KaptJaq
Some of the payload and towing ratings they have on new trucks are crazy. The 2015 colorado is rated for 7K!! The F series super duties are boasting 33K+ !!!.
I pm'd you screen shots, sorry looks like I duplicated the pastes. Consumber reports likes the ford better for reliability, but both of the detailed screens are full of good ratings.
When you start getting up in the high range some of how legal you are depends on your towing configuration. I'm plated for 10k on the truck, and I could never come close to my gcvw 24500 without being over on the truck. It's nice knowing the motor and frame are capable of that though. The heaviest I've been was a bed full of oak and probably 1.5 or so cord on the trailer - guessing I was around 17000 - 19000 total but I know I would have been way over on the truck if I was scaled. Pulling it though the truck accelerated and handled like I was pulling an empty trailer. I'm a fan of the super duty.
I have a 2011 F150 Ecoboost Supercrew 4x4 with a 3.31 rear end. Great truck and with the high geared rear end it gives me 22-24 MPG hwy when commuting and still able to tow a 7000+ lb RV. The thing to remember about an Ecoboost is that it's either Eco or Boost....never both.
You have to wonder how they get those ratings. Is that the rating for an F350 or a 450/550? Towing 20K on a 1 ton dually can be a handful. I'm not sure I want to go to CDL territory.
I am looking for a new pickup also. The newer gas trucks will run along time and get decent milage I just could not justify buying a desil these days unless you pulled alot of heaven trailers daily. Desil=$$$ they are not cheap to fix when they break and the newer ones sem to have alot of problems.
This is out of the diesel supplement in my owners manual. They have my truck rated for 23500 gcvw which would be almost impossible to legally do without going over the 10k plates on the truck. Looks like the 450 pickup is 33k and the 550 is 35k. I'll tell you one thing, the motor will pull it. The heaviest I've been was probably 17k up and down big hills and I wasn't holding anyone up. Those numbers are for 2013. They might be slightly higher on 15's since the horsepower and torque numbers are up to 440 and 875 from 400 and 800 on mine.
The motors are certainly the least of my worries in new pickups. The diesels are stupid strong and the transmissions have come along ways starting with the introduction of the 5 speed Allisons and the other manufacturers newer trans offerings. But controlling that kind of a load (30K+) with even a 1 ton dually on a long wheelbase makes me nervous. Unless they have moved to commercial truck tires on them and have significantly upgraded the rolling hardware underneath, it's a scary proposition.
I wouldn't worry about an Italian diesel. Ever been to Europe? Way more diesels than gassers for all cars. European car makers definitely know how to build diesels and plenty of them, especially the smaller passenger car/light truck sizes. Both my wife and I switched to diesel cars for our daily drivers in the last couple of years and would never look back, especially if you are doing mostly highway driving. In the city, the advantages of the diesel are not as great vs. gas. Also, I found out last winter that diesel prices can spike in the Northeast if there is a cold winter and high demand for home heating oil.
Oh yeah, I agree. Mine is a 250 and the amount of squat in the rear suspension was rediculous from the factory. Added a leaf and air bags which took care of that - added a big degree of stability under heavy loads too.
