:::You've Got To Buy A Fleet Of Trucks: Which One?

[NDL]

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to reply to my thread - which I started out of interest as much as I did out of necessity.

Originally Posted By: hemitruck
My last 4 trucks have been rams. I would suggest a ram slt with the six cyl Pentastar.


The newer pentastar have been durable? I know the earlier models had problems with cylinder heads.

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
As to your basic work truck with a 6 cyl, I wouldn't. The small V8 gets about the same mileage and is much more driveable and much more powerful. (Comparing GM)

For Ford, the turbo V6 is a good engine. If they sell a non-turbo version of the engine, I would prefer the V8 or the turbo for sure.


GM's eights are certainly cheaper to fix than Ford's turbo sixes. I'd still probably opt for the base engine, as I will be looking at a two wheel drive truck, and I don't tow anything.

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
To be honest, and I give this advice to anyone looking at a full size truck, go out and drive them. The big three all make good trucks, as does Toyota. They all have there quirks and issues.

I also would not be afraid of aluminum. Because of higher labor on repairs, often times instead or repair, it becomes replace with aluminum. Different, but as there gets to be more and more of it out there, it is less of an issue.


Appreciate the feedback. The benefit of aluminum (to me) is that it is rustproof - a consideration, being that I hold onto my vehicles for a long time.

Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
None of the above. I would go with some 1998+ Ford Rangers, and make my employees repair and maintain them.


I currently drive a Ranger. Love the truck, but wish for more legroom and a larger bed. The Ranger is a fantastic truck, however.

Originally Posted By: PumpPusher
I would stick to a full size truck of any make simply for safety. As a tech I use small hand tools and meters. Most would fit in the front seat next to me and I never carry anything heavy. My next truck will be a '18 Ram 3500 Laramie dually loaded with all kinds of stuff I don't need. Some days your truck is your office, be comfy!


Only if I win the lottery

.

 

[BAJA_05]

Dodge Trucks & Mercedes Vans

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Truck: 2wd 4.3 Chevy 1500.
Van: Transit 3.7

 

[Panzerman]

Don't listen to these guys that say a V6 in a full size truck is underpowered. I get company trucks, or my company does and I drive them. That's all they get base models with V6s. Ford, Dodge and Chevy.
They all run good and all get up and go. All 4x4 too.
We don't pull trailers but for average hauling homeowner and even farming, a V6 is fine.
That said I own a V8 Hemi in my truck and I can tell you the upgrade from a V6 to V8 is not worth the money.

 

[PimTac]

FUSO.

 

[NDL]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Don't listen to these guys that say a V6 in a full size truck is underpowered. I get company trucks, or my company does and I drive them. That's all they get base models with V6s. Ford, Dodge and Chevy.
They all run good and all get up and go. All 4x4 too.
We don't pull trailers but for average hauling homeowner and even farming, a V6 is fine.
That said I own a V8 Hemi in my truck and I can tell you the upgrade from a V6 to V8 is not worth the money.



Appreciate the reply. The ultimate determination will be a test drive of each truck, but I still have some time until I am ready to buy (and I don't want to waste the salesperson's time, test driving a vehicle until I am serious about buying something).

All of that in mind, I hope you might satisfy my curiosity: Would you say that the 24 valve DOHC motor is tuned for truck use (enough low end torque for most applications)? Also, how is the "real world" mileage on all three? Not looking for numbers specifically, but is any one engine noticeably thirsty?

***

Would y'all say that 200k miles is a realistic lifespan for all three trucks (Ford 3.3L; Chevy 4.3L and Ram 3.6L Pentastar) assuming that all are properly maintained?

I appreciate everyone's patience with me as I navigate my way through this. When looking online, someone will always have something negative to say about one brand, or engine. On the other hand, I know that y'all have real world experience with automotive products, which I find useful.

Again, thanks to all for your time.

 

[Silverado12]

If I had to choose I would probably choose Ford.

 

[eyeofthetiger]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
and make my employees repair and maintain them.
How would you do that?


I own the business, so I can do what I want. Repairing and maintaining company vehicles will be part of everyone's job. I want my auto parts employees to have hands-on experience.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
and make my employees repair and maintain them.
How would you do that?


I own the business, so I can do what I want. Repairing and maintaining company vehicles will be part of everyone's job. I want my auto parts employees to have hands-on experience.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Don't listen to these guys that say a V6 in a full size truck is underpowered. I get company trucks, or my company does and I drive them. That's all they get base models with V6s. Ford, Dodge and Chevy.
They all run good and all get up and go. All 4x4 too.
We don't pull trailers but for average hauling homeowner and even farming, a V6 is fine.
That said I own a V8 Hemi in my truck and I can tell you the upgrade from a V6 to V8 is not worth the money.


The Ecotec3 4.3 has more torque than the older 4.8 v8 ...

 

[glock19]

I think they would all be decent trucks, it's really personal preference. If you want to go based on the V6's they offer, I would go with GM. It's definitely better tuned for truck use than the other two (40 ft/lb more torque).

 

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted By: glock19
I think they would all be decent trucks, it's really personal preference. If you want to go based on the V6's they offer, I would go with GM. It's definitely better tuned for truck use than the other two (40 ft/lb more torque).


This. If choosing base V6, I would no doubt choose the Chevy.

 

[FutureDoc]

Originally Posted By: NDL


Appreciate the reply. The ultimate determination will be a test drive of each truck, but I still have some time until I am ready to buy (and I don't want to waste the salesperson's time, test driving a vehicle until I am serious about buying something).

All of that in mind, I hope you might satisfy my curiosity: Would you say that the 24 valve DOHC motor is tuned for truck use (enough low end torque for most applications)? Also, how is the "real world" mileage on all three? Not looking for numbers specifically, but is any one engine noticeably thirsty?

***

Would y'all say that 200k miles is a realistic lifespan for all three trucks (Ford 3.3L; Chevy 4.3L and Ram 3.6L Pentastar) assuming that all are properly maintained?

I appreciate everyone's patience with me as I navigate my way through this. When looking online, someone will always have something negative to say about one brand, or engine. On the other hand, I know that y'all have real world experience with automotive products, which I find useful.

Again, thanks to all for your time.


My real-world mileage- which is strongly "city low speed, lots of stops" slanted. Almost anyone who is not idling will get better than me in most cases.

Ford 3.7L Transits: 11-13 MPG. Minimal idling but all low-speed city driving with a lot of start/stop. Heavy Hauling Duty. I think the 12ish is fantastic. Compared to the 350/450s at 5-8mpg, this is amazing!

Ford F150 3.3 - 15-17 MPG - Again, mostly low-speed city but some highway

Ford 350 5.4L - 7.5 MPG All City/Hauling duty

E450 D: 6.5-8MPG - All city

Caravans, 3.3L and newer 3.6: 18-22MPG 60% Highway. Can get into the upper 20 on long highway stents. Still, the Fusions I have will easily average over 30.

Explorer 3.5 and 3.7 - 18-21.

Journey 3.6: 23MPG

Transit Connect 2.0 : 17

Nissan NV 2.0 : 24 WINNER! Sucks to drive on the highway but it is my personal favorite in the group.

Chevy 4.3 1500: 15-18

Chevy 4.8 1500: 14 MPG (all local use for trades)

Chevy 5.3 1500 (Suburbans) 16 MPG - a Lot more highway use compared to other vehicles.


Fleet vehicles are not 200K vehicles for the most part... unless they are logging a LOT of miles and you have a high tolerance for repairs. It *can* be done but for me it is a lot more cost effective to replace earlier in the life cycle rather than drive them into the dirt. Resale of 160K vehicles is surprisingly high for truck. I was able to roll over into new vehicles for $15K or less out of pocket based on trade in for some pickups. (Then again, I can take advantage of government pricing).

 

[01rangerxl]

I work for a dealer that has GM, Hyundai, and Kia and does a lot of wholesale body orders (lots of big parts). Our local pickup fleet is made up of four GMT800s and one GMT900, all but one are V8s. All of the GMT800s have over 200k, the one with the highest miles is a 2004 1500 5.3 Silverado with over 460K. We like the 800s because they are easy for us to get parts for and are pretty simple. We definitely have an aging fleet though.. basically every other dealer has much newer trucks. We do have problems out of our aging trucks, but we have enough trucks that one or two can be down without it being an issue. Currently the only pickup down is a loaded '04 Sierra (Bose and all in a parts truck) with 300K on it. Its brake lights stay on all the time, and it's not the switch.

We'll buy anything, it's just easiest to use GM being a GM dealer. We were going to add a 2002 F-150 V6 trade in to the fleet, but it got snapped up at the auction.

When there's a crisis of some kind and the world will stop if a part is not delivered NOW, a lot of times I get roped into it, so one of my old Rangers is the delivery vehicle. One customer in MS thought it was kind of funny that his emergency crisis Kia trunk lid was delivered in a 23 year old truck.

 

[NDL]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
If I had to choose I would probably choose Ford.


I'll probably go Ford again; I love the Ranger I currently own.

Originally Posted By: Miller88

The Ecotec3 4.3 has more torque than the older 4.8 v8 ...


Originally Posted By: glock19
I think they would all be decent trucks, it's really personal preference. If you want to go based on the V6's they offer, I would go with GM. It's definitely better tuned for truck use than the other two (40 ft/lb more torque).


Originally Posted By: DriveHard

I think they would all be decent trucks, it's really personal preference. If you want to go based on the V6's they offer, I would go with GM. It's definitely better tuned for truck use than the other two (40 ft/lb more torque).


No question about that; I have always preferred OHV engines over DOHC; they're simple, and GM's 4.3 puts out an incredible amount of torque.

Originally Posted By: FutureDoc
Ford F150 3.3 - 15-17 MPG - Again, mostly low-speed city but some highway


Appreciate the feedback. 15-17 is decent around town. Thanks

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I work for a dealer that has GM, Hyundai, and Kia and does a lot of wholesale body orders (lots of big parts). Our local pickup fleet is made up of four GMT800s and one GMT900, all but one are V8s. All of the GMT800s have over 200k, the one with the highest miles is a 2004 1500 5.3 Silverado with over 460K


Appreciate the feedback. When I was a kid I worked for NAPA, and 200k was not unheard of on a Chevy 1500 4.3. Glad to hear that that's still the norm.

 

[NDL]

***


And thanks again, to all who participated in this thread. I plan on test driving all three, and will make my decision then. Surprised not to have heard horror stories with the Pentastar (cylinder head issue).

Again, the feedback is appreciated

 

[Crispysea]

Here, AZ and AAP both use Colorados (L5 I think). AZ’s are red, AAP’s are white. As for cars, AAP uses Sonics. I think AZ uses Fits.

The Pentastar is pretty solid. I’d say at least 75% of cabs I see locally are Dodge vans.

 

[DriveHard]

rented a 2018 Dodge ram 1500 with a v6 just today. Drove from Ames to Minneapolis with a slight tail wind. Cruise set at 75. Got 17.5 mpg...not quite what I was expecting. I will say the truck started with only 35 miles on it...so maybe it is still breaking in???

 

[DriveHard]

On the return trip I got 17.3 mpg. I would have gotten the same or better with my 6.2L Silverado on the same trip at the same speed.

One thing that annoyed the [censored] out of me is every tiny little up-hill made the transmission downshift. VERY annoying

The engine had adequate power when pushed to the higher RPM's, but it certainly didn't feel like a truck engine...felt much more like a car engine. I think it would go nicely in a two door coupe with a 6 speed manual. Almost no torque at all off the line. I would HATE to tow with it. For daily driving empty it was fine, but for sure not a truck-like drive train.

I was very happy to get back in my Chevy

 

[supton]

I suspect you will need to get used to that. If a vehicle is geared so that top gear is deep enough to climb a hill--then it's not tall enough on flat ground. Let alone downhill. Need a diesel with a manual to get something that has full torque down low--or a turbo motor. Your 6.2, well that isn't a small motor.

FWIW, my truck is low on torque. What I do is use the manual shift mode--it is not fully manual, all I can do is lock out gears above whatever number I select. So on my 6AT I often will lock out 6th if I know I won't go over 60mph or so. Heck I will sometimes drop it to 4th if it's really hilly. But it is so much nicer to not have to deal with up/down if I let it do its thing.