I have owned 70's and 80's Ford vans ( yes, I was part of the van craze), 80's and 90's ford pickups and a few chevys along the way. I even owned a Chevy S10 and a Ford F350 at the same time. my present daily driver is a 1995 F150 Flareside Extended cab with 308,042 miles on it. It is still a very reliable truck and I intend to upgrade the 300 six cylinder to a 351W. I have been a ford person all of my driving life. In my opinion, the Ford truck is overall the one to get. The phrase should be Ford Extra Tough.

 

I agree with this gentleman 100% All of the full size trucks are good, no matter the brand. They all have their down falls, and they all have their good points. I have owned all three, all three were damn good. That is an open minded POV folks. Seems likely to have bashers of other makes on an "f150 forum" who'da thunk it

 

Wow, this one got pulled out of the archives.

 

GM let me down when they took money from the gevernment and got rid of Pontiac. And I thought the new Silverados were ugly and not keeping with the design tradition. Almost got a Dodge but the Ford dealership gave me and my dad what we wanted. Glad I went with Ford because just after I bought my truck the whole taking money from the government thing happened.

 

When it comes to trucks, I'll stick with Ford, followed by Chevy, then Dodge
Cars though, I gotta go with Chevy, then Dodge, then Ford

 

For cars: Ford, Dodge, Chevy
For trucks: Ford, Chevy, Dodge

 

True, but another way to look at it is Comrade Obama gave them the money. Seems I remember a certain auto company (I am thinkin here.....yep, Ford) almost took some of that fast cash like Fiat-Chrysler and Govt-Motors being offered at the bench. I sum it up as Nasty Pelosi & Co. buying a certain demographic for votes, and the previous two autos jumped on the wagon. Union bought and paid for buy big govt. I agree, they shoulda got rid of GMC and kept the sport car sector of GM instead of a copy of Chvey.

 

You evidently haven't driven the new Fusion, Taurus or Flex yet. Especially the EcoBoost models. And the Fiesta that is coming over the pond, is getting rave reviews over there.

 

A fair amount of the discussion here is about newer trucks. Are peoples opinions the same with older Chevys and Fords? 80s and 90s? I am asking because i am a first time truck buyer and am looking for a used 4x4 to function as a second vehicle/work truck (dump runs, hauling firewood). I am doing as much research as i can so i can determine what rigs to look for as well as which to avoid. I only have a 5k budget for this and like most folks in these times, i'm trying to make every penny count.

 

I used to own an '81 F150 Rcab 4.9L XLT SB 4x4, '85 Ranger RCab 2.8L XLT LB 4x4 and a '99 Ranger SCab 3.0L FB/SB 4x4.

All trucks were pratically indestructible. The '81 with the 4.9L wasn't a fast truck, but it never failed me. Had 300K+ on the truck before any major issues (driveshaft snapped). Which was still a quick and easy replacement. The '85 Ranger 2.8L wasn't a speed demon either, hell couldn't even get it up to 80mph with it floored. But I beat that truck to crap in the AZ desert and kept coming back for more. Lasted me until 175K miles, no major issues (except ignition switch), until some guy broadsided me and totalled it out. The '99 Ranger wasn't quick either, but was flawless in problems and couldn't break the 80mph speed limit either. Wish I hadn't traded it in on my extremely problematic Explorer Limited 5.0L.

Now to compare to a Chevy trucks of similar years, I've never owned any but have many friends that did. While all were quicker than my Fords, they were more prone to rust out and couldn't handle some of the off-roading conditions that my trucks or other friends Toyota & Nissan Hardbody trucks could. My friends '96 S10 Rcab 4.3L SB Z pkg was a good looking truck, but had tons of electronic gremlins and could do no more off-road than my '99 Ranger, even with its larger displacement and much more powerful motor.

Personally though, if you are looking for an older truck as a 2nd vehicle to do basic work in, you really can't go wrong either way. Being they are at least 10-15yrs old, all will experience a problem here or there. Best bet is to go out and find the best truck available and not try to stay true to one make/model, unless you have plenty of time to look for the right truck for the right price. Of course with you being on a Ford forum, most people will tell you to pick the Ford of course.