I owned a 98 Dodge Ram 1500 2WD QC and liked it a lot. Made several cross country East/West Coast trips. No real complaints at all. No mechanical problems and it rode quite well. Layout was nice too. However, "quality" and "fit and finish" wasn't there. Visible screws, plastic panels (clearly cheap molded plastic) everywhere, just seemed "cheap". And the seats were adequate, but not exactly comfy after hours on the road. Too firm but really not all that bad.
Then on one trip to the east coast I decided to trade to a bigger truck and wound up with a 2500HD 4x4 Crew Cab. I had 3 main reasons for the trade. Needed more space in a Crew Cab, 4x4, and more hauling capability with a diesel.
One thing I noticed after trading, the Dodge had lots of storage even though it still didn't have a "real" crew cab! I thought I never would figure out where to put the stuff (gun, radar detector, GPS, CDs, laptop gear, maps, ...) in the new truck. Dodge had a much better cup holder too, surprising how much I notice(d) that... /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif The Ford interior just felt "wrong". The remember thinking they must have reused a steering wheel from a Mustang or something, it was MUCH smaller than most trucks and just looked/felt weird in a truck that size. Probably would get used to that though. Also seemed like nothing was in quite the right spot, gauges blocked by my hands when comfy, or the wheel that wasn't big enough to glance through, knobs that were just a little too hard to reach belted in and driving, hard to explain. Probably just that I was used to the Dodge and the GM was more similar in those things. Still, that was one of the things that caused me to go GM… I felt the overall quality was better than the Dodge offering inside and out, in most ways, comparable to the GM with a little give and take. Probably didn't give it a fair shot just due to my lack of "comfort" driving it…
I did the "24 hour test drive" twice with GM, and the others didn't have that. I did drive a Dodge for several hours as well as a Ford. My take on IFS vs. Solid is not so much the "ride" (although I did think the IFS rode better and more predictably on some roads), but the steering/handling. The IFS drives much better, less wonder on bad roads, just better "feel" and stability both in ride and steering/handling. Hard to explain, drive each one over dippy, wavy, rutty, patched roads at speed and you'll see, particularly when braking in a turn on a bad road. The GM is just much more "in control".
So, Dodge got eliminated primarily due to lack of a real crew cab (which they still don't have) and the Cummins at the time was so noisy I thought it might get old. I also found out that I had access to "employee pricing" for GM and Ford, so Dodge dropped off the chart. GM won out over Ford (I could get loaded versions of each for similar prices, Ford being a bit cheaper) mainly due to simple "it felt right" interior and the IFS was VERY noticeably more capable in the twisty, poor quality AL back roads. Probably comes down to much lower un-sprung weight and better ability to design things like "lift from side force" (like anti-squat) into an IFS rather than have to rely on bushings and a sway bar. On the other hand, the DMax was still relatively new and lots of guys had (what turned out to be B.S). stories about nightmares with the aluminum heads and Allison. These had the "smell" of cross-brand bashing b.s. and I couldn't find solid evidence of a real problem (or even documented real events or people that had experienced it) so I cautiously lowered the weight of this "helpful advice"
So I ponied up the extra money and bought the GM and the rest is history. Never second guessed my choice to this day. Each has their own pro/con list, you have to figure out what each point means to you and decide.
And finally, research that 6.0 PS well before even considering a Ford. Look at what the Ford boys are saying! It's a given that the GM and CTD advocates are going to say bad things just like "the others" did about DMax/Alli, but when the Ford boys do…
