I have a paid off 2104 Ram 1500 Big Horn with 102k that I love. My son just went into the Navy and with the pay cut he is experiencing it looks like I am going to have to start paying his loan on a used 2013 Ford F 150 Crew Cab with the 3.5 twin turbo. I think he has 3 years left on the loan but I need to confirm. This was his first purchase and I co signed the loan when he first bought it. After making enough payments he refinanced it in his name but didn't get Gap Insurance like I told him. I am thinking of selling my Ram to pay to pay off his truck since I am afraid with it having 130k on it and the amount of time before it's paid off I could potentially be on the hook for a worthless truck.
Before he went into the Navy I was thinking about selling my truck and putting additional money down to step up to a Ram 2500. I would still like to do this but and wondering after reading a friend comment about he reliability of the big 3. I am looking for an unbiased as possible source on the reliability of Ram, Ford and Gm trucks. My friend had said that he bought his Ford F 250 because they were the most reliable overall with some issue mechanically but the best reliability with the electronics, he said the GM trucks were in the middle of the pack with both mechanical and electronic issue and Ram was the best mechanically but the worst with electronics. This got me thinking about my own experience and I was a die hard GM guy before I got my Ram. I had a 75 and 86 K5 Blazer, a couple Oldsmobile's, a Venture van, a Trailblazer and a Yukon XL. The Venture cam snapped at 65k just outside of warranty and they wouldn't do anything. My 2007 Yukon XL with the 5.3 l engine had the issue of burning a quart of oil every 1000 miles once it hit about 35k. At 100K I thought I blew the engine but it slugged from the oil burning with the MDS shutting down and not burning off the carbon. I have never owned a Ford but my daughter owned a Focus and that was the least safe vehicle with the transmission issues I have ever seen. They had a known issue and wouldn't cover it under warranty. When I bought my truck in 2016 the rep suggested getting the extended warranty because of all of the electronics in the newer vehicles. I turned it down and the sensor for the windshield washer fluid went within 6 weeks. When I went in for my first free oil change I asked them to fix it and when they told me it was going to cost $300 I said don't fix it for something so stupid. I then had issues with my transmission slamming into a lower gear while at highway speeds and they wouldn't replace it because it didn't throw a code. I had it in and out of the dealership 4x for that and each time they wouldn't do anything about it except flash the computer. On my last time there someone overheard my conversation and told me to call Ram and they made a case and assured me that if the transmission went on me within 100k they would replace it free of charge. I have had the transmission drop in gear only 2 more times in the last 3 years but now I am over that 100k.
So what would you do in my position and is there an unbiased source on the reliability of the big three trucks?
Thanks in advance!
Before he went into the Navy I was thinking about selling my truck and putting additional money down to step up to a Ram 2500. I would still like to do this but and wondering after reading a friend comment about he reliability of the big 3. I am looking for an unbiased as possible source on the reliability of Ram, Ford and Gm trucks. My friend had said that he bought his Ford F 250 because they were the most reliable overall with some issue mechanically but the best reliability with the electronics, he said the GM trucks were in the middle of the pack with both mechanical and electronic issue and Ram was the best mechanically but the worst with electronics. This got me thinking about my own experience and I was a die hard GM guy before I got my Ram. I had a 75 and 86 K5 Blazer, a couple Oldsmobile's, a Venture van, a Trailblazer and a Yukon XL. The Venture cam snapped at 65k just outside of warranty and they wouldn't do anything. My 2007 Yukon XL with the 5.3 l engine had the issue of burning a quart of oil every 1000 miles once it hit about 35k. At 100K I thought I blew the engine but it slugged from the oil burning with the MDS shutting down and not burning off the carbon. I have never owned a Ford but my daughter owned a Focus and that was the least safe vehicle with the transmission issues I have ever seen. They had a known issue and wouldn't cover it under warranty. When I bought my truck in 2016 the rep suggested getting the extended warranty because of all of the electronics in the newer vehicles. I turned it down and the sensor for the windshield washer fluid went within 6 weeks. When I went in for my first free oil change I asked them to fix it and when they told me it was going to cost $300 I said don't fix it for something so stupid. I then had issues with my transmission slamming into a lower gear while at highway speeds and they wouldn't replace it because it didn't throw a code. I had it in and out of the dealership 4x for that and each time they wouldn't do anything about it except flash the computer. On my last time there someone overheard my conversation and told me to call Ram and they made a case and assured me that if the transmission went on me within 100k they would replace it free of charge. I have had the transmission drop in gear only 2 more times in the last 3 years but now I am over that 100k.
So what would you do in my position and is there an unbiased source on the reliability of the big three trucks?
Thanks in advance!