Motor Trend TOTY: 2009 F-150

[souldoubt88]

Well it looks like Ford took MT TOTY. Alot of people think the Dodge was more deserving......Your opinion?

[chico4554]

i think the dodge is garbage. The ford was built to be a truck. The Dodge is a fluffy commuter vehicle with lots of room for groceries in the bedsides.

[souldoubt88]

Word. the dodge just seems to be more for that never tow never haul crowd, the f-150 is a workhorse. Although i do dig the rambox idea, extra storage in the bedsides is an awesome idea.

[Bryan22]

Myabe the dodge looks more like a soccer mom type truck, but the ford v8's are notoriously underpowered. Dodge and chevy both make better power plants. Even still I vote ford though. They are built alot better inside, and the suspension on the f-150's are incredible. I used to work at a masonry yard, and i still remember this one guy brought in a newer f-150 and like a mid-90's dodge 2500. He put about 1500 lbs in the bed of the dodge and about 2800-3000 lbs in the bed of the f-150. I was amazed, the thing was barely even squatting. They are deffenitely a tough truck. Not to mention chevy's and dodges fall apart inside after only a couple years. Seems the interiors on fords still hold up better than the rest.

[85_Ranger4x4]

I love the looks of the new Dodge, they look frickin mean. The duals out the back are a nice touch too. Only thing I don't like is the coil springs, but maybe they did their homework better than Chevy did way back when.

http://www.moparregister.com/articles/2009Ram/2009%20Dodge%20Ram%20Sport.jpg

http://www.kentvillechrysler.ca/09photo/dodge/ram15002wdcc4dr-slt.jpg

The Ford as it has for the last 5 years looks stuck up. The only one I could tolerate to own is the FX4 with the black and bodycolor grille, they got a little carried away with the chrome plastic IMO, and I would have to rip off the 4x4 and/or FX4 decals for an older style one.

In their defence on the underpoweredness, with peak torque so low, it won't feel like a 'Vette. It is built to all but move mountains rather than gain pinkslips.

http://blogs.cars.com/photos/mother_proof_march_08/f150.jpg

The FX4:
http://photos.webridestv.com/datastore/images/user/68ac106295cef1abc54f93c860edc2eb/Ford_F-150_2009_90673_20080616.jpg

[rangerbum]

Honestly, In my opinion, I like the new ford better. I was talking with a bud that works at a local mod shop, and hes a MAJOR Chevy guy, and he said He'd Take a 09 F-150 Vs. any other truck thats on the market. He says that they are proof that ford is really trying hard to bring their company back with Quality and Toughness. He said he plans on Selling his 07 chipped and lifted DMax and getting one once the dealership gets a few of the models he wants on the lot.

[Daniel_187]

coils in the back! not so sure on that Dodge. I like the ford, just with there was a little more power

[turtle3.0]

I'm sure that they use coils in to improve the ride quality. Of all the contractors, farmers, etc. that I know that drive (and use) trucks they way they were origionally designed to be used all drive Fords and Chevys. The Dodge truck seems to be geared more towards the soccer dad's (and mom's) in my opinion. I love the Charger, Challanger, and Nirto, but the rest of their lineup is unappealing to me.

[Rembrandt]

Honestly I'm not a big fan of the looks of any of the new trucks. The Ford might grow me, but I dunno.

Ford is still the top in my opinion. They still build their trucks like trucks, for the real man.

Dodge with this whole new coil design and stuff is just garbage to me. Who gives a crap about a comfortable ride. It's a truck, you should know it's not going to be a comfortable ride like a car when you buy it. That's not what a truck is for.

Only thing I like of Dodge is their 2500s+ for their diesel platforms. Their trannys are garbage though. You think they would have that problem sorted out by now though after the god knows how many years of having bad trans.

Ford with their new 6.4L powerstroke is wicked though. Those things respond so well to upgrades and tuning. My best friend has an 08 F450 with the 6.4L and all he has done to it was throw on a SCT tuner with a 200hp tune and he is spanking most cars with a 450 around town now. Ran a 15 flat in the quarter only launching at half boost and spinning down half track. Don't sound like much but that is impressive for a 10k+ pound truck.

And Chevy is just neutral to me. Not bad, not great. I just don't pay them much attention anymore lol

[ranger sport honduras]

deff ford!!!!
the dodge seems to be more "look my truck is cool, but i dont use it for hard work, just to go to the dry clean"

[RangerRock]

Honestly I'm not a big fan of the looks of any of the new trucks. The Ford might grow me, but I dunno.

Ford is still the top in my opinion. They still build their trucks like trucks, for the real man.

Dodge with this whole new coil design and stuff is just garbage to me. Who gives a crap about a comfortable ride. It's a truck, you should know it's not going to be a comfortable ride like a car when you buy it. That's not what a truck is for.

Only thing I like of Dodge is their 2500s+ for their diesel platforms. Their trannys are garbage though. You think they would have that problem sorted out by now though after the god knows how many years of having bad trans.

Ford with their new 6.4L powerstroke is wicked though. Those things respond so well to upgrades and tuning. My best friend has an 08 F450 with the 6.4L and all he has done to it was throw on a SCT tuner with a 200hp tune and he is spanking most cars with a 450 around town now. Ran a 15 flat in the quarter only launching at half boost and spinning down half track. Don't sound like much but that is impressive for a 10k+ pound truck.

And Chevy is just neutral to me. Not bad, not great. I just don't pay them much attention anymore lol


I could be mistaken but ive heard through the grape vine that Ford gets the rights to Cummins deisels, back in 2010, after all ford did have a part in the design of the Cummins.

though as the new Powerstrokes have come a long way since the inroduction of the Powerstroke, in my opinion ford would be mad to swtich from the dual turbo Powersrtoke for the cummins

[Planemech]

Ford did own a major position in Cummins diesels back in the late 80's early.mid 90's. They were in it primarily for the medium duty stuff not the small light duty I6 Cummins in the Ram. Besides there was a protection clause in the contract that Dodge got to keep the Cummins.

Ford and Navistar a teamed up world wide with 2.5L, 2.8L and 3.0L PSD 4 cylinder diesels, the 4.5L V6 PSD and the 6.4L PSD engines. Latest rumor is the 3.0 PSD is coming for the Ranger and the 4.5 PSD already in medium duty vans in the US will come to the F150. Cross your fingers people.

[ati190]

hello all,

I'd like to offer my two cents in on it. I've owned both ford and dodge vehicles. One being an 04 Dodge Ram 2500, and countless ford vehicles, including an 86 F150, and 92 F350. What I will say is this, While we are ford fanatics here, I have to say my Ram took some hardcore abuse before the bank took it back. My F350 gave up everytime, the tranny forever failed.. So what I'm trying to point out, Ford/Dodge/Chevy all have their advantages/disadvantages. Pointing out Rembrant's confusion, When did Ford ever make a decent automatic transmission? I can't think of one. So as far as that goes they both get an anchor in that regard. I'm a ford fan myself, but I'm certainly not adversed or arrogant to look at the build of other makes.

ati190

[jax4bangin]

cummins is awesome. big rig design. they seem to have the most power adding potential and seem to hold up the best.. im not so sure bout those V8 diesels, the turbo set up sits right in the middle of the "V" (high heat!) ..the inline six of the cummins has its turbo app off to the side(better cooling,easier maintnence)

[the Mad Modder]

deff ford!!!!
the dodge seems to be more "look my truck is cool, but i dont use it for hard work, just to go to the dry clean"

I definitely get that impression when I see so many 3500 mega cabs. They have a cabin that looks too big for the truck and a bed that's barely any longer than my Ranger's.

[Car Enthusiast]

When did Ford ever make a decent automatic transmission? I can't think of one.

funny I was thinking the same thing about dodge truck transmissions

[DangaRanga]

C6 baby, damn near bullet proof. I got one in my 86 F350 IDI that I pull with at fairs and
I nothings ever happened except I blew a cooler line off once.

[mhughes165]

funny I was thinking the same thing about dodge truck transmissions

hmm...the ONLY BAD ford auto i can think of is the a4ld....thats about it, everything else had been proven to be a workhourse

[Sevensecondsuv]

Here's my opinions:

1/2 Tons
Chevy = cheap plastic POS truck. Weaker than a ranger. All kinds of tranny, rear end, front suspension, and rust problems.

Dodge = What were they thinking? Coil spring rear end on a truck? :icon_rofl: :icon_rofl: :icon_rofl: :icon_rofl: Hey, but at least it's got a hemi! (which looks a lot better on paper than in real life). The auto tranies still suck.

Ford = Definately losing the horsepower battle but the rest of the truck is rock solid. The spark plug design in the heads suck but other than that the motors pretty solid. They lack horse power but the torque curve is so well engineered it makes up for itself. Supposed to be getting some sort of larger V8 in a year or so... The big problem with the F-150s is that they've just gotten so huge and ugly.

3/4 and 1 Tons
Chevy = Decent truck with a pretty decent diesel. They respond a lot better to tuning than the fords do and don't have the injector issues that ford does. Other than that the IFS front end is really cheesy on a truck that size. The Allison is a great trans.

Dodge = Weak truck with one heck of a diesel. The cummins is still the best IMO. Without the diesel there is no reason to buy a dodge. The front suspensions suck and so do the auto trannies. They pull well, but you never see them used off road much, due to the weak front suspension.

Ford = You have to remove the cab to work on the diesel? :icon_rofl: :icon_rofl: :icon_rofl: Seriously Ford is losing the diesel battle quickly. Anyone I know with the 6.4 spends more time in the shop than on the road. None of the international diesels have ever started well in the cold. Ford's in-house diesel can't come soon enough (they are working on one). Other than that the truck is pretty solid. The torqueshift trannies are as good as the Allisons. Fords have the best front suspension in my opinion.

But hey, even a half ton is way bigger than I'd want to drive around in daily. I'll just stick to my ranger, which is faster than most 300 hp chipped diesels.

[Car Enthusiast]

hmm...the ONLY BAD ford auto i can think of is the a4ld....thats about it, everything else had been proven to be a workhourse

i was thinking the same thing, I was just amazed someone praised dodges while saying another manufacturers transmission was bad, the irony overtook me