Sunday, April 28, 2013

2013 Ram 3500HD vs. 2013 Ford F-350

2013 Ram 3500HD- Dodge has come along way with there line of 1 ton trucks, clearly shown by the 2013 motor trend truck of the year award. The only question is that if its better than the Ford F-350 that has been at the top for a long time.

Engines- Dodge offers two engines for thier 1 ton: the 6.7 Cummins turbo diesel that puts out 385hp and an incredible 850lbs of torque. The new 3500 has a best in class towing of over 30,000lbs and a max payload of 6,750lbs! Along with the 6.7 cummins is a top of the line Aisin 6 speed automatic transmisson. The other engine offered is of course the legendary 5.7 Hemi that puts out 365hp. I dont think that dodge could have put any better motors in theier pickups. The combination of towing power and fuel economy could not be better for a 1 ton pickup. The 6.7 cummins is a great motor and always has been, we owned a pick up that had one in it and the dependability and power it put out was incredable.

Cost- The basic tradesman model 3500 starts out at around $29,900 with the hemi engine and feew options. The 3500HD Larime Longhorn with the 6.7 cummins turbo diesel and laid out with options tops out at around $68,500. I think that for a truck of its quaility, the starting price is not bad at all and is worth every penny. The highest end model gets up there in price but I also think that your getting what you pay for buying the number one truck in america and that its worth every penny.

Interior and Exterior- Like all the other one tons the ram 3500 comes with the option of dual rear wheels, running boards or side tube piping. There is also options of rear differientials and transmissions that are not offered in other pickups. Also you have the choice of the two tone outside which looks very nice and takes away the plain look. The interior of the dodge I think is very nice and is alot better looking than the inside of the ford. The interior is not plain and there are alot of options that can personalize your truck. There are many different interior colors, options of the sunroof, and also the dodge uconnect option. I think dodge did a great job with the interior and exterior of their truck, it is a very nice overall looking truck and the design of it is by far my favorite.

My Opinion- I think that dodge deserved the motor trend truck of the year award, thier trucks are by far the toughest, strongest and best looking on the road. They have great engines that are powerful, great on fuel, and very dependable. These trucks are worth every cent they cost and if you owned one you would see that, they are incredable for a one ton pickup. This is probably no surprise but, again dodge is my favorite.
The 2013 Ford F-350- The F-350 has had some good trucks not going to lie, but I think its time to see if they are over hyped.

Engines- Ford offers two engines for thier trucks. The first is a 6.2L gas engine that puts out about 385hp and 400lbs of torque. The second is a 6.7 Power stroke turbo diesel that puts out 400hp and 800lbs of torque. The trasmission is a 6 speed torqShift. The turbo diesel can pull up two 24,500lbs which is almost 6,000 pounds. Ford has some powerful motors but still are not as powerful as dodges. I have heard alot of bad things about their diesel engines but havent heard much about the 6.2 gas engine. Ford enigines are okay but are not the best on the list.

Cost- A basic Ford F-350 starts out at around $30,000 with very few options. The Ford F-350 platnium shoots up and tops out at close to $73,000, but comes with every option you can think of. I think that the F-350 starts out at a good price and isnt a bad truck. The platmiun though I think is way over priced and for that money I would either go buy a Dodge or a GMC. I do not think that they are worth the money compared to what else is out their and for what is being offered.

Interior and Exterior- Ill admit, ford does offer quite a bit more options than dodge does, but I dont think they are a big enough deal to sell me on the ford. The interior of the ford is really nice and comes with many options, but I still like dodges better. The exterior has pretty much the same options as dodge, but I think that the dodge looks alot nicer on the outside and doesnt look as plain as the ford does.

My Opinion- I think that ford did make a good truck and I cant say I wouldnt like to own one, but if given the choice, I would take the dodge everytime without a second thought. The dodge seems like a much better truck to me, it beats out the ford in almost every catagory and I think that its a much nicer overall truck. One thing that has me most sold on the dodge is the engines, from what ive heard about fords 6.7 and from what ive heard about dodges 6.7 makes me run from the ford to the dodge. Dodge seems like a much more dependable and powerful truck and is more worth the money. Dodge over ford in this one.





Thursday, April 11, 2013

2013 Dodge Avenger vs 2013 Ford fusion

 The 2013 Dodge Avenger- The avenger has only been around for a few years but has proven to be a good addition to the dodge vehicles as a smaller edition of the dodge charger.

Engines- Dodge offers 2 engines for the avenger. The 3.6 pentastar that gives 283hp and the 2.4L I-4 that puts out 173hp and gets about 31mpg highway. I think that dodge made good choices on the enigines in the avenger. The avenger is supposed to be a smaller version of the charger and still be sporty with good mileage. There is no need to put a Hemi or any other bigger motors in the avenger.

Cost- The avenger is the best priced american made small sedan starting at $18,500 and even the basic version is still luxurious. The most high end avenger tops out around $28,000. The avenger is very reasonably priced. You get alot for what you pay for. The avenger is luxurious vehicle and looks a lot higher priced than it really is. We own a 2010 dodge avenger R/T and it is definatly worth what we paid for it.

Interior and Exterior-  The exterior of the avenger doesnt change much depending on the models exceot the slight body change and the decals on the R/T. The interior of the avenger is very nice no matter what model. It has most of the standard options like the leather, the touch screen and nav, and the moon roof.  One thing about the avenger I have noticed is that for being such a small car there is a lot of room. There is plenty of leg room in front and back and also the truck is huge and fits up to 13.5cubic feet.

My Opinion- I think that dodge did a great job on the aveneger. Being that we own one I can say these things with first hand experiance. The avanger gives alot of room for a small car, it gets great mileage, for that little in-line four the avenger is acually a pretty quick car, it more like a 45 to fifty thousdand dollar on the inside and out car if you get the R/T. We have gotten so many compliments on ours and people have guessed it costed close to fifty which is not even close. Its a great car and its very dependable. Also people respect this thing a lot more than they should thinking that it does 150mph+ which is also no where near the real number. Overall a great car and worth the money.

 2013 Ford Fusion- I have heard alot of good things about the new fusion, but time to find out weather they are true or not and if the avenger will be better.

Engines- Ford has offered 5 engines for their new fusion. two gas engines and three hybrids. The gas engines are a 2.5L, a 1.6L with ecoboost. and a 2.5L with ecoboost. All of these get mid twentys for city and high thirties for highway mileage. The three hybrids get mid forty"s for mileage. I do not think that ford needed to offer 5 engines for this car. I think rhat they are wasting a lot of there time considering the fuel economy isnt very much different between the gas engines. There is also not much of a difference between the three hybrid engines for fuel economy. Ford made a mistake on putting that may engines in this car.

Cost- The basic fusion starts out at $21,900 whihc is $3,000 higher than the avenger that gives you more, The high end fusions with the hybrid engines shoot up to over $40,000 which is over $10,000 more than the avenger, which in my option is not worth the money. I think that the fusion is over priced like most other fords and that maybe it would be worth it if the price was a few thousand lower.

Interior and Exterior- Probably my favorite part of the new fusion is that it looks kinda like an Aston Martin which is a very expensive car. The exterior of the fusion is nice but I feel like ford could do more to make it look a little more sporty. The interior of the fusion is very nice and actually might top the inside of the avenger.  The inside of the fusion looks like the cockpit of a really expensive car or a race car. The design of the inside is great and ford did a good job.

My Opinion-  I think that the fusion is an over good dependable car but over priced. The outside and inside design look like that of a much more expesive car. Mechanically the fusion is not worth the money. The avenger is just as good mechanially and is much cheaper. I think that the avenger wins this hands down. Maybe if the fusion was more reasonably priced it would stand more of a chance. Over the avenger is a over great car all around and it is the most reasonably priced sedan in america.