Two years ago I looked at all the brands, Ford, Chevy/GMC, and Ford. Had a Ram 2005 5.9 with a manual that blew a ring at 173,000miles. Was totally paid off years before and was in awesome shape. Lost $10,000 on the resale. Was pissed. Anyway, ended up with another Ram, even with the sour taste still in my mouth. The Chevy had the highest price with the lowest horsepower and torque ratings, plus has some dumb-a$$ looking box under the cab to house some emissions fluid. It was in a prime spot to be ripped off by a rock on a back mountain trail. The Ford had the highest power ratings and was about he same price as the Ram's, but the interior and quality seemed so low. Just felt cheap. Ended up with a 2016 Ram, 2500 6.7 with auto trans. For another $5000 I'd love to have gotten the Aisin transmission, but couldn't justify it. The truck is great quality wise, but I hate, hate, hate the initial acceleration lag. If you step on the throttle, it just sits there for 1-2 seconds deciding if it should go fast or not like you really didn't mean to step on the gas. I'm surprised some digital "Are your sure you want to go fast? Push here for yes" question doesn't come up on the info-screen. I don't like the electronic 4-wheel drive engagement - what happened to the simple pull lever? It's also a bitch to park in the city with the solid front axle. I think I'd have to do a 3-point turn to turn around in a football field. That being said, it tows like a dream. It absolutely does what it was designed to do, extremely well. I've towed with suburbans, jeeps, 1500's, Chevy's, Rams, gas, diesels, just about all the heavy duty trucks, and the truck I have now is by far the best. You can hook up 8500lbs and drive with one finger through the mountains and still have some umph left to pass Subaru's. Highly recommend for towing, highways, big roads. If you need a commuter/city truck, the Ram 2500 diesel is not it.
