Chevy vs. Ford vs. Mopar

[NikatKimber]

The Camry my wife drives now is the best car I've ever owned. Engine runs better than any American made car I've owned did at half that.

I've heard the same about their smaller trucks, they just run and run.

I do like the Ford trucks, at least the older ones I've had experience with.

 

[Danny Tanner]

I'm a Chevy truck guy. I've been driving for 12 years and am on my fifth Chevy truck (by choice of wanting to upgrade rather than having problematic trucks). I figure generally speaking, a Silverado will have the same amount of issues as a Ford F150 or a Dodge Ram, give or take a problem or two, sure, but nothing to pursuade me to or from any model. I don't tow or haul anything more than camping gear, so getting into the torque and towing capabilities are pointless to me.

So I base my choices off design and feel.

1. Dodge Ram: Love the aggressive look of the Ram quad cab. Best looking exterier of any modern, full size American truck on the road in my opinion. But the interiors suck. The interiors have nice designs, but feel way too cheap to me. All modern Dodges feel like they have cheap interiors to me, the 2008 Ram rental truck I had a couple of years ago, my dad's 2008 Charger, and my mom's 2010 Challenger.

2. Ford. The absolute latest generation Limited quad cabs look really nice, the most luxurious looking modern American truck (besides the upper tier trucks (Escilade EXT)). But the only other Ford trucks I like are the F-250 quad cabs and the 1936 Pickup. The interiors are really nice and seem well built (but I lack experience with modern Fords so I can't really comment much more on what I've seen at the auto building at the Fair grounds). My brother had a 2001 Ford F150 and the smooth, aerodynamic (for a truck) exterior design was alright, but the interior was just too plain and boring.

3. Chevy. Silverados have always been a good compromise of nice interior and nice exterior. I love the 73-87 C-10 SWBs, and I love the 2003-2007 1/21 Silverado SWBs because they remind me of a modern spin on the old design, just a square truck.

 

[Larry Morgan]

What era and type of car are you talking about? Haha. If you're talking muscle/classic cars, I love mopar. If you're talking about modern mopar, though, not so much. I like chevy through all the eras for trucks and muscle/sports cars. I've never cared for chevy sedans or compacts though. I don't mind Ford diesel trucks, and anyone who knows anything about cars knows the GT40 is one of the most impressive all-around American cars.

 

[cjjtulsa]

Ford guy all the way. Doesn't help that my dad was a Ford parts monkey for about 30 years, I did it for a good 6, and my oldest brother has been in it for over 20 and still doing it.

Most of my Fordness is the '60s-early '70s stuff. In that era, Ford never really produced a bad powerplant. The Ford 9" rear is still the standard, and the toploader 4 speed was bulletproof. As for racing the 427 SOHC was tough to beat on the track, and then there's the 351 Cleveland that was hell on the strip and street.

I'll give any nice looking piece of American iron credit - GM or Mopar - but my heart is with those damned old Fords.

 

[ZombieHunter]

Chevy for me, it doesn't get much better than a 96-99 c/k series in 2wd for reliability if you ask me, and as someone mentioned before me the cost to maintain is definitely in the lower percentile. Like just today I got my VERY FIRST Service Engine Soon Light so I got a chance to use my OBDII scan tool for the first time, 02 sensor fail, 53$ later at autozone and code is cleared.

Even having to replace entire components such as transmission or engine block can be done for 2-3k if sourcing parts from the correct place, I picked up a brand new in crate Monster Transmission Heavy Duty for $1,200, dropped the old one replaced the main seal and it drives better than my dads '99 with a brand new OEM 4l60e he paid $1800 for installed, granted he was out of state and on the road when it went out so he did not have the option of installing himself but you get the idea, even what he paid is a fair price for a brand new OEM tranny installed.

Cannot beat pre '99 chevy in cost of ownership over the lifetime of the vehicle, I looked at getting a newer '03 suburban but when I saw how much the replacement parts were decided against it, the same parts are almost 4x the cost of the pre '99 chevy/gmc parts.

One day I will get a pre 1970 vette body and drop a LS1 engine in it with a HD tranny and call it good, no ECM, no a/c, no frills, just motor.

 

[338Shooter]

If it wasn't for Ford, I wouldn't be a Chevy truck man.

 

[tntrex]

FORD! And you want to know why?

This debate is now over.

 

[onearmedman]

So, what was that engineer smoking when he designed the SBC with the oil pump in the pan and the distributor in the back?

The guys who were putting SBC engines in their Jeeps were the ones who didn't know that AMC used the same bell-housing bolt pattern for 6 and 8 cyl engines.
You can lose the 6 and install an AMC V8 by swapping one motor mount. No high $$ advance adapter parts.
I can't remember how many times I was told the 390 in my 69 Javelin was a Ford motor.

As for the shtf rig... Any Toyota truck...Here's what our SF guys took to the sandbox... http://www.brian894x4.com/MilitaryTacoma.html

 

[Larry Morgan]

So, what was that engineer smoking when he designed the SBC with the oil pump in the pan and the distributor in the back?

There's a reason the BBC became the pattern engine for Pro-Stock DRCE engines. Although, they are a far cry from an old chevy BBC engine, now.

(I know you said sbc, but the points you mentioned are the same on a BBC)

 

[338Shooter]

Don't they run dry sump systems eliminating the oil pump in the pan problem?

What's the big deal with having the distributor in the back? I've had to work on the stuff in the front of the motor a lot more than I've needed to jack with the distributor. I like it in the rear.


ETA: someone is gonna quote that for sure.