Ford---a company that is actually succeeding and WITHOUT taking handouts. I've had mixed results from some of their other vehicles (not recently) but the trucks have always been their bread and butter. Best selling truck for what now, 33 years? I think it's been the best selling overall vehicle several times within that run.
Has Toyota dealt with the problems that forced them to shut down their truck plant in the US a while back? I remember serious manual transmission problems (burning out in less than a year) as well as things like doors and tailgates which were both cracking and having trouble staying on. I don't think these issues involved the mid-sized trucks, just the full size. I'm sure they have every intention of correcting this, I'm just wondering if they've done it yet. I had fun watching the J.D. Power and associates guys backtracking on their initial glowing, whole hearted recommendations.
I've always found their trucks to suffer from the same issue as the GM trucks---all of the grunt power focused in horsepower at high RPMs like a car instead of torque at the low end. I dearly loved a demonstration the local Ford dealer did a few years back where the base model F150's trailer hitch was hooked up via towing bar to the base Silverado and both drivers slammed on their accelerators...Ford pulled the Chevy all around the parking lot, over and over again, even when they let the Chevy start pulling first. Now, top-end speed the Silverado would outrun it, but I'm not looking for that in a truck. All has to do with how it's geared. GM hasn't built a proper truck transmission since the late 1970s. They're smoother for around-town driving, but don't put the power where it should be in a truck. Dodge does this much better and I doubt the Ford would have been able to pull the Ram around, although I think Ford's build quality is better and heavier, especially on the new ones. Dodge blew everybody away in '93 but rode on their laurels for too long.
Of course, if you're planning to do your own modifications you can make it do whatever you want, and I WILL say this for GM--their aftermarket is huge.
The last REAL pickup truck anybody built, in my opinion, were the ones International built in the 1970s. Here, you had an industrial vehicle producer trying its hand at a personal vehicle, instead of the other way around. The '72 1200 series my Dad had traded at $6,000 in 1984 onto an F-150 and was in the process of being sold before we left the lot. That truck weighed 1000 pounds more than the one replacing it, and in those days that weight was NOT in sound deadening or plush seats, but in absolutely massive frame pieces, axles, etc. not to mention the industrial-grade motor. Granted, it got like ten miles to the gallon, but I bet it's still running unless some dumbass let it rot.
Of course, to be fair, the '85 Ford that replaced it is still running and currently has just a little shy of 500,000 miles on it. I learned to drive in that one and when Dad told me he was going to trade it in, I added $600 to the dealer offer and just bought it. I love that old truck...
Toyota's initial quality tends to be very high; especially in interior materials like the seats and grades of plastic they use in the dash areas/steering columns. The company, as a whole, needs to get way more organized when it comes to getting replacement parts, however. If it's something a dealer has in stock then fine, but my sisters have waited in the three and four week range for various warranty issues with their Camry and Corolla. Chrystler is currently at about the bottom of the heap in terms of having their shit together as a whole, (Mercedes could have turned that around if they'd had any interest in doing it) but it's rare you'll see a repair from them take more than two or three days.
The Nissans....well, I've heard people sing their praises all day long, and others whose past experience has been rotten. I've never driven one, and can't offer even a general opinion on them (other than they have a kind of Tonka-truck look that is sort of appealing).
