i havent had a problem with my ION yet (same as a cobalt). and as far as trucks go. my dad's owned 4 chevys and 2 fords. all had less than 20kmi on them, and problems up the *** OR body rot. he's owned his first dodge since 04 (ram hemi QC) and have had minor problems with it, that are all under warranty, and absolutely no rust what so ever. it has 20kmi on it. the only thing we've had to fix was the EGR valve so far. how a EGR isn't under warranty i don't know.

i do know that pre 03, the dodge's had massive body rot. but never heard of a single one having mechanical/electrical problems.

as for what my dad's owned. 96 ford extended cab(rotted like mad, within first year, we had to get rid of it after 1year), 97 ford 3rd door(replaced 96, had electrical problems and mechanical problems up the ***), 92 FS blazer(first of the trucks. only prob it had was radiators went every 1-2kmi, it had 35 or 40kmi on it when we sold), 99 Sierra extended cab(ABS module went twice AND rotting rear doors), 00 Sierra (same problems as 99), got a 01 silverado inreplace of the 00, same problems, again. kept it till 04, boguht a ram hemi. no problems except power steering pump, 4x now(no hasle at dealership though, and is only leaking, not faulty) and EGR valve went saturday, fixed it in 15min and 80 bucks later.

 

We have 2 Ford trucks at work - a 250 and a 350 with a diesel engine and a dump body. Both are 5 years old and solid as a rock. A few years ago we bought a GM truck (2500?) and a GM Express van. Both have fared far worse than the Fords, but we wanted to try GM's products.

I agree that any car manufacturer can produce a turd at any given time. This includes Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari. I am pretty open minded.

 

don't even get me started on the new Tundra's reliability[&:] i've taken two of them out for test drives, and both of them had major failures. (i'm talking the new Tundra's with the 5.7 V8). first one snapped the timing belt and pegged a few valves, the truck had 18 miles[>:] the second one, well that motor just died completely. i've NEVER had a cam break apart on me, but that's what happened in the second truck. and there was only 80 miles on the 2nd truck.

i had some problems with my old Suburban, 1st gear went out at one point, and the fuel pump died in it.

my F150 has just been a pain in the a$$. it's on trannsmission #4, the first 3 were factory replacements. this last tranny is an OLD C6 out of a '72 Ranchero, and it's held up the longest[&:]

 

^^^ wasn't camshaft failure like the "big one" as far as common problems with the 5.7L?

 

yes, and crankshaft failure too. Toyota really has started to go downhill with their reliablility.

 

My wife wants a pickup. I am not sure what to look at. I tought the Tundra was"Truck of the Year". She really likes the Titan and the "Dodge with the cool hood scoop".

 

+1

There are some makes and models to definitely stay away from, but I think for the most part that if one brand were significantly better than the other, everyone would be driving it. I think it more boils down to what you pay for.

 

i cant say about the new dodges, but every one in my family (uncles, cuz's, dad, etc) owns between a 03 and a 05 HEMI at the moment, and we/they all love them, some have QCs some have straight cabs. and i would do anything to take my dad's off his hands, he's selling it right now . i'd go with a QC short bed, IMO, looks sick, specially with the 20"ers. but just be warned, he gets about 8MPG around town and he babies it[&:]. i can manage to drop it to about 5[8D].

 

Weird. I had a 1996 Dodge 2500 4x4 with the 5.2 Magnum and a 4" lift and I'd get 11mpg city, 11mpg highway w/o a trailer, 11mpg highway w/trailer
reliable truck thats for sure.

 

i love the 5.9 360s... i dont think they make that or the 5.2 anymore though do they? but yea, i think it's wierd, but every one in my family gets around the same. go through 120-150 bucks of gas a week. and thats only with 24kmi on it(thought it was 21kmi, looked today)