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Old 03-30-2019, 10:21 AM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
I had the same problem when I went looking for a F 150. Three dealers within 50 miles, one that specialized in trucks with 75 F 150s on the lot. 3 with tow mirrors, and they were all Super Crew Cabs - I was looking for their Super Cab.

I ended up having the truck built, but got what I wanted, including tow mirrors, 36 gallon tank, and no leather seats (which I can't stand). I even got a $1500.00 discount because I live in the town where the aluminum sheet metal is rolled for their trucks!
They are offering between $10K and $13K off MSRP on trucks they have in stock on their lot
I can order a truck but the discounts are in the $5K to $6K range
They want to sell you a vehicle from their stock . When we bought our 2014 they had several trucks ( Aprox 12 ) on their lot equipped for towing and discounted , this year they have zero
I will just have to keep looking !!
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Old 03-30-2019, 10:48 AM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve dunham View Post
They are offering between $10K and $13K off MSRP on trucks they have in stock on their lot
I can order a truck but the discounts are in the $5K to $6K range
They want to sell you a vehicle from their stock . When we bought our 2014 they had several trucks ( Aprox 12 ) on their lot equipped for towing and discounted , this year they have zero
I will just have to keep looking !!
Yes, I could have saved both time & money by ordering off the lot, but after looking at over 100 F 150's & not finding what I wanted, I bit the bullet & had one built. If I wanted a Lariat Super Crew, I had dozens to choose from...
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Old 04-03-2019, 12:49 PM   #43
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I tow a 5.0ta with half ton Denali with 6.2 gas. Did put the squishy bump stops on it. Very happy with capability and comfort. Milage fine with me. I use regular around town but use premium towing.
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Old 04-03-2019, 03:43 PM   #44
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Packages matter

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
Yes, they have increased payload. My 2018 F 150, 3.5 Ecoboost SuperCab (not the 4 door version) with the minimal tow package is rated at 1826 pounds payload.
I had a 2015 F150 Lariat. It was my favorite car. I towed a less than 4000 pound travel trailer. It was great. With the eco boost engine it got about 13-14 mpg towing on average. It was however eco or boost - not eco and boost. I replaced by travel trailer with an Escape TA 5.0. which has very different payload requirements. As it turns out, my Honda pilot has a lower towing capacity by several thousand pounds, but the same payload. When looking for a new tow vehicle I found as another contributor noted, that dealers do not know much about payload and option packages. Understanding and getting good information of the trade offs is difficult.
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Old 04-03-2019, 04:11 PM   #45
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Hi

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Originally Posted by Charlie & Lucy View Post
I have moved from an F-250 crewcab gas, 2600# payload, to Chevy 2500 HD crew cab diesel with just under 2200# payload. Both trucks have plenty of payload for our 5.0 TA, we tend to pack on the heavy side. Haven’t towed far yet with the Chevy but expect better fuel economy. The best the F-250 could get on the highway not towing was 14 mpg, 9-11 mpg towing. The Chevy diesel gets 22 mpg highway not towing. The Chevy 2500 HD also has a better ride. I found the gas F-250 wanting in the Rockies, both climbing and descending. It had to work hard on the ups and too much braking on the downs.
It’s still winter here. Can’t use the camper yet. We’ll be leaving for Osoyoos in a month and find out more. I like to have adequate towing and payload capacity. Just my read on this subject.
Charlie
It is noteworthy that my tour of Charlie and Lucy's 5.0 lead me to make a purchase. (I actually fit in it. ) The discussion regarding his use of a F250 caused me to check the numbers when thinking about a new tow vehicle. I ended up with a 2017 F250 gas because of the ride and safety options at the time.

All this aside, my primary reasons for choosing the F250 were: The flexibility that excess payload gave me; and the difference in the breaks. The trucks payload capacity are determined in large part to the capacity of the frame, suspension and breaks.

P.S. Charlie, what hitch and hitch kit did you decide on??
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Old 04-03-2019, 04:44 PM   #46
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The Escape 21 is a little lighter than the 5.0TA we own, which we tow with a 2017 GMC Canyon V6. We have been all over the west and just drove from Dallas to Sequim WA, via a number of parks in UT. We get 15-16 MPG towing and 25+ on the highway. See my previous post about how we did on our maiden voyage about a year ago. Really like the GMC Canyon. So you really don't even need a 1/2 ton and a 3/4 ton is way overkill.
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Old 04-03-2019, 05:02 PM   #47
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We just bought a 2018 3500 Ram with the diesel motor. We took it for a quick 7 hour drive, through the mountains and got about 20 MPG. or 11 liters per 100K. Here you don't pay as much tax on the 1 ton as apposed to the 3/4 and 1/2 tons.
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Old 04-03-2019, 05:21 PM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Little Richie View Post
It is noteworthy that my tour of Charlie and Lucy's 5.0 lead me to make a purchase. (I actually fit in it. ) The discussion regarding his use of a F250 caused me to check the numbers when thinking about a new tow vehicle. I ended up with a 2017 F250 gas because of the ride and safety options at the time.

All this aside, my primary reasons for choosing the F250 were: The flexibility that excess payload gave me; and the difference in the breaks. The trucks payload capacity are determined in large part to the capacity of the frame, suspension and breaks.

P.S. Charlie, what hitch and hitch kit did you decide on??
Hi Richard, I’m using the same Curt A-16 I used in the F-250 mounted to rails in the bed. It is a good hitch.
Charlie
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Old 04-03-2019, 05:28 PM   #49
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Originally Posted by Marlene View Post
We just bought a 2018 3500 Ram with the diesel motor. We took it for a quick 7 hour drive, through the mountains and got about 20 MPG. or 11 liters per 100K. Here you don't pay as much tax on the 1 ton as apposed to the 3/4 and 1/2 tons.
Looked at a Ram 3500 diesel today , nice truck , nice ride , nice handling .
The only thing is it a duallys . Do you have the ST or the DT rear axle ?
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Old 04-03-2019, 06:19 PM   #50
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Here you don't pay as much tax on the 1 ton as apposed to the 3/4 and 1/2 tons.
In most places that would be the distinction between Class 2a (up to 8500 pound gross vehicle weight rating) and Class 2b (over 8500), which is often used to determine whether or not commercial vehicle exemptions (to emissions rule, fuel economy rules, and taxation) apply. The idea is that real working vehicles are not penalized for being heavy, because they need to be in order to do significant work. I'm surprised that even a "3/4 ton" isn't exempted on this basis, but this is B.C...

Some of the B.C. published material has statement like this:
Quote:
A passenger vehicle is a motor vehicle designed primarily as a means of transport for
individuals, including trucks and vans that are ¾-ton or less.
... but "¾-ton" doesn't really mean anything - it's not a legal or technical term. So I expected to find a real rule that made sense, but B.C. has codified this, with this definition for provincial sales tax purposes:
Quote:
Identifying Passenger Vehicles
Many trucks and vans are part of a manufacturer’s model series. Regardless of the number of
digits in the series, the first digit in a vehicle’s series generally indicates its size. Absent other evidence, we will consider the first digit in a vehicle’s series as the determining factor of the size of the vehicle, as follows:
1 = ½-ton
2 = ¾-ton
3 = 1-ton
For example, a 1500-series truck is a ½-ton, a 2500-series is a ¾-ton, and a 3500-series is a 1-ton. Therefore, trucks and vans with a series number starting with 3 or higher will be considered 1-ton vehicles or larger, and will not qualify as passenger vehicles unless there is evidence to the contrary (e.g. evidence that a particular vehicle’s series is not numbered according to this convention).
This is the naming system that I described earlier. So if a heavy truck manufacturer put "2500" on the side of a ten-ton vehicle, the bright sparks in the B.C. government would call it a passenger vehicle, and if Ford put "F-350" on the side of a Ranger that little pickup would be charged less tax. Good sense and government don't always go together...

Using a heavy vehicle for light-duty personal use is one way to game the system; when Ford offered an SUV based on their SuperDuty truck range (the Excursion) people bought them for the same reasons... and then drove them around with one or two people and no more than a couple bags of groceries in them. In a sane world, those people would pay more tax, not less.

In this case (B.C. PST), the classification only matters to the tax rate if the purchase price is over $55,000 (or over $125,000 if a private sale).

Quote:
Originally Posted by steve dunham View Post
The only thing is it a duallys . Do you have the ST or the DT rear axle ?
I get that you mean "Single Tire" and "Dual Tires", but the standard terms (used by manufacturers) are "SRW" (Single Rear Wheel) and "DRW" (Dual Rear Wheels).

I can't imagine wanting to drive a DRW unless my rear axle load exceeded the SRW limit.
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Old 04-03-2019, 06:47 PM   #51
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You might want to check the handling of the heavier duty vehicles under light loads in wet conditions. I drove a 15 passenger van solo a number of times and it was a bear in the winter & on wet roads. It didn't do too bad with a full load of passengers.
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Old 04-04-2019, 04:33 PM   #52
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Some random notes on pickup trucks... Or Meet the needs of your objective and budget, and recognize that driving a specific kind of truck may be your objective and really enjoy it.

1. Driving my eco boost F150 was a hoot.

2. I initially purchased my F150 not because it had better milage than my Honda Pilot -(which did a great job of towing our tag a long), but because it had a really big gas tank. When thinking about vehicle choices, range is rarely mentioned. In some sections of the country -e.g. Alaska - range really matters. A diesel with a big tank would go even further ,I just had other things I wanted in life and do not have enough to buy them all.) That being said, I really liked driving the truck. It was the nicest car I had ever owned...

3. One fellow camper who was towing a big travel trailer with a diesel pickup said: " ... My dealer told me that I would never save enough in gas, etc. to pay for the additional cost. I told him I knew that, but I just wanted one...) I really liked his honesty.

4. My F250 with a gas V8 and towing a bigger trailer gets the same or better milage that my F150 eco boos got towing a smaller trailert. It may be differences in drag or the engine. My F150 could go faster up hill, but my F250 just hums along, possibly at a lower RPM. That being said, I just like driving it while towing. I love the technology and what it does for me. The milage is way down the list and I do not let it get in the way of enjoying the truck.

5. I have found that speed and wind really matter. Once I go above 55mph the milage decreases at a significantly faster rate than the rate of speed increase -(nothing new here). That being said, I generally keep it at sixty. Above that speed decreases the likelihood of meeting other objective: like a safe trip. My F250 with the 5.0 will cruse at 70 quite nicely with cool tires and it will recover from a big gust of wind - (great technology). That being said, I drive at a slower rate for safety reasons not because of the gas savings.

6. Oil changes on a diesel are more expensive and more frequent. This eats of time when traveling. For meeting this matters. It is not the money, it is that I just do not like sitting around to get my oil changed.

7. Dealers kept telling me about the great resale vale of diesel over gas... I looked used diesel truck pricing and noted there was a higher resale value. However, when I adjusted for the increased purchase price and depreciated that amount over time the increased resale value was explainable, but not a free lunch.

Longer engine life was also a noted benefit. Compared to the aging process this argument was not relevant for me. I am into consumption before death.

8. Gas seems to be a good choice for driving around town/ stop a go driving. If you live in the suburbs and use it as a second car, this may be a nice feature. I needed a second car.

9. Given what ever I am doing, even if it is frivolous - (and for me this is fun, but frivolous), I try not to wast money. That being said, when you look at the cost of these trucks, the difference between the cost of fuel for the different engines is relatively small when compared to the cost of the truck. For example, the increase cost of a diesel seems to be around $8,000- $10,000 depending on the brand and the options (generator, batteries, electric space heater, etc.) You may decide that is just too much money, or you do not care. In any case, the difference in fuel cost is not very meaningful in the decision process. As the man said in 2 above, " I told him I knew that, but I just wanted one..." For me a diesel engine looked like a lot of fun, but not a hoot. For some, driving one is clearly a hoot.

The key question seems to be: Is owning and driving a diesel truck a hoot or perhaps a bigger hoot than a gas truck.
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Old 04-04-2019, 04:45 PM   #53
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In any truck purchased for towing and traveling, really consider getting the larger fuel tank if at all possible. We spent 15 years towing all over the hinterlands with our 98 Ram that got very poor gas mileage and had a standard tank...seemed like we were always stopping for gas and in remote areas were often stressed out about making it to the next refueling opportunity. First thing at the top of my list on our new truck was the large fuel tank, between that and the new truck getting much better mileage than the old one we will never need to worry about gas...a very nice improvement.
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Old 04-04-2019, 05:48 PM   #54
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In any truck purchased for towing and traveling, really consider getting the larger fuel tank if at all possible. We spent 15 years towing all over the hinterlands with our 98 Ram that got very poor gas mileage and had a standard tank...seemed like we were always stopping for gas and in remote areas were often stressed out about making it to the next refueling opportunity. First thing at the top of my list on our new truck was the large fuel tank, between that and the new truck getting much better mileage than the old one we will never need to worry about gas...a very nice improvement.
I like the concept of the bigger fuel tank but it costs a lot more to fill the bigger tank than the standard tank . Gotta watch my oennies
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Old 04-04-2019, 07:11 PM   #55
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I'm happy with the 25 gallon tank in the Ram, after about 4 hours or 250 miles I start looking for gas. Gives me a chance to walk around, get fuel for the car and myself, walk the dogs and repeat again in 4 hours. So a 15 minute break is needed and welcomed by all.
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Old 04-04-2019, 08:15 PM   #56
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I'm happy with the 25 gallon tank in the Ram, after about 4 hours or 250 miles I start looking for gas. Gives me a chance to walk around, get fuel for the car and myself, walk the dogs and repeat again in 4 hours. So a 15 minute break is needed and welcomed by all.
I agree that works well if there’s a gas station to stop at to fuel up
On several occasions while traveling in Canada we have stopped to refuel and been told they were out of gas . We ended up draining the gas from the outboard motor tanks so we had enough gas to make it to the next station .
The larger fuel tank on our Ram truck has saved our butts on several iccasions
The bigger fuel tank is a $450 option
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Old 04-04-2019, 08:25 PM   #57
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Going across Canada last year on my Big Trip, there were several stretches where there were HUGE Yellow Billboards that said to check your fuel gauge... limited services ahead. THAT was a lie. There were NO services ahead, at least not until the next town which was over 300+ miles away.
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Old 04-04-2019, 11:56 PM   #58
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Just so all the U.S. residents don't panic about their next trip up to Canada, in four decades of driving I've never encountered a gas station without fuel, and in trips across every province except Newfoundland and Labrador I've never seen a stretch of more than about 300 km (200 miles) without a gas station - and even that far is rare - other than well north of here (which is the northernmost major city in the country). Up north, planning is a serious thing.

Still, less than about 500 km (300 miles) of range can be a pain, because it means planning stops to coordinate station locations with fuel capacity; our van with the trailer doesn't quite make that in mountainous conditions. It's much nicer to be able to buy gas where it is reasonably priced, and stop when it's time for a break. Both our van without the trailer and the motorhome have about 800 km range, which is lots.
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Old 04-05-2019, 06:36 AM   #59
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
Just so all the U.S. residents don't panic about their next trip up to Canada, in four decades of driving I've never encountered a gas station without fuel, and in trips across every province except Newfoundland and Labrador I've never seen a stretch of more than about 300 km (200 miles) without a gas station - and even that far is rare - other than well north of here (which is the northernmost major city in the country). Up north, planning is a serious thing.

Still, less than about 500 km (300 miles) of range can be a pain, because it means planning stops to coordinate station locations with fuel capacity; our van with the trailer doesn't quite make that in mountainous conditions. It's much nicer to be able to buy gas where it is reasonably priced, and stop when it's time for a break. Both our van without the trailer and the motorhome have about 800 km range, which is lots.

In Northen Québec, from Matagami to Radisson there is a route that offer no service for 381 km...

Dont miss that gaz station and be prepare to pay at least 0.20$ per liter more.
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Old 04-05-2019, 09:35 AM   #60
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Like Brian, I too have never found a lack of fuel stations in Canada, other than up north. Wherever there is a fairly long stretch there is always a sign indicating when the next services are.

I have to say, I just love the flexibility of a large tanks, and know the frustrations of a small tank. I would much rather stop for rest breaks or give Jasper a run at a nice rest stop or picnic area along the way, than at a fuel station. Being able to head into remote areas with no fear of enough fuel for returning is a great piece of mind too.

Other than the initial cost, there is no reason to not get a larger tanks, and the many years of owning the tank with the truck will be worth the cost. Most spec trucks brought in around here have the larger tank as most everyone orders it if buying factory.

This last trip we took, my brother with his Pilot and Escape 19 got about the same mileage towing as we did but filled up two times to my tank. Not the end of the world, but there were a bunch of times when we played that fun game of range vs distance with the range gauge on the vehicle with the distance the GPS gave us to the next fuel stop.
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