Lt CHEG
Platinum Member
Some of you may remember my previous thread discussing the possibility that I might upgrade to a Duramax. I was getting a good deal but started to fall in love with the new Rams too. Ultimately I decided to wait and think about it a bit longer. In the mean time the 2500 Rams came out and I tested them out even though I would have went with the 3500 once they became available so that I could have went with the Aisin transmission. I also tested out the Super Duties for good measure.
Ultimately at the end of the day, overall the Ram really is the "best" HD pickup out there right now. I really wouldn't say that the Cummins necessarily performs better than the DMax but it is certainly more accessible and easier to work on so I give it a slight edge. The Chevy still rides the best but now the Ram is pretty equal to the Ford and they're both close in ride comfort to the Chevy. The Ram interior is really sweet this year and the iPad like center console is really great. When you factor in towing numbers and what not I really have to give a slight edge to the Ram. My wife really dislikes the interior of the Ford and with the combination of all factors we rated the Ram 1st with the Chevy 2nd and the Ford 3rd.
However, as we all know we live in a world where money is always an issue and we often take into account value per dollar. I trade in vehicles often. I know it isn't the best financial move, but it's a luxury that I can afford and there's a lot of things that I don't spend money on that a lot of other people do so it's a lifestyle choice that my wife and I are comfortable with.
So when we started to compare numbers, incentives, trade in values, residual values and what not the Chevy was by far the most appealing from a cost perspective. I would have been willing to pay more for the Ram but not $5000 to $6000 more and that's where the numbers were working out. So at the end of the day we bought a 2013 Black Silverado 2500HD crew cab short box Z71 Duramax. Between trade in value, incentives and dealer price we did very well. I bought the truck for invoice price and got about $8250 in rebates. I ended up doing a lease type program through my credit union at 2.49% interest and my payment is actually less than my previous 2011 Vortec powered truck with no money down. The GM trucks, especially the diesels really hold their value well in this area and I was able to take advantage of that and ultimately lower my cost of ownership on a more capable, more expensive truck.
So far I am very pleased with my new truck. I don't have 500 miles on it yet so I haven't towed anything with it yet but I really enjoy the extra power on tap even without anything behind me. It's been doing nothing but raining when I've had free time since I got the truck so I haven't got any pictures yet but will post some when I get them. I'm really looking forward to seeing how she'll perform with my tractor in tow.
Some of you may be wondering how I worked out my snow plow situation as well. As it turns out I'm not going to put a plow on this truck at all or any truck for that matter. Since my new house is only going to be about 6 miles from the house that I currently own and plan on keeping as an income property I'm going to use a tractor to do the snow removal for both places in the winter. That decision came with an interesting upgrade as well. Since my current tractor has very poor road speed I have decided to upgrade to a bigger tractor with better road speed so I don't have to trailer the tractor from my new place to the old place. I no longer have A need for the backhoe attachment for my tractor since I had free use of a bulldozer last summer and got almost all of my dirt moving projects done at the new house already. Plus I never liked installing and removing the backhoe on the tractor for when I needed to switch between mowing and digging. So I decided to get rid of the backhoe and take the money that I had planned on using to purchase a snowplow for my truck and put it towards a new tractor with better road speed. So I also bought a new New Holland Powerstar T4.75 tractor. I got the 24 mph road speed option on the tractor so I can get back and forth between properties in almost the same amount of time that I could do so with my pick up truck without having to trailer the tractor. I can also do my own personal mowing much more quickly now and can be more profitable on some of the side mowing jobs that I have undertaken. And the best thing of all is that between the trade-in value of my tractor with the backhoe attachment and money that I was planning on using for a snowplow I have not actually increased my debtload with the purchase of this new tractor. I also sprang for an Alamo SHD 88 flail mower with the heavy duty knives for my new toy. The dealer had it on the lot for almost a year after ordering it for someone that ultimately changed their mind and sold it to me with the tractor for their cost. I should be well prepared for all the needs of property maintenance for the foreseeable future.
Ultimately at the end of the day, overall the Ram really is the "best" HD pickup out there right now. I really wouldn't say that the Cummins necessarily performs better than the DMax but it is certainly more accessible and easier to work on so I give it a slight edge. The Chevy still rides the best but now the Ram is pretty equal to the Ford and they're both close in ride comfort to the Chevy. The Ram interior is really sweet this year and the iPad like center console is really great. When you factor in towing numbers and what not I really have to give a slight edge to the Ram. My wife really dislikes the interior of the Ford and with the combination of all factors we rated the Ram 1st with the Chevy 2nd and the Ford 3rd.
However, as we all know we live in a world where money is always an issue and we often take into account value per dollar. I trade in vehicles often. I know it isn't the best financial move, but it's a luxury that I can afford and there's a lot of things that I don't spend money on that a lot of other people do so it's a lifestyle choice that my wife and I are comfortable with.
So when we started to compare numbers, incentives, trade in values, residual values and what not the Chevy was by far the most appealing from a cost perspective. I would have been willing to pay more for the Ram but not $5000 to $6000 more and that's where the numbers were working out. So at the end of the day we bought a 2013 Black Silverado 2500HD crew cab short box Z71 Duramax. Between trade in value, incentives and dealer price we did very well. I bought the truck for invoice price and got about $8250 in rebates. I ended up doing a lease type program through my credit union at 2.49% interest and my payment is actually less than my previous 2011 Vortec powered truck with no money down. The GM trucks, especially the diesels really hold their value well in this area and I was able to take advantage of that and ultimately lower my cost of ownership on a more capable, more expensive truck.
So far I am very pleased with my new truck. I don't have 500 miles on it yet so I haven't towed anything with it yet but I really enjoy the extra power on tap even without anything behind me. It's been doing nothing but raining when I've had free time since I got the truck so I haven't got any pictures yet but will post some when I get them. I'm really looking forward to seeing how she'll perform with my tractor in tow.
Some of you may be wondering how I worked out my snow plow situation as well. As it turns out I'm not going to put a plow on this truck at all or any truck for that matter. Since my new house is only going to be about 6 miles from the house that I currently own and plan on keeping as an income property I'm going to use a tractor to do the snow removal for both places in the winter. That decision came with an interesting upgrade as well. Since my current tractor has very poor road speed I have decided to upgrade to a bigger tractor with better road speed so I don't have to trailer the tractor from my new place to the old place. I no longer have A need for the backhoe attachment for my tractor since I had free use of a bulldozer last summer and got almost all of my dirt moving projects done at the new house already. Plus I never liked installing and removing the backhoe on the tractor for when I needed to switch between mowing and digging. So I decided to get rid of the backhoe and take the money that I had planned on using to purchase a snowplow for my truck and put it towards a new tractor with better road speed. So I also bought a new New Holland Powerstar T4.75 tractor. I got the 24 mph road speed option on the tractor so I can get back and forth between properties in almost the same amount of time that I could do so with my pick up truck without having to trailer the tractor. I can also do my own personal mowing much more quickly now and can be more profitable on some of the side mowing jobs that I have undertaken. And the best thing of all is that between the trade-in value of my tractor with the backhoe attachment and money that I was planning on using for a snowplow I have not actually increased my debtload with the purchase of this new tractor. I also sprang for an Alamo SHD 88 flail mower with the heavy duty knives for my new toy. The dealer had it on the lot for almost a year after ordering it for someone that ultimately changed their mind and sold it to me with the tractor for their cost. I should be well prepared for all the needs of property maintenance for the foreseeable future.
