Fellow OKCTalkers - I need to buy a pickup. Does anyone have any recommendations on brand, dealer, amenities, anything else? This will be my first truck purchase and I'm looking for any and all advice.

Thanks to all who chime in!

Gosh, they are all pretty good. What are you planning to use it for? Commuting? Hauling? How many passengers? 4wd?

A colleague of mine drives a Chevy Colorado extended cab, and I rode to Tulsa in it with him once. It was really nice. Lots of features and super-comfortable. He drives a ton of highway miles and says he loves that truck.

MY brother-in-law got a F-250 from Reynolds Ford. Really good dealership and had a good experience.

I predict this will roughly go in the same direction as a discussion as to who has the best BBQ. :)

I have a few clients who drive trucks. I can't tell a nickle's worth of difference in the ride, nor the quality of the interior or the exterior fit/finish. Each swears his/her truck is the best on the market.
When I drove Ford trucks, I rarely had any issues, but that was a couple decades back now.

Gosh, they are all pretty good. What are you planning to use it for? Commuting? Hauling? How many passengers? 4wd?

Mostly commuting to work and hauling a horse. I do need it to be 4WD.

A colleague of mine drives a Chevy Colorado extended cab, and I rode to Tulsa in it with him once. It was really nice. Lots of features and super-comfortable. He drives a ton of highway miles and says he loves that truck.

I've read a lot of positive reviews about the new Colorados, but I'll be towing a horse and I'm not sure if the Colorado would be up for that routinely.

I predict this will roughly go in the same direction as a discussion as to who has the best BBQ. :)

I have a few clients who drive trucks. I can't tell a nickle's worth of difference in the ride, nor the quality of the interior or the exterior fit/finish. Each swears his/her truck is the best on the market.
When I drove Ford trucks, I rarely had any issues, but that was a couple decades back now.

ha, yeah, I figured it would be pretty subjective, but I thought I might at least hear about any bad dealers or things to avoid.

MY brother-in-law got a F-250 from Reynolds Ford. Really good dealership and had a good experience.

Do you know which Reynolds Ford he did business with?

I'm going to make 2 recommendations, first buy 4WD, second, buy full size. Other than that, new trucks are basically the same other than they look different. Most come with the same options and configurations. Personally I have a new Sierra. I purchased because I'm more of a GM guy, and the GMC's hold their value better than their Chevy counterpart. Now my father in law has a new F150, and I've driven it many times, and I find it very similar overall to my Sierra. I made the same recommendation when he was looking. I know he was wanting to save the couple grand on not going 4WD. Again 4WD is something that helps trucks hold their value. Truthfully outside of luxury cars, a 4WD fullsize truck in Oklahoma has probably one of the best resell values. With all the rebates on new trucks they are hard to beat.

Do you know which Reynolds Ford he did business with?

The Reynolds Ford of Edmond (they live in Edmond area). He said it was a good experience and the warranty with Ford was what sold him. As long as he gets his routine maintenance there he keeps the warranty in my understanding. They were willing to work with him on price as well. He traded in his expedition but I don't know how much trade value he got.

Also one word of advice on dealers. Absolutely stay away from David Stanley. Bad customer service and have screwed over a few friends of mine.

Buying a truck now days is like going down the toothpaste isle at the grocery store. So many choices, but they all do basically the same thing. Which ever brand you choose, decide whether you need a 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton. If your going to be towing your one horse regularly, then a 3/4 ton may be better suited. Horses like to shift their weight around while your driving sometimes.

I drive a 1/2 ton Chevy full size, and do occasional towing, and it works fine for what I use it for, but I don't tow a lot of weight. I once towed a tandem axle enclosed trailer with a '64 Plymouth Valiant in it, and it pulled it just fine but I could sure tell it was back there. I've owned all 3 of the major brands, and they've all been pretty good, plus driven our company trucks for a lot of years.

One more thing. Because trucks hold their value so well, and they sell so well, they don't come off them much at the dealer. They know they'll sell every one of them.

If you are hauling, a full-size truck is recommended. Although, the Colorado has the option of a diesel, which may be enticing.

If you can spend the money, get either a Gm or Ford with the leather seats, full size. As others have mentioned, 4wd is recommended for resale value.

The new F-150 w/ the 10-speed peaks my interests.

I had a 13 Platinum 4wd, drove it 20k miles and sold it in April of 2015. Those 20k miles cost me about $3k.

We have a number of Govt trucks at the facility that I drive often. Chevy, Ford and RAM. I would have trouble deciding between them if I were to buy one for myself. They've all been reliable, drive well, ride well and haul well. It would come down to looks and I don't know which one I think looks better.

If you are hauling, a full-size truck is recommended. Although, the Colorado has the option of a diesel, which may be enticing.

If you can spend the money, get either a Gm or Ford with the leather seats, full size. As others have mentioned, 4wd is recommended for resale value.

The new F-150 w/ the 10-speed peaks my interests.

I had a 13 Platinum 4wd, drove it 20k miles and sold it in April of 2015. Those 20k miles cost me about $3k.

May I ask why you sold it so quickly? Just wanted something different?

May I ask why you sold it so quickly? Just wanted something different?

I really liked the truck. At the time, my company was providing me a vehicle (free gas, insurance, maintenance) so I decided to sell it to pay off my student loans. I only had the truck for 15 months.

About 3 months after I bought my truck, my dad went out and bought the same truck in a different color.

I own 3 pickups. I've had horses up until recent. I've owned all pickups except for a car for 1 month (big mistake) . The size of the trailer is going to dictate your truck. Do you already have a horse trailer? Do you have a gooseneck or a bumper pull? is it a 2 horse or larger? Is it a steel or aluminum trailer? The smallest truck I would recommend is a full size half ton with a v8. How long are you driving with the trailer? if local and a 2 horse then stick to the v8 1/2 ton. If you are pulling a large gooseneck or going out of state then go with a 3/4 ton or larger. Also go with the trailer towing package. Helps on the wear and tear of the motor/trans. I'm not a fan of the Dodge trucks. Body falls apart I would stick with Ford or Chevy or possibley a Toyota. Just figure on what kind of trailer you are getting or already have and buy the truck to match. If you don't have a trailer then consider what you will be looking for. How big and how heavy of a trailer. The dealers will help you figure out what motor you need. If you are not going far and only one horse, I would go with a bumper pull 2 horse or a light weight gooseneck. 3 horse. I' ve not pulled a 2 horse gooseneck but I've been told the little longer trailer is easier to back then a short gooseneck.

I have had great experiences with Diffee out in El Reno. Staff is nice and they won't try to screw you over.

Stay away from David Stanley, I also know people that have been screwed over there.

I've bought from John Vance in Guthrie for over 20 years and have had nothing but great experiences with each purchase.

Yep, longer trailers are easier to back, regardless of whether they're bumper pull, gooseneck or fifth wheel. Also, unless you're doing a lot of pulling and hauling, or pulling long distances, stick with a gas V8. Diesels add a large chunk to the price tag and cost a lot more to maintain. Most folks you see running around town with Powerstrokes, Duramaxes, and Cummins 6's don't really need them.

I am of the opposite opinion on diesels. I still drive my 2003 F250 4x4 crew with the 6.0 diesel. Don't see me getting rid of the truck anytime in the distant future and with a diesel....don't see the engine going out anytime soon. (I have 115000 on truck now so very low mileage for a diesel) I don't need the towing capacity often but I sure like the feel and the power of the diesel when I tow anything. Also, the diesels hold their resale much better which offsets the higher cost new. I just check and my 13 year old truck still books out 3k higher than the same truck with a gas engine. My buddy just got a new GMC 2500 with the duramax and it sure is nice but price tag was enough to keep me very happy with my old beast.

Are you planning to buy new or used? You can easily pay $40,000-$65,000 for a new truck these days. Especially one with 4WD and a good towing ability.

I always own several cars at one time and that usually includes a truck. I always buy used. You can get what was a $45K truck for $10,000 if you're okay with it being 6-10 years old with some miles and good upkeep - and still have plenty of life left in it and much slower depreciation.

My F150 right now is a 2001 model with only 103,000 miles and I only paid $3,500 for it if memory serves me. It's just a 'run to the lumberyard' vehicle for me and I use it some in my job when it necessitates.

That said, both my good friend neighbors have trucks. One has a very nice 2015 Dodge and the other has two new Toyota Tundra's. I'm guessing they are all around $50,000. They seem to love them and buy new one's every couple of years.

If you buy new, I also recommend John Vance motors in Guthrie. Really nice people and fair (*disclaimer: we bought and currently live in their childhood family home in Edmond).

I've bought 6 new vehicles from Knippelmier over the years, three trucks and three vans. I'd go there first if I were looking for a truck.

I am of the opposite opinion on diesels. I still drive my 2003 F250 4x4 crew with the 6.0 diesel. Don't see me getting rid of the truck anytime in the distant future and with a diesel....don't see the engine going out anytime soon. (I have 115000 on truck now so very low mileage for a diesel) I don't need the towing capacity often but I sure like the feel and the power of the diesel when I tow anything. Also, the diesels hold their resale much better which offsets the higher cost new. I just check and my 13 year old truck still books out 3k higher than the same truck with a gas engine. My buddy just got a new GMC 2500 with the duramax and it sure is nice but price tag was enough to keep me very happy with my old beast.

Have you had any problems with the 6.0 yet? I know these are Ford's problem motor so I'm always interested to see when people had to put work into them. My buddy has one that he bought off an old man, it was definitely not used very hard. Anyways about 2 weeks ago the EGR screwed up like they do, anyways $7k later he got it all fixed and bulletproofed. He decided to fix everything wrong with that motor while they were working on it. Sucks that he had to do that, but should have a reliable truck now. His only had 97k on it when it happened.

I haven't read through the whole thread so forgive me if I'm repeating.

Stay away from Dodge. Owned a Dodge Ram once and will never own another dodge vehicle again. There's a reason they're cheaper. Everything that could go wrong with that truck did go wrong. Bad transmission, bad electrical (headlights going on and off randomly), overheating/stuck thermostat, A/C going out when going up a hill and on and on. I thought I'd just gotten a bad truck until my BIL borrowed once and said afterwards that he had assumed that Dodge would've gotten the transmission thing and the A/C thing worked out since the last time he'd owned a dodge. Turns out it's a company wide thing.

To show you how haphazardly they're put together, I took my truck into have a few things looked at while it was still under warranty. I told them one of the things was there was something poking out of the floor. They corrected it and told me that at the factory they use clips to hold the upholstery to the ceiling and one of those clips had fallen off. Instead of picking it up or sweeping it out, they just carpeted right over it. Quality control is not Dodge's strong suit.

I've never driven a chevy truck but they seem fine. I had an F-150 once that was great and kept chugging along no matter how badly you treated it. It was only a 2 wheel drive but I took it off road some and through some deep water (even had to be wenched out once), hauled a four wheeler in the bed, drove it for nearly 200K miles and it was over 16 years old when I got into a pile up on the interstate and the insurance company didn't want to fix it. It probably could've gone on to 300K miles.

Everyone I've ever talked to that's had a Toyota Tacoma says they're pretty much indestructible. If you don't need a full size, this is what I'd go for personally.

We ran Ford trucks for years at my work. 1/2, 3/4 & 1 tons. One of our team members bought one of them, an '03 or '04 F250 crew cab 4x4 power stroke. It was the last year model for the 7.3 liter... what we called the "straight pipe" engines, which was essentially an International bus engine. About a year ago, he was relocated and sold it for $8000. It was still nice and had regular maintenance items doe like injectors and such, but is was a darn good truck, and had around 190,000K on it when he sold it.

Around the same time, we had a same year 2wd extended cab with same engine that the company sold. I was interested in it, but really didn't need it as I already had a Dodge Quad Cab V8 that took care of everything I needed. But looking back, I should have bought it, because I could have doubled my money on it as low mileage 7.3's are hard to find.

we also had an '05 crew cab dually and an extended cab long bed with the 6.0L. We had all the problems with those two trucks that most other 6.0 owners had . But we had the dually gone through and had the issues corrected. I think they spent around $4500 getting it worked out, and it ran like a champ from there on out. It was an awesome highway equipment towing truck. The extended cab 6.0L was sold as is.

The 7.3 was one of the best engines available.

We ran Ford trucks for years at my work. 1/2, 3/4 & 1 tons. One of our team members bought one of them, an '03 or '04 F250 crew cab 4x4 power stroke. It was the last year model for the 7.3 liter... what we called the "straight pipe" engines, which was essentially an International bus engine. About a year ago, he was relocated and sold it for $8000. It was still nice and had regular maintenance items doe like injectors and such, but is was a darn good truck, and had around 190,000K on it when he sold it.

Around the same time, we had a same year 2wd extended cab with same engine that the company sold. I was interested in it, but really didn't need it as I already had a Dodge Quad Cab V8 that took care of everything I needed. But looking back, I should have bought it, because I could have doubled my money on it as low mileage 7.3's are hard to find.

we also had an '05 crew cab dually and an extended cab long bed with the 6.0L. We had all the problems with those two trucks that most other 6.0 owners had . But we had the dually gone through and had the issues corrected. I think they spent around $4500 getting it worked out, and it ran like a champ from there on out. It was an awesome highway equipment towing truck. The extended cab 6.0L was sold as is.

The 7.3 was one of the best engines available.

Yep 6.0's are ticking time bombs until you do the upgrades. Then they are basically bulletproof. Just sucks you got to spend that kind of money to make them what they should have been.

Have you had any problems with the 6.0 yet? I know these are Ford's problem motor so I'm always interested to see when people had to put work into them. My buddy has one that he bought off an old man, it was definitely not used very hard. Anyways about 2 weeks ago the EGR screwed up like they do, anyways $7k later he got it all fixed and bulletproofed. He decided to fix everything wrong with that motor while they were working on it. Sucks that he had to do that, but should have a reliable truck now. His only had 97k on it when it happened.

I had some of the issues and would not necessarily recommend the 6.0 if you can get the 7.3 L or one of the later models. However, I found a place R&R Diesel in OKC that only works on ford diesels so they know them inside and out. My EGR replacement was about $300 versus $1100 because they found away to do it without dropping the transmission. I have fixed all the 6.0 problems so should be smooth sailing. (fingers crossed)

My dad used to haul horse trailers all over the South and he bought a Ram 3500 Diesel with a Cummings in it. He has dualies with a gooseneck ball that sits right on top of the rear axle. Don't know if you will be doing multiple day/night hauls, but having an extended cab, he used to sleep in the back bench to save on hotels and it also helped serve for extra room. I don't know if you are going to do this commercially, but something to consider is to put a toolbox/extra tank of gas in the front part of the bed.

If you don't mind worst in class gas mileage, go with a Tundra. It won't quite have all the bells and whistles the top of the line other brands have, but it's a Toyota (so it'll outlast you ;) ) and I would think you'd be able to tow a horse trailer with it's 5.7 V8.

A guy who worked with us has a Tundra. I like that fact that it had a power roll down rear window, but the reason I didn't like it, and this may sound weird, but you had to craw underneath the truck to check the transmission fluid... and it was an automatic.

I had some of the issues and would not necessarily recommend the 6.0 if you can get the 7.3 L or one of the later models. However, I found a place R&R Diesel in OKC that only works on ford diesels so they know them inside and out. My EGR replacement was about $300 versus $1100 because they found away to do it without dropping the transmission. I have fixed all the 6.0 problems so should be smooth sailing. (fingers crossed)

Yeah once you get them fixed I think they are pretty dang reliable. I know my buddy did the EGR, heads, head bolts, and turbo upgrade while they were in there. He wanted to be one and done, and the company was paying for it, so why not.

So what we've learned is that brand A is perfect to some and the worst thing ever built for others. Same for brand b, c, d, etc. It's always like this when we need advice on any product. If I ever ask I leave the conversation as confused as I was going in. Makes life fun!

A guy who worked with us has a Tundra. I like that fact that it had a power roll down rear window, but the reason I didn't like it, and this may sound weird, but you had to craw underneath the truck to check the transmission fluid... and it was an automatic.

i LOVE the power back window, i always have mine down year round.

that's odd about the tranny fluid, but one thing I will say is that everything under the hood is so accessible, as opposed to my last Silverado where it was a PITA to work on anything

New question - is it necessary or advisable to buy a truck with an extended cab? I don't really like the look of crew cabs and would like a single cab cost better than double cab. Again, I'll just be using this truck for normal pickup things and hauling a 2 horse trailer. I do need 4 wheel drive.

New question - is it necessary or advisable to buy a truck with an extended cab? I don't really like the look of crew cabs and would like a single cab cost better than double cab. Again, I'll just be using this truck for normal pickup things and hauling a 2 horse trailer. I do need 4 wheel drive.

It really depends on if you plan to sell it. Crew cabs do very well on the used market. I'm unsure of the extended cabs.

It really depends on if you plan to sell it. Crew cabs do very well on the used market. I'm unsure of the extended cabs.

My intention is to drive it until it won't drive anymore.

I've own both regular and extended cab pickups in both small (Ranger and Datsun) and Ford F-150. I used mine for pulling horse trailers. I'm a retired firefighter and drove larger pickups pulling large cargo gooseneck trailers. I found that even if you rarely have pasengers you can you the space for all the stuff. Much more convenant to put stuff behind the seat in the the extra space. Not much space in a regular cab. I will not go back to a regular cab. I'm talking 40 yrs experience. If you have had both you would agree with me. Well worth the extra money. Also you don't need the 4 wheel drive unless you plan on going down some really bad muddy roads or pastures. I have drove brush pumpers that you needed 4 wheel drive. For around town the average person doesn't need that. good luck with your truck purchase.

Understand the drive it until wheels fall off. I have my 95 F-150 and 03 Ranger and now 2015 Tacoma. I'm collecting trucks. (also have a 1964 Ford F-250 project truck)

Mine is a crew cab and I wouldn't go back, but then again I also think the crew cab is the best looking version of a truck IMO. Taking that into consideration as well as extra space for people or things, that's the only route I'd ever go.

I've had them all as well ...crew / quad cabs, extended cabs and regular cabs. If you going to be doing a lot of towing, not only will you enjoy the extra space that at least an extended cab has behind the seat for storing extra gear secured in the cab, but the longer wheel bases of extended and crew/quad cabs make for more stable towing.

Since I no longer live on and acreage, and tow tractors, equipment and materials, I no longer have a need for a larger pickup. I also had, at different times, a couple 1-1/2 ton trucks with dump beds for the bigger jobs.

I currently drive a 2wd regular cab full size short bed and don't have a problem with it. Easier to drive & park, better fuel economy, better for me.

If you don't mind worst in class gas mileage, go with a Tundra. It won't quite have all the bells and whistles the top of the line other brands have, but it's a Toyota (so it'll outlast you ;) ) and I would think you'd be able to tow a horse trailer with it's 5.7 V8.

We have a 2011 5.7 v8( 6' bed, crew cab ) Tundra to tow our 9000lb RV and it does the job very well in addition to being a very comfortable truck. We towed that trailer all over the west with no problems. The Tundra will tow anything but won't pass a gas station!

Toyota doesn't rate it's trucks like 1/4 ton, 3/4 ton. etc., but the manual says it has 1500lb payload. I've put that much hay in the bed and it sits nice and level. We use it as our ranch truck out here in NE Oregon.

Cold and snowy in NE Oregon and I haven't had the truck out of 4WD for the last month!

Mike