Tow vehicle pricing

[Wicked ace]

That's about right, IIRC, that's about where my 250 came in on payload. But, honestly, the difference between a 250 and 350 basically comes down to a spring and a sticker. If you're in love with this truck, can get it at a good price and add airbags to it, it'll almost certainly tow better than a 350 SRW would (or the same). The 250/350 distinction is "almost nothing" in most/many cases. If you want more safety, get DRW. The only thing that a 350 is really buying you is a "better sticker". It's very little/no difference until you get to DRW.

The difference in price between an F250 and F350 is minimal, probably about 1% of the 3/4 ton MSRP. Go to Ford's build site and do one of each to compare, you'll see. So if you are spending big why push things because you saw something on the internet? Get what is rated to do the task at hand and you won't have any worries or questions about what is what.

[Wicked ace]

We had a Ford Lariat and I used to test drive Dodge trucks. We feel our GMC 3500 Denali has the better ride. I have been in the SLT and it's ride wasn't as nice. We have had people comment about how nice of a ride the Denali has even in the back seat, loaded or unloaded.

I only drove one GM truck and it was a gas engine work truck. Maybe not a fair comparison but still I preferred the Ram with air suspension. Maybe I'm biased because my DD is a Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit with Air suspension and I LOVE that ride!

[Overtaxed]

The difference in price between an F250 and F350 is minimal, probably about 1% of the 3/4 ton MSRP. Go to Ford's build site and do one of each to compare, you'll see. So if you are spending big why push things because you saw something on the internet? Get what is rated to do the task at hand and you won't have any worries or questions about what is what.

I agree. It's just that I don't agree that a 350 does many tasks better than a 250. And, in some areas, the cost of the vehicle isn't the issue, it's the cost of the registration. A 350 is about 2X the cost to register (could be 1K more per year for the first few years) than a 250. The 250 exists, IMHO, mostly to get around this, <10K lbs is a different rating class in some states, and it's MUCH cheaper to register. I just don't see the sense in going from a 250 to 350 SRW, it's not "different enough" to make much/any difference in the real towing safety.

If you want to simply things, really there should only be 2 HD pickups, a 350SRW and a 450 (DRW, of course). The 350 DRW and 450 are also "too close" to make much difference, just like the 250 makes no sense except to beat registration costs. As you correctly said, it's like <1% difference in price, why on earth would anyone buy a 250? If not for registration fees, they wouldn't.

[Jerryr]

........As you correctly said, it's like <1% difference in price, why on earth would anyone buy a 250? If not for registration fees, they wouldn't.

In Florida, registration fees are not much different between a 250 and 350 yet there are 10 times more 250s on the road than 350s. It think the reason is because of the $1,000 original price difference.

When I was looking to go from a 2016 F150 XLT W/1964 lbs of payload I was surprised that 250s We’re only in the 2100-2200 lb payload range.

So I wanted a F-350 Lariat diesel with 18” tires. There were none within 100 miles of suburban home south of Tampa. I found only 3 within 150 miles and those were all in remote counties where horses were popular.

We love the 350.

[Overtaxed]

In Florida, registration fees are not much different between a 250 and 350 yet there are 10 times more 250s on the road than 350s. It think the reason is because of the $1,000 original price difference.

When I was looking to go from a 2016 F150 XLT W/1964 lbs of payload I was surprised that 250s We’re only in the 2100-2200 lb payload range.

So I wanted a F-350 Lariat diesel with 18” tires. There were none within 100 miles of suburban home south of Tampa. I found only 3 within 150 miles and those were all in remote counties where horses were popular.

We love the 350.

Can't disagree. I think there are also a lot of 250's rolling around just because they are big and cool. Diesel power baby. That never/rarely tow much of anything. If you just want a "big 150" well, here's a 250 for ya! If you really want to tow heavy though, going by the "stickers" it's not the right truck, especially if that "heavy" thing your towing is a 5er or gooseneck that transfers a lot of weight to the truck. No shame in that, lots of 150's running around too with pristine beds that have never had a trailer connected. And the 250 diesel would be a good tow vehicle (again, by stickers) for some types of trailers, tag alongs that are heavy with low tongue weight (like a boat, for example). They just aren't the right truck for gooseneck/5ers (for the last time, by STICKER, not be capability, at least not IMHO) because of their artificially limited GVWR.

[luke79]

Can't disagree. I think there are also a lot of 250's rolling around just because they are big and cool. Diesel power baby. That never/rarely tow much of anything. If you just want a "big 150" well, here's a 250 for ya! If you really want to tow heavy though, going by the "stickers" it's not the right truck, especially if that "heavy" thing your towing is a 5er or gooseneck that transfers a lot of weight to the truck. No shame in that, lots of 150's running around too with pristine beds that have never had a trailer connected. And the 250 diesel would be a good tow vehicle (again, by stickers) for some types of trailers, tag alongs that are heavy with low tongue weight (like a boat, for example). They just aren't the right truck for gooseneck/5ers (for the last time, by STICKER, not be capability, at least not IMHO) because of their artificially limited GVWR.

F-250 is probably more than enough for our 2400BH. I'll talk to the dealer and see where we can get with the price.

[Overtaxed]

F-250 is probably more than enough for our 2400BH. I'll talk to the dealer and see where we can get with the price.

For sure, it's way more than enough for that size trailer, that would tow behind a 150 without issue.

[ramcneal]

One thing to give some thought to is the future. Can you see yourself at all moving to a larger trailer? Kids get bigger or you want a little more room? I had a 2014 Dodge 2500 that pulled my TT without a problem. When I bought the truck I thought about getting a 3500 hundred, it wasn't that much more, but I thought "Naw, don't need it." Guess what ... yup we bought a larger trailer last year. The 2500 wasn't enough truck; sure there are people who'd put air bags on the truck and say it was good to pull our 337RLS. I wasn't comfortable doing so and sold the 2500 and luckily found a 3500 dually. I love having enough truck for the job.

So, just give it some thought before pulling the trigger on a 2500.

[luke79]

One thing to give some thought to is the future. Can you see yourself at all moving to a larger trailer? Kids get bigger or you want a little more room? I had a 2014 Dodge 2500 that pulled my TT without a problem. When I bought the truck I thought about getting a 3500 hundred, it wasn't that much more, but I thought "Naw, don't need it." Guess what ... yup we bought a larger trailer last year. The 2500 wasn't enough truck; sure there are people who'd put air bags on the truck and say it was good to pull our 337RLS. I wasn't comfortable doing so and sold the 2500 and luckily found a 3500 dually. I love having enough truck for the job.

So, just give it some thought before pulling the trigger on a 2500.

I'm pretty sure we won't go to a bigger trailer. These bunks work pretty well for now. Kids are 10 and 6 now, will they be able to feel comfortable on those bunks in 4 or 5 years time? I hope so. In any case I don't think we'll ever purchase a significantly different trailer, we may go with a slightly different floor plan, but weight/length wise it will be similar. I don't think we'll ever go longer than 30 feet. We often stay at national parks and boondock a lot where space might be very limited.

So I told the dealer what I thought of F250, and they won't budge on price. Oh well. Kind of interesting because it would be cheaper for me to ship a very similar vehicle from Miami to Chicago and save about $20K.

[Jerryr]

I'm pretty sure we won't go to a bigger trailer. These bunks work pretty well for now. Kids are 10 and 6 now, will they be able to feel comfortable on those bunks in 4 or 5 years time? I hope so. In any case I don't think we'll ever purchase a significantly different trailer, we may go with a slightly different floor plan, but weight/length wise it will be similar. I don't think we'll ever go longer than 30 feet. We often stay at national parks and boondock a lot where space might be very limited.

So I told the dealer what I thought of F250, and they won't budge on price. Oh well. Kind of interesting because it would be cheaper for me to ship a very similar vehicle from Miami to Chicago and save about $20K.

I thought we would never get anything bigger than our 2800BH so back in 2016 we traded our 2016 F-150 w/2.7L engine on a 2016 F-150 XLT w/3.5L eco boost with 1964 lbs of payload. With the new truck the 2800Bh was in charge on the road and every time a big truck passed we got sucked towards it theN pushed away. It really scared my wife. We installed airbags on the 150 and it didn’t help. Bought a $2,500 propride hitch and it resolved 80-90% of the problem but the wife was gun shy. ..... SO:

3 months later we decided we enjoyed camping and wanted something more stable and bigger, so we traded the 2800BH in on a Reflection 337RLS and that same week we bought our F-350 diesel (sold the 150 to my brother-in-law).

That was almost 3 years ago and love the combination. We never ever look in the side view mirrors to see it an 18 wheeler is going to pass us since we no longer get pushed and sucked anymore.

So never say you’re pretty sure you wouldn’t get anything bigger.

Buy more truck than you need now and enough to tow a bigger trailer. You never will be sorry that you overbought a truck. My vote is skip the 250 and go for a 350.