I am buying a new truck, and before doing so, I wanted to drive a F450 to double check my decision on getting a bigger truck.
I currently own a 2006 Chevrolet 3500 LBZ Duramax 4x4 dually.
So, one arrived at my house on Friday afternoon to go drive for a little bit. Here is what I thought if anyone is interested. It was a Lariat 4x4 with everything except Nav, and 4.88 gears.
Before going anywhere, we sat in it for a while. The interior is nice, but not as plush as the Chevy. The back seat does have more room than my Chevy, actually by at least 6 inches for leg room. There are some cool features. The power extending mirrors are the shiat, and they fold in also, a feature my Chevy really needs. There is a power rear sliding window, which is another great feature if you are like me a limo tint everything. My wife would love that for backing the trailer up at the launch ramp. The upgraded stereo they put in it is decent for one from the factory, little bit of bumps in there.
The motor is very quiet and doesnÂ’t shake the truck. And the truck has an amazing turning radius.
So I back it out of my driveway and head for the freeway. The truck is very stiff, as it should be, but not as smooth as I was expecting. We went over a bump, and I had my seatbelt on and my ass still left the seat.
Now for the power, I floored it a few times: from a dead stop, to rolling start, then 25 MPH and hitting it. The truck felt to have less power than my LBZ Duramax. When driving my Duramax, I feel like the truck is pulling hard gaining speed. With the F450, it felt like the power was decent, just not like the Chevy. I feel that my Chevy will pass the Ford towing up a hill. I could be wrong, but that was my impression based on flooring the truck, then driving my truck after to compare. The Chevy felt faster.
The on-ramp of the freeway was where I stayed on it to 82 MPH, right to the limiter and it would not let me go any faster.
I drove this F450 hoping it would change my mind in getting the Freightliner, but it didnÂ’t. I would prefer a smaller truck like the F450, but it didnÂ’t seem better than my Chevrolet. I feel like I could upgrade my brakes and suspension on my 3500 and have a comparable truck, just faster. I am not sold on paying $25k+ more (after mods) than my truck now for something like this.
The hype of the 450 had me thinking it was a super truck, and while it is definitely a nice and cool truck, for what I want, it just doesnÂ’t do anything more for me than my Chevy already does.
The one I drove has a list price of about $58k and I could get it for thousands less. If anyone wants one, let me know, I have a good source on them.