I’ve been in the market for a while now, and I still haven’t bought a truck. I was set on an F150 for a while. The numbers are awesome—towing, hauling, stated mpg, etc. But then as I looked into it more, it seems that as the trucks get more complicated with more features and more advanced tech, they (Fords in particular) turn into near-constant headaches for some owners. And the way they designed it makes it apparent that Ford was not thinking of those of us who like to maintain our vehicles ourselves. I think they’re cool, but I don’t think Ford thinks that anyone needs to keep one running for more than 150-175k miles.

If you want the latest appointments, don’t mind the risk, and will probably trade it in every few years, I’d say knock yourself out with the Ford.

But if you don’t mind that your truck is just that—a simple truck for you to do truck stuff with—and if you don’t care to have the whole inside of your cab light up with a million buttons as if you’re piloting the Millenium Falcon, I’d go with a Tundra. Yes it has a big old-fashioned thirsty v8 in it. This is a good thing. It’s way cheaper to buy and own for 5 years than the Ford.

There are some Ford fanboys over on the ExPo forum who get into every single Toyota thread. One guy blocked me because I told him that Toyota vehicles are exactly as more reliable than Ford as they are behind Ford in the tech. He got all fussy insisting that Toyotas are “marginally” more reliable while being light years behind on tech. I sent him the data from Dashboard Light. He accused me of promoting my own site. Lol. I think tech and reliability are directly related. To some people, that’s apparently super offensive.

My FIL has a 2016 3.5EB F150 that he bought new. 70k miles and zero issues. Hope he continues to have good luck!