Thread: Economics of old trucks vs new trucks

Not so sure that a hunting and shooting forum website is the best place to find out about trucks and towing but a couple of things of interest; modern auto transmissions are not anything like their forebears, they are like comparing the Wright Brothers efforts with Rocket Labs, Ford USA are the world's biggest producers of light trucks, 10,000 F250/350/450's per week, F150 production outnumbers them, you haven't been able to buy an F series truck with a manual transmission since 2010, Dodge and GM have dropped them too. There is no way that you can drive a manual with the efficiency and versatility that a modern auto provides. As far as durability goes, take a look at what commercial US owners do with their trucks, we are just playing in the sandpit here in comparison. The same will/has happened here, no Ford Ranger manuals for a couple of years now. Regarding towing, Ford USA states that you must have approximately 10% of your towed weight on the pin, I regularly tow 3.5 tonnes with my 2014 auto Ranger in it's standard configuration and haven't encountered any problems to date. I previously had a 2003 F250 V8 diesel with a 5 speed auto and am happy with the performance of the Ranger in comparison, not the same truck but does the job fine. I have owned Toyota Hilux, Prado, 3 x Landcruisers, Mitsubishi L200's and have zero brand loyalty. New vehicles cost in terms of depreciation, older cost in terms of maintenance and downtime, for a commercial owner downtime is a killer, in the end buy what you want, that's what I do.