What Truck Should I Buy?
What Truck Should I Buy?
There comes a day in everyone’s life where they ask themself, self, what truck should I buy? Well that’s not today. Today is the day you ask ME what truck you should buy. You say, Jay, I want to buy a truck that serves as a great platform to modify with aftermarket accessories. Why would you ask me you’re asking yourself. Who the hell knows really. One possibility is that I have roughly ten years experience in the aftermarket truck accessory business and I have knowledge of which trucks are the easiest to modify and what avenues to pursue to obtain your desired outcome with a build. I take no pleasure in being involved in other people’s massive financial decisions though. Ask your wife. Ask your kid. Shit, ask your dog. But for the purposes of today’s informative post regarding potential purchases we will presume I have just been asked what truck you should buy, by you. Let’s dive in.
Call me biased but right out of the gate I’m gonna tell you to buy a Chevy Silverado. The Chevy Silverado has a long and storied tradition as old as America itself. The Pilgrims drove a Chevy Silverado to Plymouth Rock. George Washington used a Chevy Silverado to defeat the red coats. Hell, Jesus drove a Chevy Silverado with a long bed to haul around all of his disciples. So when I tell you my preferred choice of pickemup truck is a Chevy Silverado it’s because that dude has pedigree. Specifically the half ton four wheel drive model. I have one and I drove it over a mountain in Arkansas. More than half of the trucks we modify here at Off-Road King are Chevy Silverados. Is this because the Chevy Silverado is the most rugged of all of the half ton trucks out there at a hell of a price point and capability out the ass? In a word, yes. The aftermarket support to modify your Chevy Silverado is nigh endless. Lift kits from 2” all the way to 12”. Basically any wheel you can imagine. Steps and bedcovers. Bumpers and lights. Aftermarket manufacturers make it a point to cater to the Chevy Silverado market simply because there are so many of them and there are so many of them because they’re AWESOME! On road comfort with off-road capability. That’s the name of the game.
But what if you don’t like the Chevy Silverado for one reason or another? What if a Chevy Silverado went rogue and murdered your parents in an alley and you swore you would have your vengeance, in this life or the next? What if you something more towards the beefy side of things? What if you just want to haul shit around? Of course these are all hypothetical situations so hypothetically if I were not allowed to suggest the fully capable line of Chevrolet HD trucks, I’d have to go with a Ram 2500 four wheel drive. I choose this over the Ford F250 for purely personal reasons in that I own an old Dodge Ram and I’m partial to Mopar. Lest we not forget the legendary Cummins diesel engine and it’s more affordable than its Ford counterpart. These are all just my opinions and I’m wrong all the time so take all this with a big grain of salt. Again, there is a ton of aftermarket support for the Ram in terms of suspension modifications, bumpers, bed covers etcetera etcetera etcetera. If you need to haul heavy loads then the rugged reliability of the Ram gets my vote.
But what if you say hey man, I don’t want something to modify. I want something turn key that I can drive balls to the wall with too much horsepower and tons of suspension travel and price is not an option. Weeeellllllll that’s when my hand is gonna go up for the Ford F150 Raptor R. It costs over $100K, has a supercharged V8 motor, Fox coilovers up front with Fox resi’s in the rear. It’s ridiculous for something that can be driven off the lot and then jumped Dukes of Hazzard style. Turn the key, hit the skinny pedal and let her rip tater chip. It’s pretty sick. Do you need this truck? No, nobody needs this truck. This is the truck a 8 year old jacked up on swiss rolls thinks up. It even has a dinosaur name.
So I guess that’s it, my humble suggestions for your next truck purchase. These are all opinions and musings of a mad man who makes weiner jokes about trucks. However I do know a thing or two about the truck game, especially in terms of the modifiability (is that a word?) of different pickups in different segments. You don’t have to take my suggestions for your purchase but I do recommend you come see me to upgrade that thing. Use the tools available to you, especially the one who wrote this. K love you bye.