10 years of truck, time for a change!

[Bruce B]

Late in the summer of 2009, I purchased my first ever personal pick up truck. It was a 2010 F-150 Platinum crew cab and was I surprised at how nice a vehicle it was! It preceded our Airstream by 30 months. I had no real need for a pickup, I just wanted one. Having spent my life dedicated to the business of European automobile repair I was a stranger to the world of big bruising pickups... I liked it!
Six years and some 130,000 miles later, I decided that I’d had enough of that truck. Although I loved it and I considered it a great vehicle, it had spent a pile of Ford’s money on mostly electronic repairs and I did not want to own it anymore plus the ESP extended warranty had run its course.
I contemplated a bunch of vehicles as replacements. Thought long and hard about the then not quite released Honda Ridgeline, looked at and drove a bunch of GM’s offerings and finally settled on a pretty fancy Ram 2500 with a Cummins, the RamBox option and rear air suspension. What a truck! I have owned that truck almost 40 months now and it has been an absolutely flawless vehicle. No malfunction lamps, no weird noises, no leaks, nothing falling off, nothing but pure brutish torque and arguably a great ride. I’ve pulled our tiny Bambi some 25,000 miles with this truck and probably had some 35,000 miles pulling behind the Ford.
We’ve made off camber panic stops when the vehicle in the right lane simply turned into us, we’ve towed in snow, cities, bad traffic and taken everything up and down mountains on pavement and on dirt. Never once did I feel as though we were in peril.
I like/d both vehicles!
As a matter of fact, the Ford wins the award of having lasted longer in my possession than any other vehicle I’ve ever owned!
I do believe that the Ram is a far better vehicle. Apples and oranges, I know, but the Ram has simply been that good...

So imagine my surprise when I began to get that familiar “itch” for a different vehicle. When we ran our business, I could, and did, rationalize different vehicles regularly.
I was always a Euro guy. It is what we did and what we drove.
Well, it is looking like my truck days are numbered. I have driven a number of European vehicles and fallen for the one I suspected would fit the bill.
In about 3 days our Audi dealer will be getting a Florett silver metallic Q7 in Prestige trim with the Titanium black optic package, adaptive chassis package (air suspension and 4 wheel steering) a cold weather package, towing package and a bunch of other stuff...
My Ram is worth far more than I expected in trade and I feel like I am going home.
I really have enjoyed being up high above traffic in our truck. I have loved packing whatever I wanted in the bed with no worries. The Ram actually got pretty fair mileage, far better than the Ford ever did...but it is time to try something else.
The Audi can pull far heavier trailers than our fat little Bambi so no drama there. The payload of the Audi Q7 is almost 300 pounds higher than our F-150 rated.
It drives, well it is just an awesome driving vehicle. It even has a fair amount of space to stow things. Not anything like our truck but, certainly a lot.
Not sure how I will set up the hitch yet. We have been using a Hensley Cub and I am not yet sure which brake controller I will use, the Tekonsha T3 or the Redarc Tow-Pro Elite that hides away so nicely...
Whatever we decide, we are looking forward to a second trip around the US like the one we took 2 plus years ago.
I can not wait to get the Bambi hooked up and give her a spin!
By the way, we are talking about a trip to Can Am later this summer for an assessment/tweaking of our towing set up.
What fun!
Bruce