Are Ram or Ford Trucks Better? (It depends, here’s why…)

It is widely known that the Ford F 150 is the best-selling truck out there, but does that mean it’s the best? Or do people just buy it because that’s what everyone else is buying? In the end, are Ram or Ford trucks better?

Neither Ram nor Ford vehicles are known for their reliability. That said, Ford trucks are better than Ram trucks. Fords tend to be the cheaper, more reliable, and easier to repair choice of the two. Ford trucks also receive higher safety ratings than Ram trucks. 

Ford and Ram are both very popular truck manufacturers, but Ford beats out Ram. To discover which truck was better, we looked at the truck’s performance in a series of categories. Read the results below!

Ford F-150 vs Ram 1500

To compare the two performances of both Ram and Ford trucks, we decided to compare the Ford F-150 with the Ram 1500. These two models are the brand’s most popular trucks.

Basic stats

The 2021 Ford F-150 seats up to three people with the regular cab and 6 in a passenger cab. Starting price for the F-150 is $29,290. While the Ford F-150 is the smallest vehicle in the company’s line-up, it still has power. The Ford F-150 gets 290 horsepower, 265 pounds per feet of torque, and has a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds.

While the 2021 Ford F-150 has a 23 gallon fuel tank, it only gets 20 miles per gallon in the city and 24 miles per gallon on the highway. While this is low for most 2021 vehicles, it is an average gas mileage for trucks.

The dimensions of the 2021 Ford F-150 are as follows:

• Length – 209.1 in
• Height – 75.6 in
• Width – 79.9 in
• Weight – 4,021 lbs
• Cargo capacity – 62.3 ft cubed

Learn more about the 2021 Ford F-150’s specifics here.

Now let’s transition to the Ram truck. The 2021 Ram 1500 can seat up to 6 passengers. Starting price for the 2021 Ram 1500 is $32,795. The Ram 1500 has the same size fuel tank as the F-150, it gets slightly better gas mileage. In the city, the Ram 1500 gets 20 miles per gallon and 25 miles per gallon on the highway.

The 2021 Ram 1500 can tow more than the F-150 with a maximum towing capacity of 7,740 pounds. It accomplishes this extradorinaiy towing with its 305 horsepower and 269 pounds per feet of torque.

The dimensions of the 2021 Ram 1500 are as follows:

• Length – 228.9 in
• Height – 77.6 in
• Width – 82.1 in
• Weight – 4,778 lbs

Learn more about the 2021 Ram 1500’s specifics here.

Safety

The next important thing to consider is how safe each of these trucks is. When crash tested, the Ford F 150 received a safety rating of 5 out of 5 stars, according to the Kelley Blue Book. Ford also offers a wide range of safety features you can customize your truck with. They include things like automatic emergency braking, active park assist, blind-spot information system, cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree camera and so much more.

On the other hand, the Ram 1500 received a rating of 4 stars out of 5, according to the Kelley Blue Book. Ram also has a plethora of safety features. These include things like guided parking, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, or 360-degree camera.

Reliability

Let’s start first with the Ford F-150. On Kelly Blue Book it has a customer rating of 4.3 and an expert rating of 4.7. However, that was just for the 2021 F-150 regular cab.

Depending on which trim or can you get for the F-150, its reliability will go down. Some of its trims or cabs have more recalls to issues and are therefore seen as less reliable.

An important thing to look at when considering the reliability of a specific model of car is the recalls on that car. This might also give you some insights into problems that cars might have that you will want to be aware of. The 2021 Ford F-150 has had 6 NHTSA safety recalls, for specific models. These problems are related to things like incorrect windshield mounting, damaged sensors, and leaking brake fluid.

On the other hand, we have the 2021 Ram 1500. When looking at Kelly Blue Book you’ll see that it has a customer rating of 4.4 and an expert rating of 3.8.

Next, we’ll take a peek at the recalls for this truck. The 2021 Ram 1500 only has three recalls. They had to do with certain trucks having the wrong size of spare tire installed, problems with the display for the trailer reverse steering module, and finally, missing a piece for the braking system.

Given all this information, we can see that in reliability, the 2021 Ram 1500 will beat the Ford F-150. This isn’t to say the Ram 1500 doesn’t have any issues, because it does. Just, in the end, the 2021 Ram 1500 is more reliable than the 2021 F-150.

Ram Vs Ford

We’ve compared which of these two brands’ top-selling trucks are best, but which is the best brand in general? A brand shouldn’t be defined by just one of its creations, all of them should be considered. Let’s look at the safety and reliability of both Ford and the Ram brands.

Safety

Ford does pretty well with safety, especially their F-150, which has gotten a 5-star safety rating for many years. Some Ford trucks aren’t as safe as the F-150, but they are generally decently safe cars. On the other hand, Ram is decently safe. Its Ram 1500 also did well on its NHTSA safety testing.

Both of these brands have a lot of safety features available to make their cars safer. Neither brand is perfect in the safety category, but they both are doing well.

Reliability

While it is one of the top-selling truck brands, it typically doesn’t have the greatest reliability. Not to say these trucks are always unreliable, but that Ram trucks are known to have issues. Many of their trucks will have NHTSA safety recalls. These trucks have been recalled for a wide variety of issues, some of them being very serious. Some of the reasons for recalls include engine fires, missing pieces, problems that result in the engine stalling, or other problems of varying seriousness.

Another thing to look at for reliability is how much money it takes to properly maintain a Ram truck. Since each truck is slightly different, we took a peek at the cost of repairs for the 2021 Ram 1500 truck. This truck is actually very expensive to maintain, some say it costs nearly $18,000 in the first 10 years. That is over $7,000 more than the average cost.

However, Ram isn’t alone in not being the most reliable brand. Ford also has some reliability problems. It’s been ranked low in reliability in the past, especially by JD Powers. It’s also had its fair share of safety recalls. Ford’s trucks have had some serious problems, like a trailer hitch unintentionally separating, problems with airbags, loose or lost rear wheels, and more.

Finally, how much does it cost to maintain a Ford? These trucks are also expensive to maintain for the first 10 years. All of the costs add up to $10,245. That’s slightly above average, but not by too much.

In the end, after looking at the brand in general and their most popular trucks, the best truck brand turns out to be Ford. However, it is a very close race, and personal preference might tip the scales for a buyer.