The average transaction price for a full-size pickup is nearing $50,000, and that’s a lot of green dollar bills for the Average Joe. Even the entry-level Ram 1500, which costs more than $30,000, comes as expensive when compared to the previous generation of the half-ton truck with rear-wheel drive, the smallest cab configuration, and V6 engine.
An online automotive marketplace, CarGurus surveyed 1,067 current and former pickup owners in February 2019. Of the current owners, most drive a Ford, 154 own a Chevrolet, 106 took up Toyota, and 101 chose Ram. No fewer than 68 percent of them claim their pickups were overpriced, but that’s not all. 48 percent believe “the trucks aren't made as well as they used to be.”
The quality of plastics is junky at best when it comes to Chevrolet, and even GMC is cutting corners in areas where other pickup brands use squidgy plastic or soft padding. General Motors also has a problem with quality control, and the Tripower turbo four-cylinder happens to use more fuel than the 5.3-liter V8 in the Silverado 1500.
Almost half of the current owners would consider a different brand of pickup over gas mileage, and 42 percent of former owners said that fuel efficiency is the reason they bought a different vehicle. Last, but not least, 70 percent of owners said “they would switch brands if their preferred brand raises prices by $10,000” while “half would switch with a $5,000 increase.”
"With pickup truck prices on the rise, many owners are reconsidering their current brand, or in some cases whether they will repurchase a pickup at all," said Madison Gross, director of consumer insights at CarGurus.
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