Thanks for the story Tiger. To drive or ride in the competition is a very good sales angle. I got to ride in a friends brand new (2 day old) Ford F150 double cab 4x4 and I gotta' tell you, there really IS NO comparison regarding ride, overall noise suppression, quality of interior materials and design, fit and finish... Cheesy looking plastic is everywhere and not much clever or imaginative engineering went into the design of this interior. I didn’t know what to say, I told him “thanks for the ride, great truck,” but I was thinking, “Wholly crap!”
If you need a workhorse truck for your job, I guess this would be the ticket. But, for my application (and his), this is not my idea of a reasonable option. It put things into perspective and made me really appreciate the quality and engineering that went into my Ridgeline.