Ease my mind on 2021 Tundra vs F150

I have had many sleepless nights the last few months over my first ever truck purchase. I’ve never spent this much on a vehicle before but I’ve saved a good amount during Covid and we decided to buy a trailer to get camping this summer. We have 2 small kids and are going crazy indoors.

Anyway I was initially going to purchase the 2021 F150 XLT 302A package with max tow, 360 degree camera and a few other bells and whistles. However, my family has long been a Toyota family and the reliability is a big priority for me. I was able to track down a TRD Sport Premium (not many of those around here in Canada) and it is scheduled to arrive this week.

Now that the time has come I am getting a bit of cold feet. The trailer we bought has a GVWR of 6,000 pounds and while I’m confident the Tundra will do just fine towing it I know the F150 is better equipped in that regards - even including the trailer back up assist which is a cool feature.

Kind people of this group - please help keep my mind at ease and reinforce the fact I am making the right decision?

 

Go with your heart.

If you go with your head the decision is obvious.

 

You bought it for the reliability and all those bells and whistles that come from Ford come at a higher risk for failure. A bit of practice with your truck and trailer and you won't be thinking about the Ford...but you would be thinking about the Tundra everytime something broke on the Ford, lol.

 

Toyota for reliability. There are a few on here who left and went to Ford, and came back.

 

I think 6000 lb is fine I'm sure.

 

Learn to backup without backup assist.
It’s easy.

 

Toyota all the way.

One Ford is all I needed to never want another. I'm on my 4th Toyota. None have had any issues.

As above, you should be able to back up without assist. If you can't, you shouldn't be backing up.

 

The Ford is nice and has awesome features. I have been reading that the reliability really lacks and that’s what keeps me from them. I would honestly consider one but I hate dealership visits.

Every Toyota I have owned has been rock solid. The only exception is my wife’s Highlander which she insisted on having. It’s the first new model year and she has had to go in for a few software updates. Nothing big but still a pain.

Go with the Tundra if reliability is your priority. Go with Ford if you value the extra features but buy and extended warranty if you plan to keep it a while.

As for the towing weight. Keep that rig under 7,000. Get airbags and possibly a WDH and I think it will tow just fine.

 

I would not buy an F150 if it had the backup assist on it....Most ridiculous thing ever. If you cannot back up the trailer you have, you have no business towing it.

Just my .02

 

My 2 cents.

 

I FEEL (no hard facts here) like Ford overestimates ability and Toyota under estimates it.

 

I’m not sure where ford gets their tow numbers, but I’ve had a friend pull my bobcat with a brand new f-150.
It squatted and struggled badly.
I’m not sure if he wasn’t hitting his tow/haul or something, but it was not impressive at all.

 

Yup I had a 2015 f150 and towed a small tractor with it. Struggled mightily. Feel like the Toyota is much more robust. I haven’t tried to tow the same tractor with my truck and it’s not stock anymore so... yeah just get something to help with the load out back some e-rated tires and tow your heart out. If you can get over the lack of creature comforts and love your truck for its reliability then go Toyota. My dad trades trucks all the time and buys Ford. Doesn’t really matter if you trade a lot. He likes the creature comforts.

 

Towed a few trailer with F150's and my Tundra - the Tundra is more stable towing, and it's for one main reason: weight. There's a reason on Ford HD trucks when they did the weight saving aluminum cabs the weight only went down a couple hundred pounds vs. the half ton that went down well over 500 lbs. You want the extra weight for safety. IMO the Tundra is better equipped to tow stuff than the F150 is.

 

If you're that concerned about backing, buy an aftermarket camera for your trailer for a few hundred bucks and call it a day. They're cheap... But I'm cheaper, and get my ass out and walk 30 ft. to see how much further back I have to go, lol.

 

I get it.
I have had two F150s before buying a tundra
I really enjoyed them. What I did not enjoy is them continually breaking and me having to pay money to get them fixed. Ford sucks you win with the toys gadgets and ride quality. I also found the seats very comfortable. Also you will save a little bit on gas. If you go with the tundra you will be very happy with the reliability. But being this is your first truck you should just go with your heart. Ford’s are decent. You will have reliability and quality issues so be prepared. Ford also is not good standing by there poor quality. I still find myself looking at the Ford trucks at various dealerships. Then when I walk to get into my platinum TundraI’m just reminded at how much of a great truck it is. A funny but true statement is that I always feel smarter driving it.

 

You are tossing a softball in a hard ball league. Do you really think a bunch of Tundra folks (each paid about $50,000) are going to tell you to buy Ford? Or are you looking for lots of folks to give you support for a no brainer decision? Do you think you have a family that makes stupid decisions? Why are they loyal to Toyota? I can tell you why I have two Tundras. I had a Ford and after four transmissions I prefer good old reliable stable technology not a lot of hype.

 

My .02 - if you buy a Tundra you'll ultimately be very happy with it, but slightly regret not getting the Ford due to certain features you won't have on the Tundra. If you buy the Ford you'll regret it somewhere between one and 5 years and multiple dealership trips down the road. If the Tundra has proved one thing, it's that it's reliable and will keep itself out of the shop. If the Ford has proved one thing, it's the opposite. I just ran through all this with my Ram. I bought it for the features. It wasn't worth it. Almost lost my sanity with that truck, as well as my life savings due to all the shop trips and parts I had to put into it

 

It’s hard for me to contest to the towing capability..I used small 2 axle trailers and what not.
But I will say..after 4 GMs and 2 F150s..I have never regretted my decision after buying my Tundra. It has been an extremely reliable vehicle for me.
Ford has bells and whistles..But IMO they don’t have the reliability factor. That was a big thing for me.

 

You're really only going to get encouragement from this forum to go Tundra for apples to apples. (150 vs Tundra). As you would get the same sway from a ford forum to go Ford.

BUT
Search this forum and you'll find a community filled with enthusiasts modding, tailoring the truck to one's needs, and just plain enjoying their Tundra for years and years.
Meanwhile on the Ford forum you'll be searching for how to prevent some part from failure, eco-douche issues, and someone please help me - I'm on the side of the road again threads that never end. Yes they have great new tech, but will it work when you really need it?

What I'm saying is for your money to be spent on a new truck, you can't beat buying the Tundra. It will suit your priority needs and get you there and back again, time after time. It becomes family to you, as do we.

 

Also, like others have said, the backup assist is for non-truck drivers who don't know how to backup a trailer. You are about to be a truck owner. Might as well be a real truck owner that knows how to backup a trailer

 

I tow my 7-8k camper (depends on what I have loaded in it) all over and it pulls it just fine. And she is gonna hit 215k tomorrow

And I run 75mph most of the time on the interstate. Sometimes 80 if traffic is minimal. Keep it in S4, get a WDH and set it up correctly, E rated tires, and you're good to go!

 

A good friend of mine was a Ford fan and recently purchased a new F150. It has been in the shop since December 21 because they can’t figure out why it was burning a quart of oil every 5k miles. They just called him this week and said they put a long block in hoping it will fix the problem. He wants nothing g to do with it and has now sworn off Fords. This should provide some input on the right choice.
.

 

My garage door guy was kissed at Ford for same reason. He was eyeing my tundra hard. His 5.0 was burning oil and they were saying it was normal LOL

 

Too many Tundras ruining my resale value. I vote Ford

 

This is so true. If you look around on here there’s like one problem (camshaft tower leak) tundras have and it doesn’t happen to every truck or even a high amount and you can drive a 100k with it. There are a handful of well documented annoyances (bed hop, and interior storage). But yeah the f150 guys are peeved all over the place. Tundra is much better designed and tried and true vs new and unreliable.

 

I had to laugh. I was not even thinking of my coworkers thinking I was nuts because I would constantly have to have one of them pick me up at the repair shop where my Ford F-150 was getting repaired.

 

This was awesome - thank you sir.

 

I have been thinking about my next truck. My current is a Gen 1 Tundra DC 2005. For work, I drive a 2015 Tundra - I don't like to drive it, so, I've been considering the others for when I pass my current Tundra down. I realized I didn't like my work truck because it is over-loaded, blinded in every direction and just not set up well. When I realized I was an idiot for comparing my work truck to the truck I want, I started looking at the toys online. If I wasn't driving my work truck, I never would have thought twice about what to buy. My next will be a Tundra, and I'll probably roll 15K plus in suspension, gears, tires/wheels immediately; it will likely be my last truck so I'll set it up for fun. Reliability and power never crossed my mind as a Tundra issue.

 

If what you’re going to tow is only 6k lbs and you value reliability, I think you’d be crazy to go with Ford.

F150s look great by the numbers, but the reality of owning and driving one is very different.