[BP-Revo]

No, the US is more or less devoid of Hatchback/Estate/Touring vehicles. We only have a small handful offered here.

We drove a "one notch below the top of the line" F150.

We currently have an 09 Ram. Ride is butter smooth (argue with me as much as you want here, this is the best riding truck right now...period), and engine is powerful as hell. In the Edmunds review it tied the Tundra for the tow test (tow large trailer up a steep incline) and it's acceleration was least affected by towing/hauling. Had the second best 0-60 time (behind the Tundra). I attribute that to the Tundra having a 6 speed and the Ram only having a 5 speed.

People have their own opinion about trucks and cars, but in the end you buy the car that fits your criteria and needs. If you buy a car simply because you are a brand loyal nut, then you are losing out, plain and simple. This was our criteria: power and ride quality. We rarely do significant hauling towing (usually just a bike in the bed and a small u-haul trailer with another bike on it), so that wasn't a huge factor for us, but it does it fine anyway. The Ram had the best ride and had plenty of power. Ride is butter smooth and it is every bit as quiet as our BMW (up to about 90mph, at least), and is damn fast for a 5000lb+ vehicle, especially once it gets going.

Not to take away from Chevy or Toyota though, they make great trucks as well. The Tundra is just a bit overpriced (in my opinion) and we never got to drive a Chevy (the salesman at the Chevy dealer was a jackass - it was obvious we wanted a 1500 model and he would only let us look at a 3500 for whatever reason, so we left without a test drive).

But buy what suits you best. It's well known that the Dodge gave up some payload capacity to improve ride, so if you do serious towing all the time, step up to a Ram 2500/3500 or get a different truck.