[CADman_KS]

First off, let me say that I have appreciated everyone's input in this thread, and I also appreciate that it has been civil. I hope the information in here is useful for others as well! Thanks to all!

I had grandiose plans of driving all three trucks, and then making a decision on which way to go.

Along the way, I decided that I wanted a 10 speed transmission. I know that some may think that this isn't a big deal, but a lot of gears has to improve towing. Now, when the truck wants to downshift, it goes down one gear, which is closer than it would be in a 6 gear arrangement. The Chevy's at 80 MPH are also turning at a SLOW 1750 RPM's, as noted on TFL. That's right in the sweet spot of the torque range.

That left Ford and Chevy, and the little bit of looking for a Ram 3500 that I did, I wasn't really finding a lot of them equipped the way that we wanted locally.

Then, Chevy thru a wrench into things with the employee pricing stuff (which could be a sham), and I started looking. Several local dealers (within 200 miles) were offering good deals even on 2020 models, which surprised me, and there was availability on 3500's as well.

Found a truck about 200 miles away that was too good to be true. Called on it, and it they still had it! I was shocked! Then, I got the call the next day that they had sold it, and I was sure that the dealer games had started. Had a nice conversation with the salesman, and he asked what options I wanted, and I told him. 3500, crew, shortbox, white or black, black interior, High Country Deluxe. Would consider other options, but not mandatory. He said he would find me one. He called back the next day, and he had located a truck that met all my criteria, and the price wasn't quite as good, but it was still a good deal.

They valued our trade-in (without seeing it), a little bit low, I pushed back, and they got to the number that I wanted to be at, and I was happy. But, there is always a but, they said that they couldn't totally guarantee that until they saw it in person. I assured them it was everything I said it was. I was sure that they would find "something" wrong with it when they test drove it, and would offer us much less.

Yesterday, we went to get the truck, again, 200 miles away, but it wasn't there when we got there, as they were still driving it from the original location. They drove our car, and to my surprise, they said they would honor the phone bid.

When the new truck finally got there, we went outside to look it over. IT WAS A LONGBOX!!! My heart sunk. We actually had a fleeting moment where we considered taking home a long box, and I finally told my wife that it wouldn't fit in our garage, and I did NOT want a long box. The salesman admitted that the longbox was on them, and he knew that I wanted a shortbox.

At that exact same moment, they were putting a maroon one on the lot. They had just got it in yesterday. We went and looked, but it wasn't a deluxe, so it didn't have the puck system.

Again, my heart sunk. Then they told us that they had a HC Deluxe, white pearl with a sunroof on the lot, and I thought, the dealer games where on again. We went and looked at it, and it was the truck that we wanted, with the exception of the pearl and sunroof.

They felt bad that the located truck was a longbox, and gave us a great deal on the white pearl truck.

So, we ended up coming home with a new 3500 SRW High Country Deluxe. Even with everything that went wrong, it was by far and away the best dealership experience that we have ever had. There are good dealers out there, but they may not be in your backyard.

On the way home yesterday, we averaged a little over 19MPG, and most of the way we were at 82MPH.

It will be a bit before we hook onto the 5er, but I can't wait to actually pull with this thing...