RVing truck buyers face "Class Wars"

More salvos have been fired in the American Pickup Truck wars. This time, the fight is on between Ford and Ram, and Ford is threatening court action if Ram doesn't back off its advertising statements. At issue: Just what is a Class 3 pickup truck? That's an important question in Ram promoters minds as they claim their Ram 3500 pickup has the greatest towing ability, "in its class."

For RVers, tow capability is big potatoes. As travel trailer and fifth wheel manufacturers lump on more and more "features," those features are like little calories that all add up on a dieter's scale. Ram says its 3500 will tow 30,000 pounds. But Ford fires back that its F-450 Crew Cab (2015 edition) will yank around 31,200 pounds. Here's where what some would say, "the nitpicking begins." Ram claims Ford's unit is really a "Class 4" truck, while the Ram is in the smaller, Class 3 range.

So what are the classes all about? In the pickup truck world, the smallest of pickups scale in the Class 1 range, and run up, topping out in Class 4. The standard for what class a truck falls into as a federal guideline, issued by set by the Federal Highway Administration. Their formula for classes is based on gross vehicle weight rating (GVRW) -- the weight of an unloaded truck (curb weight) plus the maximum allowable payload. The difference between a Class 3 and a Class 4 truck? The Class 3 truck GVRW must not exceed 14,000 pounds. Anything more goes to a higher weight class.

Here's the hot contention: Ford claims a Class 3 rating because the company claims a GVWR of 14,000 pounds. Not so fast, counters Ram. Ford seems to play fast and loose with its calculations. Ford says F-450's curb weight is 8,611 pounds. To say in the Class 3 14,000 pound limit, it would seem that its maximum payload would then be limited to 5,389 pounds. But hocus-pocus, Ford says its payload is actually 5,450 pounds -- pushing the "real" GVWR over the limit by 61 pounds.

But Ford ingeniously gets around the problem by suggesting a customer "could" order an F-450 without several components -- a radio, center console, jack, and spare tire. Hey, Presto! Suddenly the whole thing fits neatly under 14,000 pounds. Ram plays a straight game, not "deducting" various fitments. It seems industry professionals tend to lean on Ram's side. In a story carried by autonews.com, industry observer Dave Sullivan opined, "That is a Class 4 truck under the skin. It has all the equipment of all of their Class 4 trucks. They call it the F-450, not F-350." Sullivan is a product analysis manager for AutoPacific, an automotive marketing research firm. "This has significant hardware changes to Ford's own Class 3 Super Duty. That's what puts it into the next class."

Dickering over words and options is important to these two truck titans. With an average sticker price beyond $50,000, just what truck you next buy can make a big difference on company bottom lines.