Thinking about buying a "newer" truck - any advice?

If you are just going to Home Depot. The F150 with a manual and 6 does decent on mileage.

As stated the 5.4 is a strong engine and friend has a expedition with 5.4 and it gets 19 on the road but look at 12-14 in town, but try and find one that has had the plugs changed. Would not recommend it as a DIY project, take it to ford and pay the piper. Have a problem with them breaking off. And then it gets real expensive.

Understand the daily driver old car, not fun if you have to work on it to get to work.

I prefer the looks of the dodge over the ford but resale on the dodge will be less, but it has always been that way. But if you aren't planning on selling for a while, what difference does it make.

Buy the best vehicle you can find