Five Ways in Which the 2024 Ford F-150 Beats the 2024 Ram 1500

Have you found yourself caught between choosing between a 2024 Ram 1500 and a 2024 Ford F-150 for sale as your prime picks between two full-size trucks? Well, it’s easy to see how you could have a difficult time figuring out which truck to go with. Do you go with the powerful HEMI-powered Ram or the EcoBoost-driven Ford? Do you opt for the Ram 1500 for looks and boldness or the F-150 for utility and functionality? These are some of the questions that might run through the minds of potential truck shoppers, and rightfully so.

However, there are few areas where the 2024 F-150 clearly outshines the Ram 1500, and in ways that might make you easily convinced that it’s the better choice between the two. In fact, we have narrowed down some of the top reasons why you might consider the F-150 over the Ram 1500, and how Ford’s light-duty pickup manages to beat the Ram in a few key areas. Check out the reasons below and let us know if you agree with the assessment.

#1. Towing/Trailering Capacity

One of the key capabilities of a full-size, light-duty pickup truck is being able to tow and trailer heavy cargo. Looking for a light-duty pickup truck to handle recreational trailering for vacation or work around the house is just as important as having a truck that can handle trailering for work purposes. Both the Ram 1500 and F-150 offer excellent tow ratings, but the F-150 actually manages slightly better overall trailering capabilities by comparison.

For the 2024 Ram 1500, you have a base tow rating of 7,730 lbs with the Pentastar V6 and up to 8,220 lbs with the supercharged HEMI Hellcat V8. The best that the Ram can manage is with the HEMI Eagle V8, which provides a maximum tow rating of up to 12,750 lbs. Compare that to the 2024 Ford F-150, where you have multiple powertrains for different levels of performance, including the PowerBoost hybrid V6 that manages up to 11,200 lbs worth of towing, and the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 that provides up to 13,500 lbs worth of towing.

Basically, for the equivalent engines available between the Ram 1500 and F-150, you get overall better towing capabilities, especially when you look at the total towing capacity both trucks are capable of. The F-150 provides a total of 750 lbs of additional towing capacity over the Ram 1500. So, if that is a big factor for you when it comes to having a reliable work truck, the F-150 gives you that leverage.

#2. Payload Capacity

The payload capacity of a full-size pickup truck is as important as its trailering capabilities because most people want to use their truck for hauling things around. The Ram 1500 and F-150 are both known for their segment-defining hauling capabilities, but the F-150 manages overall better hauling than the Ram 1500, just like it also offers better overall trailering capacity. This is an important factor for those who do a lot of hauling regularly with their truck and need a reliable light-duty pickup for hauling purposes.

The Ram 1500’s lowest payload capacity is attached to the HEMI Hellcat V8, which only manages 1,350 lbs. If you opt for the HEMI Eagle V8, you have up to 1,940 lbs of payload capacity, while the Pentastar V6 gives you the best possible payload rating for the 2024 Ram 1500 at 2,300 lbs. The 2024 F-150, alternatively, has the full hybrid PowerBoost delivering a payload rating of 1,735 lbs, while the Coyote V8 manages up to 2,230 lbs worth of payload capacity. And finally, the 3.5-liter EcoBoost provides you with up to 2,445 lbs of payload capacity.

At the lower end, you still get 405 lbs worth of additional payload capacity with the F-150 over the Ram 1500. However, on the upper end of the performance ratings, the F-150 delivers up to 145 lbs more payload capacity than the Ram 1500. It’s the difference between how many concrete bags you can store in the back of the truck and whether you can load up a fully equipped ATV into the back or not. These are the differences worth weighing when it comes to a truck you’re looking to buy based on its payload capacity.

#3. More Available Cargo Space

In addition to payload capacity, a truck’s cargo space in the bed box is also very important. A truck that has limited capacity means fewer opportunities to haul what you want. While the 2024 F-150 and 2024 Ram 1500 have multiple options when it comes to hauling, the F-150 has more options, giving you access to more cargo-carrying opportunities. In the end, that is a huge win for F-150 owners.

For the 2024 Ram 1500, it is available in two different bed sizes, a 5.6-ft bed that provides you with up to 53.9 cu.ft. of cargo volume, and a 6.4-ft bed that provides you with up to 61.5 cu.ft. of cargo volume. Alternatively, the 2024 F-150 is available in three different bed sizes, providing you with three distinct options when it comes to bed cargo capacity. The short bed is a 5.5-ft bed that provides you with up to 52.8 cu.ft. of cargo volume, while the standard bed is 6.5-ft and provides you with up to 62.3 cu.ft. of cargo volume, and the long bed is 8-ft and provides you with up to 77.4 cu.ft. of cargo volume.

While the short bed on the Ram 1500 offers you slightly more cargo volume, the standard bed and long bed for the F-150 provide you with much more cargo volume compared to the Ram 1500. In fact, the 2024 Ram 1500 doesn’t even offer you an opportunity to configure the truck with a long bed, which is a significant drawback for those looking to store long items in the back of their pickup truck. That gives a significant advantage to the F-150 in that regard.

#4. A Larger Standard Touchscreen

Both the Ram 1500 and F-150 have fairly large touchscreens for their trims for 2024. However, there is a pretty big difference between the standard screen sizes available for the trim line-up when comparing both trucks. For instance, the entry-level trim of the Ram 1500, the Tradesman, comes standard with a 5-inch infotainment screen, whereas the mid-tier trim offers an 8.4-inch touchscreen, and the upper-end trims have a 12-inch HD touchscreen.

The 2024 F-150 offers a single touchscreen size that is standard across the trim line, and it’s a 12-inch HD touchscreen powered by the Ford SYNC suite. All of the trims, from the XL all the way up to the Raptor R, feature a 12-inch touchscreen and the Ford SYNC, as opposed to having different sizes depending on trim level.

This means that whether you buy an entry-level, mid-tier, or upper-end trim, you always have access to the largest infotainment touchscreen available for the 2024 F-150. That gives you a pretty big advantage over the Ram 1500, where if all you can afford is an entry-level trim, you’re stuck with a small and not very functional infotainment screen, so you’re getting a much better deal out of the F-150 compared to the Ram 1500 in the infotainment department.

#5. BlueCruise Hands-Free Driving

One of the big new tech features to take the automotive world by storm is automated driving. While this is something that many movies in the past teased as something we would see at some point in the 21st century, we’re now at a point where hands-free driving is starting to become the norm, and the F-150 is one of those vehicles among the limited ranks of automobiles that offer such a feature. This is thanks to a feature known as BlueCruise.

Sadly, the 2024 model year iteration of the Ram 1500 doesn’t have a hands-free driving system like the 2024 Ford F-150. So by comparison, if you were shopping for a light-duty pickup truck that offered you a semi-autonomous, hands-free driving system, you’re fresh out of luck with the Ram 1500, but you do have that option if you’re shopping for a Ford F-150 for sale. This gives you an added bit of tech that you won’t find on every other truck out there.

The BlueCruise system features accessibility for hands-free driving across more than 130,000 miles of compatible roads across North America, which includes Canada. The system is frequently being updated via Ford’s over-the-air updates thanks to the FordPass and SYNC infotainment system. So, if hands-free driving was something you wanted out of your 2024 model year light-duty pickup truck, the F-150 gives you that option over the Ram 1500.