This truck story comes to us from John M. He used to own a 2014 Ford Raptor, but then chose a GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 when the time came to get a new truck. Here is why John chose this truck over a newer 2nd-gen Raptor.
“I had a 2014 For Raptor and loved it. I tow quite a bit with custom Deaver rear springs. I was able to upgrade the capability of the 2014 Raptor to meet my needs. It was the best of all worlds: best off-road and on-road riding truck. It could tow and had a great sounding 6.2L V8.
Fast forward to 2019 and the Raptor had 100k miles. It was the best truck I ever owned. I went through two sets of tires and oil and filter changes. However, it was time for a new truck. I had to decide: do I go back to diesel, go for a new Raptor (I am not an EcoBoost fan), or look at other options. The first thing I saw was the Trail Boss. It looks nice, but only could get 5.3 at the time, and it did not have all the bells and whistles. I was about to buy a new Raptor, but driving home from the Ford dealer I stopped at GMC and looked at an AT4 with the 6.2L V8. It had lots of technology, a performance package, a great-sounding V8, and great lease offers (no such thing for the Raptor).
Option 1 – Raptor – $73k MSRP and the dealer was stuck at MSRP for truck with 500 miles on it.
Option 2 – GMC AT4 – $68.5k MSRP – 2019 Carbon Pro (one of the first ones out) – drive for $1,218 and $750 a month (including tax lease payment), 15k miles per year (got $8k off MSRP) – Ready Lift level kit & sumo springs.
I went with the AT4 and loved the truck. I learned that it needed better tow mirrors and more rear springs for towing. The Ready Lift SST leveling kit gave me bad CV axle angles. I learned after installing the kit that I could not use the auto-4WD feature anymore due to axle angles. So, after one year and 10k miles, I went for Option 2a.
Option 2a – 2020 AT4 Carbon Pro – Trailer Tow Mirrors and trailer camera tow tech – $68.8K MSRP – $10K off – dealer took back 2019 in trade – $1,208 drive off, $731 a month lease – 15k miles per year for3 years. I added a BDS 2.5” lift with Fox adjustable coil-overs for $4.8k. Now I have an unbelievable towing vision with cameras everywhere, great suspension from BDS, and not too much lift. It is a great “all-around” truck. Although, the AT4 needs a bigger fuel tank. This problem is still to be solved.“
