I came from a 90's era GM truck and in the process did a lot of truck looking, here are my thoughts:
1) Rust - Well, the newer GMs with the squared-off fenders seem to rust pretty bad. Lot of them here in WI with rusting wheel wells. Rams 'seem' better but in the N. states, rust is always going to be a problem. My advice is to find the cleanest truck you can. Might be worth a trip down to KY or whatever state is rust-free for you, get one, then rust-proof it so it'll look good longer for you since you tend to keep your trucks a while. Mine (2012) is remarkably rust-free underneath, but it might be how it was maintained. What I like about Rams is they use a rear plastic inner fender liner which the other mfgrs don't. Mud flaps and running board would be really helpful. There are some strange rust places on these rams. Might want to carefully read through this thread:
http://www.ramforum.com/f75/how_fluid_film_your_truck-111020/
2) Bench Seat - None of the mfgrs are going to have the traditional 'bench' seat like you're probably thinkng of ...a 40/60 on the older GM's which were really nice. Most have a 40/20/40 seating arrangement which IMO sucks compared to a traditional bench seat. It's basically a small upholstered foam 'seat' in place of the console. Crap can still fall between the cracks and it's not as comfortable as the old-school bench seats. Still, better than the ultra-wide space-wasting console that would normally be there and there IS a shoulder strap for the front center passenger ....which I give credit for, that's pretty nice. In addition, I think the fabrics the mfgrs have been using lately are cheap and feel awful on yer skin. The leathers seem pretty good though, but I don't care for leather in my truck.
3) Seating arrangement, interior - I think Dodge has them beat here. Just a lot nicer than the GM's IMO. I wanted to buy a GM in the worst way, but the interiors seemed very cheap and didn't care for the lay-out at all. I don't know if the Nav is worth it. Hardly anyone on this site even uses it. Seems like a way to sell trucks and then forget it. I didn't get Nav because: 1) I know where I'm going, 2) Tech always gets old fast on vehicles, 3) Phone works better anyway, 4) A lot easier to control a traditional radio.
4) Visibility - Coming from your 04, you're going to notice that over-the-hood visibility has become gawd-awful on the newer trucks with their high hood design. It's really hard to see over the hoods like on the older generations. Mfgrs have gone backwards on this point (I'm not short either!!). BUT, of the newer trucks, I think no doubt RAM has the better visibility of the big 3.
5) Style - Here again I think Ram has them beat. I guess you'll have to go look and see what you think.
6) Engine/Trans - Well, I have the 5.7 (2012 version) and to me, this thing has real snort! I just wanted the regular cab ...there's about 13" behind the seat in a regular cab, so a lot of buyers might not need an extended cab with that amt of space (and use the extra for cargo space). I don't see anything wrong with the 6-spd tranny. It doesn't go through the gears serially so ya really don't notice the 6 spd over the old-school 4spd trannys. 2012 also has the 8-6-4 engine cylinder deactivation, which is so seamless you can't really 'feel' it. I'm getting about 17.5 mpg last time I figured things out ...about 1mpg better than my old GM tk (which was lighter than the Ram). If I put on more Hwy miles I might bump up a little more.
7) Construction - I like how the Ram is put together compared to the others. The hydroformed frame and overall underneath seems good. I looked at a bunch of trucks about the same age and the Rams seemed less rusty under than the Fords or GM's. Mine has about 150k mi and not a squeak/rattle/hiss/gurgle or burp.
https://www.ramtrucks.com/en/pdf/141549_DRP12US_1500_eBrochure.pdf
8) Ride - No question the ram has a great ride. A lot depends on the shocks/tires the truck you look at has. You might test drive a used truck where the dealer or previous owner put some cheapo tires on it and 1/2 worn-out shocks, and the next Ram might have $1,000 worth of 10-ply tires and Bilesteins and you'd think they were completely different! Keep that in mind and test out a few. I think overall, all the mfgrs make a decent product.
Good luck!!!
