Everyone Needs It - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited November 2014 in Ram
imageEveryone Needs It - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test

When you have a 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel suddenly everyone needs your help. Where do you draw the line?

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  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    edited October 2014
    Haha. Know firsthand what you're going through Caroline. :)

    What I used to do was loan the vehicle to whoever needed it. Not sure you can do that as it's not your truck. Maybe you can say, because it's not your vehicle, that you can't help them?
  • vvkvvk Member Posts: 196
    That is why people in Europe prefer hatchbacks and station wagons. The same Corolla would be much more practical with five doors.
  • zimtheinvaderzimtheinvader Member Posts: 580
    vvk said:

    That is why people in Europe prefer hatchbacks and station wagons. The same Corolla would be much more practical with five doors.

    Don't get me wrong, I love hatchbacks but you can't fit sheets of plywood or even the tables in even a full size wagon.

    Plus, I'd much rather have that fountain base in the bed of a truck than loosely secured in the hatch area if someone pulls out in front of me while moving at a decent pace.

    Rip out a tile counter top, backsplash and 1/2" thick cement underlayment and go "hmm, throw it in the hatch or in the bed of the truck to take it to the dump?" Makes it hard to think of parting with the pick up, which was the plan when I got the hatch, with a whole list of home improvement projects ahead.

    Sure, I know they rent trucks but who'd rent a truck to haul that fountain part. And renting is always fun until you get there and it becomes "oh, you don't have it? But I reserved it."

  • nagantnagant Member Posts: 176
    vvk said:

    That is why people in Europe prefer hatchbacks and station wagons. The same Corolla would be much more practical with five doors.

    People in Europe are FORCED to buy hatchbacks/wagons because of crushing taxation.......
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    Here's the thing guys, all this stuff is bulky yet relatively light. Get yourself a light, single-axle trailer and hook it up to any vehicle that you want. In my youth, we used a Mk2 Golf with the 1.3L diesel to pull a little trailer no matter the project. If it could pull what we needed, any modern car can.
    nagant said:

    People in Europe are FORCED to buy hatchbacks/wagons because of crushing taxation.......

    No, the immediate expenses of vehicle ownership forces you to take a hard, long look at your priorities. Take a look at the impact vehicles have in bankruptcy here in the United States. Maybe having so many people buy big, expensive vehicles because it seems like they can isn't the best idea.

    Caroline, I come from a big family (and group of friends) where helping each other, regardless of wether the help is actually wanted, is implicitly implied. That being said, nobody is the slave of another. If you don't really want to be there and they're not offering any incentives for your time and vehicle, just tell them that you have better things to do, yelling optional. Honesty is always best.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Then you have to find a place to store the trailer for the other 350 days of the year you aren't using it, and most places require you to license and title it.

    Unless you get a lot of stuff dumped into the back of your bed with a front end loader, a minivan is the best. It'll hold 4x8 sheet goods inside with the hatch closed and just about anything else you need to haul, all out of the weather and locked away behind tinted windows. And it has a low liftover height for moving the junk in and out. It's hard to climb in the bed of newer pickups, much less lift something up there.

    I've hauled 4x12' sheetrock in mine too with the hatch propped open a bit. Have fun doing that in this short bed Ram. They'll be 4x8s sheets by the time you bounce home.
  • gslippygslippy Member Posts: 514
    A friend once told me he bought a truck so his friends could borrow it. Seems to hold true for many truck owners.

    My advice: buy a minivan, which has more utility plus a cap over the bed. And nobody asks to borrow it.
  • speednetspeednet Member Posts: 52
    That minivan stuff sounds great... except I wouldn't be caught dead driving a minivan. I got a 2014 Ram 1500 Laramie, and it's pure awesomeness. I'm not building a house like a contractor, so I don't need to worry about the slim chance I would ever need to carry a 12-foot long piece of drywall. 4x8 sheets are fine for me. I did recently haul about 2,000 pounds of bricks though, and I believe a minivan would be pinned to the ground in that more common scenario. You guys enjoy your minivans, but don't come calling when you need a real truck to do heavy lifting.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Maybe I could interest you in 500 sq. ft. of bamboo flooring. :D


  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Today's "load" - some 12' long 1x4s in the Grand Caravan. Popped the console and stuck 'em in diagonally into the passenger footwell, and shut the hatch. Noticed the other day that the Depot's trucks have gone up to $21 for 75 minutes, plus tax. These sticks came from the local lumberyard, and they don't rent trucks, so that would have killed another 20 minutes renting and juggling vehicles.
  • themthillbillythemthillbilly Member Posts: 5
    The most I hauled in a dodge caravan was three bales of fiberglass insulation. if you push hard enough it will fit standing up scraping all four sides then the next, and the next. Having said that.,throwing stuff in the back of my 1500 is Way easier and safer! True, it doesn't stay dry, but you can tie it down! Any one doing new construction knows the approach to and from a job sight normally is not flat or smooth. Pickups just shine in that area! Trying to back a trailer up to a specific spot to unload is always possible but not nearly as easy as just backing up the truck!
    Oh, as for hauling for other people, if they pay for fuel and I have time sure!
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I wish I had a pic of the time I hauled 9 regular size bales of straw in my Quest. That said, I still wound up putting a few bales on my canoe rack. Well secured of course, with a tarp too, to keep the straw from flying off.

    Lifting those bales on the roof reminded of lifting stuff into the back of a truck - the liftover height is a killer. (Actually the farmer loaded the bales on the roof for me with his front end loader, but you get my drift). Way easier to throw most stuff in the back of a van and lots easier on your back.
  • themthillbillythemthillbilly Member Posts: 5
    I can only imagine how much of a clean up job you had with the straw! unless you got creative with plastic!
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited November 2014
    I put a blue tarp down but I bet there's still bits of straw floating around in the back. The new owner is probably wondering if I hauled a goat or two in there. (And yeah, before you ask, I did haul a goat one time, but that was a few decades back when my family had a '69 VW Bus and we helped move it across town for some friends).

    And I put a new scratch on the inside of my new(er) van just last Thursday.

    But what the hey, I buy stuff to use it. B)
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