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Comments
Does the term "awesome" get overused? Well, get ready for an overdose:
Performance: Awesome
Handling: Awesome (in a power sense considering the size and bulk of the vehicle.
Looks: Positively Awesome (so were the looks I got from others in traffic)
Acceleration: Aweso... well, you get the picture. A truck this big isn't supposed to be this cool. But it was so hard to drive it back into the dealership.
They had the diesel model there too, but I'll have to save that for another day.
In the meantime, if you have a need for a big, brutish but thrilling pick-up, I recommend the big RAM.
And a note to the Dadeland police: If you heard any reports yesterday afternoon of an unidentified flying object located on N. Dixie Highay, I confess!
I currently own a 1994 Ram and am right now ordering my New truck which will be a nice new 1998 Ram Quad Cab with Leather and all the goodies. I'm debating the color and the order will be made.
I have to tell you...I love this truck line. I seriously went out and looked at everything the others have to offer and the Ram always wins for me.
It will be great to hear from others
If you haven't placed your order yet, you might want to check out our service called "Auto-By-Tel which you can use to "build" the truck of your dreams, order it if you like, and take delivery at a near-by dealer. It can also help you set-up low-cost financing. Check it out...
Also, to get more detailed info on the '98 Dodge QuadCab, the prices, options, reviews etc. start in the New Trucks section which you can get to by clicking on the hot link I included here, or by clicking on the "NEW TRUCKS" button at the top of this page (on the left side, with the other hot link buttons).
Great choice of trucks, by the way.
I'm way ahead of you. In fact i did use the Auto-by-Tell service and Vacaville Dodge has been really great (Gil Schmidt is the Fleet Manager).
Edmunds new truck price section is awesome and you can also use the Dodge web site at http://www.4adodge.com to "build" a truck with all the options you want. It lets you play "what-if" as long as you please.
My new Ram will be ordered, built and sold to me at $500 over invoice. Tough to beat that deal.
Thanks for the tip on the Dodge site. It's a winner, all right.
Thanks, also, for your feedback on Auto-By-Tel! Why not post a note in our "Success Stories" area? I'm sure others would be glad to know of it.
"Smart Shoppers Success Stories"
If you hurry, you can be our first success story there!
Dakota Info
In the meantime, does anyone out there have some experience with this hot truck?
Thanking everyone in advance . . .
The transmission problems my aquaintances have had have all been in relation to v-10 engines. THis seems to be a very sparadic thing and crysler always makes good on warantee work. I've never heard anything about paint.
Thanks
I have been investigating sprayed in bed liners for pickups and I have a friend who actually had his F150 done. I live in Massachussetts and I know of one place so far that does sprayed in bedliners. The name of the product is Rino Liner
and the company is based out of San Diego. I am told by the distributor that handles all the dealers in Mass. that there are 40 to 45 dealers in California that use the Rino Liner product. I did not get a number for the company, but I am sure if you call information in San Diego and ask for the Rino Liner company you should have success. The cost can vary on the length of the bed and the color you want. If you were to have
an F150 with and 8 foot bed done the cost is around $400. They can also match the color to your truck if you choose and that costs more. My friend swears by the sprayed in liners and says they keep things from sliding around and they resist stains from oil and gas. Hope this info helps out.
Rick
I have a 95 Dakota CC SLT with a 3.9L and an Auto, and have had no mechanical problems with it in 26K miles. I paid 16k for mine and have been very happy with it. If your price includes the SLT pkg. (AC, cassette, etc) it sounds like a good deal. The 6 is plenty of power, but I wish I got the 8. I have not run into anybody that wasn't happy with his/her Dakota. Expect about 18-19 mpg in the summer and 17 mpg in the winter in semi-rural driving.
Two things you should be aware of:
1. Check the paint job thoroughly, mine was not buffed out properly, but problem may have been due to a sloppy repair job by the dealer.
2. The tires (Goodyear Invicta GL) wear out quickly. I may get 30K out of mine.
Good Luck
I do have to say this was the best experience we've ever had buying a vehicle. All the BS ended and $5500 in dealer markup vanished when I brought out the Edmunds printout on the truck. The saleman looked at my cost figures, agreed with all of them except the holdback. They absolutely refused to budge on giving that up. Took us more time to do the paperwork and wait for them to wash the truck than it did to negotiate the price. We ended up at $256 over invoice. Wish I had more money I'd go do it again!!
Glad Edmunds could help!
Now you can be a hero to your friends and tell THEM how THEY can save thousands!
For those of you who keep your trucks for the long haul, let me share my most recent experience in end-of-year shopping.
The truck is a 1997 Ram 2500 HD Laramie SLT, a 4x2 with a tow package and camper package installed. It also has 4-wheel antilock, 4spd HD auto, an 8' bed, and that honkin' HUGE V10. This is far more truck than I considered going in, when I was looking for a 1500 or eqivalent. This truck was on a dealer's lot for a long time, the lot isn't that big, and the dealer wanted rid of it, bigtime.
I asked the salesman, in passing, to put a number on it while working up his best price on another truck. He came back, first time, with a price which was his true cost, within a dollar. He even threw in his $500 incentive from Dodge. If I wanted to trade every 2 or 3 years even this might not be a bargain, but I hold my cars for long periods.
One suggestion, for anyone: read Remar Sutton's "Don't Get Taken Every Time", put it away for a month, then reread it. He has the coldest, clearest view of borrowing money for major purchases I've ever found, and if you follow his advice, use Edmund's carefully, and are always willing to walk away from a specific deal you will fare much better.
B.T.W, has anybody else seen a salesman get abusive when the Edmund's report comes out? I had one Ford salesman literally start cursing when I refused to negotiate from the MSRP down. I wonder if this might not be a deliberate ploy to harass or intimidate otherwise careful shoppers. I simply left him on the showroom floor and walked out of the dealership, permanently.
This turned out long, but hopefully of some worth.
I take delivery Friday, whee!
Don
By the time you read this, you should be the proud new owner.
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing that with us!
driving it off the lot, it had to be put in the shop for transmission problems. Then, twice more within 7 days for th same problem.
After only 5 months of ownership, I now have a vibration at 45 mph and 60 to 70 mph. The dealer has had the truck 4 times to fix this problem and an a/c problem. I have had 7 rental Dodge Neons in less than 5 months. I did not pay 20k to drive a Neon.
It is still not fixed and after 2 monthes of dealing with the dodge customer service people, nothing has been done. I will never again buy another dodge product. This was my first new car purchase and thanks to this experience, it will most likely be my last for a long, long time.
I am looking seriously at 2 different trucks
same make model and color. I have asked both
dealers to pull the VIN on each truck to tell
me about any and all warrenty problems on each
truck. I on the other hand am a thoroughly
disgusted chevy owner. My deisel has been in the
shop far too much and would not start the day I
drove it off the lot.....I guess there are no
species out there without a few blemishes but I'm
still looking at the dodge cummins deisel for the long haul.
Good luck!
As a matter of fact I did end up getting the
staight drive 1 ton and I love it!!! When I pulled the warrenty sheets on both trucks the
automatic had 2 transmissions put into it and 2
injector pumps so I thought that was a real bad
omen. I wanted a truck that would be dependable
my chevy did not have transmission problems but
every thing else I replaced the glow plugs, the glow plug switch, the oil pressure switch, the brake relay switch, the computor and a computor chip, 2 injector pumps (1100.00 each) the alternater and both batteries. I feel that if you
take care of a truck keep it up (oil changes etc...)it should perform for you without falling apart. Now that is not to say that all of the
major automakers don't throw out a lemon every once in a while but when that happens you do get
kind of soured (excuse the pun) on that particular
make of transportation. Hopefully I have a good
truck now I did get the extended warrenty from
crysler. so far I am very pleased!
Kudos to California's Lemon Law too!
I do not think they are as dependable as Fords and Chevys/GMC's. Just one guy's opinion.
I appreciate any responses.
The new Cummins 24 valve engine will be the better deal. It has more power, smother, you don't have to do the valve backlash adjustments on the new engine. Its susposed to last longer, run cooler, be a little less noisy, and only adds $160 to the price. I'm getting the new one!
I am also interested in hearing from anyone with the Cummins w/automatic and 4.09 gears. What kind of milage are you getting? Is the noise level much higher? Thanks
Torque affects pulling and climbing power and quick acceleration from a stop.
Horsepower affects ultimate speed and top end.
Kind of the difference between a weight lifter and a sprinter.
Horsepower = torque x rpm
(with some conversion factors added)
An example:
Say you've got 200 ft-lbs of torque at 1500 rpm.
(200ft-lbs)x(1500rev/min)x(1hp/(550ft-lbs/sec))x
(1 min/60 sec)x(6.28 rad/rev)= 57 hp
Write it down on paper and you'll see the units cancel so that you are left with hp only.
Concerning towing a heavy load, the best bet is nearly always to go with a standard transmission, especially with a diesel.My Father-in-law has owned a sign manufacturing company for 20 years and delivers large signs nationwide with a Dodge deisel pickup, putting probably 70,000+ miles a year on the truck. He says you need to own at least one deisel automatic so you will know why you don't want one. The only deisel/automatic combination I would even consider for towing is the Ford with the Allison transmission.
My son has a 1992 Dodge Ram pickup. He is on his sixth fuel pump. The original of course was OEM,& because of the MOPAR price $600 - $700, he had an after market pump installed. Lucky this had a warranty because he ended up with four (4) of these before the truck quit in Connecticut about 2 1/2 hours away from home. He had to bite the bitter Chrysler bullet at that time to the tune of almost $700. The truck ran for (wait ready yourself for this) 8, check that 8, months. Of course the warranty on that one was very explicit.
12 months 12000 miles. He uses the truck for work, (a painter) and went 17000 miles. So, through this whole thing Chrysler as much as told him to shove it. We have come to this consensus:
Chrysler doesn't give a hoot about it's customers.
I doubt if anybody who knows us will ever own a Chrysler product either. I'm certain there are lots of us out there. Maybe we could all band together and afford 1 Dodge truck.
three (3) automatic transmissions. Chrysler did stand behind those. He bought the truck used and paid dearly for the extended warranty. Chrysler
booooooooooooooo!
Since you own an accessory store, I doubt anyone with these type troubles would be visiting your shop to purchase anything. You probably talk to those individuals who have not had problems, but keep in mind these folks only represent a small number of the total Dodge owners - and only the happy ones at best.
diesel, I am trying to find out what I can expect
on the highway at 65 mph for economy? Any information would be great.
Thanks