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Dodge built in Mexico v/s Fenton, MO.

dowddowd Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Dodge
I expect to buy a new Dodge 1500 Quad Cab this
week. What can I expect in the way of differences
in one built here v/s Mexico?

Comments

  • cjrcjr Member Posts: 1
    I have a 96 1500 Xcab 4x4 built in Mexico. Have had absolutely no problems with it, it runs like a top. But a lot of people have complained about transmission failure (a lot of times when the mileage is just out of warranty). I do not know if this is a US built problem, Mex problem, or just a Dodge problem! Luckily, mine is doing fine.
  • ladyblueladyblue Member Posts: 326
    dowd:

    As far as I know, all quad cabs are built in Mexico.
  • richram123richram123 Member Posts: 35
    My 98 Ram1500 cc 4x4 is built in mexico. No problems , now at 13,000 miles
  • KCRamKCRam Member Posts: 3,516
    Of the four Ram plants - here's what they make:

    - Warren Michigan - regular cabs only
    - Fenton Missouri - Quad cabs only
    - Saltillo Mexico - Club and Quad Cabs (no Clubs after 1999)
    - Lago Alberto Mexico - regular, Club, and Quad (regular cabs for Mexico sales only, no Clubs after 1999)

    Lago Alberto also builds the Ram 6500 medium duty truck for Mexico only. It would compete with the Ford F650 and Chevy/GMC C6500 if sold here.

    Incidentally, my 1996 Ram 3500 was built in Lago Alberto, and has been the best screwed-together truck I've ever owned.
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    Dodge built in Mexico. Hmm, I'd rather have it built by an American or Japanese judging by overall quality of products produced. I know that they follow Chrysler operational procedures but, Hmmm..... It's not rational but I'd rather have it made here. Jingoistic, eh?
  • KCRamKCRam Member Posts: 3,516
    Rocles,

    Actually, if you have followed Dodge over the last 20 years, the Mexican built Rams have always had a reputation for being built like tanks. The Lago Alberto plant has been in operation since 1938 - the exact same year the Warren plant opened in Michigan.
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    KC,

    AH,HAH!!!Now I know why Dodge has always had a suspect reputation in quality! LOL

    I'm just ribbing the Sheep herders...

    Actually I didn't know about that. Was the Mexican plant in continuous use over the years? And if so, has the communist regime of the UAW ever raised hell?
  • KCRamKCRam Member Posts: 3,516
    The Lago Alberto plant has always been in service, building trucks for the Mexican market. Until 1993, the only trucks that came to the US from Lago were the Club Cabs, and considering Dodge was selling less than 100,000 trucks a year, it was such a small percentage that the UAW didn't care - they were only using the Warren plant in the US at the time.

    With the redesign for 1994, all bets were off. St. Louis North and Saltillo Mexico were added to keep up. The St. Louis plant will be undergoing a MAJOR upgrade and enlarge over the next year, keeping the UAW very happy. Saltillo and Lago were enlarged last year. Warren is running full-chat because in addition to Ram regular cabs, it is currently the only source of Dakotas.

    When you realize the 1993 Ram sold just 89,000 and the 1999 will sell close to 450,000, you can see why the UAW has no complaints - they're getting plenty of work.
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    Yeah, But if sales slack off I'll be curious to see which plant starts losing shifts. Of course, sales probably won't slack off any time soon.
  • chevycamchevycam Member Posts: 54
    My Michigan built Ram has been the biggest piece of crap I have ever owned. Dodge customer service is the worst.

    Looks like I'll by a 2000 GMC....
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    Chevycam,

    Why the name if you own a Dodge?
  • chevycamchevycam Member Posts: 54
    I guess to drive home a point. If I own a Dodge and can call it names, I must have had a bad, bad experience.

    I will freely admit, I love the way the truck looks, drives, and rides but any vehicle that has been in the shop twenty some odd times in two years can't really be called anything else except for a P.O.S.

    I still love the truck, but I want a vehicle that doen't need to be in the shop once a month for repairs.

    I've never owned a vehicle that has been this difficult. I guess it is more the service I am receive more so than the vehicle itself.
  • chevycamchevycam Member Posts: 54
    Rocles,

    It just dawned on.... you were talking about chevycam not P.O.S.

    Basically,it is because I have always had a GM product as one of my vehicles (until I bought the Dodge in a moment of weakness). I still have my first car ( the one I got when I was 16)-- a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro. It is in great shape and kept in the Garage most of the time.

    Sorry for the momentary loss of brain power!
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    LOL!! Damn, after reading the first post-I was really confused. I have many brain-farts as well. I had a motorcycle since 1980, yet when asked, I'm always stumbling to remember the model year of the bike!
  • madmackmadmack Member Posts: 39
    My Chevy truck was great....the welds cracked and the bed fell apart like a deck of cards. The engine...I won't even start. Traded for a dodge and will be buying another Dodge. You never know what your gonna get...its the luck of the draw.
  • jake696jake696 Member Posts: 111
    UAW built vehicles are garbage, across the board, period. They are so stupid they can't see that they are putting themselves out of work, as the GM strike proved last year.

    My '96 Mexican built 1500, club-cab, 8' box, 4x4 is kicking along just fine with 45K on it. The only problem I've had is if I ever let a dealer change oil on it. Very few dealers have decent customer service anymore. Ford and GM are no better.

    My Camry was built in KY, USA by non-UAW labor, it's very tight!

    My Ford Tortoise is a nightmare...I've written plenty about it along with other poor Tortoise fool/owners in Sedans topic #61 or Maintenance and Repair #153. It was, of course a product of the typical poor assembly of the UAW plant here in the USA. UAW Canada plants have a better overall quality control record than USA plants.

    After years of buying American and supporting American products, with relatives and personal history of our family in the American auto business, it was very difficult for me to throw in the towel and buy Japanese. Now I wonder what I was thinking and why I waited so long!

    Ford sure doesn't care about me or who I buy from, they pretend not to know me or other Tortoise owners that have had ongoing problems in huge numbers.

    Did I say how nice my Camry V-6 is? What a rocket! I like my cars tight and fast, you?
  • quadrunner500quadrunner500 Member Posts: 2,721
    I have no problem with the Mexican auto worker. Quality looks good to me. If there is a problem, it is because it is now the oldest design. That will change.
  • parsonparson Member Posts: 1
    I have a 96 Dodge 2500 diesel quad cab 5 spd that was built in mexico. It has been the most pleasurable vehicle to drive and almost trouble free except for the fuel gauge. It pulls like a road tractor on a gooseneck trailer and gets 22 mpg on empty runs. Mexican built Dodge Ram gets my vote.
  • dodgeramdodgeram Member Posts: 202
    Looks like mexico built rams are more favarable then the u.s bulit ones, how ironic?
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    Hmmm, I wonder if those Ram guys have a Mexican flag on their trucks....
  • z71josez71jose Member Posts: 22
    I forgot where I read it, but I read an article
    on how Mexican autoworkers are "better"
    than their UAW counterparts. Down there,
    if there is no work, you go home and not
    get paid. One reason they're better, according
    to the article, they cross-trained. If they finish
    their specific duties on the assembly line,
    they go to another part of the factory and do
    other tasks. Unlike UAW, when there is no
    work, they take a 2-hour break. According to
    the article, this makes the factories down
    there more efficient because if someone in
    a certain department calls in sick or are short
    handed, they don't stop or slow the line, they
    just take somebody else in the factory to take
    the worker's place. I think what GM gave
    UAW(life-time employment) is a big mistake.
    That means they can be improductive, produce
    crappy products, and still get a high salary.
    Some of you might think I'm saying this because
    I'm of Mexican descent, but I know of many
    Anglo friends who feel the same way about the
    UAW.
  • andy_jordanandy_jordan Member Posts: 764
    I got into a sh*t load of trouble a while ago when I stuck my .02 into a similar topic on Dakota's built in Brazil vs. US.

    Bottom line is that good or bad, there is more union presence in the US than elsewhere (to a lesser extent in Canada), and often new initiatives are tried in factories outside US. Examples are the modular construction and new PPG painting techniques tried at the Dakota factory in Brazil.

    There are a number of reasons for this:
    - outside US factories are often lower output and so can absorb these easier
    - less union activity which MAY cause difficulties
    - workforce that is often more receptive to change.

    Quality standards are also often better in factories outside US.

    I don't care whether people agree or not, I am just telling it like it is, oh and I'm English now living in Canada.
  • RoclesRocles Member Posts: 982
    z71jose and andy jordan,

    I'm full blooded American. I agree with you both 100%. I deal with union issues in the roofing industry here in the Phila. area and I'd rather not talk about it if you gather my drift....
  • jake696jake696 Member Posts: 111
    They had their place in history and in the protection of the US auto worker....those days are over now and they are the Dinosauer holding up the evolution of the US automobile. US makers HAVE to go to non-UAW countries to build decent cars!
    The UAW is too stupid to see they are causing their own self-destruction!
  • markcordmarkcord Member Posts: 113
    I don't think I could be classified as a union guy but man I'm here to tell you I just took delivery of a 2k V10 QC 4x4 and this thing is flawless. Tight as a drum and no imperfections (and I've been trying pretty hard to find one). Time will tell the whole story but so far I would chalk one up for the folks in Fenton.
  • andy_jordanandy_jordan Member Posts: 764
    Geez, do you guys do it deliberately or what?

    I don't want to pick on glenn2 specifically here, so lets just look at a few facts.

    NO company is going to pay more than the local market going rate for salaries or anything else. All of the big auto makers invest huge sums of money to build factories outside of their home countries, they provide training to workers, (look at the Japanese in England about 15 years ago - they retrained 10,000+ ship builders to build cars), jobs to areas that would otherwise would have huge unemployment and all of the accompanying social problems.

    Do they deserve a return on that investment - of course they do. Market by market pricing, an interesting concept - and the surest way I can think of to close every single US auto factory. Instead many overseas plants subsidise the cost of building in US.
  • dcarpenterdcarpenter Member Posts: 26
    I am considering a single cab, 6spd., cummins 4X4. I understand that they are all (single cabs)built in Warren, Michigan. Or am I wrong about that? Any comments about how trucks built there hold up? Thanks.
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  • dekingkdekingk Member Posts: 44
    My 1998 Ram quad cab shortbox 5.9 was built in Mexico and I don't have a single complaint about it. It's quieter on the highway than my wifes Bonneville and there are no noises from the rear doors or vent windows, no matter what kind of roads I'm on. This is as close to a perfectly built vehicle as I have ever seen.
    I will admit that I was taken aback when a friend pointed out to me that it was built in Mexico, but knowing what I know now I wouldn't want it any other way.
  • johnrr1johnrr1 Member Posts: 70
    a little late to this one , i have a 1998 quad and it is mexican built , at first i wasn't happy , but i wanted it , i even found a taco in the glove box ... just kidding ... its been pretty much excellent , just the typical nit picky things but overall A1 , in fact the only major problem was the intake gasket having to be replaced twice , and since the engine was built here ... have almost 44k miles in 18 months , and not many problems like i said before , i just ordered a 2000 , maybe 2001, 2500 quadcab diesel , i hope its built south of the border , but i think i'ts going to be built here , don't know yet ...
  • pepper32pepper32 Member Posts: 23
    had a 91 ramcharger. it was born in mexico aug 90 the only trouble i had was the starter relay went bad, radiator leaked, twice the tube seals went out on the front axle and the multi-function switch had to be replaced. towed a trailer from geogia to alaska put her through 7 tough winters and she even started at -30f without being pre heated. over all a good truck.
  • meredithmeredith Member Posts: 575
    As a result of 30 or more days of inactivity....

    this topic is being "frozen". It will be archived or deleted in the next 10 days or so.

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