Hemi in base model Ram??

[juice420]

I've been hearing that Dodge is doing a limited time offer where you can get a hemi in the base model Rams at no extra charge. You guys here anything on this?? Also what do you guys think is the best pick-up in your opinion, F-150, Silverado,Ram, etc.

[Mxjunkie]

I like the rams they aren't bad trucks, couple of my buddies have them and they seem to be holding up pretty well.. I'm a chevy man myself we have a 2006 z71 silverado right now with a 5.3 and I love the thing.. tows amazing and it's overall a really nice truck.. of course we couldn't leave it alone it's got a bully dog programmer, k&n intake, magna flow 2/5inch true duals,corvette servo and hopefully soon we are going to go with the tci servo/shift kit in the transmission.. there is endless mods you can do with the new trucks.. We are looking into getting another computer right now so we can take the cats off and run long tube headers! :D

[juice420]

Originally posted by Mxjunkie
I like the rams they aren't bad trucks, couple of my buddies have them and they seem to be holding up pretty well.. I'm a chevy man myself we have a 2006 z71 silverado right now with a 5.3 and I love the thing.. tows amazing and it's overall a really nice truck.. of course we couldn't leave it alone it's got a bully dog programmer, k&n intake, magna flow 2/5inch true duals,corvette servo and hopefully soon we are going to go with the tci servo/shift kit in the transmission.. there is endless mods you can do with the new trucks.. We are looking into getting another computer right now so we can take the cats off and run long tube headers! :D
Yeh, I'm in the market for a new truck soon, trying to decide between the Ram w/hemi or the Silverado. Tough choice.

[Mxjunkie]

I'd test drive both and choose from there, some people like some stuff which they can give you their opinion on it but what you like might not be the same as them ya know? :macho

[Quad18star]

My parents bought an 09 Ram in September ... and I've got to admit it's pretty nice . The new design is completly different than the previous model ... which is a huge improvment. The power is pretty good too.

Now that I've owned a Toyota truck , it'll be hard for me to switch to anything else .... I used to be a Dodge fan.

[juice420]

Originally posted by Quad18star
My parents bought an 09 Ram in September ... and I've got to admit it's pretty nice . The new design is completly different than the previous model ... which is a huge improvment. The power is pretty good too.

Now that I've owned a Toyota truck , it'll be hard for me to switch to anything else .... I used to be a Dodge fan.
Yeh I was looking into the Toyota's also, the Tundra's are pretty nice trucks.

[Ntensweapon]

I reluctantly traded my in Ridgeline in on a Tundra. I'm pretty happy with it so far. I had them install a revtech lift, 20" rockstars on Nitto trail grapplers. I also have installed bushwacker pocketstyle flares (color match).


http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj78/Ntensweapon/th_021.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj78/Ntensweapon/?action=view&current=021.jpg)

[Canadian144]

Not a big fan of the new Ram. When buying our new truck, we looked at all the 09 trucks, and ended up with an 09 F150 FX4 luxury package!

IMO the second best was the Nissan Titan Pro 4X. The fuel economy sucked, and the dealer's weren't willing to move on prices much.

The Tundra still has a C frame, also the dealers weren't willing to move on price, and the big engine got bad fuel economy.

The 09 Ram ... just didn't like the ride, not to mention the fact that it can't tow as much as the F150. The F150 also had a nicer interior, but again IMO.

Here's our FX4 the day we picker her up!

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o116/kucan14/2009%20F150%20FX4/IMG_1217.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o116/kucan14/2009%20F150%20FX4/IMG_1229.jpg

[ZBlaster]

After owning my Nissan Titan for a little over a year now it would be hard to me to switch to any other 1/2 ton. I get decent mileage with bolt on's, tows our 27' enclosed trailer with 4 quads and a 55 gallon drum of gas inside just fine, and seats 5 comfortably.

[CJM]

I refuse to buy dodge, they still and always have built junk. They keep transmission places in biz lol among other problems they usually have.

If I had to buy a new fullsize 1/2 ton I would buy F150, Titan or Tundra (pref to Tundra tho). All are very nice and all are built quite well.

There is a HUGE reason every service vehicle I see is mostly a Ford and some Chevys. That tells you alot if you look at what contractors and fleets use, round here its mostly Ford, some Chevy and rarely a Dodge. Reason you dont see imports is they dont sell cheap enough.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Wait for the 2011 6.2L F150s.

The 6.2s are out now in the raptors and F2-350s


My dad has an 07 and hasn't had any problems at all with it. Great truck.

[juice420]

Originally posted by Kickstarts-suck
Wait for the 2011 6.2L F150s.

The 6.2s are out now in the raptors and F2-350s


My dad has an 07 and hasn't had any problems at all with it. Great truck.
Yeh, but that's too much engine for the ol' pocketbook. I'm not lookin for a $600/month payment, for 600 I might be able to pull off a f-150 4.8L with a lift kit and some 20's:D

[cdrookie]

questions like this are useless, it's all opinion and everyone thinks their truck is the best...


test drive each one and buy what your wallet can afford!

[CJM]

Originally posted by cdrookie
questions like this are useless, it's all opinion and everyone thinks their truck is the best...


test drive each one and buy what your wallet can afford!

Im a mechanic so it isnt my opinion..

[cdrookie]

so you've worked on EVERY truck EVERY manufacturer EVER made?

or just what, MAYBE .00001% of them???

[CJM]

Originally posted by cdrookie
so you've worked on EVERY truck EVERY manufacturer EVER made?

or just what, MAYBE .00001% of them???

Considering ive been doing it for years you learn whats crap and what isnt dude.

IE: Stay away from dodge period, cause no matter what they got issues. From the poor transmissions with too small of galleries for the fluid to travel, the fan i saw disintegrate on a durango with 25k on it, to the cheap k cars, the teflon coated oil pans of the cloud cars (intrepid, stratus, etc) that cause the engines to fail, to the cheap materials in the way they are made.

To the guy who bought 4 ram vans for his fleet and had: a waterpump blow, intake gaskets fail, transmissions in all of them, rusting out frames, computers failing, etc. I told the guy to sell them yet he has to much $ tied into them. He has spent 2x what each ones worth by now, all of them bought new too.

Nope, I dont like dodge period-unreliable crap. Ford is pretty reliable, the 5.4L engine tends to burn/eat oil and can knock badly if not cared for. Chevys ok, tend to have electrical issues sometimes.

Im telling you when your a mechanic you tend to see the same problems over and over and over-it seems chrysler/dodge/jeep litter the shop and bring us the most cash. The trans shop down the road loves chrsyler-they keep them in biz!

Also, if dodge rams were so good then every contractor would use them, every fleet would have them as such-they use mostly Ford and Chevy, few dodges.. When I used to do mechanic work during the day and tow at night for the shop, wanna guess what was towed most? Dodge, Chevy, then finally Ford and then the imports..isnt that odd?

All dodge has going for it is the cummins in the ram, otherwise its junk. Sure the hemis cool, but its nothing special.

[dns1764]

hemis chug gas and chevy's rust out. i have a ford and hate it, and i refuse to buy a foreign truck. i'm thinking about a cummings when the ford dies.

[cdrookie]

hmmm... burning oil and knocking badly or electrical issues that leave you stranded(not mentioning the power difference).

tough choice, but i think i'm keeping my "unreliable crap"

gotten almost 20mpg going across I-80 also:devil:

[Quad18star]

I would go as far as saying every dodge is crap. My old man has a 94 Ram 1500 4x4 which he bought new from the dealership. It has over 250 000 miles on it right now and still runs like a champ although the body is rusted out to hell now. He uses it a few times a week to pull out larger red pines out of the woods , every day to go fishing and to plow the driveway in the winter. Never had any major engine problems ( replaced the water pump ) and never any tranny issues. It's all about care and maintenance.

[Exrider434]

Originally posted by Quad18star
It's all about care and maintenance.

Theres only a select few who actually care and maintain a vehivle properly

[CJM]

280k Miles on all original everything on my toyota..

Had 220k on my old ford inline 6 too.

[usp4u]

Hmmm, 13 Ram trucks in my family over the last 15 or so years and not one, single trans issue. Or any other issue for that matter.


Guess it must have been 13 flukes, eh ?

:huh

[CJM]

I dunno man, trans place down the road from the shop keeps getting them in.

Boss owns one from new, it failed at 40k and now the new one from dodge failed at 95k.

Perhaps its just the plants around here?

Im constantly repairing them at the shop

[outacontrol]

bought a new nissan titan, and hate it. was great till about 40k miles, now its at the nissan garage constantly. wheel sensors, service lights, fluid leaks etc. buying foreign reliability isnt all its cracked up to be either. titan is for sale as we speak..

[levonskinator]

Originally posted by juice420
Yeh, I'm in the market for a new truck soon, trying to decide between the Ram w/hemi or the Silverado. Tough choice.

If you plan on keeping the truck more than 30k or so chevy is the clear winner. Dodges are jokes compared to fords and chevys, and I'm not talking about which truck is more powerful. Dodges are renowned for being unreliable and not lasting at all.

[levonskinator]

Originally posted by CJM
Considering ive been doing it for years you learn whats crap and what isnt dude.

IE: Stay away from dodge period, cause no matter what they got issues. From the poor transmissions with too small of galleries for the fluid to travel, the fan i saw disintegrate on a durango with 25k on it, to the cheap k cars, the teflon coated oil pans of the cloud cars (intrepid, stratus, etc) that cause the engines to fail, to the cheap materials in the way they are made.

To the guy who bought 4 ram vans for his fleet and had: a waterpump blow, intake gaskets fail, transmissions in all of them, rusting out frames, computers failing, etc. I told the guy to sell them yet he has to much $ tied into them. He has spent 2x what each ones worth by now, all of them bought new too.

Nope, I dont like dodge period-unreliable crap. Ford is pretty reliable, the 5.4L engine tends to burn/eat oil and can knock badly if not cared for. Chevys ok, tend to have electrical issues sometimes.

Im telling you when your a mechanic you tend to see the same problems over and over and over-it seems chrysler/dodge/jeep litter the shop and bring us the most cash. The trans shop down the road loves chrsyler-they keep them in biz!

Also, if dodge rams were so good then every contractor would use them, every fleet would have them as such-they use mostly Ford and Chevy, few dodges.. When I used to do mechanic work during the day and tow at night for the shop, wanna guess what was towed most? Dodge, Chevy, then finally Ford and then the imports..isnt that odd?

All dodge has going for it is the cummins in the ram, otherwise its junk. Sure the hemis cool, but its nothing special.

i didn't see this post.. Amen dude this is so right. I'm a mechanic too and for the most part any chrysler vehicle that came in is always a big bill.

[juice420]

Well I'm definately leasing so it really doesn't matter if it's unreliable or not. I mean sure it would be a big inconvienence if I bought a Dodge and it was always in the shop, but at least I wouldn't be paying out of my own pocket.

[JLanphear]

I gotta say I love my Tundra. Actually should be picking up a new one this week...waiting to hear back from one of the dealers this morning.

My personal opinion (and I'm not a truck tester by any means), is for the money, it's hard to beat the tundra, if you are trying to save a few bucks. You can get a nice truck with a double-cab, the 5.7l engine, and the tow package, for a pretty reasonable amount.

And also...for an engine putting out almost 400hp, I am happy with the fuel econamy. I've checked my truck going back and forth to work a few times (about 50 miles each way, highway, but not interstate) and I got just under 20mpg. I thought that was decent considering the constant speed limit changes, and hilly terrain. My dad has a regular cab, short bed chevy with a 4.8l in it and it's no better on gas, and my buddies Dodge and his Chevy HD don't even come close. Not to mention any of the trucks I just listed can't even compare in the engine department.

Again, just my opinion on the Tundra.

[Scro]

Dodges may not be as reliable, but they sure have everyone beat in the looks department (not that it matters, right?). The new Rams are wicked.

I haven't had any experience but I would say the dodge comes in second with the big 3. My uncle runs a tow yard here and he tows more fords than anything. Dodge is second, and he rarely tows a Chevy. He told me he tows about 5 fords to 1 dodge and 10 dodges to a Chevy. I would say go with the new Silverado.

Edit- the guy referring to fleet vehicles, the only thing that shows is who was offering the cheapest package deal. Doesn't show anything for reliability IMO.

Originally posted by dns1764
i'm thinking about a cummings when the ford dies.

What's a Cummings?

[CJM]

Originally posted by YFZ-DunerUtah
What's a Cummings?

I think he means a cummins

As for the fleet thing, its not just fleets themselves as offering deals since dodge are the cheapest usually overall priced vehicles, you can order them for a fleet-ive seen it. But overall they dont build the HD trucks the fleet services need usually. Even so it wouldnt take alot to offer, but around here all the verizon trucks are ford and chevy and trust me they are huge here I think they got like over 100 trucks, all vans are chevy and the bucket vans are all fords. Tow trucks are not made off dodge chassis usually, very few and the reason being is the trans wont hold up. Shop has an old 89 F series wrecker with who knows how many miles on it, and the old Fsuper duty flatbed wont die and trust me its beat. Chevy we had we sold and you wont find a dodge towtruck made before they came out with the new design in 04ish, and even then you dont see to many. Thats a true test to how reliable they are, cause a towetruck gets used and abused worse than anything else.

As for the comment on towing things in, it also might have a boas towards more ford b/c they were and still currently are the number one selling domestic trucks and vehicles with chevy in a close 2nd followed by dodge. Sales of the 9th and 10th gen F series killed everyone else.

However in repairs I often found fords to need alot less work than any other domestic with chevy being a 2nd and dodges basically always coming in.

[BlaineKaiser450]

Dodge vehicles were pretty bad from about 1974-2005. But they have really gotten their act together for the new stuff. My mom has a 2007 Chysler Aspen with a 5.7 hemi, and my dad has a 2007 Dodge Superbee with the 6.1 Srt8 Hemi and we are more than happy with them. I'm also very happy with my Cummins dually, but it's a 1993 so it's not really relevant to this topic. I wouldn't drive anything that isn't a mopar if they stay how they are. So all in all, I'd give the new ram serious thought because they have really changed from the crappy K cars to producing some nice products.

[juice420]

Thanks for the input everyone, I think I'm gonna test drive a Tundra for sure, the Dodge, and maybe a Silverado. Worst comes to worst I'll just get me a good ol' Ranger lol.

Originally posted by CJM
I think he means a cummins



You're quick to catch sarcasm. ;)

[yellowzo3]

Silverado's are nice trucks and will last forever if you take care of them. I would check them out for sure :cool: ...I also know a guy with a 2005 Ram that has had zero problems. He takes care of his stuff as well though.

However, if you don't take care of your stuff, it will break. Doesn't matter what it is. I know a guy who bought a brand new Silverado and drove it through a farm during the winter and froze up all the brakes with mud. Had to have all the brakes replaced. Is it the trucks fault? No. But I bet some other stuff will eventually break because its beat up and the owner will say the truck is garbage when something does eventually fail.

And let me just say this. To ANYONE who buys a USED truck of ANY kind... You can't really say whether the truck sucks or not because who knows what the previous owner did to it. And we all know the infamous "Oh I bought it off an old guy who barely used it" line. Truth is, you'll never know what its been through.

The only way you can give a TRUE review about a truck is if you've owned it since the day it drove off the lot.

As for fleet vehicles... They go with whatever they can get a deal on. If they usually buy Fords but Ford doesn't have 10 vans on the lot and Chevy does they may just shoot over and get a deal on all the Chevy's. Not to mention no one that drives a fleet vehicle takes care of it. It's not theirs and they don't have to pay for it when it breaks. So they're all beat to crap and poor examples of normal truck use/abuse levels.

As for no Dodge vans... does Dodge even make a cargo van anymore? They have the Sprinter and they are pretty popular. The reason they're not as popular as other vans is probably because people don't need that much room and they haven't been out as long as everything else.

[CJM]

I still say most of you dont have a clue if you arent a mechanic.

You physically see what goes wrong most often on what and whats always breaking down. In my case, I have towed and repaired and serviced stuff for a long time. Like I been saying all along so far most reliable domestic is ford, then chevy then finally dodge which we repair and tow the most. Most reliable imports toyota, then hyundai (believe it or not!), honda then nissan.

Its pretty sad when i towed I have seen no less than 10 in the past year of those older dodge cargo ram vans need computers, full tune ups and they still wont run right. Its even worse when I have personally witnessed dodge trucks come in time and time again for trans issues-even with new rebuilt units. My cousin has a dodge 2500 cummins and he went thru 3 transmissions in 4 years, basically he would lose a a forward gear or reverse. No rhyme or reason to it, just alot of miles being used as a work truck, I convinced him to spend 5k on a trans built specially for HD use (like they should have) and that costs 5k (thts not installed btw) and it aint failed since.

My friend has a 1500 and blew out 2 different trans in 3 years, both brand new units not rebuilt. He is still saving for the HD one I mentioned.

neighbor has an 05, only 60k and he drives like a grandma, it slips in 3rd gear.

Just redid a grand cherokee trans 3 weeks ago.

Had this insane electrical draw I and 4 others cant find on a dodge minivan.

Noticing dodge work vans for some odd reason rust out very easy. Front bumper literally folded up the mounts in an impact I towed in a month ago. Guy hit a honda accord and folded up the beefy bumper like a sandwich cause the mounts had HOLES in them along with alot of the rest of the frame.

Im currently replacing an engine in a 300m-teflon coated oil pan ruined it. That marks the 3rd dodge car this year with those stupid pans.

I dunno, perhaps I just have bad luck around them things. But the work dont lie

The dodge sprinter is a rebadged freightliner diesel van. Its ok but it SUCKS on the road unless you drive like a grandma cause its tippy as hell.

[CJM]

Ok to add to it so you dont think I am biased:

This past month:
-Full tune up on a ford escort, car ran ok before hand and was better after tune up.

-Trans on a 95 nissan altima, granted the guys 18 yo kid drives it

-Starter on 99 altima

-Alternator on 2000 maxima

-Toyota truck 95 did front brakes and rotors and replace calipers, truck did haveover 150k tho.

-Did engine on a lincoln navigator, apparently it burned all the oil up (comes from not changing your oil like ever)

-Replaced rotted trans lines on a 90 dodge pick up

-Did frontend work on a ford f250 superduty (ball joints, TRE, drag links), truck had roughly 180k and was a landscapers

-Replaced IAC (thats idle air control motor to those of you who dont have a clue) on a 97 dodge ram, still ran like crap and still tracking down issue

-intake job on dodge ram van

-head job on a ford taurus that overheated

-head job on bosses 95 F150 with like 220k

-alternator on 00 chevy truck

-CPS (coolant pressure sensor) on chevy trailblazer

-diesel engine rebuild on a 6.5 chevy

-honda that had a cracked block

-drain issue on ford windstar

-nissan titan did brakes

-freezeout plug on dodge dakota

-replaced every vacuum line on a durango and it ran great then

-no over drive, sent trans to be rebuilt on an 04 ram

-99 f150 coilpacks

I can go on..

[outacontrol]

Originally posted by rpfeifer11
This is all a lie. You just saw my f250 and want to be as cool as me.

Busted! today is test drive day for me. i hate dealing with salesmen!