New Ram

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Picked up a gorgeous new Ram today for a 3 day test drive. Haven't bought a pickup new since 09 and what a difference a few years make.

The truck is a gorgeous dark Granite with color matched bumpers and that nice frenched in dual exhaust under the back bumper, sprayed in bedliner, I can't think of anything missing.

This truck drops lower when you park, raises when you take off, lowers a bit at higher speeds, and best of all does it all very transparently. No noise, nothing. The truck is super loaded, all the bells and whistles. Very nice touch screen with all the usual stuff. Sound system is Alpine with a nifty 8 inch sub in the back. Very nifty back seats fold up and then drop a panel to create a flat floor if wanted.

The shining star is the 5.7 and 8 speed trans. Even with tall economy gearing first gear is still short and gets things rocking RIGHT NOW. Very responsive trans, somebody got the calibrations perfect. Engine is fantastically smooth, virtually no vibration at all and a sweet soft sound of power (REAL power!) when you get on it.

Best of all, effortlessly cruised at 70 mph (under 1500 rpm!) and got almost 30 mpg! This is a great drivetrain...
 
Pics or it never happened!
whistle.gif


Nice MPG from a truck; what HP is that engine?
 
Our available class-exclusive Active-Level™ Four-Corner Air Suspension offers automatic load leveling and is designed specifically to help improve capability and maintain the exceptional performance Ram trucks are known for.

Adjustable air springs allow drivers to raise and lower the vehicle to one of five ride height settings
Dashboard control lets drivers adjust clearance manually
Smart sensors automatically lower truck at highway speeds to help reduce drag and increase efficiency

Hemi has 395hp/410torque

its rated 15 city/22 highway mpg+ for 2WD with eight-speed automatic transmission

the ego-diesel is 20/28 with 240hp/420torque


all copied from

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_1500


I would be extremely tempted for that with the diesel. mid twenties from a full truck?? hot!
 
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If I reset the mileage-meter in my old Titan at 70 mph it would show 25-30 mpg also. Have you had it long enough to get real world mileage out of it yet? I expect any decent city/highway split to be mid to high teens.

Sounds like a nice truck, are you going to pull the trigger? Any concern with reliability? That is a lot of new/high-tech stuff from a company that hasn't always put out the most reliable gear.
 
Steve: My family let me buy my first New Truck ever 4 months ago... I am 50 and never have had a new auto.

I research for 8 months before choosing the new Ram.

What sold me was the 5.7L-8Speed-3:92gears.

The whole truck is awesome. No complaints!

Love the inside layout!

I know I made the right choice... The ZF 8speed is impressive. Really like the Fast Smooth Shifts.

Yesterday on the way back from the City-->Averaged 65-80mph on the interstate and averaged 22.8 mpg. Only 3738 miles and mileage is getting better every time we take her out of town. The Drive Train has tons of power and SO Smooth!
 
Originally Posted By: BowNisPar
If I reset the mileage-meter in my old Titan at 70 mph it would show 25-30 mpg also. Have you had it long enough to get real world mileage out of it yet? I expect any decent city/highway split to be mid to high teens.

Sounds like a nice truck, are you going to pull the trigger? Any concern with reliability? That is a lot of new/high-tech stuff from a company that hasn't always put out the most reliable gear.


Understood, but we have a Mopar in the garage with 100k miles and a stellar performance history. I've just never really had a bad experience with them. Don't forget the 100k warranty...

Originally Posted By: -SyN-
Steve: My family let me buy my first New Truck ever 4 months ago... I am 50 and never have had a new auto.

I research for 8 months before choosing the new Ram.

What sold me was the 5.7L-8Speed-3:92gears.

The whole truck is awesome. No complaints!

Love the inside layout!

I know I made the right choice... The ZF 8speed is impressive. Really like the Fast Smooth Shifts.


Absolutely. It is a gorgeous vehicle, and it has an awesome feel of solidity, not jittery or shakey like the Fords I drove.

No 'trigger pulling' yet, the Woman has to give approval. I am outfitting it for her to have for two days, she will be the one driving it...
 
They have all come so far. I am awed when I see the new dodge and even the new f150, when compared to my 06. While I plan to drive the Tundra for hopefully at least another 8 years, I certainly have a lot to look forward to!

Best of luck with your decision!! As far as aging new tech, at least in my experience, the important stuff in dodge/jeep/chryco holds on. Drivetrains and suspensions and all things steel. It's the lock motors, door switches, window motors, etc., that all seem to fail sooner than they should. The very same has been said of ford, switches, sensors, and small electronics. PLENTY of old dodges running around getting people to work. I don't think you can go wrong here.
 
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I have a '12 lonestar(in texas)..big horn everywhere else....little over 50K on it with nothing whatsoever done to it yet but oil changes and a new set of tires at 30K...Im a ford guy but they are ***** so i tried one of these and so far very satisfied.....
 
Sweet!

I have a new RAM too. It is a super pickup. I have the diesel with 3.92 gears.
So far, it has been wonderful. I have averaged 19.4 MPG in the last 5,500 miles. That includes about 1,000 miles towing my 6,600lb Airstream. It gets 15MPG towing at 65-70MPH. I average 22MPG in normal use driving. My commute to my shop is only 6 miles, so not a lot of highway.
http://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/1500/2014/LanceMc/305283

I shopped for a long time before making the decision to get the RAM. The diesel 1/2T was the main reason I went with the RAM. The RAM looks better than all the others in my opinion.
 
I like these vehicles, but would only buy one if I needed a big truck.
Actually the biggest sin is with small trucks that only average 16 or 17 MPG running big fours or small sixes - ala NISSAN or TOYOTA. IN fact its a sin that my Nissan doesn't get over 40 MPG! My wife's old CARBURETTED Dodge colt got over 40mpg real world back in the mid 80's. Those cars were just shy of 1 ton back then, though.
 
Yeah, that's what kept me from buying a smaller truck, trade space for... the same mpg and same purchase cost? That didn't make sense.
 
Love the looks of the Ram for sure and know quite a few people who own and love them.

I'm more of a bench seat, basic, rubber-floored truck guy myself.
 
Been looking at the ram,
I just can't get myself write the check. Don't call me cheap call me thrifty.
 
I'm green with envy. My 2008 is starting to feel downright hoary and crusty compared to the new offerings... but it was Dad's last vehicle and still only has 35k miles on it so I'll be sticking with it for a while. Both for sentimental and practical reasons.

Did you consider the EcoDiesel at all? I'd be sorely tempted by it if I were in the market. It also gets the nice dual frenched exhaust as well as the 8HP Torqueflite. Same tow rating as the 5.7, same peak torque (or close), but of course a lot less horsepower.

But it would have to get even better mpg than it does in order to pay off the way I use a truck (not very much). Its almost like theyve made the 5.7 too good to make the Ecodiesel worthwhile except for people that really pile on the miles. In a similar vein (though a lot of people would never admit it...) the big 6.4 Hemi in the 2500 and 3500 trucks is going to be a more economical total-cost-of-ownership engine for a lot of owners than the big Cummins. Sacrilege, I know... :)
 
Hey, man. I'm no spendthrift. I drive an 05 Silverado with 150k miles on it! It's such a nice truck that two different people have approached me about buying it already.

OMG, the 6.4 is in a class by itself. But the amazing 5.7 is the coolest combo of power and economy in a gas truck. No Diesel and no V6 power due to soundtrack requirements!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Picked up a gorgeous new Ram today for a 3 day test drive. Haven't bought a pickup new since 09 and what a difference a few years make.

The truck is a gorgeous dark Granite with color matched bumpers and that nice frenched in dual exhaust under the back bumper, sprayed in bedliner, I can't think of anything missing.

This truck drops lower when you park, raises when you take off, lowers a bit at higher speeds, and best of all does it all very transparently. No noise, nothing. The truck is super loaded, all the bells and whistles. Very nice touch screen with all the usual stuff. Sound system is Alpine with a nifty 8 inch sub in the back. Very nifty back seats fold up and then drop a panel to create a flat floor if wanted.

The shining star is the 5.7 and 8 speed trans. Even with tall economy gearing first gear is still short and gets things rocking RIGHT NOW. Very responsive trans, somebody got the calibrations perfect. Engine is fantastically smooth, virtually no vibration at all and a sweet soft sound of power (REAL power!) when you get on it.

Best of all, effortlessly cruised at 70 mph (under 1500 rpm!) and got almost 30 mpg! This is a great drivetrain...


I was looking yesterday and checking out Ram trucks and the Jeep GC to kill time. Much to my disappointment they don't have a dipstick for the transmission. It might sound petty but it annoys me. Other than that the truck is nice.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Picked up a gorgeous new Ram today for a 3 day test drive. Haven't bought a pickup new since 09 and what a difference a few years make.

The truck is a gorgeous dark Granite with color matched bumpers and that nice frenched in dual exhaust under the back bumper, sprayed in bedliner, I can't think of anything missing.

This truck drops lower when you park, raises when you take off, lowers a bit at higher speeds, and best of all does it all very transparently. No noise, nothing. The truck is super loaded, all the bells and whistles. Very nice touch screen with all the usual stuff. Sound system is Alpine with a nifty 8 inch sub in the back. Very nifty back seats fold up and then drop a panel to create a flat floor if wanted.

The shining star is the 5.7 and 8 speed trans. Even with tall economy gearing first gear is still short and gets things rocking RIGHT NOW. Very responsive trans, somebody got the calibrations perfect. Engine is fantastically smooth, virtually no vibration at all and a sweet soft sound of power (REAL power!) when you get on it.

Best of all, effortlessly cruised at 70 mph (under 1500 rpm!) and got almost 30 mpg! This is a great drivetrain...


I was looking yesterday and checking out Ram trucks and the Jeep GC to kill time. Much to my disappointment they don't have a dipstick for the transmission. It might sound petty but it annoys me. Other than that the truck is nice.


But you forget, my other Mopar has no dipstick either. So we are already prepared, Miller Tool to the rescue!

Frankly, I am excited to learn what it takes to service this trans in the driveway. Since it is in almost everything these days the info is out there somewhere...
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
With all those features on that Ram truck would you ever consider keeping it beyond the factory warranty?


Since I regularly buy new vehicles for fleet use I have developed an easy way to track services required. Whenever a vehicle develops a certain pattern or too many foibles it is easy to tell if it's a 'keeper' or not.

We do not play brand name games here, all new trucks are needlessly over complex. It's not exclusive to Ram, all the major players are capable of being quite problematic.

Frankly the drivetrain is my primary interest anyway, our typical truck here is kept well beyond 150k and frequently beyond 200. And the 5.7 has an excellent reputation for high miles...
 
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