Ram ProMaster van

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I saw one of these things morning and thought, "oh look, they managed to make a generally attractive Mercedes Sprinter look terribly ugly..."

rampro_exterior_24.jpg


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

But looking more into it, it looks like they're marketing a commerical FWD cargo van. Interesting.

Steve, care to try one o' these in your business? Ha ha.
 
UGLY!

Amazing interior volume, though. Being able to do a simple beam axle in the rear because of FWD *and* unibody ... pretty great!

My first concern is, what if you are towing and you have a load in the back and it's snowing / slippery out? Getting that thing to try to move is going to be a pain in the snow! Put all of the weight in a Express/Savana or the new Transit.

My second concern - that thing has a pretty high payload and towing capacity for what is the engine and transmission out of the caravan. Wonder how the transmission will hold up?

Plus, changing spark plugs on that has to be a major pain in the rear.
 
18,500 OCI in the diesel version. Price seems reasonable compared to a Sprinter. But much different van I'm sure. Since there's no free lunch ever.
 
I like it. Especially for work on a job site. A front wheel drive will beat a rear wheel drive every day in snow and mud.
And towing with a fwd is a dream. Point the wheel the way you want to go.
All in all its perfect for a tradesman. The cargo room is stellar and I could build beautiful shelving units along both sides.
Fuel mileage in a fully loaded van is never stellar and when we buy vans for work mileage is never a concern,and to be honest my favourite vans in our fleet is the fords with the 4.9 inline 6.
Sure the v-8s move the vans a bit better but I'm not out racing them,they get the tools from point A to point B so power to me is irrelevant.
My only concern is cost of ownership and what's it cost to maintain them. 6 plugs are cheaper than 8,5 litres of oil is cheaper than 6 litres etc.
We change the oil at 5000 mile intervals with synthetic because these vans are driven only in the city and very rarely to they achieve highway speeds.
Anyways I for one like the fwd idea. I loved our caravans that were outfitted for finish carpentry. We removed the seats and they became 2 seaters,sometimes 3 and we'd leave one of the back captains chairs installed.They handled great with a full load. Decent on fuel and they held everything a trim carpentry crew needed to trim out a house.
I'd like to see one of the vans in service. I'm sure they'd be great in the city as a delivery type truck.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Steve, care to try one o' these in your business? Ha ha.


Unfortunately the only mfgr that will keep your warranty intact in our duty cycle is GM, so it's nuttin' but Chebbies and GMC's here for now.

But I agree it is a nice van to do work out of, the packaging with FWD is remarkable and spacious!

As with most new vehicles I am a bit concerned about its durability in service...
 
I'm not seeing the usefullness here-we have 2 Transits, and they are USELESS in snow! There's no way the Fiat/Dodge would be able to carry the 4K in weight that I do, nor pull a 7K trailer!
 
What's this manual/automatic tranny they are talking about. How does it work. Anyone have a link or have any details on this tranny they are mating to the diesel.
And why wouldn't they also mate the manual to the pentastar engine.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
I'm not seeing the usefullness here-we have 2 Transits, and they are USELESS in snow! There's no way the Fiat/Dodge would be able to carry the 4K in weight that I do, nor pull a 7K trailer!


I think they are claiming 4200 pounds inside,and if it was a rwd it would need that weight for traction.
My only concern is the tranny,or would this thing have a transaxle? Either way I'd like to see them with 100k miles on,with a full load,before I'd be comfortable buying one for our fleet.
I really like the front wheel drive idea,my only concern is are they able to build a drivetrain durable enough in a fwd platform to handle actual work duty.
I'm sure they'd be fine as a delivery type van only half loaded but what about a full load from the first driven mile.
I'll reserve judgement til I see posts in the forums about what kinds of issues are arising.
Looks like dodge is putting a lot of faith in the pentastar. And it looks like its putting down some good power numbers with some decent fuel consumption numbers as well.
If they put an mds type system in the pentastar they could get rid of the 4 cylinder option in some models,coupled with the 8 speed could give dodge a very interesting line up.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
What's this manual/automatic tranny they are talking about. How does it work. Anyone have a link or have any details on this tranny they are mating to the diesel.
And why wouldn't they also mate the manual to the pentastar engine.


Think VW DSG.
 
Clevy,

Expect the Pstar to become DI and maybe even Fiat will bring in their Multi Air patents as well. It would then easily lead the pack in both power AND fuel usage.

And they already have a nine speed ZF unit mated to the smaller displacement Pstar in the new Jeeps. This unit is made for FWD and would be the most likely combo.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Clevy,

Expect the Pstar to become DI and maybe even Fiat will bring in their Multi Air patents as well. It would then easily lead the pack in both power AND fuel usage.

And they already have a nine speed ZF unit mated to the smaller displacement Pstar in the new Jeeps. This unit is made for FWD and would be the most likely combo.



Thanks Steve.

I will give it to dodge. At least they are making this segment interesting for the demographic of potential customers.
I wouldn't even have looked at a dodge van prior to these ones. I really like the diesel option and the pentastar is proving itself across many platforms,so I think its a natural in this type of application.
Vvt and multi-air could really give it stump pulling torque off the line,which it would need if it was lugging around 4000 pounds every moment of life.
And I really find the fwd aspect very interesting and makes the van more appealing to me as far as real everyday usage.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
I'm not seeing the usefullness here-we have 2 Transits, and they are USELESS in snow! There's no way the Fiat/Dodge would be able to carry the 4K in weight that I do, nor pull a 7K trailer!


4430lb payload, actually!
 
I went looking for this thing on fueleconomy.gov.

Doesn't show up. Must be over 8500 lbs, a heavy 3/4 ton.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

They'll program it for anti-abuse, but we all know that only goes so far.

But the transit connect survives with a 4 cyl/ 4 speed auto. (?)
 
Honestly, we've had several Sprinters as well (Dodge unfortunately), and they pretty much ate us alive on maintenance & repairs, not to mention the rusting body panels (bubbling from the inside out, pretty much on every body seam). Assuming Fiat has built these in Europe for a while, maybe they have a handle on their problems/issues-but my confidence in the local Dodge dealers isn't that good, we had to do serious dealer shopping to find ones that were any good.
 
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