Originally Posted By: pacem
Originally Posted By: JTK
The first brand-new vehicle I ever bought was a 1993 Dodge Dakota, 2wd, reg cab, shorty with a 5spd manual and Magnum 3.9L. That thing had so much power (for the time) it was hard to keep the back end to the back!
The p/u truck and Jeep standard transmissions I've owned were nicer shifting vehicles than my new Subaru XV Crosstrek 5spd.
Question. Is the 3.9L something new or a derivative of the old slant 6 Dodge engine? If so, it should be powerful, reliable and not get very good MPG, meaning not close to 30mpg. That's the combo I am looking at. Don't want to get into 4.7L, or 5.2L engines.
The 3.9 was based on the 318 block (a 318 minus two cylinders). It was a very stout and reliable engine, that was replaced by the 3.7L v6 around 1999 or 2000. When the 4.7L SOHC v8 replaced the 5.2/318 in circa 1999 or 2000, the 3.7 was created by "sawing off" two of the 4.7's cylinders much the same way the 3.9 was created from the 5.2. It remained in production until the end of production of the Jeep Liberty last year.
Of the two, the 3.7 gets better mileage and has a little less low-end torque but more overall power. And its what you'll find in any Dakota newer than ~2000 model year. The 3.9 was the original Dakota v6 (in carbureted form) in the 80s, and stayed around in "Magnum" EFI form all through the 90s. The Dakota may have been available with the v8 and a stick at some point in time, but when a friend bought one back in around 2005 or so, a stick was only possible with the v6, not the v8.
