Switch to Dodge RAM 2500...please talk me out of it!

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Originally Posted by Vern

Dodge Ram 4x4 Off Road Australia - YouTube

I beg to differ

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Cameraman was getting very excited [wink11]

I have a nephew in BC who drives one. He could never explain why - the tray was (almost) always empty.
Build quality is the issue. There's a youtube comparing it to an equally monstrous 'truck' where they put the Dodge's rear wheel on something other than level concrete. It was almost impossible to get the tray open; once it was open, chassis distortion meant it couldn't be closed. Not my idea of robust.
Shape is contemptuously non-aerodynamic, which costs in fuel.

PS - youtube is a good source of 'car reviews'.
Lots of fun stuff where the Land Rover walked up or down and the other brands spun wheels and took six attempts to get there. Where the Land Rover 'loses' it's usually operator error or tyre pressure.

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Originally Posted by stewie110

I Lived in San Antonio TX for a brief period in the early 2000's. I had the displeasure of having a (then) current model Dodge RAM (2003, 3500) as a company provided car. Here is a summary of ownership

The Good.

• Torque was awesome (5.9 litre cummins v8 IIRC)
• No reliability problems (never stopped)
• Cruising was decent the engine just ticked over at highway speeds
• Space.... literally I am pretty sure you could fit the universe in there several times

The Bad.

• Size, you have very poor visibility. I am tall (6ft4) and I couldn't really get a grasp of where the corners of the car sat. In Texas it is not a huge problem because parking spaces, roads etc are all BIG. When I took a road trip to California where the size of everything was still large, but not mid-west big it felt too large
• Fuel economy was really bad, regularly getting single digit miles per gallon in traffic.
• Build quality.. I am pretty sure it was not actually built or assembled. Parts would randomly fall off if the road was not perfectly smooth. Driving back roads etc where it was gravel didn't to the car any favors. The good news was that once everything fell off it was okay.
• Uncomfortable seats.
• You are automatically a di*k head for driving one. I only really felt this when I got to CA and people judged the book by it's cover (TX plates on a RAM). I would expect that some of those same stereo types would play in Australia.
• Long wheelbase is both a blessing and a curse... blessing when on the road. A nightmare off road (ramp over).

Putting these points into context as a 3 x defender owner. All the bad points about Land Rover ownership get amplified by Dodge. Taking into account that this is using ownership in their home markets not a backwater like Australia (market wise). The dealers network was always happy to help, but you had to fight to get basic warranty work done when parts fell off "you drove it wrong".. the worse of all is a number of plastic parts fell down onto the exhaust and it was lucky to not cause a fire. These of course are all my fault and the factory was perfect.

I can't comment on what the current models are like, but my experience of Dodge as a manufacturer leaves much to be desired. It is possible for a vendor to improve or get worse, but I would be highly skeptical of paying any money to Dodge. Perhaps you can convince them to give you the car on a 5 year long term test drive (free)? That might be the best way to own a Dodge.

I've recently been spending some time in an Iveco Daily 4x4 dual cab. That might be a good alternative to the Dodge?

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Originally Posted by Phideaux

I have a nephew in BC who drives one. He could never explain why - the tray was (almost) always empty.
Build quality is the issue. There's a youtube comparing it to an equally monstrous 'truck' where they put the Dodge's rear wheel on something other than level concrete. It was almost impossible to get the tray open; once it was open, chassis distortion meant it couldn't be closed. Not my idea of robust.
Shape is contemptuously non-aerodynamic, which costs in fuel.

PS - youtube is a good source of 'car reviews'.
Lots of fun stuff where the Land Rover walked up or down and the other brands spun wheels and took six attempts to get there. Where the Land Rover 'loses' it's usually operator error or tyre pressure.

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I never had anything in the tray.. and i literally mean never... well actually people used to leave litter in the tray for me to put in the bin.. suppose that is better than leaving it on the street to clog up the drains.

I didn't witness any chassis distortion on the 3500 but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Build quality was a major problem.

Have you actually driven one ? Make sure your test drive includes cambered roads. They cannot get the alignment right for right hand drive after the conversion, and most will go left hard. I believe the importers are also limited to one low end model . They tart them up, but don't bring the top end models with all the fruit. You would need to get online and look at what you are missing out on to what is available in the states. We have them all through our shop. ( for wheel alignments ) The Chevy and GMC Dinali are my pick. Drive them all. Take your time. If you are seriously jumping over they are all a lot of $$'s. Make the dealer work for his money.

I have always tried to live my life by using a certain rule, that rule being "If you have trouble trying to say something nice about something or someone, then don't say anything at all".
BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF.
Now I know this story I am about to tell you has very little to do with the original thread posting but please humor me anyway.
Some years ago I was lucky to be part of a covert expedition to audit the Southern coastline from Eucla to Twilight Cove and further west to Esperance if time permitted.
Anyway we had quite a number of different vehicle from the Toyota Cruisers, Nissan Patrols, one Landrover Disco and, and, and a Hummer to evaluate for suitable use for the SES, Police (state),Police (federal) oh and customs.
Now the Hummer at this point in time was the "ultimate" and everyone when you were in a conversation about 4 X 4's lauded praise supreme upon the big beast, similar to what they do with the F250 and the Dodge Ram nowadays.
I'd better get back to the evaluation of the "BEAST" (Hummer).
There was two areas where it let us down one was the width of the Beast, being as it sat a full tyre width outside the existing bush tracks it was very vulnerable to staking the side walls of the big $800 a throw tyres.
The other problem was when I was showing how to drive the Beast along the waters edge in order to be able to cover ground at a much quicker pace than driving at a slower speed in the soft sand through the sand dunes.
Once I had completed the Demo the Beast turned its high beams on and did not want to shut them off no matter what we did, it turned out that the sealed compartment under the dash that housed the electrics was water proof but not condensation proofed so we just had to suck it up and leave the Beast to it's own. Fortunately we were still able to drive it.
Another thing about the Beast was that on the highway it was totally in every sense uncomfortable. I was glad to get out and ride in (and I never thought I'd say this) a Nissan or a Toyota.
And now for the last but most important point of all, the Toyota's and the Nissan's traversed the distance along the sandy Telegraph Line track for most of the way, But the Beast went along the coast through (and I do mean through) moderately high sand ridges and steep gullies between each dune and then into and across creek any river crossings whenever one was needed to be conquered and also into the sea water where she could make up a bit of time.
Now you are wondering, "SO WHAT"? Well did I mention the Little old Disco that was with us, oh, of course I did.
Well it followed right up the rear end of the Beast everywhere it went and it never stopped for a breath of fresh air at all, nor did it stake a tyre or even blink it's headlights once.
Now I had a Disco myself a little bit older than this one I am referring to which was a T/C Diesel, I was convinced that the driver would end up breaking it's back, but no, it just shrugged it all off and was happy to cruise 800Klms home without any problems.

So now do you still want to get that Dodge Ram????????????????????????
Unfortunately we all get tied up in the hipe about something new that comes along and because a mate swears by it whatever it might be, we reckon it must be ok as well.

Regards:-
Patrick M.

I just think it is funny people saying the width will kill them in the bush, Wish they would check the specs before making the comments. A Nissan Patrol is 1995mm wide excluding mirrors and the Ram 2500 is 2009mm wide. 14mm wider than the patrol.

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Originally Posted by Slider65

I just think it is funny people saying the width will kill them in the bush, Wish they would check the specs before making the comments. A Nissan Patrol is 1995mm wide excluding mirrors and the Ram 2500 is 2009mm wide. 14mm wider than the patrol.

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The RAM is not only wider than a Nissan Patrol it also has a longer wheelbase which converts to a wider turning circle which is not a good thing on the many scrubby bush tracks that have been usually used by trucks with a better turning circle and are slimmer than the RAM.
Bush pin stripes are inevitable [bigwhistle]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slider65

I just think it is funny people saying the width will kill them in the bush, Wish they would check the specs before making the comments. A Nissan Patrol is 1995mm wide excluding mirrors and the Ram 2500 is 2009mm wide. 14mm wider than the patrol.

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It is not necessarily the vehicle width that is the issue but the difference in vehicle track that is the big difference on single lane bush tracks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patrick M

I have always tried to live my life by using a certain rule, that rule being "If you have trouble trying to say something nice about something or someone, then don't say anything at all".
BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CAN'T HELP MYSELF.
Now I know this story I am about to tell you has very little to do with the original thread posting but please humor me anyway.
Some years ago I was lucky to be part of a covert expedition to audit the Southern coastline from Eucla to Twilight Cove and further west to Esperance if time permitted.
Anyway we had quite a number of different vehicle from the Toyota Cruisers, Nissan Patrols, one Landrover Disco and, and, and a Hummer to evaluate for suitable use for the SES, Police (state),Police (federal) oh and customs.
Now the Hummer at this point in time was the "ultimate" and everyone when you were in a conversation about 4 X 4's lauded praise supreme upon the big beast, similar to what they do with the F250 and the Dodge Ram nowadays.
I'd better get back to the evaluation of the "BEAST" (Hummer).
There was two areas where it let us down one was the width of the Beast, being as it sat a full tyre width outside the existing bush tracks it was very vulnerable to staking the side walls of the big $800 a throw tyres.
The other problem was when I was showing how to drive the Beast along the waters edge in order to be able to cover ground at a much quicker pace than driving at a slower speed in the soft sand through the sand dunes.
Once I had completed the Demo the Beast turned its high beams on and did not want to shut them off no matter what we did, it turned out that the sealed compartment under the dash that housed the electrics was water proof but not condensation proofed so we just had to suck it up and leave the Beast to it's own. Fortunately we were still able to drive it.
Another thing about the Beast was that on the highway it was totally in every sense uncomfortable. I was glad to get out and ride in (and I never thought I'd say this) a Nissan or a Toyota.
And now for the last but most important point of all, the Toyota's and the Nissan's traversed the distance along the sandy Telegraph Line track for most of the way, But the Beast went along the coast through (and I do mean through) moderately high sand ridges and steep gullies between each dune and then into and across creek any river crossings whenever one was needed to be conquered and also into the sea water where she could make up a bit of time.
Now you are wondering, "SO WHAT"? Well did I mention the Little old Disco that was with us, oh, of course I did.
Well it followed right up the rear end of the Beast everywhere it went and it never stopped for a breath of fresh air at all, nor did it stake a tyre or even blink it's headlights once.
Now I had a Disco myself a little bit older than this one I am referring to which was a T/C Diesel, I was convinced that the driver would end up breaking it's back, but no, it just shrugged it all off and was happy to cruise 800Klms home without any problems.

So now do you still want to get that Dodge Ram????????????????????????
Unfortunately we all get tied up in the hipe about something new that comes along and because a mate swears by it whatever it might be, we reckon it must be ok as well.

Regards:-
Patrick M.

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The H1 I'd buy (the HumVee). That's the big one that closely resembles the US Military one. The models that followed, (H2 and H3 are rubbish).

I haven't driven a Dodge Ram, but I have driven several F350's and found them to ride extremely well and I would imagine the Ram to be very similar.
The ones I drove were ambulances, so I got to do plenty of "quick" runs in them and when it comes time to turn or stop quickly, well this is when you
realise you are driving a Battleship. For their given size and engine capacity they were also pretty reasonable on juice too.
I am not sure about mechanical issues, as most of the vehicles we had stayed very low mileage as most people preferred to drive the Mercedes
Sprinters or Volkswagen Transporters for general manoeuvrability and ease of driving, parking, etc.
I imagine either would make a great "tug" for towing your house around the countryside.

Cheers, Mick.