Truck thoughts

[Fuzzbutt]

Thought I'd ask the group what you all might think. I currently own a '98 GMC Jimmy 4 door 4x4 with the little 4.3V6 in it. It's getting old and while it tows nice enough the room for 5 passengers is troublesome. I've got 2 son's and one is still in his car seat so both of our 5 passenger vehicles are really limited to 4 people.

I have a possible opportunity to purchase a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab with the Hemi. It is only a 2 wheel drive since it was a Florida truck before being brought up here. It has the shiny 20" factory wheels on it and I think the towing package is there too. It has the anti-slip diff so at least both rear tires spin unlink my Jimmy.

Anyone have a Ram 1500 of this vintage? Do you like it? Hows the towing and ramp experience?

I'm going to take a look at it in detail today and see if the owner will work with my on the price. He wants to get rid of it and I think I can get it for a great deal.

Thanks, Chris

[dorelse]

Well, speaking from experience when we looked at the exact same model...the Quad cab is really like a 1 3/4 door sized truck as opposed to a full 4-door truck.  There wasn't enough room for kids in the back (I'm 6'2") for me to sit with the seat where I needed it.  It was cramped back there...see...the problem is that kids grow!  So what fits ok today, won't fit in a few short years.

Which is why I picked up my Avalanche instead.  I'm not a huge Chevy guy...but this thing really has been the best 'jack of all trades' vehicle I've ever owned.  Plenty of towing, lots of leg room, decent ride, bed space.  Honestly...I love the truck.

There honestly wasn't much more room than my '98 Dodge Quad Cab (2nd Gen) vs the 3rd Gen...only the door configuration changed.

[Eric_Michael]

... I currently own a '98 GMC Jimmy 4 door 4x4 with the little 4.3V6 in it.  It's getting old...

Huh?  Our '98 Chevy Blazer is the newest vehicle in the fleet!   



It is a few months from rolling over 200k.  Drips a little oil out the rear seal, but nothing too bad.  I keep up on all the maintenance, and my wife drives the wheels off it commuting.

-Eric

[Tonka Jim]

My Silverado with anti-slip pulls boat great at the ramp.
I'm not aware of the cab size, but two co-workers have Hemi Pickups and complain about very poor fuel mileage.

[MarkS]

Anyone have a Ram 1500 of this vintage? Do you like it? Hows the towing and ramp experience?

My boating buddy has one Chris, he loves his.  Other than the normal maintenance, and 1 heater core, no troubles.  He gets about the same mileage as my 05 F-150 SuperCab 4.6L V8, around 17 MPG.  The limited slip rear is nice, especially on wet or slick ramps!  He pulls a Lone Star Mailibu behind it, can't even tell it's there.  ('course it's a "lummie", but still....)

[Jason]

I wouldn't worry about it being 2wd at the ramp. I pull with a RWD car and never have any slipping. Unless you need the 4WD for the snow in the winter save your money.

I have a 99 Ram 2500 extended cab. Can't really compare it to what you are looking at but I like it and it gets the job done of pulling cars, plowing, ect and has 165000 miles on it.

I have heard of the heater core problem on those too. Pretty common.

Why not look at an F150 SuperCrew. They have full size rear seats and doors.

[dorelse]

Why not look at an F150 SuperCrew. They have full size rear seats and doors.

I had the same thought...

[CVX Fever]

I've always considered the Dodge crew cab nothing more than a glorified extended cab. Which is probably why they eventually offered the "Mega" cab. But if it fits your space requirements then go for it. I've got 3 kids in car seats and they all fit quite nicely in the back of my GMC crew cab. Even room for the lab when I need it.

[Fuzzbutt]

Maybe it's just the "want something new" thing I don't know. Maybe it's cause I'm for all intents and purposes I'm 39 and would love to have a vehicle with more power.

My Jimmy has served us well. I have a 6 year old and a 21 month old and on those days we want to bring along a 5th adult passenger neither or Jimmy nor our Malibu will accommodate them.

My Jimmy gets driven maybe a tank a month around town. We would use it to tow the boat up to my parents cottage 160 miles north of here but it isn't big enough for all the kid stuff and I won't load up the boat (I usually borrow his Yukon to take up there). The mileage around town is in the 13 MPG range for the most part since so much is stop and go and short distance driving. It needs the A/C fixed to the tune of $700+ which makes it a warm/hot ride in the summer. Ya I can get it fixed. It might need another heater core in a few years. The front axle activating vacuum solenoid is a bit slow. Basically it is ready to start nickle and dimeing me.

My Brother has a 2005 F150 4x4 and a good friend of mine had a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 2 wheel that he just traded in for a F150 4x4 since towing in the winter was so white-knuckle. My brother's is the extended cab and my buddy's was an extended cab with the small rear doors and the F150 is nearly a full size 4 door.

I drove the Ram and sat in all the seats. I think it is really quite nice. Really very roomy and plenty of storage space. It rides a tad rough with the 20" wheels but still smoother than my Jimmy overall. I've never needed 4 wheel at the ramp but the winters here I use it a couple dozen times per season. The power is substantial. Much better than my brothers 2005 Ford F150 4x4 with the big Triton V8. The price is very nice which is why I was so interested in it. Basically with tax and plates I can get it for $12K. Since it's a Florida truck and was very well kept it looks brand new. The only thing I am concerned with right now is the $300 a month truck payment. The insurance isn't too bad at $411/6 mos. We'll see if my local bank is willing to float me another car loan. If not I'll just try and sell it for the guy trying to get rid of it.

Here are 35 pics I took of it this afternoon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38587107@N00/sets/72157627333582913/

My Carlson sure would look nice behind it.

[Rosscoe]

Of course another consideration is how you will use it. If its strickly for towing and hauling, thats one thing but if you must commute with it to, that makes the gas mileage a bigger consideration. I only use my beater truck (83 chev 4x4) for pulling and hauling lumber and would never commute (75 miles daily) in it. I too have heard the complaint of mileage with the dodges but I dont know for sure if that was with the Hemi or another V8. I have grown more fond of Avalanches over the last several years as they seem quite versatile. It would be nice if a guy could get by with a big six and you can as you have as has Brian, but if it were strickly a tow vehicle, for me, it would likely be a V8. I'm not much of a ford guy but to each his own. Mostly due to design and style. Just dont do it for me. A dodge would likely be my second pick.

[Fuzzbutt]

I guess it all depends if I can figure out a way to swing a $300 a month truck payment. I don't really have that much left over at the end of the month. Day care eats about $9000 a year and not much is left over for anything else. Passing up getting a $15500 truck for $11000 is really hard.

I drive a company owned vehicle for work 22,000 miles a year and will not be using the Ram to commute with so I don't have that to worry about. My wife is coming back with a response of do I really want to make a $300 payment for a vehicle I can use 6 days and some evenings every month? Plus while it is roomy would it be cost effective to take on long family trips? Such as driving to Disney next year? It costs $110 to drive about 550 miles making a round trip to disney costs $440.

Tough decision.

[Rosscoe]

Well she has a point but if your other vehicles will hold up for several years, it may be the way to go.
I'm actually going to look at a 6 banger for a tow vehicle when I can do that and my v8 rusty truck will either go away or I'll keep it around for the "heavy lifting" Gas is never going to go back to 2 bucks a gallon.

[GlennW]

We have flipped thru several vehicles over the past 8 years. I down sized my trucks and up sized my wifes vehicle. I went from a F450 Dually to a F350 Super duty to a F250 Super Duty then a F150, all 4 door crew cabs. The F150 felt like a ranger at first, now I have the new GMC Sierra 5.3 that I have had tuned to about 360 HP and can get 20-21 MPG's if I keep my foot out of it.
I managed to get 18 MPG's pulling a boat up to see Red in OKC.
I up sized for my wife, she had a few of the Jeep Grand Cherokees back to back, they pulled well but just didn't have the foot print for heavy towing so I up graded her to the new Tahoe 5.3 320 HP.
I don't have any experience with Dodge and have not heard any of my friends complain, we live in a truck world down here in Texas.

[djyox]

Well, I have an audi a6, and which of course doesn't have a hitch, nor is it recommend to put one on it. SO I was looking at picking up a cheap tow vehicle.

You guys might hate, but I really am thinking about picking up a soccer mom special package MINI VAN! Yeah, I said it.

Why the mini van? Well, sure an astro van with its AWD would be nice for some crappy launches, but most ramps I go to are nice, so the FWD V6 mini van should be more than enough. Need room? Well, got tons of it in the van. Sure I wont be picking up chicks in the thing, but I can take everything I need and more to the water, plus, if I pull out all the seats, I can convert it into a mini camper for the weekend.

Also, best part is I should be able to find one cheap for under $1k. Trying to find a truck or SUV for that price, and a lot of rusty old crap shows up. I was checking out craigslist for trucks, and saw a few that don't have reverse, Hard to launch a boat like that! So yeah, just call me Mr. Soccer mom!

[dorelse]

I pulled the boat with a minivan for years...don't drive like a maniac, baby the transmission and brakes...and you'll be fine.

[Jason]

My parents pull a 3500lb boat with a sienna and never have problems.