Bought this truck because of looks, price, ride, & tow rating (7,600 lbs)...Have the 5.2L (318)V-8 which has surprisingly good power for a smaller V-8 (230 HP) - I like this truck alot, it rides very nice, has extraordinary interior room (even for a std. cab), is quite peppy, and is by far waaaay cooler looking than any ford or gm I have had.

Terrible Enging ping, so-so gas mileage, (to be expected from a HEAVY 4x4) moldy smell from ducts when switching from heat, or vent, to AC, or vice-versa.

Purchased with 14,000 miles on it. Nice truck, built heavy. Owned a Chevy that had pencil thin tie rods & ate up brakes, pitman arms, alternators & idler arms constantly. It was like a car underneath. Not so with the Dodge, this baby is heavy duty underneath. Awesome brakes, good old-fashioned straight axle under the front end, TIGHT turning radius, well thought out interior, & ample power. Only gripe so far is the engine ping - I was using 89+ octane, which helped alot, but at $2.02/gal. I decided to try 87 again. big mistake, pings terribly now. This evidently has been a problem for thousands of Ram owners over the last several years...DC should have this as priority 1 in their truck division, and retro-fix for owners that have complained during their warrenties.

I haven't had any tranny problems YET, but I'm only at 26,000 miles, I tow 6,000 lbs here & there, now & then, so I guess if it's weak, I'll find out soon (if it's gonna snap, I hope it does so b4 my warrenty expires)

Overall, it's a good truck - I'd buy another IF I were sure the ping & potential tranny issues were resolved, else get the V-10, or Diesel

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Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado - Ford looks like a playskool toy inside, tiny gauge pod, can't get comfortable in seat, Chevy, well need I say more....

The V8 5.9L Magnum 360 is an awesome engine. It hauls without flinching, and is much quieter than the Diesel version. The cab is very roomy, and the controls (A/C, Stereo, etc.) are placed in easy to reach places. It also has a nice stock sound system for truck. The seat sits high and comfortable (a must on long trips). The body is very durable as well. I side swiped a steel pole, and it only dented it a little, which was easy to pop back out. Durability is another must in truck. Anyone who works in their truck will agree with me.

Very few thus far. I've got 12,000-miles on my truck, and I've had no problems with the engine/tranny. One strange thing did happen though... the windshield began slowly cracking starting at the edge, and has continued to get larger. I was told that this happens sometimes (oddly enough) but that it is covered by warranty.

This is a great truck, and I got $5,000.00 off MSRP, and it came fully loaded. Great buy.

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None

Very comfortable 40/20/40 seat combo for a big 250lb guy like me. Great head room, visibility. Extremely smooth ride for the year it came out although some newer models of Fords and Chevy's are offering comparable rides now.
I love the reliability of the good ole 318 Dodge engine, they have used this motor for nearly 30 years and I've had them in several different vehicles. It just runs well, not the most powerful, highest torque or what have you, just great reliability, moderate gas mileage.
Great for long trips, drove it from Houston to Las Vegas and back a couple months after I got it, enjoyed that trip alot.

Don't care for the location of the cup holder over the top of radio, a fast enough turn and a entire large soda can easily tip over because of a lack of support on side of cup holders. At least it will hold the large sodas though.
I had heard that transmissions on this vehicle were a weak point and there may be truth to that. I replaced the transmission about 2 months ago at 107,000 miles, it began going out and finally burned out over the last 20 miles of a 300 mile round trip. Couldn't find a rebuilt transmission, new replacement cost nearly $3,000 (2,400 was parts). Good warranty on new transmission though.

I bought it new "still on the truck" as I kept looking when these models rolled out for the SWB, they were not staying on the log very long at the time. I love the Silver (Dodge calls it something strange like "Bentwood-----, can't remember). The paint job has held up extrodinarily well in this South East Texas Heat, with the help of keeping in the garage as much as I can.
The catalytic converters burn out on these things often, I've replaced it once and it needs it again, not particularly expensive.
Engine has performed flawlessly, just tune-up, one coil wire replaced, regular oil changes, I use Slick-50 too.
Have done the brakes all the way around about 80,000 miles, had to replace the cylinders in back.
Overall very happy with this truck, when my son gets a little older planning on making the last hurrah a trip up the Alaska Hiway in a year or two.

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1986 Ford Pickup - no real comparison, Ford had slowest 6 cylinder engine I've ever experienced. Kept it only 4 months.

Great styling, great interior, great service at the dealership. Great in deep snow! Rear end gets a little squirrley in slippery turns, but that is to be expected.

With 24,000mi, I have had no problems so far! Last oil change I noticed that the 3rd brake light had 2 bad bulbs, which got replaced under warrantee. It does ping under part-throttle, but I think I will switch to a higher octane gas to fix it.
My only gripe is that I don't like the bed so high up. It makes loading/unloading more difficult.

I am pleased with my purchase. Bought it new. It was way too quiet, so I put a Rhino dual exhaust kit on it the second day I had it, now it sounds as good as it looks. Never had problems yet, no paint chips, no tranny trouble. They made the jack *just* high enough to change a tire, kinda frustrating. Overall I love it, sometimes I wish I had the extended cab though, but I like the reg cab for parking.

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Never owned a truck before.

Looks,sounds great with dual straight pipes,rides decent,cold air when it works

air cond.switches to defrost by itself,probably a vaccum problem,gas mileage

Good so far,all the stuff here about the transmissions has me a little worried...it has 141,000 miles on it and still looks great,my paint is holding up well,but the tires do wear rather quickly

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74 chevy-you cant beat that one

gas milage(20 mpg city 24mpg hwy) pulling power,4000lbs payload, looks,ride
great snowplow truck,good paint

fuel guage.windshield,brake pads,front end,heater(any temp under 10f.takes to long to warm up)

this is a real truck it can pack a load and plow alot snow.I drove the ALCAN hwy. with 2500lbs load towing 3000lbs trailer with noproblem(did it in 23hr)I have 95000 miles the motor just brokein at 70000 miles (power went up and gas milage up to 25mpg from 23mpg

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19883/4 ton chev,1993 ram cumminins,the chev could not handle the load(3200 ibs motor without tranie slipping)93"dodge handle all loads big and small but got 15mpg city 17mpg hwy,lots of wind and rode noise

I like the way the truck looks, the ground clearance, the horsepower and torque(pulled a tree out of the ground), runs through the snow better than my snowmobile, quad cab is great, cab is big, very very minimal road noise, no mechanical problems. The 360 has been around for years and Dodge is still making it so it has to be a good engine. You can fit 32x11.5's on it stock-that is a truck.

I do not have a weakness that i could list.

This truck is great. I bought it because it was the least expensive in its class and this truck was my first choice. I saw it on the lot and the white Dodge Ram Sport looked really cool. The 360 cubic inch V-8 hauls a** and I have never had a problem passing anything but the gas station. What do you expect though the truck weighs about 7,000 pounds and it spins the four wheel drive axles 24-7(because they are not manual locking hubs). I change the oil every 3,000 miles, I grease it then too, and that is all i have ever had to do. I am 18 and i will admit that the truck has been off-road probably 20 percent of its life. I hammer on it a lot and it still runs like a champ.

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Chevy Z-71's-no torque, no ground clearance, 4 wheel drive sucks, and that is about all i have to say about fa*s that drive those CARS.

CUMMINS CUMMINS CUMMINS!!! This is the only engine you can buy in a pickup truck that was designed from the outset as a Medium-Duty truck diesel engine (this same engine sees duty in medium-duty Freightliners, Kenworths, schoolbuses, etc.). Inline 6 cylinder design increases reliability by reducing the number of moving parts by 40%. The Powerstroke engine started life as a gasoline engine while the Duramax is a little too complicated for my tastes.

The resale value of this truck is unbelievable.

It aint cheap. Dodge dealers will not budge on the price of this truck. Ford was willing to give me a $6,000.00 discount on the price of a powerstroke truck, the Duramax Chevies had not come out yet when I was looking. I paid full price for my truck.
The engine is pretty loud. I kind-of like it, but my neighbors think it too loud. That's OK though since I hate my neighbors.

WOW!!!! This truck will pull a house off its foundation. Have had some minor problems with front pad wear and squealing brakes as well as fast front tire wear (to be expected when you're running a 1200Lb. engine). I haven't had any problems with peeling paint (seems to be and earlier Ram phenomenon).

I bought this truck as a work truck. No 4X4 and rubber mats on the floor. The truck has done everything I've asked of it flawlessly. The 5-speed is rock-solid and shifts precisely, even after 100,000 miles. 24 MPG 0n the highway is normal and 18-19MPG with an 8000 pound trailer is not unheard-of. It regularly pulls an 8,000Lb trailer in the NC mountains with no noticeable degradadion of performance at higher altitudes. Overall I am very pleased and will definitely buy another one if they continue to offer the Cummins option after 2002.

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Ford F150 4X2 w/ 302 engine. EXCELLENT TRUCK. Just costs too much for fuel nowadays. I had that truck for 6 years with no problems.
Ford F350 Powerstroke. Good, good-looking truck. Just worried about that engine.
Chevrolet 3500 turbodiesel (older type). I heard way too many horror stories about that engine.

Low end power, Best looking truck on the road

Dodge service centers

So far this has been an excellent truck. I couldn't be happier with how it handles on and off road. The Chevy was fine on the road but it would have needed a lift kit and a gear change to even come close to keeping up with the Dodge. Finally an off road package that's more than just decals and skid plates! I don't even have to mention how much better the Dodge looks than the Chevy. What sold me on the truck was when the salesman parked the Dodge next to my Chevy. Made the Chevy look like the POS that it was. I've only had a couple of small problems that were covered under warranty. My only complaint is with the Dodge service centers (using the word service lightly). After taking the truck to three different Dodge dealers and getting worse service than at the DMV, I now take it to a GMC truck dealer that also sells Jeeps. Since they sell Jeeps they're certified to do warranty work on Dodge as well. Best service from a dealer I've ever received.
Gas mileage is bad but you can't have everything. I max out at 13 mpg on the highway and about 10 mpg around town. If I was looking for good gas mileage I would have bought a "TOY"ota.

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98 chevy ck 1500 4x4 Z71

POWER! Fuel economy, Cummins not Dodge.

First let me start by saying I love my truck it has done everything I have ever ask from it and done it well. I have had it from new so let me lay it on the line. First week I owned it my electrical system was acting up, the gauges would bounce all over the place, it turns out that the two frame rails were not properly grounded, easy fix for me not so easy for Dodge 6 trips in no fixy. I couldn’t keep the right rear wheel seal from leaking. I am now on my 3 steering coupler. Year 3 transmission went out 3 gear just disappeared. Year 3.5 my front injection pump seal started leaking. Year 4.5 the front inner timing cover bolt back out and dropped between the cam gear and crank gear snapping off the cam gear pistons said hello to the valves. Got a used engine check the same bolts they were loose ask local friends it is a common problem. If you own 88-93 5.9 Cummins spend the few dollars and have them checked. Year 9 I am just finishing replacing the rear diff, it turns out to be another problem though out these years just try to find one. Dodge has now started to install 80 series instead off 70 series because the tubes bent and took out the diff carrier bearings and usually destroyed the housing. As you can see I have had some dealings with Dodge warranty people, I have never had a good one. If a Dodge rep ever read this fix your customer relations it sucks, learn from the Japanese they do it right.

Ok, but read the Weaknesses!

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Nothing can compare, 400+ lbs Torque