Don't get me started on Dodge products. There is a reason they needed to be bailed out.

I bought a 1999 Ram 1500 new, and had it until I payed it off in 2004. You want to talk about a complete falling apart piece of junk, this thing was the truck from he11. Here is a rundown of all the problems I had under warranty:

- Right front brake caliper failed, keeping pads engaged in as though the brake was applied. Managed to get vehicle to a parking lot, and towed to shop. This was at about 15000 miles.

- Dash began cracking at about 25000 miles. Told the service manager at the dealership about the cracking, and that I would like to have it repaired with a replacement dash. Answer: "We can't replace that because of the cleaning chemicals that you used on it." I guess soap and water are now harsh chemicals according to Chrysler. Continued with this until I finally sold the vehicle in 2004 with 65000 on the odometer.

- Plenum gasket failure at about 40000 miles. I would like to take this opportunity to tell Chrysler engineers that placing a sheet of steel on an aluminum manifold, using a gasket between them, and using bolts that bottom out in threaded holes BEFORE you have the gasket tightened is a bad design. Could this thing get any worse?

- Transmission failure at about 55000 miles. It did get worse. Thank you Mr. Murphy. And, according to many others that have owned Chrysler products of the era, all the automatics seem to have a programmed transmission detonation device that goes off at about 60000 miles, plus or minus 10000 miles. Chrysler was not happy when I delivered the truck on a gooseneck trailer pulled by an f350 PSD dually. As I said, "At least it can do the job without failure !!!"

After all of this, there is only one thing I will say: At least now I know why Dodge and avoid are synonyms, and should be used in the same sentence, especially with the newer ones.