I parked next to a new Ram 1500 with a big Longhorn badge. Sweet lookin truck even with the green color, it had adobe colored fender flares and two-tone trim along with the bumpers and running board the same adobe which I wish I had. Very sweet lookin truck. I believe the 5.7L Hemi is reliable, certanly a proven motor, ie: been out long. But, Dodge has always had tranny problems no? Never been a Dodge fan. Think they are reliable these days? What's the overall opinion of the Rams? Edmunds has them ranked quite high. Like equal with Ford.

 

I liked the Ram well enough to buy a 2012 Ram rather than an F-150. This is my third Ram and have had not transmission problems. Why did I buy the Ram? Equal quality, more choice in options and for me a better packaging of options, considerably less money with rebates, better deal from the Dodge dealer, longer warranty and I do like the Hemi a whole lot. It took me several months to make my decision. If I could have gotten the 6.2 liter motor in an XLT, my decision might have been to buy the F-150. IMO both a very good trucks.

 

The 5.7L motor has to be stout I would imagine. Quick truck? I had a 06" Dakota. I put dual Magnaflow. That was a quick truck IMO. Have to agree with you. Give me a 6.2 in an extened cab and I'm there. Asuming no plow duties. What are doing on the Ford forum?

 

you talking half-tons or 3/4+ tons? The Cummins is a great engine obviously. The rap has always been the truck around it. My dad actually had one before he bought his 2011 F350 with the 6.7. he liked the truck's capability, hated the interior. As far as half-tons go, I personally think that the 2005-2008 or so Dodges(not exact sure on the year range) are sweet looking. Those are the ones that have the 20 inch 5 spoke rims. Some of those rims are chrome clad caps though, so you gotta watch that. I know their interior in that year range though leaves a lot to be desired as far as amenities. Like for instance on Ford's high end models, leather is pretty much a given, you might even have a moon roof etc.etc. In Dodge's high end models most of them are still cloth interior, no moon roof so on. Now I suspect they have changed that now with their 2010+ models. But that year range that I was talking about earlier, that was certainly the case.

 

I have personally replaced the trans in an '06 Cummins powered Dodge in the last 6 months, then my buddy who owned the truck traded it in on a gas truck of the same year. After only 2-3 months of ownership, it started shutting off on the freeway- something electrical. He traded it in on a Super Duty. His wife has a Dakota that is having some electrical gremlins.
While I do like the looks of the newer Dodges, I certainly do not think they are of comparable quality to Ford... But they are definitely better than Chevies... Don't get em started...

 

I like new look of the new Rams (2009+) and the 5.7L Hemi's are stout for sure, though it is crippled by a poorly geared transmission.

Can't really speak for reliability...I have a friend who owns a 2007 Ram Hemi and with 60,000miles on his truck so far it hasn't had any dibilitating issues. I've driven his truck on occasion and thought it was alright (Didn't like it as much as my 2011 FX4 5.0L though ).

I have driven one 2010 model Ram and I will give it credit for being one of the smoothest riding trucks I've ever driven, most likely due to its coil sprung suspension.

Overall I think newer Rams are alot better than they were 20 years ago. When I was a kid my dad owned a 1986 Dodge Ram 1500 Regular cab long bed, though the truck was great looking (I love older trucks) it never ran right...And when it needed its third transmission by 1991 and with less than 50,000 miles on it my dad traded it off.

 

Unless they've changed, you can only get a 3.93 or 4.11 in posi/locking rear end on the Ram trucks. That's kinda a steep gear to run on highway all the time. Yeah, I know they got the four-cylinder cut off like the Chevy's, but I really don't think you're gonna see 20mpg out of them..The only way to see 20mpg is to go with the 3.11 (or whatever it is) Open rear end. Good luck pulling a boat out of water on a steep, slippery boat ramp with that rear end.

 

My friends Ram has cylinder shut off and 3.42 rear end and he only avarages about 16mpg highway.

 

People really need to be carefull buying newer trucks in 4x4. Alot of them are coming with Open rear ends, meaning only one rear wheel and one front wheel pushing/driving the truck in 4x4. Then they wonder why they get stuck!

"Four gear ratios were available: 3.21, 3.55, 3.92 and 4.10. Standard on all 2009 Dodge Ram rear axles were an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stability Program (ESP), which helped drivers maintain directional stability by applying selective braking and engine control to keep the vehicle on course"

Although they advertised and brochures had a posi 3.55 available, fact is Dodge never had it available. It was like a 3.21 3.42 Open rear end and then 3.92 and 4.10 in Positraction/elocker rears.

Salesmen try to tell you the ESP helps transfer power between the two rear wheels, which is does during loss of control, like in a skid. But fact is, only one rear wheel is under power, not like in a Posi traction or Elocker rear end. And, if you ever get caught in wet Caliche in South Texas you need both rear wheels pushing with one front wheel pulling..if that makes any sense..

And, a stock Ecoboot Ford Supercrew 4x4 will beat the snot out of a stock Dodge 1500 4x4 with Hemi any day of the week from a light!

 

I looked at them for a hot minute, I owned an '05 3/4 w/ Cummins diesel and it was great, but had a few failures before 45k miles. Power steering pump gave up the ghost, then the gear-pitman arm gave out a few thousand miles latter. Could never keep front tires on the truck because of the cheap ball-joint front end that was rebuilt twice under warranty. My '05 was plagued with the known 70 mph driveline vibration that was never truly fixed.

That said I looked at the '11 Ram and liked the look of the body, but thought the quad cab config looked goofy compaied to Fords SuperCab (I need a full sized box) so the crew cab didn't work. Anyway I hated the coil rear end as I use my truck for payload. I also though the 5.0l pulled harder than the Hemi.

 

I think I can give you some valuable input on this topic due to the fact I've had 6 Rams in a row as follows:

1993 D350 Dually with the cummins..... Great Truck

1994 1500 with the 318..... Piece of junk. Chrysler bought it back under the Florida lemon law due to 6 transmissions.

In late 96 Chrysler sent me a letter offering me $6000 off on top of all rebates if I would come back to Dodge. It claimed all the transmission issues were resolved.
So I went and bought a 1997 2500 with the V-10.... Great truck!

1999 1500 with the 360. Great truck. It had 270,000 when I sold it.

2002 2500 with the 360. Another great truck.

2004 1500 with the 4.7.... Had minor A/C issues all fixed under warranty. Otherwise a great truck.

2006 1500 with the Hemi..... Very reliable truck.

Now one thing they all had in common was poor fuel mileage, in the 14 to 16 range.
I never had another transmission issue after the 1994 and I pulled a gooseneck trailer with all of them allot. I was way over GVW most of the time. They were true work horses.

I traded my 2006 Ram in on my 2011 EcoBoost for the mileage. With fuel near $4 a gallon I just got tired of having to fill up every three or four days...

Dodge makes a very capable truck as long as you don't mind lack luster fuel economy....Me personally, I am trying to keep more in my wallet these days.

Now that I've had my F-150 for about 6 months now I can tell you that I wont go back to Dodge anytime soon. This truck just feels better to me... It is quieter, rides better, and has awesome fuel economy.

 

The 5.7L Hemi is a great engine. However, in order to get reasonable fuel economy out of it, the transmission they used is geared relatively high, especially in first and second gear.

Ram 1500:
1st 3.00
2nd 1.67
3rd 1.50
4th 1.00
5th 0.75
6th 0.67

Ford F150:
1st 4.17:1
2nd 2.34:1
3rd 1.52:1
4th 1.14:1
5th 0.86:1
6th 0.69:1

In those first two gears, even with the optional 3.92 differential gears, a Ram 1500 is still geared a lot taller than an F150 with even the fuel-miser 3.31 diff's.

This is why we're seeing 5.0L F150's out accelerate 5.7L Ram 1500's. Despite being down on horsepower and torque, a 5.0L truck with 3.55's or 3.73's is geared so much lower it has a significant advantage off the line.
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="epaCity epa mpgRow sort ">
</td> <td class="epa mpgRow ">
</td> <td class="epaHwy epa mpgRow ">
</td></tr></tbody></table>It's also worth mentioning that, to get the 5.7L's full performance, Dodge/Ram recommends more expensive mid-grade fuel (89 octane), whereas Ford recommends regular grade (87 octane). Even with that, the 5.0L still beats the 5.7L in fuel economy.

Supposedly, the Ram 1500 is going to get an 8-spd transmission and Fiat Multiair in the near future. Both of these technologies should really help the Ram to see even greater potential. Until then though, I feel like the F150 is the better buy.

 

I can say as man who has followed the Edmunds long term test blog among the other blogs they keep up since 2008 that they know very little about trucks in general and their opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. Not to mention they won't touch a truck that has a bed longer than 6.5ft and no less than 4 door with every feature available so their truck reviews again are subject to questioning.

 

I figured I'd let this one cook a little before adding my useless two bits.

IMHO, there is nothing that GM or Chrysler does to impress me. I'd buy a Toyota or a Honda in a minute over either of these two offerings.

There was an article in my local paper a couple of weeks ago breaking down over all product quality for the 2011 MY based on reported manufacturers defects over a period of time. Chrysler as a company reported the highest number of defects of any of the car makers and found themselves on the bottom of the reliability ratings once again. Surprise, surprise. That's what happens when you build______________> You all fill in the blank.

Ford as a whole unit found themselves in the middle of the pack instead of on top, mainly due to SYNC and transmission issues in the Focus.

Yes, the Rams are gorgeous but that's where it stops for me.

 

Well I hope that Dodge has upped their quality as my last Dodge 2007 was junk compared to earlier Dodges I had, that's why I'm in a Ford. I started with Dodge Cummins in 1994, had about 7 trucks (work) they all ran like clocks till the 2007. This truck fit and finish was done on the cheap, it ran but just not the same as the others. My partner's truck was the same. Give me a Ford the "No Bail Out Company". Chris