This is my first post. I’ve been reading through the forum for quite some time, however.

A few days ago my wife and I test drove a new (50 kilometers) ‘03 2500 QC automatic 4x4 with Laramie package. I’m 6’6” tall (mostly legs) and my wife is 5’4”, so one nice feature on any vehicle would be memory seats. Unfortunately, this is not available on Ram trucks (at least, that’s what the salesman said).

Our present vehicle is a 1992 Honda Accord with unbelieveable leg room and it has been an extremely reliable and trouble-free car, but it is nearing the end of its life, so we’re considering the truck as our only vehicle. We have a coal stove and would use the truck to haul coal as well as do all the other stuff one can do with a 4x4 truck. We’ve never owned a truck, but I drove many standard cab trucks for 16 years when I worked at various power generating stations. I was barely able to drive these vehicles because of their cramped quarters. This new Dodge, however, was THE most comfortable vehicle I’ve ever driven. I like being able to get into a vehicle without first getting into the fetal postion, and there is more than adequate head and leg room for me - a big vehicle for a big person - very nice. GM’s trucks have slightly more room, but the seats are not as comofortable, IMO, and the attaction of the new, quiet CTD is overwhelming. The adjustable pedals will be great for my wife.

The truck drove like a dream, and the diesel didn’t make anywhere near the amount of noise we thought it would. It had tremendous power and handled very well on city streets. To make a long story short, we BOTH loved the truck, but, before we buy anything, I thought I’d ask a few here questions:

1. How does one wash the upper part and roof of the cab? I’m tall, but not tall enough to see or reach the top of the cab.

2. The salesman says that the truck we looked at was relatively low-priced because the paint had been incorrectly applied at the factory and had been re-painted before it left the factory. The paint warranty is even longer than a regular new vehicle. Anybody ever heard of anything like this? Believeable?

3. This truck had the 305 HP engine. Any real advantage to buying ‘04 rather than ‘03 other than the 20 additional HP? Is the ‘04 quieter?

4. How does the reliability of this truck compare to a Honda or Toyota car?

5. How does a 4x4 truck’s handling (in 4wd) on snowy, maybe even slick roads compare to a fwd car? Can you drive safely as fast as the car?

6. Whare/how do you park at the mall? I figure we’ll be doing alot more walking from our parking space to the store entrance.

Thanks very much for this opportunity. I would appreciate any additonal advice you may have, too.

 

1 I stand in the bed to wash the roof

2 I believe it

3 I'm quite happy with my reliable 03(no reflashes needed, no hesitation)

4 don't really know from expirience, but how many honda or toyotas have you heard of with 400,000, 500,000, 750,000 even 1,000,000 miles???

5 I'd say safer, faster.

6 get used to dropping the little lady at the door and walking in by yourself. Unless the parking lot is empty, you're not parking close. (I have a quad cab long bed)

 

Herve:
I'll give answering your questions a try. Bear in mind that this is my opinion and should be taken as such...

1. I'm 6'3", I usually stand in the bed to wash the roof of the truck. That gets most of it. The rest I can reach by standing on the front tire. I'm thinking of getting one of the long handled wash brushes to make it easier.

2. Never heard of it. Get it in writing!!!

3. Supposedly, the 04.5 is quieter, but I don't know. I've driven the 04 and as far as I know, the 04 and 03 are the same. noise wise. I believe that in 04 they went to the 48RE transmission over the 47RE transmission. Don't know if that's better or not.

4. Well, you're comparing apples and oranges....but, the truck should be good for a couple hundred thousand miles, as will most Honda's. But, it won't get nearly as good mileage.

5. Again, apples and oranges. The trucks weight and height make it handle completely different than a front wheel drive car. I personally prefer a rear wheel drive in those situations though. Much more fun. Also, you said a 4x4, so that will help in ice and snow. Like anything, take your time and get used to the new vehicle.

6. I always park far away. I figure that those that need to, can park close, and suffer the dings. I'll stick with parking in BFE.

Overall, I'd say go with what is going to work best for you. If you're going to be towing and hauling, then I'd say go for the truck. Otherwise, ou might be better off with something else.
Basically, the old saying, "if you have to ask....."

 

As far as the paint goes there was a group of trucks that got sent out that had bad paint. They were recalled I think fixed and added extended paint warranty on them. I have no problem parking my truck any where I can park my 4-runner. Hope this helps. Tom

 

Thanks guys!
Yeah, I never thought about standing in the bed. I'll bet if I actually started to wash it that I would think of it! This makes things much simpler, indeed.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada's winter started mid-October last year and will not leave us until late April, so good winter handling is very important to us. I much prefer a rwd car over a fwd (even in winter), but at work I found a 2wd-only truck without several hudred lbs of payload over the rear axle very dangerous. I live in a city which has decided NOT to plow residential streets - only the main arteries get plowed. Therefore, I would not get a truck that was not 4wd.

I would really rather NOT have ABS, but it looks like another one of those "like it or lump it" situations. Pounding the brake down on an icy road in order to GAIN control is counter-intuitive to me, but I guess I'd rather do that than have the rear wheels lock up when "feathering" or pumping the brake. (Speaking of brakes, the brakes on that truck were SUPERB!)

I'm really leery about this "re-paint" situation. I don't care if it's got a fifty year warranty - if the truck is our only vehicle, I don't want to be bringing the truck to a body shop every other month with some new problem with the paint, even though it doesn't cost us a cent. It would simply be too inconvenient and would sour my attitude toward the vehicle. While I'm on the subject, how's the quality of paint on newer Dodge trucks?

My wife and I still talk frequently about how much we enjoyed that ride!

 

The paint thing is for real... as had been said before some trucks early/mid 03 had bad paint and were held before they made it to the customers.
as far as how the new paint is, thin comes to mind. I made the silly mistake of wiping up a fuel spill on a mildly dirty truck. now the paint is scratched

 

Mine is my 1st truck, the family thinks it's great, and the last time I enjoyed driving as much was with my my last motorcycle, but I would prefer not to abuse it as an only vehicle. As I recall the engine weighs over 900 lbs, and I need about 10 miles or 10 to 15 minutes to get warmed up, so a lot of short trips will be hard on it. If you live somewhere where you can usually get it warmed up when doing errands and such it'll be great, otherwise I would expect noticeably shorter engine life. If we're going out and expect a lot of stops around town I usually prefer to take one of the cars.

Although it's a bit of an apples and oranges thing, a neighbor has an '86 F250 with a six liter or so gas engine, which needs to be rebuilt or replaced with only a bit over 100k miles. He uses it to drive to work, which is only about 3 miles away. I'm shooting for 500k miles with my Cummins.

 

What color is the truck you are looking at? I am thinking that it might be a good thing to have it repainted at the factory......it might not be as thin as it normally is and would probably last longer...plus a warranty. My 2002 is Patriot Blue and chips and/or scratches from looking at it. It doesn't peel like they used to in the '90s, but it is extremely flimsy to the point that the dealership gave me a free bottle of touch up paint when I picked up the truck saying "Your gonna need this".

 

1sttruck, I had the same feeling when I drove the truck - really a very enjoyable, exciting experience. Even my wife, who is NOT easily impressed (an understatement) with any vehicle, had a smile on her face for the whole drive, and, afterward, rambled on about how much she had enjoyed the ride. Her only complaint was that she found the step up into the truck to be too high, so a running board of some type would be necessary. (I LIKE stepping sideways into a vehicle rather than scooting "down into" it.)

I appreciate what you say about short trips. The trip for coal is over an hour each way, and trips to our local malls are at least 15 min. With city traffic, what should be 15 can turn into 30. Other than that, we'll be taking our usual trips to the mountains (3 hours each way), and trips to visit bro in Calgary (2.5 hours each way).

While I'm on the subject, how much fuel is consumed at idle? I understand that when idling these new ECM's will lower the fuel flow to the point to just keep the engine running.

Weatherbyman, the paint color was called "Graphite Metallic", I think, and the interior was either likewise or black. To this point I had not considered that the "re-paint" may actually be a GOOD thing. If the paint were thicker (before the point of cracking, of course), maybe this would lead to a longer-lasting finish. If a dealer had handed me a bottle of touch-up paint and told me I was going to need it, I would have been shaken to the core! I'd love to hear additional comments from others about how their paint has held up - particularly from folks in the northeastern states. (I grew up in Maine - because of road conditions during the winter, typical vehicle life in the '60's and early '70's was UNDER 4 years.)

By the way, the salesman claims that the interior of the vehicle is leather, but I noticed that it is only the so-called "seating surfaces" that are leather. The sides of the seat (I didn't notice if the back of the back of the seat was leather) are a fairly weak-looking cloth. Is this normal for a "leather-equipped" RAM? I've seen pics on eBay, etc. of RAM seats fully covered with leather. Maybe this is some kind of "intermediate" leather trim. Anyway, I'd like seats with leather all over them.

 

Herve, Don't forget to get the adjustable pedals the little woman will love them, mine does she's about 8" shorter. As far as the paint goes when I bought my '94 they said it was damaged on a tranport and repaired, it has to be a disclosure thing in case you do a carfax report. Never had any problem with my paint but a freind who also had a '94 his paint peeled off the bed but his was gold and mine was red. Good luck!

 

Herve:

I can respond to three or four of your questions. I have basically the same truck that you test drove.

Washing the top is a problem. I take it to a car wash with ladders on the side.

I have driven Toyota cars and trucks for 30 years, and they are extremely reliable. The Dodge Ram Diesel has been just as reliable to this point. 15,000 miles and no problems whatsoever.

The truck has been great in snow and ice. I drove over the passes last week on a trip to Denver and back, and the truck was great. At one point, coming through the Eisenhower tunnel and then down I-70 to Denver, I hit glaze ice and saw cars, trucks, and 18-wheelers losing it. With my truck's braking system and four-wheel drive, I avoided catastrophe. Was very pleased with how it handled.

Parking is somewhat of a problem, especially after getting used to my last two Toyota pickups. There are a few parking spaces that have just been too small, forcing me to look elsewhere. The inconvenience however, has been minor.

Love the truck. Would recommend it to anybody and everybody.

 

cumminnotstrokn, I agree, the adjustable pedals are a must. I also have huge feet (16's), and I'll put the pedals all the way down for city driving and all the way UP for highway. That way I can take off my shoes and put my feet UNDER the pedals for a really comfortable ride. My wife will probably have them all the way up for all of the time.

Gary, thanks for that snowy highway info. Trying to logically figure out whether this vehicle would be good in snow is hopeless. The factors of weight, tires, 4wd, wheel base, suspension, etc. make it impossible. Better to simply ask those who have the vehicle.

Hearing that you have had no problems in 15k is very reassuring. That's the kind of vehicle I want to own.

While I have your attention - how's your paint holding up?

Thanks again, all.

 

I start washing the top front and windshield standing on the door sill and holding onto the post handle that is on both sides. then goto the bed to get the rest of the top.

I have driven in lots of snow and I like the way mine handles.

I have more than 40K miles and only lost the alternator bracket, replaced under warranty.

 

Herve:

Paint has been another plus. Through rain, snow, slush, and then wash, wash, wash, it's held up perfectly.

 

Herve,

The colors that you have to worry about are the dark ones......my Patriot Blue got chipped due to the gravel they put on the roads in Montana in the winter.....I am also on my third windshield for the same reason....all I can say is our Jeep's paint job is sturdier and not as prone to chipping/scratching. I would recommend a bug/rock shield......which I will be buying for mine and tossing some sand in the rear end for winter driving. The 4X4 works GREAT.....the weight of the front end really makes up for the lack of it in the rear when in 4X4, but in 2WD, the thing is extremely froggy in the wet/snow.

If the truck matched what I was looking for with the warranty on the paint that you mentioned, I would ****** it up in an instant.....especially the Graphite Metallic.....that is a sweet color!

Durability: I have 26,000 miles on my 2002 and have not had a warranty claim.....the only repairs have been two windshields.