I have had my truck for three weeks now. It is a 2013 3500 Aisin.

They are real.

 

And so is Bigfoot!

Just kidding, hey- congrats on the new truck!! Tell us more about it! Seems like everyone wants to verify the mpgs got better, as advertised.

 

Probably not worth starting a new thread for this, but I wanted to make a couple comments about my experience today in a 2013 3500 ST regular cab dually.

This truck was nicely equipped for an ST. The regular cabs are pretty rare these days, too. The truck had:
Cummins
Aisin transmission
4.10 gears
Power and remote entry group
5th wheel package
Popular equipment group
Backup camera
Cloth seats with the folding center seat
And a few other added options.

1. Regular cab. There's more room back there than you'd think. I'm sold on getting the regular cab because the crew cab makes the truck way too long. I also don't have a wife or kids and rarely carry more than 1 passenger. Plus all that money you save not getting the crew cab will pay for a lot of tanks of gas for 2nd car if a working party had to join you at a job site. Back to space issue, you have about a foot of room or more (probably 15" or so behind the center seat) behind the driver seat, so that's plenty of space for tow and ratchet straps or other truck-related tools and equipment. There's plenty of room to recline also, and I'm a tall guy. I didn't feel trapped inside the cab at all. The all around visibility was top notch. Also, when the center seat is folded down into an armrest, there's a lot of access to that behind-the-seat storage area while sitting in the driver's seat. It looks really well thought out.

2. Ride quality. All I can say is that trucks have come a long way since '03 in terms of handling, noise, and overall ride comfort. For an unloaded dually, I was impressed with the way it rode. I didn't lose any fillings, despite a few miles over some rough roads.

3. The backup camera. This truck came with uconnect 3.0 (no fancy LCD screen on the radion face). So where does the backup camera display to? The rear view mirror. When you put it in reverse, the mirror effectively vanishes and you get this tiny little screen which can't be more than 3" across. That displays the backup picture. You can just make out where the trailer hitch would be. My eyesight is good so I could see the display just fine, but someone with vision problems is going to struggle with this low cost setup. My advice, if you want a backup camera, is to go with the uconnect 5.0 or even the 8.4 for the larger and easier to see screen. The convenience is definitely there, but it needs to be seen better. A larger, dash mounted LCD screen would accomplish that.

3. Aisin transmission. If you're into autos, I suppose this would be the creme de la creme of automatic transmissions. It can be yours for $2,650. As others have said, it shifts a little hard, but then again, this is a truck, not a BMW. It has a manual shift mode which I didn't particularly like because it seemed sluggish. There was an unusually long delay from pressing the + button until an up shift would occur. I tried it out for about 5 minutes and didnt like it at all. I concluded that you're better off with the manual transmission if you're picky about your gears.

4. 4.10 gears. Wow, this truck can get up and go. The fuel mileage must be terrible, though. 2000 rpm in 6th gear will earn you 70mph. Not sure about you guys, but 70 is about average for my area, so this truck wouldn't do too well for mileage. Then again, this truck is meant for someone who's trying to move almost 30,000 lbs so the fuel mileage discussion is null and void in that sense. My advice, unless you're in the mountains and you want the automatic, get the 3.42 or 3.73 gears but I wouldn't go any steeper than 3.73.

5. Side steps. Watch out for these pieces of junk. For the regular cab they did just fine, but I stood on the end of one from a crew cab long bed and it felt very underbuilt. I weight 165 lbs, so I was disappointed when I saw how much it gave way and ultimately exuded a big creaking noise as my weight shifted the fasteners which held it to the frame. Yeah, not impressed, and I wouldn't waste my money on the factory side steps.

6. Tip start with the Cummins. This is where you have the key in the ignition all you have to do is momentarily bump the start position and return the key to the on position. The starter motor will crank on its own until the engine starts. This is like a push button start feature for a truck. It was nice, and the Cummins started incredibly fast, faster than I've heard 2012 trucks start up. All it took was one or 2 cranks and the engine fired right up. Impressive. And boy is it quiet and smooth running. You can still hear the turbo spool up in the cab to provide audible assurance that there's a Cummins under the hood.

7. The ST trim level. I was pleasantly surprised at the interior, and my expectations were exceeded for this ST. I was expecting a lousy fleet truck with monotone colors on the inside. Nope. The door skins are nicely accented, the dash looks nice, and the seats had several different tones to them as well. I think I'd still go with an SLT, but that's mostly because of the other options I'd like. However, if the price is right, I wouldn't hesitate to drive an ST off the lot. I wasn't a fan of the black bumpers and grill, though. It looked too fleet-like for my taste. Finally, some have mentioned these ugly plastic headlight filler panels on the trucks they've seen. For whatever reason, this ST didn't have them. It instead had sheet metal in the same color as the body. I'm not sure why there would be a need for plastic filler panels there.

Other 2013 trucks they had:

Pretty much all else were 2500s, but I really wanted to see more of the wheel offerings for SRW.

The alloys are spectacular. It looks like SLT trim levels get the same style of alloy wheel, but once you get into the Laramie, the wheels are similar but have a few more angles to give them some extra sparkle. Truly, they all looked really sharp. I wouldn't mind having any of the alloy SRW wheel styles.

Some other thoughts. Without getting into a DRW vs SRW war, I'd encourage a prospective buyer to look hard at the payload and towing ratings. Take a look at SRW. All SRW trucks come with 3.42 gears. No matter which transmission you get, the payload ratings are within a hundred pounds and the towing ratings are within a 1,000 pounds. Conclusion: in an SRW truck, the Aisin really doesn't earn you much extra capacity, even with the hopped up 850 ft lb. motor. If you want an auto, you can have the 68RFE for $500. Something to consider when you look at the added cost of the Aisin. In terms of quality and service life, well who knows? Only time will tell.

Now, once you enter the DRW realm, the transmissions and gears really make a difference in towing capacity. This is where the Aisin really boosts your numbers. So, if you're towing heavy and want the dually, the automatic is probably where you should look for maximizing your capacity. Here, the added cost could be really worth it for somebody who needs those numbers.

I'm still sold on the G56. I'd like to get mine before they stop making them and I prefer the manual anyway. Now if I could just figure out if I want the dually or the SRW. Decisions, decisions.

I'll happily answer anyone's questions regarding the Aisin or my review about this truck or the others I saw on the lot.

Mark