2006 - 2008 dodge ram 1500 thoughts

Tim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
sanford
what does everyone think about these as far as daily driving activities, power, towing, ride and such...

Im looking at a 06 ram 1500 crew cab slt hemi 4x4
 
My roomate has a hemi...it drinks gas, towes his 18ft boat well, and is an all around nice truck. I personally don't like how it steers, feels "jerky" to me, just really sensitive compared to other trucks I've driven.. Also, the back seat is uncomfortable as all get out for tall guys(I'm 6'3").
 
When I wanted to decide which truck to buy, I brought 3 home for the afternoon. New silverado, ram and f150 in my driveway has a way of bringin all the neighbors out. It really helped me see the differences mechanically too. I myself have been happy with the dodges since but steering has been a little weak on my current 2500/power wagon.
 
I have been driving an '06 2500 Hemi 2wd Quad LB for almost two years (and 80k). Average tanks are 13-14 mpg, to be fair I am not light on the pedal but when I am and cruise at a decent rate of speed on the highway I have squeaked a couple 16-17mpg tanks. Take into account that I always have ~600-800 lbs of tools and equipment in the truck AND it has a fiberglass cap. Plenty of power for the size of the vehicle, tows my Frontier on my car hauler well and tows my 21' boat well. I like the heft of the truck and think it handles well, but then it sits a lot lower and weighs more than the truck you are looking at. '07-later Hemi engines have MDS (multi-displacement system) to save fuel, I have a coworker with an '07 and he does get slightly better mileage than I do.

Mine is an ST with the cheap seats so I can't comment on that too much. The later instrument layout is not at nice as the '03-'05 arrangement for sure. I think the truck overall is cheap. The paint chips like hell all over the place and the windshield has not worn well at all. After a year it had more pitting and damage than my '02 F-150 had in 4 years of driving the same roads. It is also a very loud truck inside. My old F-150 was very quiet as compared to the Dodge, and the stereo was better.

Mind you I am not saying buy Ford, if I had a choice (it is a work truck) I would get a Chevrolet since my dad has had 3 of their pickups and I always like them a lot.
 
The first truck I ever had was an 02 Ram 1500. Plenty of power and the only issues that I ever had were because I was messing it up off road. The motor ran strong and it handled really well for a lifted truck. Now I have an 06 Ram 2500 diesel. Im getting about 17-18mpg in town with mid 20s on the road. Now the it has quite a few mods, Except for fuel costs I got no major complaints. Unreal power, decent mileage, and plenty of room. Its kinda noisey and not really smooth but Im running 35s on a stock suspension.
 
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