Posted on 12/07/2012 1:46:07 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The Ram 1500 has been named 2013 Truck of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.
The magazine's editors were impressed by the truck's fuel economy and posh interior.
"The 2013 Ram 1500 SLT is essentially like driving a Chrysler 300 with a bed," says the story that appears in the magazine's February issue. The Ram is made by Chrysler Group, which also makes the 300, a car known for its relatively upscale interior.
Chrysler recently split off the Ram truck division from Dodge, so the trucks no longer carry the Dodge name.
To be eligible for the Truck of the Year award, a model must be completely new or substantially changed for the 2013 model year. Only two other trucks -- the Ford F-150 pickup and Nissan NV 3500 passenger van -- were eligible this year.
When Chrysler Group unveiled the new Ram at the 2012 New York Auto Show, the automaker touted advances in fuel economy, boasting that it had become the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid truck sold in the United States
The V6-powered Ram truck gets 25 miles per gallon on the highway, according to the EPA. Last year's 2012 Dodge Ram V6 was rated at 20 mpg on the highway...
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Correct. Here are the winners since 2000:
13 Dodge
12 Ford
11 Chevy
10 Dodge
09 Ford
08 Toyota
07 Chevy
06 Honda
05 Toyota
04 Ford
03 Dodge
02 Chevy
01 Chevy
00 Toyota
Now an optimist - or at least an employee of Motor Trend - would say that healthy competition is producing different winners (except for 01-02) and that the even distribution between manufacturers is coincidence.
A pessimist - make that a realist - would note that all these companies advertise and that Motor Trend is almost entirely dependent on such ads. The uncanny even distribution of makers is a cynical ploy to keep them all happy and to keep the ad dollars flowing.
The ‘award’ has as much legitimacy as a participation trophy in a Little League tournament.
Why does that make me think of a young Slick Willy with Astroturf in the back of his El Camino?
It must have been their turn.
Put bench seats back in cars and trucks and stop with the cockamamie console that steals all of the leg room, and makes you sit with you legs together.
Give it 5 - 6 years the clear coat falls off. Resale is crap for a reason.
After viewing the video I would buy a RAM if the price were right with the V6/8spd auto combo ... I still don’t trust Dodge tranny’s but if they’re putting the same one behind the 5.7 Hemi even if it’s junk it’ll last a long time behind the V6... maybe they actually listened to all the service complaints and built one that’s really “Ram Tough” for a change.
Of course, at a truck pull, it might have been because those modded Cummins engines have monster torque. The Duramax's are momentum pullers; lot of ground speed. You can get more RPM's out of the V-8 diesels. The old Cummins pulls with shear HP and torque. I've pulled both. Prefer the Cummins, but you need a Duramax to win nowadays. You see very few Ford/Powerstroke pullers. Cost to much to modify.
That is the main thing to know when you buy a Dodge truck. If you trade every few years, a Dodge will kill you on depreciation.
I've had a few over the years with the Cummins engine both for competition and towing. I've seen Gen2 Dodge pickups with the Cummins with over 1 million miles on them and the engine was still original. Nothing else was, but the engine was still running strong.
It may be the truck of there year, but where I am working on a huge mine project 75% of the trucks are Ford with Ram and Chev lagging far behind.
And people don’t buy Fords because they are inexpensive.
Where would we lay our mobile phone, iPad and McDonald’s Big Breakfast? :)
Probably because Chrysler didn’t build it.
I am thru making major purchases in this new Obama economy. Cars and trucks, not on my shopping list. I will drive what I have till it dies...Then I will fix it and keep driving it. I have no confidence in my future or the USA’s future.
Relax. They bought it. The ram has the worse safety rating of the pickups. I’ve driven one. I’d rather have a Ford. The one I had was a rental. Got 11 MPG. it was a V8 but they claimed much higher than 11 MPG on the highway. I had the same type of results with a rental caravan. My wife thought she could actually see the fuel gauge headed to empty when driving it.
I bought a 2002 Silverado dually all wheel drive, has an Allison tranny and the now scarce 8.2 Vortec gas engine.
Best darn truck I have ever owned, only issues was a fuel pump and a crank position sensor, oh and yes the shift selector switch on the tranny. Fuel pump actually did not go out it failed during a dealer injection cleaning, I think it was a mechanics screwup. The crank sensor was an issue and I replaced it before it failed. The tranny switch did fail and left me with low range only, easy fix.
The engine does suck fuel but being a diesel mechanic I actually prefer it to a diesel up here in Alaska during the winter, more reliable starting with a gas engine. The Fords are arguably built stronger but are not aesthetically pleasing to me. The Ram trucks are eye candy but the Silverado has a lot of aftermarket options.
Mine has every front light plus drivings all converted to HID, every other light including the dash is now LED. Mine was pretty much fully loaded, heated seats etc. And now its 10 years old people still rave at how it looks, no rust at all thank god, I have a yard full of older Chevy trucks, all of them rusted out, not the newer ones, they finally figured it out about using galvanized metal.
And the running gear is super strong, the all wheel disc brakes are awesome, and I have pulled fully loaded concrete mixers at over 50,000lbs with this truck. I really cannot complain about it except for its gas addiction, but I may think about a natural gas conversion in the future for it.
12 year old F150 and no problems. I’m considering getting a new seat and would like a satellite radio but other than that, it gets me everywhere and just works.
Must be my morning for typos, it has an 8.1 not 8.2 and its a 3500 extended cab. I run a slightly larger set of tires all the way around. And in the winter I’ll load up the bed with concrete block to help with traction. My ABS works faster and better when I flushed it and went with synthetic brake fluid, same with all the fluids, went synthetic for the arctic weather and I use a dry cell engine battery.
I have a fleet of concrete mixers I maintain, its a friggin nightmare trying to operate them below freezing, batteries get sluggish, have to keep them plugged in all the time, alcohol in the air sysstem and of course number 1 diesel so it won’t gel up, not as many btus from winter diesel. Owners with diesels including my employer also have a lot of fuel related issues, more finicky about fuel with the diesels, but the Duramax is a kick ass engine. He has a 2001 Silverado 2500 Duramax, almost identical to my truck except for the engine and tires, I have two extra in the rear.
Does any other truck even advertise on TV? The only commercials I see are for the Dodge Ram.
nice post, thanks
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