Hello all,


I am considering buying a second gen Dakota. The truck's main purpose will be a daily driver for me going to college this fall. I am extremely new to Dakota's and all dodges in general. I was raised to be very ford and chevy, and very anti-dodge anything. I have some questions/concerns that I was hoping some of you could answer. Thanks in advance. My questions are:


1. How durable/reliable are these trucks? My current truck is a ford with a 300 6 and a 5 speed. Will it last like it did?


2. What are some common issues with these pickups? I'm probably beating a dead horse, but are the automatics truly THAT bad? If they are, what preventative maintenance can I do to prolong failure?


3. MPG. Obviously its bad. Its a truck. Lets be realistic. I'm looking at extended cab, 4x4, 5.2 variations of the Dakota.


4. Anything in particular I should look for when purchasing one?

 

I have an '01 extended cab, 4 wheel drive, automatic, since new. I've been a dodge guy my whole life. I can't say that the truck has any more or less oddities than other brands. I love the truck I own and am planning on keeping it another 15 years or more if possible. The 3.9 is a decent engine but the fuel economy sucks as you understand. I do too many short trips to offer representative MPG figures, but I know that on long trips I probably get 17-18 at best. You may find a 318 get no less mileage and gives better acceleration. I don't know. I owned a previous generation Dakota, a 1990, same drive train, same MPG numbers.

If the truck you are looking at has power windows the passenger switch may not work. Somewhere on this forum I found a quick fix by jumping the childproof switch out on the drivers door.

Not knowing where you are, rust at the rear wheel openings might be an issue but otherwise I don't know of any body related problems. The clear coat used stinks but that can be a problem on any brand from the same time period. Mine is quite comfortable and one trips are no problem at all. My only complaint is the heater ducts on the drivers side are poorly designed and more heat goes to the passenger side than the drivers. After driving a while things balance out, but it can be a PITA.

My tranny has never been an issue and beyond normal wear and tear, nothing on the truck has broken down.

Good luck in your quest.

 

The 300 6 was a great engine very strong and reliable.. The 5.2s are a very good engine also when properly maintained.. The trannys are so so.. Depends how well the truck was treated in its last life.. Mine died on my 98 with 96k on it but my truck was used to haul a camper most of its life and I wasnt too easy on it... I know of guys getting 200k+ on them tho when they are properly taken care of tho.. I would of gladly got my tranny fixed when it went but I needed a bigger truck.. To this day I do miss my dakota tho! It was a great little truck for what it was.. Id love to find another one to drive around!

 

Welcome to the forum. I've had my 4X4 quad cab 4.7 '01 since 67k miles, it now has just over 250k. No transmission issues, ever. I have replaced the DS front hub at a service center 2-3 times, and I'll be doing it again myself tonight. They likely didn't torque to spec.

TCCM and another module were repaced. I am told I need a new steering rack as well, the system drinks the fluid.

I've found this truck to be reliable, others may have had bad luck. Maybe you had terrific luck with your fords, while others had issues. If you buy used, ya got to plan on issues until you've replaced a few things, in my opinion.

Good luck!

 

I was never a Chrysler fan before I inherited this truck sometime ago. We have done several trips from NJ to Florida over the years and never had a failure or breakdown. I think Dodge has come a long way over the years...they really sucked back in the 70's but it's a different time. A lot of the metals attribute to the everlasting engines (as long as the oil is changed) and I particularly like the cast iron heads as opposed to a lot of aluminum today. I have the 3.9L magnum with 250K and the engine sounds the same as it did years ago. Guess I try and make this my last truck hopefully with twice that amount on the clock. Good Luck!

 

Mine has the 5 speed stick shift. Motor and trans have been no issue, just take care of them. My biggest complaints have been broken intake manifold bolts on the 3.9 and lower control arm bushings worn out. They are riveted in and it takes a full day to change them.

I'm at 129k miles, get around 17 in town and low 20's on highway.

My truck does what I need it to do. I bought it at 110k and fixed all the stuff that was broken and now have a decent truck.

One piece of advice; when you replace sensors, make sure you use Mopar parts. It does matter…..