Wife and I had another long talk. She hates the truck and decided that we can get my a newer lower miles, non-dodge truck. Although I have found some 03-04 Dakotas (4dr, 4.7L 4x4) with 30K miles for what I can afford to spend. I asked our "buddies" in the 2nd gen dakota area and no one answered my post for help. I was just looking to see if they have problematic issues like their big brothers do. No one really answered.

So I might skip the Dakota and get a 4.6L or 5.4L F-150. I need the full size to fit my family in it, so if i went mid sized i would need a 4rd, or a full sized quad cab type. I love V8's so that illiminates a Ranger, they are just too small. I would also like to get a colorado, but they are VERY pricey.

I am not a chevy fan, heard they tend to have just as much problems as the Dodges do. I know people are loyal to their brands, I used to be, then I started to make decisions based on price, so i wound up with the cheapest truck out there. I am not liking it at all. So, I will spend more. I know people call the F-150 a commuter truck. Well, thats all I am doing, going to work and back with the occasional trip to the home depot or dump, or whatever.

I have almost considered getting an Expedition fully loaded with the 5.4... tempting, but i know the minute I did thatI would need a truck. I am going to get one from a $tealer$**** because I will see about getting a warranty. I got royally screwed buying privately. NEVER AGAIN.

Anyhow, thanks for listening to me rant. I am sure the new dodges are better, and also sure that most of these problems are age/mileage related, but I have had enough. Its actually made me irritable, my wife and kids don't deserve that.

I looked up my BB Value (Trade in) and its $5200 if I am lucky I can get that. hope they don't notice the tranny is about to take a dump. but I think a dealership would just take the truck to auction, so they won't really care.

ugh. I like the truck, I do, I like the styling and the truck feel, I just hate the fact that I am literally waiting for the next issue. I make sure I take my cell phone with me in case i need to make "that call".

I need to stop, I don't need to subject you all to this rant... but wish me luck on my next purchase. I would like to get a dakota, but just afraid I am going to be getting a low miles mini-RAM that has its own seriese of Dodge Problems.

if someone out there has a 03-04 Dakota with the 4.7... I would love to hear some feedback...



thanks!

 

A buddy has a 03 Dakota 4 door with the V8 not sure which one and a 5 speed. I really like it but I don't know how they are as far as problems. I would probably look for a 5speed to avoid the tranny problems.

I really honestly don't know that much about them like you. Probably best to search around and try and find a forum or something for Dakota's and read up on problems others are having.

As for a F-150 I don't like the new ones but I love the 97-03 style. Thats what I really wanted when I bought my truck but after looking for a year everyone I found was either not like I wanted or beat to hell. I also wanted the flareside so that made them harder to find. I ended up seeing this Dodge and fell in love with it so go it instead. I had also looked at a few F-250 diesels but they also seemed to all have been abused and people wanted 30k for them in bad shape. When I found my Dodge it was damn near spotless inside and out. It was amazing how clean it was when I got it. You could tell he didn't abuse it. When I asked if it had done much towing he told me not a lot but it had done some. When I asked what he towed he told me he hunted so towed his fourwheeler on a 6x10 trailer when he went hunting. He said he usually put it in the bed but he towed it on the trailer a few times and that was all it had done. I think that was probably about the hardest thing my truck had seen.

Honestly though it seems like to me that any american brand of truck is going to have it's issues. Ford with the 5.4L seemed to have issues of the spitting out spark plugs when I was looking at them. I don't know if they got that fixxed or not. It's lots of issues they have too. It's just pick which brand you like the look of and deal with the problems it has as they all seem to have problems.

For what you want it might not be bad to consider a Tacoma. I can't believe I'm saying that but it really might be the best option for you.

 

i can pitch in on this we have a 05 f150 at work for our work truck and weve had more problems with that pos than i have time to explain not only that my buddy has a 02 250 and has had to replce the whole fuse panel and the computer twice....just my opinion but buy a newer dodge or even a chevy man i hate fords literally even tho my better half has a taurus, and i still hate it....j

 

Dude, really, how many cars have you owned in the past? If you think a transmission going bad on a 10 year old truck is a world of problems, you are in for a rude awakening. Any truck you buy will have problems, albeit dodge, ford, chevy, toyota, etc. Especially the ford, (IMHO), you will have more than $2000 into it in a heart beat.

 

There's little doubt that the Toyota is the best truck. I'm a Chevy man and just recently got a Dodge. But the Toyota's price tag is pretty steep. Even the used ones hold their value.

Maybe it was watching Back to the Futurewhen I wasyoung. But I always liked the black Toyota 4x ext cab. Remember, it was the truck he had in the garage when he got back home.

I'd never buy ford. The interior in those has always been cheap and fake looking. I'm not a big fan of Chevy's newinterior either.

 

Your not going to do any better with a foreign car either, now days they are just the same as the american cars... Back in the day like 80's, early 90's toyotas esspecially gained their reputation for reliability becasue they were pretty much indestructable.

You really cant say that a foreign brand will be better than an american brand... american brands (all of them) have had some **** cars, an dhave had some really good cars that are extremely reliable and just nice... same goes for foriegn cars...

As far as trucks go... chevy or dodge no doubt. Fords suck... I honestly dont know where they pulled the whole 11,000 lbs towing thing from... I towed with a 05 f150 the other day with a 5.4 and a towing package... my 5.2 tows much better than that thing and I wouldent strap 11,000 lbs to mine for a very long distance at least.
The tranny issue with the fords is even worse than with the 46re's, and is about the same with chevys 460le that they are using in their newer trucks.

I will say you might like the f150 better if you just do light work, and cart your family around in it... its the most car like of all of them. You probably wont have many problems with it at first just becasue its new, but when it get to the age of your current dodge it will be the same if not worse... unless you got a "lucky" truck... and there are lucky vehicles out of a batch.

 

I can't comment on the Dakotas, but if you get a Ford with a 4.6 be prepared for life in the slow lane. Have 3 of them at work and they run fine so far (70-90k miles and use a little oil), but they're painfully underpowered. I hate having to even get behind the wheel.

 

I have several friends with Chevy's and they all seem to have a lot of issues too. One guy had a 02 1500 and got tired of it breaking down all the time. I think he had it towed 3 times. He finally traded it on for an 04 2500HD with the 6.0L and while I don't think he has had all that many issues with it he has had a few and says they talked him into trading his old one in but that he thinks this will be his last Chevy. It does get decent gas milage though and is pretty quick. That being said thats about all. The brakes seem a lot worse than my Dodge and it seems to have it's issues too.

Another friend has a S-10 and has one problem after another. They all seem to have their issues like I said. Dodge and Ford to me seem to have less than Chevy. Although Fords new stuff seems to have a lot of issues. If you get one made before 04 Fords seem to be the way to go. On a new truck Dodge is probably the only thing I'd consider although the new Chevy's do look good.

 

What problems did your truck have that caused you to lose your trust in Dodge?
I know that the automatics suck, but when it comes to the V8 inside the trucks, they are hard to beat.
Seriously, what problems did you have? I am interested to know because I may have to deal with the same thing eventually. Plus someone here may be able to point out how to fix the problem.

Anywho, if your going to get a new truck, you may as well get a brand new one, don't get a used one especially with the market being the way it is right now for truck sales. Here in southern california, there was an ad for a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab for under 16k. With a Lifetime powertrain warranty, and with the refinements to the 4.7 liter V8 to give it 290 Hp and 320 ft/lbs of torque you may want to weigh your options a little longer.

Seeing as how 2009 will have a new 5th generation Ram coming out, the 2008s are going to go fast and cheap. If I were you, I would keep that cell phone charged and wait a little longer to buy a new truck.

So back to the first question, how many miles where on your truck anyways, does it burn oil, and how's the tranny and everything else?

 

Do what you think will make you happy. Let me tell you about my 1989 Dakota: No problems, for 121k miles. I sold it to my Father in law who sold it at 275k miles to some kid. Original motor, trans was factory replaced at 59k by factory recall.

My 90 caravan was good but we just did not like the mini-van concept.

My 1995 Dodge Ram I purchased new and have 193k miles with no problems. Original tranny, and exhaust too. What are you doing that is tearing up your truck? Surely you don't think it is drag racer? I think you will have the same problems just in a different brand.