Hi,
I'm looking at buying a used Dodge Ram 1500, either 2nd or 3rd Gen. What were the best year (s) of the 2nd Gen and also the 3rd gen 1500 with either the newer V6 or the 4.7 V8?
I don't plan on doing any heavy towing, just something reliable that will hold up under normal driving use.

Thanks,

Jim

 

i'd have to say 1994-2001 second gen with the 318 or 360. forget the third gen they look funny with that oval *** grille. just fix the plenum and put a heavy friggin duty tranny cooler on her and preferable buy one with less than 100k on it. im old fashion if i buy something to keep i always buy it with less than 100k. and look around at the miles people have on these wonderful trucks

 

2000 is iffy, but I 'd stay away from a 2001 IMHO. Alot of junk parts were used on them as Dodge new they were moving on to a different design truck, and when they ran out of parts to finish off production, those parts came from the lowest bidder, and quality was not on top of the list.

 

hmm. never knew that. looks like i got the last of the goodens then lol

 

98-99 off road edition, you are able to tune the engine, and you have a "lift" from the factory...
and id get the 360, same gas mileage with more torque/horse

 

What? No love for the oil burner?

 

Good call on the tuner aspect.

 

They did not make the Off Road edition in 1998 and 1999. It started in 2000 and continued through 2001.

I see nothing wrong with a 2000 or 2001. Personally, my 2001 has had nothing go wrong with it so far that a normal nine year old truck doesn't. In the past three years, I replaced a water pump, belt tensioner, and TPS sensor. The water pump and belt tensioner could have gone a little longer, but I had the funds at the time they first started to act up, so I figured I'd bite the bullet then instead of later. The rest were either upgrades, parts replaced due to my own stupidity, or parts replaced because I figured they were old and wanted to replace them before they went bad (paranoia).

I might add that my transmission looks to be original, without any signs that I can find of being rebuilt or replaced. I changed the fluid/filter about 5000 mile ago (at 75000), and it was very clean. Owned it since 51000.

 

They had them in years previous to 98 though. Remember the ugly white decal on the tailgate?

 

I would say get a 98 or newer, with lower miles somewhere around 120k max, if you get an 00-01 you will want a tuner like SCT or superchips to get rid of death flash, but you can get the dual piston calipers and a few 01's come with rear disks.