Interesting road test review by consumer reports.




Highs: Roomy cabin, access.
Lows: Acceleration, fuel economy, lack of agility, road and wind noise, turning circle.

Despite its V8, the Dakota accelerates more slowly than competing models with V6 power. The ride is better than some others, such as the Toyota Tacoma and Chevrolet Colorado, but is somewhat buoyant. Interior quality could be better. Towing and payload capacities are competitive.

THE DRIVING EXPERIENCE

The Dakota's ride has a constant jiggle. Impacts are stiff, with pronounced kicks. The highway ride is somewhat floaty over dips and is unsettled when hauling a load. At higher speeds wind noise is evident, and road noise comes through on secondary roads. The V8 is pleasant sounding. The Dakota lacks agility, the steering is a bit slow and body lean is notable. It understeered at its limits, but adjusted its line with throttle input. It posted a modest speed in our avoidance maneuver and inspired driver confidence. The 230-hp, 4.7-liter V8 provides adequate performance, but it's thirsty. Expect just 14 mpg overall. The five-speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly enough, but is slow to downshift. The Dodge pulled our 5,000-pound trailer to 60 mph in 21.3 seconds, slower than the V6-equipped pickups we've tested. The part-time 4WD system is electronically engaged. In our off-road courses, the Dakota scraped its undercarriage too much. Overall braking performance was good, but wet stops were long. Headlight performance was good.

INSIDE THE CABIN

Cabin trim is mostly dull-finished hard plastic. Poor panel fit and exposed screws detracted from the overall appearance. Most drivers found a comfortable seating position behind the tilt steering wheel. There are tilt and height adjustments for the comfortable power seat, but it still sat too high in its lowest position. Rear seating offers generous leg room but lacks thigh support. Large door openings make front and rear access quite easy. The controls are nicely sized and easy to read, and the radio is simple to use. The gauges have good contrast and most controls are lighted at night. However, the mirror controls are unlighted. The climate system lacks a separate air recirculation control. The Dakota also lacks ducts to provide warm air to the rear passengers. Interior storage space is moderate. The 60/40-split rear bench can fold upward for additional storage capacity, and the wide door openings make it easy to load cargo in the rear cab. A full-sized spare mounts below the cargo bed, which has four tie-down cleats for securing items. With the tailgate open it can support an item 85.0 inches long. Payload capacity is 1,320 pounds and the tow rating is 5,650 pounds.

SAFETY NOTES

Curtain-style head-protection air bags, that extend to protect both front and rear outboard passengers, are an extra-cost option for the Dakota. They supplement required front air bags and front seatbelts equipped with adjustable anchors for improved fit and pretensioners to reduce belt slack in the event of a crash. An occupant classification system for the front passenger seat detects the weight of occupants and automatically disables the front air bags if a child is seated there. The front air bag for the front passenger seat will also not deploy if the seat is unoccupied. There are three-point seatbelts for the rear passengers. Adjustable and locking head restraints in the front seats and integral restraints in the rear outboard seats are tall enough even if lowered to reduce rearward head travel and whiplash injury. The rear center seat lacks a head restraint, however, and is too low. Driving with kids: Some interference between the seat and the buckle may make getting a rear-facing convertible seat secure in the rear center seat difficult. Rear-facing seats should prove secure in the outboard positions. Front-facing seats should also prove secure and there are tether anchors attachment loops in three positions behind each rear seat. Care needs to be taken in attaching tether straps as they require routing the tether strap through the closest loop and attaching it to an adjacent anchor. There are LATCH anchor in the two outboard seating positions, however, and they are visible and easy to access. The manual allows for LATCH seats with flexible (not rigid) LATCH straps to be installed on the center rear seat also.

RELIABILITY

We expect reliability to be worse than average, according to our latest subscriber survey.

 

My truck is the smoothest vehicle I have ever driven. My "ex-wife" said it was smoother than her car. Her dad loved it because it didn't hurt his back when we went over bumps. The noise... maybe the Laramie is different from the truck they tested, but I have virtually no noise in the cab. I can barely hear the road noise and if I have my stereo turned down, I can still hear it.

I think that there is some biased opinions out there that favor the foreign vehicles.

I was talking to a Honda salesman that said the Ridgeline is not selling like Honda thought it would. They have more HP than the daks with the V8s, but no torgue and very little towing capacity, and the mileage is just about the same.

That tells me that they suck.

 

The thing that caught my eye was that it had a constant jiggle! That has been my biggest complaint! Biased or not, at least they were the first ones to have the ***** to put it in writing!

 

my truck scoots like a son of a b..... the only down fall is when the front end start to bob up and down dodge needs to address this problem with stiffer springs and shocks

 

I want to make something clear here. I didn't post that to try and sway someones opinion. I have been a Dodge man for many years. However, I am not happy with my Dak and and even more dipleased with customer support I have received (or not received).

 

i love my dakota, end of story

 

It's interesting that they tested one that was only rated to tow 5,650 lbs. It sounds like they may have only had a vehicle equiped with the 3.55 rear gears. I think it would have been nice if they had chosen to test one that was really equiped to tow and then compared. This seems to be typical of all of the comparision tests that I have seen over the past couple years though.

 

DakotaStone has hit the nail right on the head about bias favoring the foreign makes. If Airborne82 is dissatisfied with his ride that is unfortunate. As for me, I couldn't be happier with my Dak. I have had my '05 V6 for 16 months now and have not experienced ANY of the issues reported from time to time in this forum(lucky?maybe). I am retired from a American nameplate(not Chrysler Corp.) assembly plant and for my part the Dakota is an extremely quality built pickup, although in all honesty somewhat underpowered. Performance upgrades(K&N CAI,Flowmaster cat-back exhaust, Stage1 Jet chip) I have done significantly helped.

 

Everyone failed to mention the good point:

Headlight performance was good.


Just kidding.
Yeah I think the new (05-06) Dakotas have a better ride than they did before. It's not as brutal anymore.

Also....yeah I don't think there is that much windnoise at all, and I have the big towing mirrors on my truck too. It seems relatively quiet to me

The 4.7 is a great motor, but when they put it in a 4000-5000 pound (?) truck, of course it's not gonna be enough power.

When I had my 2002 Club Cab 4x2 with the 4.7....that truck got around pretty quick.....mainly because it was lighter.

The newer Dakotas are more heavier and it's slowing them down. 4.10 gears really help my truck move around better now though.

But like everyone else I'm pretty happy with my truck.....only complaint is gonna be the poor gas mileage. And I knew that they were gonna mention it in that review too.

 

The Ridgeline is supposed to compete with the Dakota???

It looks like an Avalanche....I thought it's competition was the full size trucks....not the "compact" truck market???

What's it considered, cuz I don't know???