I've said it before and I'll say it again...

The day of the 1500 being a work horse died several years ago. Even in the 90's.

I didn't buy my 2010 in hopes of being able to attach 8,000 pounds to it and take off with it. Not at all. I bought it for safety from other drivers and for my own comfort. Quad cab interior is indeed a little cramped compared to the crew cab, but it's not something I overly care about. I've had a few people in the back of that truck that stand 6'3 or better and while they obviously did not have the room to really veg out, they never once complained about being uncomfortable in the least.

All in all, my needs in a truck was to be able to haul 100 pounds or less in the bed and that was about it. Had I needed more, I would have been all over a 2500. Then again, I have access to two one ton trucks at any time I need one, so it's a moot point.

 

this is all crazy. I didnt know the 4th gens had such a hard time towing. Nice to know though

 

I think Laramie hit the nail on the head. The 3rd Gens with their IFS are less of a "truck" than the 2nd Gens and the 4th Gens continued the trend and are less of a "truck" than the 3rd Gens.

This goes to the fact that more people are buying trucks as "cars with a bed" and using them as daily drivers for the most part today. Or in the case of the 4th Gens with their high revving, close to 400 HP and torque that peaks very high in the rpm band, people want sports cars with a bed.

If you want a true truck, the purchase is a 2500/3500 nowadays.

This came up in the 4th Gen section a little while ago, and you wouldn't believe the 4th Gen owners who said I was nuts. Even guys who went from 3rd Gens to 4th swore their 4th Gen was a better tower. Only Laramie (who went from a 2nd Gen to a 4th Gen) and maybe two or three others agreed with me. Funny, but I see a lot of those guys who raved their hauling capabilities I see have gone to bags or at least have inquired about adding them. But if the 4th Gen hauls and/or tows better than a 3rd Gen then there was something BAD wrong with the one I drove.

and I gotta be honest here, much as I hate the f*ckers, a Furd at 100 HP less than my Ram tows better. I don't know if it's frame, suspension or what, but a Furd F150 handles better when loaded down or towing than my truck and I have 4.56 gears...

 

It's been said for years: Buy a Ford if you want to tow and work hard with it. Buy a Dodge if you want to play.

Vastly, the trend holds true if you look. I mean, I drive a truck, but I don't use it as one. It hauls me around, runs errands and goes on roadtrips. That's pretty much it. I'm not saying that the 4th gen rams are useless. Not at all. In fact, once you get a set of bags in the rear coils they really start to behave differently. Not to be confused with the idea of me being comfortable while towing a rather large weight with one either..

For example: Back in June, a buddy of mine and I towed his 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 to Painesville Ohio from Springfield Missouri. For those of you keeping track at home, that's about an 800 mile trip (13 hours).




Now, I will grant that the truck has had a level kit installed and he is running 35" Nitto tires, but am I the only one that sees an extreme amount of squat going on here? When we got the car loaded onto the trailer, the first thing I did was crawl underneath the truck to see how close to the bump stops we were. There was maybe 2" of clearance and that was it.

For comparison, this is what the truck looked like with out the car.


On the way up, we did stop at a set of cat scales just to get a rough idea of how much we were towing and we came up with right around 7500 pounds by the time we figured in the extra weight in the bed of the truck. (Fullsized spare, air compressor, and some tools)

For what it was worth, the truck did better than I thought it would, but I never felt comfortable. I drove the truck loaded down for about 40 miles and never once did my *** unclench from the seat. Not one time. I kept driving along trying to figure out what I would do if I suddenly looked up and this $45,000 car was no longer behind me.

Anyways, It did indeed tow the load, but not well enough to constitute being able to hook on and go anywhere with. I am curious to see how well the truck does now considering that it has a set of firestone bags in the back.

Again, wanna haul groceries or just look cool while commuting, then get a 1500. Need to actually tow something more than a small flat bed with a lawn mower on it, then get a 2500.

 

my company truck is a 2010 2500 hemi and even with it being a heavy as 2500 gas motor, i promise it will smock any STOCK 3rd gen 1500 hemi (including mine) my boss also has a 2010 1500 hemi and he even says that 2500 gas is faster then his 1500 hemi. they are supposed to be the same motor but with a towing cam and heads, so it must have so crazy sick gearing.

 

Ok so I have to agree with the lack of power when comparing the 4.7 versus the 5.7. I wrecked my truck and while my truck was getting fixed they gave me a 2010 dodge ram qc with a 4.7. I had this truck for two weeks, the first week I used premium fuel, it was still a dog! I wanted to find some E85 and try that out, I filled it up with the E85 and it made all the difference in the world(i rest the PCM), It really woke this truck up, it was more comparable to my Hemi when it was stock

granted it used more fuel but who cares about MPG when your always romping on it..lol....just my 2 cents, take it as you will

 

Ive been running E85 for like two months and it has done nothing as far as performance. If anything, its worse.

 

E85 is garbage......imho the price difference from regular to premium is only usually 2-3 bucks.....

 

AND from what I have seen, your MPGs will increase enough to constitute that extra 2-3 bucks. It was proven awhile back that E85 was around 20% less effecient as straight gasoline which means that over the course of a year you would be consuming around 20% more fuel... Odd how that's supposed to be better for the Earth, eh? Hell, just running 87 octane in my 5.7 will drop my economy enough to constitute the extra cost at the pump. Then again, I did fill up with gas from St. Louis which if I had to guess was at least 20% ethanol if not more.

Anyways, I've never driven a 4.7L Ram, but I did test drive an 08 Dakota Laramie back in Jan of 08 I think... Even in that light little truck there wasn't enough power for my tastes. Then again, I drove the 5.7 QCSB ram first...

 

Trucks aren't trucks anymore. They are caddy's with beds. Kinda starting to remind me of the ElCamino. Sit low and ifs. I need a TRUCK so I had to cough up the dough for a 2500. My 1999 1500 was a good truck at a decent price, same setup as a 2500. Now they are made for doctors and lawers to haul all their goodies around. I mean people get trucks for what they need and auto manufactures can't cater to us all. So the make the 1/2, 3/4, and 1 tons. Some cali guys like'em low, not me. I need a sfa truck with some *****. The fact dodge is going a different direction then what I want saddens me but at least they are trying to make something to fit my needs. It's all in what you need, unfortunatly if I want to play I have to pay, and 1500's are for people who, as mentioned before, want racecars or soft ride with a bed. (RANT OFF)