Dodge Dakota is knocking on the door of full-size pickups
The Lowell Sun





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By CHRIS JACKSON

Special to the Sun

The familiar Dodge Dakota has carved out a comfortable place in the market by being not too large, and not too small. For a certain segment of the market, the Dakota makes a perfect "just right" compromise.

The trouble with many automotive compromises is that they wind up offering the worst of both worlds, while losing many of the benefits. It's a hard thing to be all things to all people, if you're a car. With that in mind, we put the Dakota through a week of hard work and serious domestication, to see how well it measures up to the full-size and compact pickups that bracket it in the truck market.

Our 4x4 test truck was a long step up to get inside, as much as some full-size trucks. This was due in part to the oversized 265/70-series off-road tires that were part of the TRX4 Off Road package, however. Those tires also made themselves noticeable on the road, where suspension impacts were amplified by the heavy rubber. Of course, when the road got rough, we were grateful for those wide feet.

The Dakota rides on a coil-over shock front suspension with a solid rear axle, like most trucks do, so we weren't expecting a carlike ride. This truck is relatively easy to pilot around town, even with the big tires, and it goes and stops well. Smaller competitors like the Toyota Tacoma are arguably less cumbersome, but the difference is slight. Anti-lock brakes are standard on the Dakota.

Dodge offers a choice of three engines in the Dakota; a 3.7 liter V6, 4.7 V8 and a high-output 4.7 V8. The test truck was motivated by the smaller of the two V8s. The 4.7 generally gives up all of the limelight to the 5.7 HEMI in the Dodge engine family, but it's a good, sturdy powerplant. In fact, we found the 230-horsepower 4.7 to be better suited to towing and truck-type duties than the high-strung HEMI found in the full-size Ram.

For light-duty work, the Dakota doesn't give up much ability to the big boys. Equipped with a five-speed automatic transmission, the Dakota will tow up to 7,150 pounds. Fuel economy is unfortunately not much better than that of a full-size pickup.

The Dakota's long wheelbase makes it a stable towing platform, and Its 1,000-pound plus payload allows it to carry four refrigerators in its bed without trouble, though the loading height




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is just as tall as that of most full-size pickups. Low bed sides facilitate easy loading, but if you plan to lift heavy objects over the side frequently, we'd suggest you opt for the lower-riding 2WD model.
The Dakota is one of the better-looking pickups out there, sporting a long-nosed version of Dodge's big-rig truck styling and a huge crosshair grille way out front. The body sides are sculpted with Dodge's signature blocky fender creases, and the taillights are rounded.

Two four-door cab styles are offered -- the people-carrying Quad Cab and jumpseat-equipped Club Cab, whose doors have been re-engineered to swing wider for easier access. The Quad Cab gets a 5-foot 4-inch bed, and the Club Cab the longer 6-foot 6-inch cargo box. Dodge offers a number of equipment and appearance packages as well, from the rugged TRX and TRX4 Off-Road models to the performance oriented R/T and Night Runner.

The dash takes some design cues from Dodge's passenger cars, with flat surfaces and satin-aluminum finish trim to spice things up. SIRIUS satellite radio is available, as is a monstrous 508-watt Alpine sound system. The test truck was a Dakota Quad Cab, with plenty of passenger space. The rear seats fold up into the backrests to make room for cargo on the floor.

Optional equipment includes Bluetooth phone connectivity, heated seats and leather. In spite of the luxury items, the Dakota's a bit less well-suited for urban life than many of the compact pickups, which offer carlike amenities for stowing small cargo.

So does the Dakota split the difference between full-size and compact pickup trucks perfectly? Almost. For buyers who don't have to tow more than 7,000 pounds, the Dakota makes a more manageable alternative.

The Dakota Quad Cab four-wheel drive starts at $26,095, and the options on our test truck -- including the TRX4 package, satellite radio, leather interior, a bedliner and the Magnum V8 -- brought the price to $33,550.

 

The 3rd Gen Dakota has been a major disappointment in sales.

A vast amount of money was wasted on the Ram Hybrid, only a few of which are on the road.

In the 'What If' department....

What if the 3rd Gen Dakota had gotten a better aerodynamic body design (not worse)
aluminum hood, roof, doors aluminum 8.75 differential and composite bed/springs to knock off 600 lbs
and a 4L diesel powerplant from any of DCx divisions DetroitDiesel, V Motori or Mercedes?

Add to this the 24 Kilowatt three phase generator function in the Ram Hybrid.

Instead of have a 3rd Gen Dakota selling like a dog with a bloated 125 days of inventory
DaimlerChrysler would be able to advertise
that they had the only pickup with a full size bed
that could get about 20+ MPG in the City and 28+ on the highway.
Depending on the size of the DC motors fitted it could probably accelerate from 0-60 in about 7 seconds too if the 600 lbs of weight reduction was there.

 

OK, so the Dakota get a little heavier, but, its a bigger pickup with more of everything, oh well, it happens.
As for the diesel, well, maybe one day, automotive companies will pull their heads out of their asses, and give American consumers a decent lineup of diesel vehicles.
For the most part, the Dakota is the truck everyone else is playing "catch-up" with (in all areas but fuel economy, but, its always been that way, and, since Americans are still buying the pickup, evidently we don't give a rat's ***!) (over the last couple of years, SUV and truck sales in general have been a disappointment, mainly because of fuel prices, so I think that has played a part in the Dakotas sales) and once they get close to the Dakota, WHAM! Dodge comes out with a bigger and better Dakota, and than the Ford and Chevy trucks look... small and sissy again (look at the Colorado, depending on model, that thing looks like a little play toy, not a truck I would buy!)
Yup, its true, this Dakota is more capable than some full-sizers' of past.

 

looks like 90% of the engineering for a Dakota hybrid is already done at another DCx subsidary in Japan:

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html...icle&sid=36707