Amusing 2005 Dodge Dakota Review
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Amusing 2005 Dodge Dakota Review
2005 Dodge Dakota SLT
It's official: Hell has frozen over. IGN Cars finally reviews an American-made pick-up truck!
June 06, 2005 - As you can tell by the witty strapline to this review, Hell has officially frozen over. You can bet that the devil now has to strap on some cross-country skis just to get some work done, and a snowball will now have an excellent chance of surviving down there. And just what is the sign of the apocalypse of the "other land down under"? Why, it's the fact that IGN Cars is reviewing and American Truck!! To be more precise: IGN Cars is reviewing a brand-new V8-powered Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4 SLT!!
Yes, I just used two exclamation points, as this is really big news!! After reading bags and bags of mail claiming that IGN Cars was biased towards small, fast Japanese rides, I figured that the channel should show some love -- or at the very least pay attention -- to large, lumbering domestic trucks.
To be honest, I'm really not much of a truck guy, and I generally dislike the larger trucks offered by domestic manufacturers. I don't feel the need to sit up high, I never have to haul or tow anything, and I am relatively happy with the size of my genitalia. I also don't have a need for a 4x4 with lots of ground clearance, as I only drive the streets of sunny SoCal.
With an intro like that, you're expecting this review to be nothing but negative statements topped off by a conclusion on how Japanese compact cars rule. Well, I would do that, but it is my job to be as objective as possible. I'm sure that there are a lot of you that live in more rural-ish areas where trucks are a necessity of life (and, to be honest, I used to live in a rural area where a truck was absolutely necessary). So with that, let's get into the meat of this review, shall we?
According to the fact sheet that Dodge provided for me, the Dakota Quad Cab starts at $25,664. Plunking down that kind of coin will get you a truck with four doors, shift-on-the-fly 4-wheel drive, and the usual amenities found in most modern vehicles.
However, I'm test-driving the SLT version, and it has been equipped with a few extra goodies. I've got a convenience package, which includes a universal garage door opener, security system, power seat and more. I also have a pretty sweet Infiniti 6-CD sound system adding a few more dollars to the cost of the truck.
However, when most people buy a truck, they want power. This test truck has a lot of power options things for "hauling" and "towing" -- two activities I've never needed to do with a vehicle. Those of you that do like hauling stuff would like to know that this test truck was also equipped with the Trailer Tow Group (which adds things like engine and transmission coolers). Those that don't care about towing, but care about power numbers would, I'm sure, like to hear bout the 4.7 liter High Output Magnum V8 that has also been added to the vehicle. Those that do want to hear about the engine will have to scroll down a few paragraphs, I still need to talk about the price.
The total cost for a well-equipped (non-Laramie trim) Dodge Dakota Quad Cab SLT? It's just $31,820.
If I am to praise anything about the Dakota, it would have to be the truck's styling. Some say it looks like a shrunken-down Ram. I kind of agree with that statement. However, in person, I think the Ram looks kind of oversized and bloated. The Dakota, on the other hand, looks like a Ram that went on Atkins and then added a bunch of lean muscle in the process. The Dakota just looks slimmer, better and more capable than its full-sized truck sibling.
The stance of the 4x4 package is perfect on a truck: it's not too high, not to low... it sits just right. I've seen many trucks that have a pretty tough-looking body sitting on top of some skinny weak-***-looking tires. Not this Dakota, the tire size, the gap... just everything is perfect.
More Here: http://cars.ign.com/articles/622/622609p1.html
It's official: Hell has frozen over. IGN Cars finally reviews an American-made pick-up truck!
June 06, 2005 - As you can tell by the witty strapline to this review, Hell has officially frozen over. You can bet that the devil now has to strap on some cross-country skis just to get some work done, and a snowball will now have an excellent chance of surviving down there. And just what is the sign of the apocalypse of the "other land down under"? Why, it's the fact that IGN Cars is reviewing and American Truck!! To be more precise: IGN Cars is reviewing a brand-new V8-powered Dodge Dakota Quad Cab 4x4 SLT!!
Yes, I just used two exclamation points, as this is really big news!! After reading bags and bags of mail claiming that IGN Cars was biased towards small, fast Japanese rides, I figured that the channel should show some love -- or at the very least pay attention -- to large, lumbering domestic trucks.
To be honest, I'm really not much of a truck guy, and I generally dislike the larger trucks offered by domestic manufacturers. I don't feel the need to sit up high, I never have to haul or tow anything, and I am relatively happy with the size of my genitalia. I also don't have a need for a 4x4 with lots of ground clearance, as I only drive the streets of sunny SoCal.
With an intro like that, you're expecting this review to be nothing but negative statements topped off by a conclusion on how Japanese compact cars rule. Well, I would do that, but it is my job to be as objective as possible. I'm sure that there are a lot of you that live in more rural-ish areas where trucks are a necessity of life (and, to be honest, I used to live in a rural area where a truck was absolutely necessary). So with that, let's get into the meat of this review, shall we?
According to the fact sheet that Dodge provided for me, the Dakota Quad Cab starts at $25,664. Plunking down that kind of coin will get you a truck with four doors, shift-on-the-fly 4-wheel drive, and the usual amenities found in most modern vehicles.
However, I'm test-driving the SLT version, and it has been equipped with a few extra goodies. I've got a convenience package, which includes a universal garage door opener, security system, power seat and more. I also have a pretty sweet Infiniti 6-CD sound system adding a few more dollars to the cost of the truck.
However, when most people buy a truck, they want power. This test truck has a lot of power options things for "hauling" and "towing" -- two activities I've never needed to do with a vehicle. Those of you that do like hauling stuff would like to know that this test truck was also equipped with the Trailer Tow Group (which adds things like engine and transmission coolers). Those that don't care about towing, but care about power numbers would, I'm sure, like to hear bout the 4.7 liter High Output Magnum V8 that has also been added to the vehicle. Those that do want to hear about the engine will have to scroll down a few paragraphs, I still need to talk about the price.
The total cost for a well-equipped (non-Laramie trim) Dodge Dakota Quad Cab SLT? It's just $31,820.
If I am to praise anything about the Dakota, it would have to be the truck's styling. Some say it looks like a shrunken-down Ram. I kind of agree with that statement. However, in person, I think the Ram looks kind of oversized and bloated. The Dakota, on the other hand, looks like a Ram that went on Atkins and then added a bunch of lean muscle in the process. The Dakota just looks slimmer, better and more capable than its full-sized truck sibling.
The stance of the 4x4 package is perfect on a truck: it's not too high, not to low... it sits just right. I've seen many trucks that have a pretty tough-looking body sitting on top of some skinny weak-***-looking tires. Not this Dakota, the tire size, the gap... just everything is perfect.
More Here: http://cars.ign.com/articles/622/622609p1.html