I've been a Dakota guy for around 25 years having had a '90 and now an '01. I currently own a 2001 Dakota Sport 4X4 V6 Auto club cab since new. It only has 71K on the clock and is generally in good shape except for the dreaded clear coat peeling and now some rust is showing at the tops of the rear wheels. I truly love the truck and am planning on doing the necessary body work and repaint but I'm also getting the pull of the latest generation Ram. I know the earlier Ram had rot problems over the rear wheels due to construction designs. I already know what my Dakota suffers from and can deal with it. However I don't want to jump into a Ram and find that it will be showing holes soon too. I am limiting my budget to '12 and '13 models in the 30K mileage range and I've seen a few that are tempting. What is the general consensus on the latest generation and specific years in particular. I've noticed a few have a "shifter " in the console and others only a **** on the dash. Is that an option or a design change? I'm staying with gas, no diesel for me.

 

get the 8 speed trans for fuel mileage so you need a 13

I have seen column, floor/console and **** shifters. I prefer the console shifter for appearance and less electronics to break... that said, haven't seen one **** shift have issues so far. not sure if the **** shift is exclusive to the 8 speed trans
not sure when the air suspension came in....its great to drive but expensive to fix...troublesome in cold climates.

 

Yeah, air suspension is something I'd steer clear of no matter how good the deal looks. I'm not terribly concerned about mileage. My Dakota's both got mid teens or lower in daily use and high teens on highway driving. If I'm concerned about mileage the Subaru Outback is always next to the truck.

Is there any input on the fender rust issues? When did they "solve" the problem, if at all? I've seen far too many earlier Rams that were obviously kept well with blisters or holes at the rear wheels and find it disconcerting.

 

have not seen any rusty fender on this gen so far. If you remove the tail lights and spray rust coating on the inside of the fenders, your golden....I do this on every vehicle i own.