Until I have her back, I'm driving a brand new (33 miles when I picked it up) Ram 1500 crew cab with the Pentastar six. It's a 4wd extended cab (though Ram's extended cabs have 4 real doors).
Since I have it for a few days, rather than my usual google stock photo, I have real pictures of this particular truck this time!
(Timing for this was great; I had a truckload of green waste to get rid of today, so I put this underpowered beast to work!)
Exterior: 7.5/10
I'm a fan of the current Ram's styling (though I preferred the earlier, smaller, non-pen15-compensating grille to the bigger post-facelift one). The cheaper models look a little homelier than the nicer ones, with some lazier details like the front bumper, but it's still nice enough to look at. The stubby minidoors in the back look a little less awkard on this generation than they did on the previous Chuck the Truck cartoon bodystyle (which I didn't care for in general anyway). I certainly prefer Ram's styling to the exponentially-increasing levels of way overdone that Ford pours into their trucks. It's not nearly as well-realized as GM's current designs, though it does have wheel arches that are the correct shape, so it beats them there.
Interior: 6/10
It's not bad.
It's not good.
The plastics are hard and ugly. There's a lot of black and grey. There are a bunch of storage cubbies that aren't the right size for anything. There are also a few storage cubbies that are the perfect size for things, like the one on the top of the center stack that's great for sunglasses. Problem is, a lot like the lower-end Expeditions, those cubbies aren't rubberized, so stuff just flies out at the slightest hint of g-forces.
The seat in this cheap model doesn't have a height adjustment, and it was way too high for my taste. Still had headroom, but I feel like a lot of the cab's height is wasted under the seat.
I drove 5 adults around and didn't get any complaints about the back seat.
Unlike the Fords I've driven, climbing into this truck's cabin doesn't feel like squeezing into a vent to play Mission Impossible.
The sliding section of the rear glass is powered, which I learned to like very quickly. It's a nice way to get some fresh air in the cabin with minimal wind noise--though it'd be a lot more effective with a sunroof to vent as well.
The steering wheel controls are stupid. There are six buttons for controlling the hyper-low-resolution LCD between the gauges plus hands-free phone functions, and six buttons for cruise. THERE ARE NO MEDIA CONTROLS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. What the s***, Dodge?
Oh, and it still has mechanical door lock posts rather than levers on near the door latch release. I hate this, because they nearly always (including this case) put the lock post EXACTLY where my elbow falls naturally when my arm is resting on the door sill. At least Ford has the sense to have the damn thing sit below the sill when locked. Dodge just leaves it there to poke me.
I also still don't like the FCA rotary shift knob. And in a truck, it makes even less sense. A column shift would be vastly better.
Tech stuff
Did I mention how low-resolution the multifunction gauge cluster display is? I have an original green-screen Gameboy and it has more pixels than this Dodge's screen! It's hard to look at. Worse, even though FCA still doesn't understand multi-tasking on displays (one single type of info at a time, that's it), their attempts to cram iconography and things into low pixel counts leads to some really hard-to-read stuff. The Cruise Control icon ends up being a freaking octagon.
The display IS a nice high-contrast white-on-black that looks great in the daytime and lights up nice at night as well. But I wouldn't be surprised if the pixels were actually 1mmx2mm. They're HUGE and pointy.
Oh, and when you turn Cruise on, the entire screen is devoted to a message saying "CRUISE AVAILABLE" for several seconds, which is spectacularly annoying. I just turned cruise on. Chances are I'd like to see what my current speed is so I can start actually SETTING the cruise control. Chances are also good that I KNOW cruise is available, because I still remember pushing the Cruise ON button less than one whole second before.
The center LCD is larger, color and has a lot more pixels. It's a touchscreen. You can display one thing at a time on it. You can see the exterior temperature. In HUGE numbers taking up the whole screen. ONLY. You can see a compass direction. ONLY. You can see the clock. ONLY. You can view media info. ONLY. You cannot see what time it is while doing any of these other things. When you change the volume, a full-screen volume bar obscures everything else on the screen until you're done.
With no media controls on the steering wheel, one is relegated to using the touchscreen or the tuner knob. With my long arms, I still couldn't comfortably reach either without sitting forward in my seat. Same is true of the volume control.
Powertrain: 6/10
The Pentastar is a good motor. I like it.
It has ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS under the hood of this truck.
Dodge advertises 295 ft-lb.
That's just a few ft-lb more than a 4 liter Frontier.
The Frontier weighs as much as a thousand pounds less. And the Frontier's V6 makes torque early, where the Pentastar has to work hard for it. That's because the VQ40 was designed for truck use, where the Pentastar was recycled from sedan use.
This thing is gutless.
Worse, shift behavior and throttle response are really opaque and inconsistent, which means you never know how much power you're about to get. I've had starts where I nailed the throttle and gotten nothing, and then subsequent starts where I needed power NOW, so I floored it and looked like a jackass while my rear axle hopped around while one wheel tried to find traction. The truck is NEVER in the powerband without a downshift, and it's never eager to downshift. Even mild acceleration to keep up with slight changes in traffic speed usually requires a downshift. And because that downshift comes so late, you've usually got he pedal sunk pretty far down in a desperate but hopeless plea to find some kind of thrust. Which means that once the downshift does happen, it's not smooth. But even then, the truck doesn't come anywhere close to anything resembling quick. It eventually moves. It reaches freeway speeds sufficiently fast. It doesn't make any of it feel easy.
It's a LOT less lazy-feeling than the ecoboost Expedition was, which is hilarious. But it's no spry fox. And that's with just me in it. Anything in the bed or any passengers and it's a very rapid decline from there.
Oh, and the Pentastar is pleasant-enough sounding below 3000rpm, but after that it's not particularly easy on the ears.
Fuel economy so far: 17mpg average.
My first reaction to that number is that it's pathetic.
My second reaction is that, frankly, I'd still sacrifice 5 of those measly 17 mpgs for the ability to add 2mph to the speedo without needing a downshift.
But mostly, I just think that I'd rather have a V8, because the fuel economy would be the same but I'd actually have torque on tap. OH, and the engine noises would be better.
I'm not even a big Hemi fan. In fact, I think it's kind of a turd and by far the worst full-size truck V8 on the market. But it's a lot better suited to work in this truck than the 3.6.
Handling/dynamics: 7/10
I'm a little unimpressed with the coil suspenion. Ride quality in this Ram wasn't any better than the Silverados and F150s I've driven. It's fine; not bad at all. But I've heard a lot of things about the new coil-sprung 1500 Rams, and I'm inclined to believe it's all placebo.
The truck feels planted-enough, handling-wise. Cornering is confidence-inspiring and understeer is surprisingly minimal. Steering feels like truck steering, but isn't any less communicative than any other pickup, and the ratio actually feels a little quicker than I expected.
Truck Stuff
The timing for this rental was excellent. I was already planning to clean up the garden for winter and then make a trip to the landfill with all the green waste. So I pulled the Ram into the back yard and started filling up the bed.
I put it in 4wd mostly for fun, but also to keep from tearing up my grass since it was wet and this truck's throttle has a mind of its own. It was a quick transition for an electronic transfer case. A lot quicker than the GM trucks I've played with.
The tailgate is very light. Almost disarmingly light, to the point that I wonder about its structural soundness. It's very easy to lift and drop, but I've always found the idea of a "one-hand" tailgate a bit of a joke, since even old heavy pickup tailgates have always seemed easy enough to close with one hand, and I'm not exactly Captain Biceps.
This Ram didn't have the bedside storage boxes, which I'd have loved to check out.
Overall: 6/10
With a V8 it would be 8. Without it, I simply don't think the truck is worth its own existence, even for the "I own a truck but use it exclusively as a sedan with a bed" contingent. It's just too gutless and the transmission gets in the way too much.
