My Silverado is in the shop today, so Enterprise handed me the keys to a blue 2014 Ram 1500 as a loaner. V8 Hemi, 8spd, 4x4, crew cab but not the long cab the smaller one with the 6.5 ft bed. SLT model whatever that means. Seems to be a pretty base model, manual seats etc.
This was a good road test for me of a truck since I had a busy day running 5 job sites and pretty much floated carrying material all day and going to meetings. I actually put about 100 miles on it and got to use it on everything from highway to a dirt road, and carried everything from insulation, vanities, a trash pump, etc.
If my truck is not ready tomorrow I'll keep it for another day and put another 100 miles on it.
Pros:
1. Fast, holly [censored] this thing can move. Nail it at 70 and 90 comes right up. Leaving my condo site this morning I nailed it and did a nice burn out, and the transmission banged off a shift or two while doing it!
2. The ZF 8spd rocks, simply put if you buy a Ram get this gearbox! Just forget the 6 exists.
3. Lots of storage. I like how they put compartments everywhere and have pretty much moved in. My truck is my office. I also like the three 12V chargers so I can charge say two Iphones and run something else. Nice touch.
4. The ride is nice for a truck. Honestly I don't get why people rave about it, I don't think its that much better than a Ford or a Chevy. It pretty much rides like a G wagon, but a big air sprung Lexus beats it. Its quite enough and does ride nice. It also has some large sway bars so you can take some exit ramps way to fast and it stays level. Just be careful I don't know what it weighs but I bet its close to 6k.
5. The interior is nice. The ignition switch and a few other bits are right out of the Mercedes parts bin, which I like since I'm very familiar with Mercedes.
Cons:
1. MPG was not as good as I expected, right now I'm averaging 14.1 according to the display. About .5 worse than my current truck. But OTOH it's about 2-4 better than any 10 year old equivalent would do. It had some sort of Eco thing it kept trying to go into, but I didn't notice anything when it did. Not sure what that does? I have no idea what the rear axle gears are, but I suspect they are low. Still with the 8spd it shouldn't matter.
2. The screen in the dash is straight, it should be angled towards the driver. Also I still don't like the shift knob. But maybe its something you get used to. I have not figured out all the features but I would probably go aftermarket with the screen if I bought one. For example when you adjust the volume it won't let you change the radio station which I find annoying, and it seems slow.
3. Its to high, Chevy's sit lower.
Overall I'm impressed these things seem to go for around $30k on autotrader so that seems pretty cheap. I'd buy one.
This was a good road test for me of a truck since I had a busy day running 5 job sites and pretty much floated carrying material all day and going to meetings. I actually put about 100 miles on it and got to use it on everything from highway to a dirt road, and carried everything from insulation, vanities, a trash pump, etc.
If my truck is not ready tomorrow I'll keep it for another day and put another 100 miles on it.
Pros:
1. Fast, holly [censored] this thing can move. Nail it at 70 and 90 comes right up. Leaving my condo site this morning I nailed it and did a nice burn out, and the transmission banged off a shift or two while doing it!
2. The ZF 8spd rocks, simply put if you buy a Ram get this gearbox! Just forget the 6 exists.
3. Lots of storage. I like how they put compartments everywhere and have pretty much moved in. My truck is my office. I also like the three 12V chargers so I can charge say two Iphones and run something else. Nice touch.
4. The ride is nice for a truck. Honestly I don't get why people rave about it, I don't think its that much better than a Ford or a Chevy. It pretty much rides like a G wagon, but a big air sprung Lexus beats it. Its quite enough and does ride nice. It also has some large sway bars so you can take some exit ramps way to fast and it stays level. Just be careful I don't know what it weighs but I bet its close to 6k.
5. The interior is nice. The ignition switch and a few other bits are right out of the Mercedes parts bin, which I like since I'm very familiar with Mercedes.
Cons:
1. MPG was not as good as I expected, right now I'm averaging 14.1 according to the display. About .5 worse than my current truck. But OTOH it's about 2-4 better than any 10 year old equivalent would do. It had some sort of Eco thing it kept trying to go into, but I didn't notice anything when it did. Not sure what that does? I have no idea what the rear axle gears are, but I suspect they are low. Still with the 8spd it shouldn't matter.
2. The screen in the dash is straight, it should be angled towards the driver. Also I still don't like the shift knob. But maybe its something you get used to. I have not figured out all the features but I would probably go aftermarket with the screen if I bought one. For example when you adjust the volume it won't let you change the radio station which I find annoying, and it seems slow.
3. Its to high, Chevy's sit lower.
Overall I'm impressed these things seem to go for around $30k on autotrader so that seems pretty cheap. I'd buy one.
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