I may have made a mistake buying a new truck last week... thoughts?

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Drive it till spring and at least get some value out of the registration fees paid. If you take care of it and keep miles in check i dont see it losing a lot.
 
FCA is coming out with some unique combo’s … I stayed clear of an ET I4 that’s also TDI … only to later find out I have an extra hidden battery for something I hate, the ESS …
 
If you use the +/- it stops it from going into MDS. When it switches to/from MDS it briefly unlocks the torque converter to absorb the change in torque. I remember seeing a few TSB’s for shudder issues. Might be worth taking to a dealer and having them update the PCM/TCM.
 
Like said, I wouldn't do anything right now. Drive it another 6 months or so.

Sorry if I missed it in here, but what exactly is it that you can't live with? Noise? Vibs? Harshness?

Like Critic mentioned, I often can't stand the MDS on my 2019 Ram 1500 classic. Heavier traffic or slower speeds make it super annoying. You feel it and you hear it. It's not a big deal to me because one press to the steering wheel manual shift buttons (+/-) to put it in 8th and it's gone.

The whole E-torque thing doesn't appeal to me at all, but is likely going to be the norm with everything going to auto stop/start, etc.
 
You may find that there isn't a truck that checks all your boxes. If you can get out of a vehicle you don't like for only a couple thou that is a good option.
 
I vote for purchasing a $12,795 truck and don't have a payment. This is an election year. The economy could go into the toilet in just a few months. IMHO, being 100% debt free and driving something not as nice is the way to go.
Last year I was looking at small cars and found a '16 Nissan Versa with 10K miles and a rebuilt title. I was able to buy the Versa for $5300. The repair on it was pretty good although you can tell it has been in a previous accident if you look closely. To me saving a few thousand dollars on one with a rebuilt title and only 10K miles was better than buying one with a clean title and 30-40K miles for $10K or so. I figure if I can keep the Versa going till it's got 100K miles or so I will easily have got my moneys worth out of it. My wife is currently saving for another car and is going to try to find another low mileage rebuilt car. I've bought a couple cars in the past with rebuilt titles and haven't yet been burned on one. The one thing I stay away from is one with rebuilt title because of water damage, too much chance of electrical problems down the road. I've got an '02 Ford Escort that I bought in 2008 with about 80K miles for $2K. It has a rebuilt title and now has about 204K, only things that have been done to it are regular wear items. Several years ago it was involved in an accident that was the other persons fault. The damage was more than I paid for the car so I pocketed the money and kept driving the car in the damaged condition. We're still using it as a knock around daily driver. It's a great car for going to the grocery or shopping center in where if it gets hit by another car or a shopping cart it doesn't hurt anything.
 
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It's new and I have owned many I hated at first until I got used to them.
It's actually normal and you are panicking a bit too boot.
Right now put some miles on it and you may like it. You already took a loss and some more miles won't lose you any more. Give it some time.
 
I keep most vehicles 6 to 8 years so getting what I want is important. I've owned Ford trucks for work and Dodge and Chevrolet but never worked out of them and used them more like an suv. Overall I've been most pleased with the Chevys. Slightly lower entry height and nicer interior and ride and easier to work on.
My .02
 
So here is the story (kind of long)...

I was having problems with my 2018 XLT, way too many since bought new two and a half years ago. With trade-in values nuts right now, I traded it in on a new RAM 1500 Laramie. I test drove some locally, would have preferred the regular HEMI (non-etorque), but drove the etorque and thought I'd be OK with it. I worked many dealers against each other, ended up buying an etorque truck two and a half hours away. After driving the etorque locally on the roads I drive every day, I'm not liking how it drives. Also, the 20s are much more firm that I would prefer (but not a deal breaker) now that I'm on the roads I drive every day.

I am only considering changing it out because I got such a good deal, and the market is such, that I won't lose my @$$. It was $55,055 MSRP, I paid about $43,550 which is at least $2000 cheaper than most dealers were at, and I got $35,500 on my trade and most dealers were at least $1000 less (and those that were good on the new truck price were typically not good on trade, and vise versa).

For reference, my old F150 payment was $650.

So I have some options:

1. Keep it for probably 2-3 years and in the mean time not love how it drives.

After 2 years the RAM is expected to be worth 70%, so probably $30-32k on trade in a normal market. My loan would be down to about $18k by then if I went a 5 year (about $550/month) for a net positive equity of about $12-14k. This would be around $5k/yr ownership cost depreciation, which I like to be at or under $3500.

2. Trade it in and purchase a different one.

The in-town dealer has offered me $41,157 on trade (or just buying it from me). Without going into details on the math, I would lose about $2200 to purchase a vehicle that is much more what I want (no etorque, no 20s, has nav, 33 gal tank, anti spin diff). This includes paying doc fee twice, title twice, etc. This would be a comparable deal as to if I just went with this dealer to begin with, since they were at $33,500 on my F150 trade. I could also with another truck that is about $2300 cheaper MSRP that is bench seat, no nav or anti-spin, not my ideal color, but does have the 33 gal tank.

3. Sell it and lease.

Another local used car dealer has offered me $42,000 to just buy it from me. It would be a somewhat expensive lesson learned, but not too bad. I would lease either a RAM (still waiting on numbers) or Chevy ($615 per month for 15k mile lease, $32,400 residual). I would pocket the difference of about $12,700 between the loan and the $42,000 (maybe a slightly less pocketed amount than under scenario 1, but I wouldn't have that equity under scenario 1 for two years).

Then in three years I could reevaluate my needs or the truck. I like the flexibility of either just turning in the keys on the lease and being done with it, or trading it in (if the market is nuts like right now), or buying it out. The only thing is I may be changing careers in the next 18 months so I'm not sure of my commute distance after that, so I would probably go for the 15k/yr lease.

I like the RAM better than the Chevy, but the Chevy does seem like a better build quality (which is expressed in the resale value of the two brands: also I see quite a few older Chevys on the road but not many RAM or Ford).


I am leaning toward the lease option. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, and a lot depends on the RAM lease price. But just looking for thoughts.
Guess you could see what Carmax would give you if you can’t live with it. They price higher and no reconditioning costs for them.
 
I have never noticed the eco button active, even on the highway.
You have never seen the green Eco light on? Here is a picture of mine from this afternoon.
 

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Mine doesn't have that light, but you two both have E-torque, so I assume that's the difference.
Unless the Canadian vehicles are different, all Rams have the Eco light. There is a setting in the Uconnect system to turn it on or off.
 
I'll have to check, I know I never turned it off, so unless the dealer did?
First, go to your Uconnect settings and make sure the “Fuel Saver Display in Cluster” box is checked. It is somewhat of a known issue that the Eco light does not always function properly. Some non-USA vehicles require a reflash to the latest calibration to resolve the issue; refer to the very recent service bulletin that I screenshot.

Also, the eco light did not work properly when I first bought the truck. There would be times when the MDS was clearly active but the Eco light did not illuminate. I recently installed a trailer brake controller and part of the install process required adding a sales code to my configuration (in the FCA dealer connect portal) followed by performing a “restore vehicle configuration” in WiTech 2.0. After the vehicle configuration restore was performed, the Eco light has worked flawlessly. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

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Sounds like buyers remorse is kicking in faster on this one than the F150...

If you are already this unhappy with it, then actually take the time to decide if the vehicle is right for you - such as an extended test drive. My dealers all allowed an overnight test drive with what I was interested to make my decision.

And some solid advice that instead of following the best deal, decide exactly what it is you want and decide if the numbers are acceptable - perhaps not the best. If you plan to keep it for a while, you better be happy right after you buy it or the rest of the miles will be miserable.

And, being blunt, there is no perfect mousetrap - all of the fullsize trucks have their quirks and issues. Period. Good luck in finding what works for you...
 
I wouldn’t trade it in on a new one. If anything I’d trade it in for 42k then buy an Enterprise ex rental Ram for 29k. Pocket the 13k and not worry about the numbers. Check for rust underneath.
 
First, go to your Uconnect settings and make sure the “Fuel Saver Display in Cluster” box is checked. It is somewhat of a known issue that the Eco light does not always function properly. Some non-USA vehicles require a reflash to the latest calibration to resolve the issue; refer to the very recent service bulletin that I screenshot.

Also, the eco light did not work properly when I first bought the truck. There would be times when the MDS was clearly active but the Eco light did not illuminate. I recently installed a trailer brake controller and part of the install process required adding a sales code to my configuration (in the FCA dealer connect portal) followed by performing a “restore vehicle configuration” in WiTech 2.0. After the vehicle configuration restore was performed, the Eco light has worked flawlessly. 🤷🏻‍♂️

That's hilarious! Yes, truck has all the latest updates, I check it periodically with WiTech as I'm sure you recall. I'll check the screen config later when my wife gets back from work.
 
First, go to your Uconnect settings and make sure the “Fuel Saver Display in Cluster” box is checked. It is somewhat of a known issue that the Eco light does not always function properly. Some non-USA vehicles require a reflash to the latest calibration to resolve the issue; refer to the very recent service bulletin that I screenshot.

Also, the eco light did not work properly when I first bought the truck. There would be times when the MDS was clearly active but the Eco light did not illuminate. I recently installed a trailer brake controller and part of the install process required adding a sales code to my configuration (in the FCA dealer connect portal) followed by performing a “restore vehicle configuration” in WiTech 2.0. After the vehicle configuration restore was performed, the Eco light has worked flawlessly. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Interesting twist, it appears it may be disabled on export models:
 
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