Catch an '09 Ram When You Can?

[TDRadmin]

[RAW]<br/>For months people have been speculating on the &#8220;new&#8221; Ram for 2009. Chrysler wouldn&#8217;t say, which almost confirms by omission, that it would debut at the 2008 Detroit auto show (more properly the North American International Auto Show but the incongruity of &#8220;North American International&#8221; makes me think it&#8217;s a stupid name). <br/><br/>There&#8217;s some debate about the engines. Will the 3.7-liter V-6 base engine be dropped in favor of the 4.0? Very likely&#8230;the 3.7 has a hard time hauling around a Dakota or a Liberty, never mind a full-size, and when was the last time you saw a redesigned truck that weighed less? The 4.7 will clear 300 hp, because it already does in other applications. That means the Hemi will have to be tweaked, although I&#8217;m not sure going to the full 6.1-liter size used by SRT is the right way to do it. <br/><br/>And the big question: Will there be a Cummins V-6 or V-8 in a half-ton? It could easily be done (I drove one in 2004) but the &#8220;new management&#8221; at Chrysler hasn&#8217;t been in place that long, so we&#8217;ll have to wait and see. If I told you everything I know I&#8217;d be unemployed. <br/><br/>Spies report the new Ram has coil springs, trailing arms and a Panhard rod in back, like some 1970&#8217;s pickups and modern &#8220;stock&#8221; cars. This wouldn&#8217;t surprise me because you can get a good ride, payload won&#8217;t be much more than 20% of truck weight, and Chrysler has it sorted in the porky Grand Cherokee/Commander/etc. A Watts linkage like the Durango would&#8217;ve been really neat. <br/><br/>I had heard the Ram had a sloped forward grille - again a throwback to the &#8217;70s and not surprising given the Avenger and Charger do as well, but that the interior got the major part of the upgrade. Seems any truck more than a few years old is &#8220;dated&#8221; these days because they&#8217;re not being used as tools and farm implements, they&#8217;re being used as cars. <br/><br/>And while the Challenger was taking first orders and those order slots, not the actual cars, were getting $15,000-20,000 on eBay, for a short time you could plainly see the 2009 Ram photo on a Mopar web page. Dodge claims it was a mistake, but we&#8217;ll never know because Executive Peon dismissals don&#8217;t merit press releases. Others think viral marketing and it was all planned. Conspiracy TDR theorists will say it&#8217;s just John Holmes getting even for forced retirement or a former stylist whose design was not chosen. <br/><br/>Did you see it? What did you think? Do you care? If you can&#8217;t answer positively to all those questions better let Dodge know ASAP so they get the HD version right.[/RAW]