Opinion Poll Question

[Mbschmidt]

What year 3rd generation trucks do you think are the best and why?

 

[MChrist]

I would have to have all of them to give you a solid answer, unfortunately I don't. I really like my '06 thoughOo.

 

[Edgemann55]

My 05 has served me well. 80K trouble free miles. Other then changing the oil and fuel filters it has all original parts. I have had no injector,ball joint,universal problems at all. Gets a solid 17-20+ mpg depending on how much I stomp the right foot. Oh I did have to replace a taillight.

 

[gsbrockman]

305*555's are awesome !

2003 thru 2004. 4..... the good ol' 305*555 was a great combination of stock power and fuel economy, especially when coupled to an NV5600.



Miss my 2003 sometimes... ...



Greg

 

[p-Bar]

03 HO no third injection event

 

[BIGNASTY]

04. 5 because its mine

 

[meanmatt]

I like my 06 . Has the software built into auto trans to use exhaust brake . Which I use on every off ramp never even touching the brake pedal. Same as said above good fuel economy . My daily driving I average 17. 5-18. 5 . If you can stand to drive at 55 you will be pretty amazed at how far above 20 it gets, hand calculated of coarse

 

[DaveHess]

I love my 2003! She's all mine! I love the lack of emissions, the look, the reliability, the ease and availibility of mods and that it'll "haul the mail"!

 

[Grizzly]

I believe 04. 5 and early 05. I say early 05 because it came with an NV5600 six speed. No DMF. I believe all 3rd gen are great and much improved from the 2nd gen. Having said that, I did have a 95, which I purchased new, that was completely trouble free. Never went to the shop for anything. I replaced the front brake pads and had the front end aligned. No other issues in the 10 years I owned it, great truck. So far the 05 has been just as good and never been to the shop either.

 

[04blackcherry]

Since getting my '04 2500 305HO 4x4 6-speed, I have learned a lot about mine. You need to go blogging. Like here. Geno's garage has some articles about different areas of concern for the different gens. For the early '04 there is the lift pump, and the horn pad, and the ripping out of the dash to fix the heater box doors. I've only had this thing since June '09. I love having the monster. My buddy has always driven a Dodge turbo diesel . He has had an '89 1 ton, '92 2500, '96 2500, and '01 2500. He has never have a major issue with any of them. I believe the running gear in my '04 is pretty stout. My only real concern is the 3 or 4 modules that have to communicate with each other just to get out of the driveway.

 

[Walker1]

I think the 1st gens. They're tanks, also drive like one. For the 3rd gen 03/04 would be my pick. 2 injection events, no egr, and no cats. Just look at all the burnt pistons on the later trucks. Now the earlys are running into injector issues, blame dodge for the poor filters on our trucks.

 

[brods]

Good question. I would seriously look at an 03 or 04. They look the same as the 04. 5 and 05, have no kitty, no sooty oil from the smog cam and third injection event and they give slightly better mpg. Sure the lift pump needs work but that is much easier to deal with than a cam swap. My 05 has had a bunch of issues but overall is a decent vehicle. I miss the exhaust smell of an unsmogafied diesel and really hate the sooty oil though.

 

[AWeiman]

i would have to go with 06. mainly because if i am correct 06 and early 07 are the only years you could get a mega cab and a 5. 9. and that was the only way the wife would buy a ctd, and since its just a daily driver i figured we would have better luck with the 5. 9. so far we have had great luck with it. and its a way cooler grocery getter for the wife than a minivan. :-laf

 

[BrianJ]

'06 or '07 IMO, with 2003 to early 2004 as second choice. 2004. 5's had too many injector and lift pump issues (I speak from first hand experience), the 2005's seem to still have some injector issues and may or may not have plastic intercooler ends, and don't have as good of 48re programming as the 2006+. By 2006 they finally resolved the main issues the early "CTD600's" were having. There are/were lots of naysayers on the G56, but the problems seem to be few and far between.

 

[DocDetonancour]

Just went to Boz yesterday with the "early" 04 and got 23 mpg! Slow running thru the Park, but I love it! Doc

 

[Matt400]

Thats a real hard one, I owned an 03 and now an 05. My son bought my 03, then an 06 and now is driving an 04. 5 all 48re automatics. They all have little differences about them. His 04. 5 seems to shift better at 110K over my 05 with 60K on it. I think it may be the cable operated throttle valve being a tad better than my 05's electric motor.



I like them all and hard to say but I think I would swallow all the emissions garb on the new ones to get a 6 speed auto with paddle shift. We have that kind of shift in our Charger and its super nice... would be real sweet for towing however I have no plans to move out of my 05 for a long time.