Ram Challenge Test Drive

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Has anyone signed up for the Ram Challenge? I think this would be fun. If they were doing it in the Northwest I would be interested. They have locations through a lot of the US but the closest location to here is Sacramento. . . 700+ miles away

 

[jwgary]

I just signed up for the one in Dallas next weekend. I'll let you know what I find out and maybe post some pics.

 

[mlockner]

I signed up for the one in the Denver area. I have been to some other things like this and they are a great time.



Mike L.

 

[ttbird]

Signed up in Phila. on 8-03-08 at 8:00am.

 

[Dieselnut59]

In the ad for the truck, there is NO mention of the availability of the diesel engine? WTF?????

This would be the PERFECT time for Dodge to introduce and promote it, along with some REAL WORLD fuel economy numbers... Hope they don't bomb the introduction of the diesel. They should be AHEAD of the game before the arrival of the Mahindra truck from India or before the other companies unveil a diesel...

 

[Stark_Ent9802]

Signed up for the New York one ! I did this back in 2002 when the third gens came out.

 

[gitchesum]

I made it out there this afternoon before work.



They had Ford, Chevy, Toyota, and Dodge trucks out there to drive and compare. YOu could only compare them on two of the three courses. The 4X4 course was Dodge only.



I'm very impressed with the interior of the new Ram. Very impressed. They done away with the cheap plastic look they have had for years and realy softened up the interior. It is just as nice as my wife's Pacifica on the inside. Major improvement.



The coil rear suspension gives you a night and day difference over the other 3 half ton trucks with rear leaf spring. Granted, these are only half ton trucks, so I was expecting a better ride than my 3/4 ton truck, but this thing rides extremely smooth. Seeing that coils springs haven't been used on the rear end of a truck for over 30 years, I would imagine the engineering and materials have improved since then. I hope they last as long as a leaf springs suspension would.



Performance wise, what can I say. They all felt weak to me, but I felt the Tundra felt the strongest out of all of them powerwise. Something just didn't feel right when I stomped the go pedal on the Hemi. The Tundra lit the rear tires up, the Hemi wouldn't do that. Maybe that particular model had some kind of traction control I didn't see, but it just felt weaker on the line. It was stronger than the Chevy or the Ford.



The high speed cornering was MUCH better than the rest. It took very little effort to run the little slalom course at the same speeds as the other brands. It seemed to keep you more vertical in your seat and didn't throw you around like the other brand would. I wanted to push is further than I did, but they were already giving me funny looks for making all kinds of tire noise out there



If they put similar quality in the 2500-5500 trucks, y'all are going to be VERY impressed with the new Dodge truck. The truck was solid as a rock front to back, and those bed rail "RamBox" additions looked like they would be beyond awesome.



I'll get some pics up shortly.





BTW, the Challenger?



BAD!!!!!! I want one so bad it isn't funny.



Oh, the them boys from Michigan were melting down here. It was almost 100 degrees today.



Added on Edit:

Picasa Web Albums - Curtis - Ram Challenge...

 

[Stark_Ent9802]

Thanks for the overview. Looking forward to next weekend in NY!

 

[SNiebaum]

How does the quad cab compare to the current quad?? How does the new crew cab compare to the current quad and current Mega??

 

[MMeier]

Has anyone signed up for the Ram Challenge? I think this would be fun. If they were doing it in the Northwest I would be interested. They have locations through a lot of the US but the closest location to here is Sacramento. . . 700+ miles away

ROADTRIP!!!!!

 

[gitchesum]

Quad cabs felt like they were the same as the current cab. The Crew cab looked like it has the same leg room as the Mega, but it doesn't have the behind the seat room the Mega has.



Being 6'1" and 300#, I was perfectly comfortable in the Crew cab.

 

[jwgary]

How do those side mirrors compare to the current towing mirrors? Oddly enough that is one of the biggest things I am worrying about switching to one of these 1500s.

 

[gitchesum]

I've never had a truck with towing mirrors, so I don't have anything to compare to.

I didn't have any issues with the mirrors. Maybe because we wre on a closed course and you really didn't have anyone behind you most of the time.

I wish they would have had a course with trailers on the trucks.

 

[SNiebaum]

Quad cabs felt like they were the same as the current cab. The Crew cab looked like it has the same leg room as the Mega, but it doesn't have the behind the seat room the Mega has.



Being 6'1" and 300#, I was perfectly comfortable in the Crew cab.

Good deal... that's what had been reported on allpar but I wanted confirmation from someone who had actually been in one.

 

[jwgary]

I don't have the pics yet, but here's my impressions after the event this weekend. I was extremely impressed with the feel of the new coil spring rear suspension. One part of the "Construction Zone" had a "temporary bridge" that was basically 4x4s laid on the ground in a herringbone pattern about 4" apart. This felt rather much like driving over a cattle guard. I was expecting the usual bumps in the front followed by more violent bumps in the rear. It was the exact opposite. The front was just as I expected and then almost nothing from the rear. I was greatly impressed.

On the road courses, the new suspension seemed to handle fine and not experience any abnormal roll.

They had one truck with the optional towing mirrors that will be new for 2009. The current "hockey stick" flip out mirrors are gone in exchange for a three-position pull out mirror with the same basic shape as the current ones with the bubble in the top, outside corner.

There is quite a bit of room in the crew cab with a shorter bed, of course. However, that bed at 5'7" is longer than any of the competition with a crew cab.

I still have to wait another 2 years until mine is 10 years old to replace it with the new diesel slated for the 2010 model year. It looks like Dodge has been doing a lot of good design.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Can anyone tell me if you can get a long box with the crew cab?

 

[gitchesum]

No, not in the half ton trucks.

 

[Mad Bomber]

I found on the home page



Cummins to Produce Light-Duty Clean-Diesel Engines at Columbus Engine Plant Published 10/11/2006 For Immediate Release October 11, 2007 COLUMBUS, IND. - Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) today announced that it has selected the Columbus Engine Plant (CEP) here as the production facility for its new family of light-duty, clean-diesel engines, which the Company plans to begin manufacturing by no later than 2010. Preparations for the manufacturing lines are scheduled to begin in mid-2007 and are expected to create 200 additional jobs by the end of next year. Cummins expects the new line to employ at least 600 to 800 people within two years of the product launch. Click here to access the full article.

» Cummins to Produce High-Performance, Light-Duty Diesel Engines Published 07/28/2006