The world is changing and the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 is going to arrive right in the middle of it. The sales of pickup trucks slid downward 13.2 percent during 2007, and every smarty-pants on television wants to blame the pickup for global warming.
Meanwhile there's a major escalation in the pickup truck sales wars, with the forthcoming, all-new Ford F-150, the recently revised Chevy Silverado and the fresh, full-size Toyota Tundra each struggling to increase sales. There's even an environmentally friendly pickup truck on the way to the market, the 2009 GMC Hybrid. You have to wonder if there's room in the market for them all.
But the truck guys tell us that things aren't as dire as they seem. The truck market simply tends to fluctuate between 1.5 and 2.2 million sales per year. Since real people use real trucks for real work every day, the truck market isn't going to disappear any time soon.
Some 358,295 Dodge Rams of all types hit the ground last year, accounting for 16.8 percent of the market. Since truck buyers typically show very high brand loyalty (more than 50 percent repeat their brand purchase), there are going to be plenty of potential buyers looking at the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500.
But it's not going to be easy. And that's why the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 has a new, fuel-efficient 5.7-liter Hemi V8, a more practical-size crew cab and even coil-spring rear suspension. Plus there are both two-mode hybrid and diesel versions on the way as well.
Practical Size
The 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 reinvented pickup trucks. Not only did its big-rig look make it the most noticed vehicle on the road (even more popular than the Dodge Viper), but also its four-door Quad Cab made the pickup truck a useful passenger vehicle for the first time. Virtually overnight, sales of Dodge pickups climbed from 60,000 units to a peak of 449,371 in 2002.
But Dodge has a problem. The four-door Quad Cab no longer seems roomy enough for full-time use, while the four-door Mega Cab measures 249 inches overall, too long for a garage. Since nearly half of full-size trucks are sold in four-door configurations, this is a big problem. So the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 will be available in a practical, in-between Crew Cab configuration, with a wheelbase of 140 inches and an overall length of 229 inches. The Mega Cab will now be available only on heavy-duty Ram 2500 and 3500 chassis.
Inside the Ram 1500, you'll find redesigned controls, new soft-touch materials and more storage locations to hold odds and ends. A pair of "store-in-the-floor" bins has removable liners and can accommodate 10 12-ounce beverages plus ice. There are first-in-class available heated and ventilated front seats, and heated rear seats. According to Dodge, considerable effort went into giving the interior a robust, high-quality feeling. We'll wait for a full test-drive to pass judgment on the success of that effort, but there's no question that the Ram's look has moved upscale.
Look, Mom, No Leaf Springs!
The 2009 Dodge Ram finally steps up to a more rigid, fully boxed frame featuring hydroformed, high-strength steel. Yet the thing you'll notice most is the conspicuous lack of leaf springs for the rear suspension, which have been a staple of full-size pickups for as long as there have been full-size pickups. (Well, a real long time, anyway.) The Ram positions its live axle with multiple links, while big coil springs shoulder the load. The previous staggered rear shock absorbers have been replaced with symmetrical forward-facing dampers.
The coil-spring rear suspension for the solid rear axle reduces weight by 40 pounds, and the big payoff is in ride quality and handling thanks to reduced friction and more effective suspension action. Dodge claims the arrangement offers durability comparable to leaf springs, and there appear to be no utility sacrifices since the payload is 1,850 pounds and there's an available tow package that's rated at 9,100 pounds.
To suit a variety of cargo needs, three cargo box sizes are offered: 8-foot (regular cab), 6-foot-4 (regular cab and Quad Cab) and a new 5-foot-7 box (Ram Crew 1500).
More Motor, More Motors
Dodge isn't afraid of being politically incorrect about performance claims for the new Ram 1500.
There's a new new-generation 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with improved breathing, taller compression and variable valve timing among other tweaks, and this engine now produces 380 horsepower and 404 pound-feet of torque (improvements of 35 hp and 29 lb-ft, respectively). Since this Hemi is 4 percent more fuel-efficient thanks in part to variable-displacement technology that allows the engine to run on just four cylinders, maybe Dodge doesn't have to be shy about boasting about performance. Apparently the regular-cab Ram equipped with a short bed, a 4.10:1 final-drive ratio, a five-speed automatic and the new Hemi will get to 60 mph in just 6.1 seconds.
If you don't need that level of aggression from the engine bay, there's also a new flex-fuel 4.7-liter V8 rated at the same 310 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque as its predecessor. The base engine for two-wheel-drive regular and Quad Cab models is the familiar 3.7-liter V6 with 215 hp and 235 lb-ft of torque.
Just as important, Dodge says it has some seriously fuel-efficient powertrains on the way. Sometime after 2009, a turbocharged Cummins diesel will be available. For 2010, there will be a Dodge Ram with the two-mode hybrid technology Chrysler has developed in partnership with BMW, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz. The hybrid system will boost the Ram 1500's city fuel economy by nearly 40 percent and improve highway fuel economy by 20 percent.
The Stuff That Trucks Are Made Of
Dodge has always been very good about studying the way people use their trucks, and it's led the way in introducing features that make life with a pickup both more practical and more comfortable.
The 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 continues this tradition with its new RamBox cargo management system. Storage bins are integrated into the sidewalls of the cargo bed, and they're lighted, drainable, lockable and weatherproof. Each box holds up to 4.3 cubic feet of stuff — even five cases of 12-ounce beverages.
There's also an adjustable bed divider/extender that fits on the lowered tailgate to add 2 feet of length in order to secure loads up to 7 feet long. A rail system within the bed has sliding adjustable cleats to make it easier to secure cargo. Even the tailgate has a feature to reduce the effort required to raise and lower it.
The same kind of thinking extends to the interior, where in addition to the store-in-the-floor bins there are 38 storage cubbyholes of various sizes, almost twice as many as before.
And since more families use pickups than ever before, there's a full allotment of electronic entertainment including a hard-drive-based navigation system with Chrysler's MyGIG music storage system and real-time traffic information. Among the usual video and telephonic features, there's Sirius Backseat TV, and when the transmission is in Park, the programming will appear on both front and rear display screens.
Even the Dodge Ram 1500's driving experience has luxury overtones, with rear park assist and a back-up camera, plus a complete menu of safety features like antilock brakes, side curtain airbags, electronic stability control, all-speed traction control and trailer sway control.
Has the Look Gone West?
The 1994 Dodge Ram really changed the truck market with its unmistakable big-rig styling. But when Dodge introduced the new Ram with a trail drive of 20 Longhorn cattle down Washington Boulevard to the Detroit auto show, we were left with the feeling that the Ram might be chasing the same cowboys that Chevy and Ford keep wrangling over.
Since then, the two-tone Ram Laramie has been the focus of Dodge's initial promotion and it hasn't exactly grabbed us. But if you look closer, all the good stuff appears to be in place.
The big-rig Ram grille now is mounted on the body instead of the hood, and it's tilted forward. Despite the "head down, ready to charge" theme of this grille, Dodge claims the new truck has a 0.42 Cd, making it the sleekest big pickup on the market and probably accounting for a slight reduction in owner palpitations at the gas pump. Plus there are 20-inch wheels in three styles.
There are five trim levels available for the '09 Ram: ST, SLT, TRX, Sport and the top-of-the-line Laramie. And now that we've gotten an early look at the Sport, we feel a lot more comfortable with the new look. When you consider the styling confusion shown by the pickups from Ford, GM and Toyota, the Dodge suddenly looks a lot better.
Different, but Is It Better?
As with every truck, the merits of the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 will be found in the details. After all, a pickup truck isn't just a single model; instead it's more like an array of features that can be packaged differently according to your requirements.
There was a time when pickup trucks were only renewed once a decade, and sometimes not even then. But since the 1994 Dodge Ram made the pickup a real statement of style, function and performance, the whole truck market has changed. And with the emphasis on fuel-efficiency, it's changing again.
Once we have a chance to drive the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 right next to the Chevy Silverado, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra and Toyota Tundra, then we'll know if Chrysler's truck is good enough to keep its place in such a crowded market of competitors.
Meanwhile there's a major escalation in the pickup truck sales wars, with the forthcoming, all-new Ford F-150, the recently revised Chevy Silverado and the fresh, full-size Toyota Tundra each struggling to increase sales. There's even an environmentally friendly pickup truck on the way to the market, the 2009 GMC Hybrid. You have to wonder if there's room in the market for them all.
But the truck guys tell us that things aren't as dire as they seem. The truck market simply tends to fluctuate between 1.5 and 2.2 million sales per year. Since real people use real trucks for real work every day, the truck market isn't going to disappear any time soon.
Some 358,295 Dodge Rams of all types hit the ground last year, accounting for 16.8 percent of the market. Since truck buyers typically show very high brand loyalty (more than 50 percent repeat their brand purchase), there are going to be plenty of potential buyers looking at the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500.
But it's not going to be easy. And that's why the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 has a new, fuel-efficient 5.7-liter Hemi V8, a more practical-size crew cab and even coil-spring rear suspension. Plus there are both two-mode hybrid and diesel versions on the way as well.
Practical Size
The 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 reinvented pickup trucks. Not only did its big-rig look make it the most noticed vehicle on the road (even more popular than the Dodge Viper), but also its four-door Quad Cab made the pickup truck a useful passenger vehicle for the first time. Virtually overnight, sales of Dodge pickups climbed from 60,000 units to a peak of 449,371 in 2002.
But Dodge has a problem. The four-door Quad Cab no longer seems roomy enough for full-time use, while the four-door Mega Cab measures 249 inches overall, too long for a garage. Since nearly half of full-size trucks are sold in four-door configurations, this is a big problem. So the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 will be available in a practical, in-between Crew Cab configuration, with a wheelbase of 140 inches and an overall length of 229 inches. The Mega Cab will now be available only on heavy-duty Ram 2500 and 3500 chassis.
Inside the Ram 1500, you'll find redesigned controls, new soft-touch materials and more storage locations to hold odds and ends. A pair of "store-in-the-floor" bins has removable liners and can accommodate 10 12-ounce beverages plus ice. There are first-in-class available heated and ventilated front seats, and heated rear seats. According to Dodge, considerable effort went into giving the interior a robust, high-quality feeling. We'll wait for a full test-drive to pass judgment on the success of that effort, but there's no question that the Ram's look has moved upscale.
Look, Mom, No Leaf Springs!
The 2009 Dodge Ram finally steps up to a more rigid, fully boxed frame featuring hydroformed, high-strength steel. Yet the thing you'll notice most is the conspicuous lack of leaf springs for the rear suspension, which have been a staple of full-size pickups for as long as there have been full-size pickups. (Well, a real long time, anyway.) The Ram positions its live axle with multiple links, while big coil springs shoulder the load. The previous staggered rear shock absorbers have been replaced with symmetrical forward-facing dampers.
The coil-spring rear suspension for the solid rear axle reduces weight by 40 pounds, and the big payoff is in ride quality and handling thanks to reduced friction and more effective suspension action. Dodge claims the arrangement offers durability comparable to leaf springs, and there appear to be no utility sacrifices since the payload is 1,850 pounds and there's an available tow package that's rated at 9,100 pounds.
To suit a variety of cargo needs, three cargo box sizes are offered: 8-foot (regular cab), 6-foot-4 (regular cab and Quad Cab) and a new 5-foot-7 box (Ram Crew 1500).
More Motor, More Motors
Dodge isn't afraid of being politically incorrect about performance claims for the new Ram 1500.
There's a new new-generation 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with improved breathing, taller compression and variable valve timing among other tweaks, and this engine now produces 380 horsepower and 404 pound-feet of torque (improvements of 35 hp and 29 lb-ft, respectively). Since this Hemi is 4 percent more fuel-efficient thanks in part to variable-displacement technology that allows the engine to run on just four cylinders, maybe Dodge doesn't have to be shy about boasting about performance. Apparently the regular-cab Ram equipped with a short bed, a 4.10:1 final-drive ratio, a five-speed automatic and the new Hemi will get to 60 mph in just 6.1 seconds.
If you don't need that level of aggression from the engine bay, there's also a new flex-fuel 4.7-liter V8 rated at the same 310 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque as its predecessor. The base engine for two-wheel-drive regular and Quad Cab models is the familiar 3.7-liter V6 with 215 hp and 235 lb-ft of torque.
Just as important, Dodge says it has some seriously fuel-efficient powertrains on the way. Sometime after 2009, a turbocharged Cummins diesel will be available. For 2010, there will be a Dodge Ram with the two-mode hybrid technology Chrysler has developed in partnership with BMW, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz. The hybrid system will boost the Ram 1500's city fuel economy by nearly 40 percent and improve highway fuel economy by 20 percent.
The Stuff That Trucks Are Made Of
Dodge has always been very good about studying the way people use their trucks, and it's led the way in introducing features that make life with a pickup both more practical and more comfortable.
The 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 continues this tradition with its new RamBox cargo management system. Storage bins are integrated into the sidewalls of the cargo bed, and they're lighted, drainable, lockable and weatherproof. Each box holds up to 4.3 cubic feet of stuff — even five cases of 12-ounce beverages.
There's also an adjustable bed divider/extender that fits on the lowered tailgate to add 2 feet of length in order to secure loads up to 7 feet long. A rail system within the bed has sliding adjustable cleats to make it easier to secure cargo. Even the tailgate has a feature to reduce the effort required to raise and lower it.
The same kind of thinking extends to the interior, where in addition to the store-in-the-floor bins there are 38 storage cubbyholes of various sizes, almost twice as many as before.
And since more families use pickups than ever before, there's a full allotment of electronic entertainment including a hard-drive-based navigation system with Chrysler's MyGIG music storage system and real-time traffic information. Among the usual video and telephonic features, there's Sirius Backseat TV, and when the transmission is in Park, the programming will appear on both front and rear display screens.
Even the Dodge Ram 1500's driving experience has luxury overtones, with rear park assist and a back-up camera, plus a complete menu of safety features like antilock brakes, side curtain airbags, electronic stability control, all-speed traction control and trailer sway control.
Has the Look Gone West?
The 1994 Dodge Ram really changed the truck market with its unmistakable big-rig styling. But when Dodge introduced the new Ram with a trail drive of 20 Longhorn cattle down Washington Boulevard to the Detroit auto show, we were left with the feeling that the Ram might be chasing the same cowboys that Chevy and Ford keep wrangling over.
Since then, the two-tone Ram Laramie has been the focus of Dodge's initial promotion and it hasn't exactly grabbed us. But if you look closer, all the good stuff appears to be in place.
The big-rig Ram grille now is mounted on the body instead of the hood, and it's tilted forward. Despite the "head down, ready to charge" theme of this grille, Dodge claims the new truck has a 0.42 Cd, making it the sleekest big pickup on the market and probably accounting for a slight reduction in owner palpitations at the gas pump. Plus there are 20-inch wheels in three styles.
There are five trim levels available for the '09 Ram: ST, SLT, TRX, Sport and the top-of-the-line Laramie. And now that we've gotten an early look at the Sport, we feel a lot more comfortable with the new look. When you consider the styling confusion shown by the pickups from Ford, GM and Toyota, the Dodge suddenly looks a lot better.
Different, but Is It Better?
As with every truck, the merits of the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 will be found in the details. After all, a pickup truck isn't just a single model; instead it's more like an array of features that can be packaged differently according to your requirements.
There was a time when pickup trucks were only renewed once a decade, and sometimes not even then. But since the 1994 Dodge Ram made the pickup a real statement of style, function and performance, the whole truck market has changed. And with the emphasis on fuel-efficiency, it's changing again.
Once we have a chance to drive the 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 right next to the Chevy Silverado, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra and Toyota Tundra, then we'll know if Chrysler's truck is good enough to keep its place in such a crowded market of competitors.
Add A Comment »