Hi,
I am considering a 2005 or newer Dakota quad cab with a V8. Does anyone have any experience with one that they would be interested in sharing?

Questions:
gas mileage?
reliability?
driveability?

Any serious comments would be appreciated.

 

i know several people who have newer dakotas, and while the reliability is there, fuel mileage typically is not...but for the most part, that will be the case with most V8s without some sort of MDS...

 

Thanks Patrick. Any idea about the actual numbers on gas mileage? I'm considering a Chevy Silverado or a GMC Sonoma extended cab as well. I like the idea of the quad cab, but it is just too big in a full size truck to park and maneuver around town.

Thanks

 

im guessing that this is a 4wd?

 

No, I'm considering a 2WD model. I live in the city and have a second home on 12 acres in the country. The truck will be my daily driver. I want to be able to haul things when needed but have room/comfort for passengers. The truck will rarely ever be off road.

That's the reason I'm considering the Dakota. Smaller than full size, but not too small. A quad cab can fit 4 adults in comfort. I have just heard some negative things about the reliability, especially the tranny. I'm a devoted GM man, but do not like the styling of the Colorado.

 

Considering something gently used like this one.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...g=1&cardist=71

 

i wont lie to you...dodge has had its fair share of tranny problems, and then some. the 46RH is a fairly problematic trans, as are the other more recent dodge truck transmissions. I worked at a dodge dealership for a while, and i saw quite a few problems...however, i own a truck with a 46RH, which is considered to be one of the "problem transmissions", and with 120,000 miles, even with taking it to the track once in a while, it hasnt given us any problem, but i do take care of my vehicles. the people who you often hear of these awful trans problems must not keep up with preventative maintenance measures...i even know of someone who is running in the 12s with a full size ram, with the 46RH, and he has had very few problems...even making ALOT of runs.

let me ask a few people whom i know with dakotas, and see if i cant get you a real world mileage number...what type of daily driving will you be doing? do you live in a hilly area?

 

My daily driving will be in the city with not a lot of hills. No heavy hauling of any kind. Just hauling something ocasionally. Our second home in the hill country has some hills but nothing too extreme.

My daily commute is about 10 miles round trip. I often go to customer sites. I imagine that I will put probably about 10K miles per year on this truck.

I used to get a company car for this but my company recently switched to a car allowance. It is a generous car allowance, but my daily driver is now my 2003 Corvette. Although it is a great car, it is not the best vehicle for a field service engineer. My goal is to pay it off soon, return it to it's garage queen status and get a good truck for a daily driver.

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

Larry

 

i wouldnt want to chew up a nice vette with work miles either!

ok, my first response from an owner...he has 4.7L new dakota, with a manual transmission, and 4wd...town mileage for him is around 16...with town mileage in a more hilly area being around 13-14..ive gotten no answers from the 2wd guys, but that gives you a pretty good idea...

 

Thanks for the info. I'll keep waiting for some more responses. I have between 3 and 6 months before I can buy a truck. Depends how many much extra I can put towards paying the vette off. I'll continue to hang out here and monitor this and other forums.

Cheers,
Larry