I'm looking at a new Dodge pickup with the 5.7L hemi that retails in Phoenix for around $21k. It looks to be a ball to drive and gets mileage comparable to my '94 Dakota V-6.
What does Chevy offer in comparison?
Any bad mouth on the hemi?
TIA....
Hi!
Well, my Granddad has a 2000 Dodge 1500 extended pickup. 2 wheel drive with the 360 V8 engine and auto tranny. He's been very pleased with it and the truck has had no problems other than those requiring regular maintenance. The finish on the truck has held up well despite being subjected to abusive (scratch and chemical) conditions.
I don't know if the "Laramie" designation means a better interior or not, but I don't like the interior at all. Everything in the dash is rather large even though most of it works well. I don't like the included radio and the seats are very stiff. His truck has a rather "detached" feeling from the road when you drive it, but it does drive pretty well otherwise.
Most of this is true in the 2003 Dodge models that I tried when I was truck shopping.
Then there's that front end on the new Dodge trucks...and the fact that my mother has a 2000 Grand Voyager from Chrysler that has been a lot of trouble in the fit and finish department.
The Silverado or an S-10. The GMC brand offers the Sonoma or the Sierra--pretty much the same truck, but usually with more bells and whistles included that make it more expensive than the Chevrolet.
I like the interior, exterior and even that exaggerated grille/front of the Silverado a lot better than that of the Dodge. The seats are better and the sizing of the dash and dash widgets (!) seems to be much better. Wouldn't say the radio is better, it's about the same as the Dodge, but with more bells and whistles in some cases. In general, I think the interior of the full size Silverado or an S-10 is loads better.
I got my S-10 with the basic black interior, LS trim, and black in color. It's very comfortable and cleans up well from the worst of messes. I had a disaster last night where I spilled most of a 40 oz. soda drink on the carpet. 30 minutes later when I got home, I blotted it up with dampened paper towel, vacuumed it to pick up the "lint" from the towel and you'd never know now that it ever happened. The carpet has also recovered quite well from mud.
Chevrolet V8 engines seem to run well, but recent ones have piston slap noises in some cases. Auto tranmissions can cook if you do things like tow in O/D, but I think that is true for most makes of auto trannies. The 4.3L V6 as used in the lower end full size trucks and the S-10 is an absolutely wonderful engine. Bulletproof, but underpowered for a full size truck.
Nope, no experience with it.
All in all, I'd buy the Chevrolet any day of the week. Most importantly, choose a dealership that you can trust to take care of you no matter which truck you buy...and that'll make the whole thing a lot better when you have problems--which either truck probably will at some point.
William
The only thing I will caution you on is resale value. The dodges arebn't keeping their value for shit.
Chevies on the other hand retain their value better than for or Dodge.
Not from me . But then mine is only a week and a half old. Towing a 7,000+ lb trailer it got around 10 mpg. Solo around town it's getting around 15 and open road it's getting about 17. I'll take it, it can only get better. HD in NY
Well, Dodge is now owned by a German company. That's a good reason to buy something else.
DiamerChrysler's world HQ is in Michigan.
Just so Dodge parts don't become as dear as Mercedes parts....
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