Ram-bunctious!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
By Andrew W. Davis
The original "big rig" pickup puts its best (new) face forward
I want one of these. Bad. Even though I don't need a truck (and wouldn't be unable to justify its purchase to the wife anyway).
If that gives the game away this early, so be it. For the first time in a long time I've been given a vehicle I could easily see seeing on a daily basis for, well, for as long as we both shall live.
Or until something better comes along. You know how that goes, right?
[What? You don't have access to an ever-changing fleet of the latest and greatest vehicles? Oh, sorry. Anyway...]
Now I'll admit up front that I'm naturally predisposed to favor vehicles which feature front-mounted high-horsepower engines which warp the pavement via their rear wheels.
I don't know why that is, exactly, but I feel it has something to do with my love for donuts, drifting and other feats made possible by power-on oversteer.
So you tell me you've got an all-new rear-driver with a 390 horsepower 5.7-liter "HEMI" V8 under its hood and you had me at, well, "all-new".
Throw in the fact that we're talking about the Ram full-size pickup truck instead of, oh, the Challenger (a car that sits in my driveway as I write this and which you'll see in this space soon), let's say, and it's not a deal-breaker.
The Ram's good. Actually, as far as pick-'em-ups go, it's great. But for my average reader, they're just not anything to write about.
[See that? That was a journalist joke. I guess it's only funny to us journos...]
But wait. That is the new Ram? It's too, well, bad-ass. Have all the months crafting Chargers and Challengers caused Dodge's stylists to put muscle car touches on everything? Bumper-to-bumper, from the chin-splitter-style one up front to the one that bulges about dual exhaust tips out back, this is a mean-looking machine.
Awesome. Let's motorvate!
Great Exner's Ghost!
"Suddenly it's 1960!"
That was the tag line Chrysler used the last time this particular styling touch you see exciting-up the new '09 Ram's snout. Over 50 years ago!
The brainchild of the company's top designer, Virgil Exner, that forward-jutting hood edge was just one of the visually-exciting styling elements---second only, perhaps, to the cars' wild fins---Exner used to break the 1955-59 Chrysler Corp. cars from their dumpy, lumpy predecessors.
It worked. In a big way.
When asked to name a stylish '50s Mopar, chances are pretty good that most folks will point to a vehicle that features what Exner called "The Forward Look."
We're talking in-your-face iron like Plymouth's Fury, Chrysler's New Yorker and Dodge's varied (and comparatively-ugly) offerings.
There wasn't a solid engineering-type reason why they had to tilt those cars' heads into the wind back then, and it's still purely aesthetic now, too.
But you know what? It still works.
[So long as you don't start thinking like a pedestrian. Then the leading edge of the hood seems to jut dangerously out, nearly ahead of the grille frame. And it's perfectly neck-high. Yikes!]
Anyhoo, it gives the Ram the look of its biological namesake in full charge, with its jutting hood "horns" full-forward and its front fascia "snout" down in the dirt.
[Speaking of that fascia, thanks to its aggressive shape---and its being fully-painted body color on the Sport-trimmed trucks (like the blue one, above)---it looks racy, too, as if it's not that far removed from the actually-racing machines Dodge fields in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series.]
But Dodge can crow about more than the looks of the new Ram (so I will too...).
Great Gobs of Go-fast!
Though I'm sure that the 3.7-liter V6 (215 hp/235 lb.-ft.) and 4.7-liter V8 (310 hp/330 lb.-ft.) are fine engines, the only real choice for a vehicle this size is the range-topping 5.7-liter "HEMI" V8 and its 380 horsepower and 404 lb.-ft. of torque.
Before you start getting antsy about fuel economy, know this: thanks to its cylinder-deactivation function the 5.7-liter HEMI gets the same EPA rating as the one-liter-smaller V8 (13 city/19 hwy.) and both are just a hair off the V6's 14 city/20 hwy.
What the HEMI does best, however, isn't firing on only a few of its cylinders. It's true charm becomes apparent when its hammering around on all eight.
Now I'm not going to tell you that a nearly 5,000 lb. pickup can perform like a Challenger or Charger---though they all share basically the same 5.7-liter---but I am telling you that this Ram will run rings around a Five-oh Mustang or IROC-Z.
[And it'll out-haul and -tow them too!]
Speaking of which...
Great groups of goodies!
Though I prefer the looks of the mid-grade "Sport" Ram I can't argue with Dodge's decision to put me into a loaded version of its range-topping "Laramie".
Granted, $46,020 is a lot to spend on a truck---that's "as-tested" with over six grand in options---but you certainly do get your money's worth.
This Laramie has it all, including nearly every body, power- and drive-train configuration plus more comfort and convenience items than your home, including the entire "uconnect suite", which includes SIRIUS Satellite radio/TV and the gear to make your truck its own "WiFi hot-spot" (for an extra fee, of course).
Speaking of fees, my loaded-up tester was lacking only one feature: the "RamBox."
Though they take away some space in the bed, these massive lit and lockable "cubbies" in each rear fender are just the thing for safe tool---or soda or golf club---storage.
The catch? It's $1,850---if you can find it---though you get a bed divider and extender gate along with it, too.
Regardless, there's plenty of storage in the new Ram. Each rear seat sits atop lidded cubbies and there are two six-pack-holding wells beneath the rear floor mats.
Heck, with the underfloor filled with chilled beer, a great DVD on the overhead flip-down screen
But that's not to say it's perfect...
Bottom line
Every advance comes with setbacks. The Multi-Displacement System on the Hemi, for instance, might be more fuel-efficient, but it's also lazier and louder.
Every time you see the words "FUEL SAVER" light up on the IP---and that's nearly all the time you're not accelerating---you know two things: that there are four less soldiers in your go-fast army and there'll be a lot of grumble/stumble when you bring the other four back from R&R.
Similarly, while the new interior is a godsend in terms of luxury look and feel, it's also overwrought and space-inefficient.
In fact, that's pretty much how I'd sum up the Ram. When compared to other trucks it's a wonder. But vs. other vehicle types? Umm... do they make a Hybrid?
