Half-ton trucks may be what really pays the bills for the American automakers but the Heavy Duty side of the yard is what serious truck buyers gravitate towards (and of course generates huge profits as well); those people that actually use their trucks for work, income, and a big part of daily life including spending much of their day inside them, i.e. they are mobile offices as much as they are workhorses.
With the current generation of RAM 2500 (the 3/4 ton model) available in multiple configurations and trims, last year we looked at a 2500 Tradesman with a PowerWagon option package in 4×4 trim, and now we have what is likely the volume and overall profit leader in the line, the 2500 Laramie Crew Cab trim set up for towing but still with the gas-fed 6.4l Hemi V8 engine. RAM offers so many different interior trim levels that it’s interesting to see the differences, there really should be one version or another that appeals to any actual truck buyer amongst them.
And for many (actually, most) that is the Laramie trim – the trim levels start at Tradesman (basic but still very comfortable with all the absolute essentials), continuing through Big Horn, then converging around Laramie and Power Wagon trims (similar price points but focused on different needs), and then continuing up the ladder to Laramie Longhorn and finally Limited as the top dog for luxury.
That mid-range positioning doesn’t mean that the Laramie actually lacks for anything, it’s remarkably complete and really emphasizes the creativity at RAM that they can find two more whole trim levels above it to appeal to those for whom enough simply isn’t.
In RAM-World Light and Heavy Duty don’t differ very much when it comes to their interiors, the trim levels are fairly well aligned and the features are similar, making it easier when one wants to either upgrade or perhaps step down a capability level, the creature comforts can remain the same. The most obvious difference was in fact that the parking brake is a manually foot-activated device here as opposed to an electronically activated one in the 1500.
At this trim level, once the door is opened, there becomes evident an opulently trimmed leather seat, leather covered dashboard, in this case the optional 12″ display screen on the center stack, and lots of room to stretch out along with a huge center console with enormous amounts of storage space and multiple levels, bins, and cubbies within along with numerous power ports and other convenience items. The seats and door panels feature suede inserts, contrasting piping and attractive stitching.
The back seat is similarly spacious, but notably here the center position gets a short seat cushion opposed to the 1500 wherein that bugaboo has finally been eliminated in the most recent (current) generation. So for four occupants of virtually any size, this is supremely comfortable with gobs of space (far more than any sedan and most SUVs) but the fifth occupant gets the short straw, or seat, if you will and won’t be quite as cozy.
Of course the back seats fold up in a 60/40 split fashion and in this truck there was a handy foldout device that created a slightly elevated flat floor platform, ideal for perhaps a dog or to stow something better on a flat surface than the slightly humped floor beneath it when it’s deployed across the width of the cab. Under the floormats are lift-out bins that could be filled with small items or ice and beverages for break time.
Heading back up front, as we’ve seen before that supersized screen is excellent for showing all kinds of detail depending on what particular subject is chosen but it can also function as a split screen in order to have two different functions visible at once and of course can also be reconfigured as well as the user choosing exactly which “soft” buttons are displayed and available at any given time along the bottom to provide shortcuts to frequently used items/apps.
This being a platform where trailer towing is of greater than usual importance, there are multiple camera views possible, there is also a way to lower the back of the truck to slip the hitch ball under a trailer coupling and raise it back up all while in the comfort of the cab, and of course the integrated trailer brake system to make it all more or less effortless and much less labor intensive than in the days of yore. Some of these functions are accessed via a row of actual toggle switches at the bottom of the screen and others are part of the touch screen, such as the various camera view choices for example.
Befitting a vehicle that costs on the order of a decent (but really not overly opulent) luxury sedan or SUV, there is a 17-speaker Harman Kardon sound system, of course memory settings for seats, mirrors, and pedals, push button start and all the other usual trappings that will make a non-stop cross-country run bearable or in fact downright comfortable, to say nothing of a simple cross-county (no “r”) run.
The contrasting stitching on the dash and seats is flawless, the materials look and feel great and while not everything is completely soft, pretty much everything that you’d ever really come in contact with and might prefer to be soft actually is.
I noted that the piece of trim (bolster?) between the two passenger side gloveboxes is soft black textured plastic in that area, the matching item on the driver side is actually harder since it is much less likely to be touched by an occupant there. Both items look identical while feeling different which isn’t something every manufacturer has mastered, but here the different finishes are only betrayed when touched.
The stainless-look trim around various edges of vents, door pulls, storage cubbies etc. had an interesting aspect as well; in this case the main surface is smooth and semi-shiny, but everything adjacent to it, i.e. wrapping over the edge, is finished in a sort of crinkle version of same that was deliberately rough to the touch and sort of softly sparkled in the sun, an interesting treatment I hadn’t noted elsewhere before this and that gives off a very subtle but rich impression. In the above picture the RAM legend and horizontal surface above it would be the surface area and the textured area around it is representative of the edges of the pieces.
But everything smacks of being very high quality as well as durable and nothing looks like it is present without an actual purpose, i.e. that’s no lipstick on a pig, this animal was bred to naturally have a set of full and rosy lips fronting a bevy of fine features, with excellent bone structure and toned muscle beneath.
The muscle, excuse me, engine in this case (and the standard offering in the 2500 lineup) is the 6.4 liter Hemi V-8 with cylinder deactivation, a feature that was completely imperceptible to this driver when in operation. Producing 410hp and 429lb-ft of torque it transfers that power to the wheels through a smooth and slick shifting 8-speed automatic coupled to an electronic Shift-On-The-Fly transfer case.
As with the last version of this that I tested, power was abundant, immediate, and long-lasting with the 3.73 axle ratio in any situation I encountered. It’s no wonder that it’s a popular choice these days and often chosen instead of the well-loved (albeit pricey to the tune of another $9,300) Cummins turbo-diesel, depending on how the truck will be used.
Even with this engine, and of course depending on the exact configuration specified, the RAM 2500 is capable of an over 4,000 pound payload and a tow rating of up to 17,540 pounds, heady figures indeed and likely plenty for the vast majority of owners not constantly towing cross-country.
I looked up this particular truck using its VIN in RAM’s handy online lookup feature and in this Laramie trim with 4WD, Crew Cab, the 3.73 axle ratio and the options it was equipped with those figures are reduced to 2,839 pounds payload and 14,339 pounds towing, however still significantly higher than the 1500 models could safely or comfortably provide and, perhaps more notably, not necessarily at a significant cost difference either, which we will touch on later.
As regards towing, this particular truck was outfitted with Automatic Leveling Rear Air Suspension and the 5th Wheel & Gooseneck Prep Package which includes the mounting holes/areas for either option as well as in-bed mounted wiring connectors for said trailers.
Trailer Sway Damping and the aforementioned Brake Controller are also present here as are the large (and adjustable) Tow Mirrors and the Towing Tech Group consisting of a Cargo View Camera mounted in the upper cargo light, Surround View Camera System and Trailer Reversing Guidance that helps you to figure where the trailer will end up when you turn the wheel this way, or that way, or this way again, but without the usual frustration experienced by infrequent towers.
Driving this truck makes evident that these Heavy Duty trucks really are much heavier than the lighter duty full-sizers. With a 10,000lb GVWR on this one, it feels significantly stiffer and more solid but in a good way, not just as ponderous extra mass.
Sure, the mass IS there and IS noted but this isn’t like piloting a big U-Haul, it’s still fairly manageable for the day to day without dread. The ride is certainly stiff and it can be sometimes jarring depending on the bump, so not nearly as cossetting as the smaller ones, however with a heavy load or a trailer (as it’s designed for, right?) that should all pay off.
Loaded with just myself and traversing the same section of concrete freeway as last year with the other 2500, once again I embarrassingly noted more jiggle on me than a whole season of Charlie’s Angels. Our own Mr. Shafer explained that phenomenon last year to excellent effect as having to do with the spacing of the freeway slabs between cuts combining with the wheelbase to produce a harmonic that manifests itself as a bouncing effect although the roadway is in fact perfectly smooth and normal vehicles to either side didn’t exhibit anything untoward whatsoever.
In short, that part got tiring (again), but on the vast majority of other road surfaces progress was swift, smooth, and amazingly silent. When at a stop and outside of the truck, the engine is far from quiet, exhibiting a bit of a powerful roar even at idle. Inside, windows up, silence. Remarkable. At speed, let’s say 80mph, only the faintest rustle of wind can be noted passing the side window and around the rear corners of the cab. This is luxury. And a huge factor in avoiding fatigue on any journey.
This truck also showed off a few features I hadn’t noted before, in this case a new “Night Edition” package which has to do with exterior cosmetics rather than brighter lights…all the trim and the grille is blacked out, the bumpers are body color, for some reason the black plastic trailer mirrors are part of this, the wheels are 20-inch by 8-inch black large-spoked alloys with Firestone Transforce AT tires as well as black interior accent trim pieces.
I also realized this truck has clearance lights, which I didn’t believe were necessary unless the truck reached a certain width such as with the dually models. I suppose perhaps it’s a new accessory item that may be popular for people to make their truck look bigger. At $95 it’s a fairly insignificant expense that does jazz it up a bit at night along with the lights on the tips of the mirrors.
I don’t foresee the need for myself to ever own something with this much capability but I have to say it did impress and the notably increased strength and weight over for example my own older half-ton truck as well as current generation half-tons were obvious. If I had need to tow often or far or both or haul significantly heavy items regularly then it makes perfect sense to choose something like this.
But for around town for someone that does not have those needs, no, of course it doesn’t make sense. However if someone wants to put up with the downsides (weight, fuel economy, size) then that’s their choice too, after all, driving a small convertible has downsides at times as well and isn’t always the most rational choice for every situation either.
As regards fuel economy these trucks are interesting in that they are not required to display an official rating on their window sticker due to their weight. I ended up actually driving 476 miles this week which is above my usual norm. The first thirty miles were exclusively in town with normal (i.e. light) traffic and the trip computer displayed an initially shocking 10mpg.
Then I decided to drive to Colorado Springs and back the next day, adding another 280 miles to the tally at the end of which resulted in a displayed overall total of 17.5mpg which I was rather impressed with (My older half-ton would struggle to ever hit that).
Traffic caused speeds to range from 40 in several construction zones to around 80mph or so, traffic was moderate but definitely present with several slowdowns so not just smooth sailing. The remaining 166 miles were a combination of local in-town and semi-local highways which brought it all back down to a final average of just over 15mpg.
The in-town definitely hurts it but sustained highway driving where it presumably shuts down part of the engine obviously helps tremendously. If towing a heavy load regularly for long distances then perhaps the diesel might make a lot of sense as that will surely hit the gasser harder.
Pricing for this model with the Laramie trim package and 4WD starts at $52,350 – and I’ll point out for reference that the equivalent crew-cab Laramie half-ton with the same 6’4″ bed starts at $47,390, so only about a 10% difference.
From there the Billet Silver Metallic paint is $200 (easing you into things here…), Leather Seats and Wireless Charging Pad (lovely) runs $545, the aforementioned Towing Tech Group pulls another $1,095 with that same $1,095 figure again for the Safety Group (Lane-Keep Assist, Full Speed Forward Collision Warning Plus, Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Adaptive Steering), the Protection Group for $145 (really?) includes Tow Hooks and a Transfer Case Skid Plate, the Gooseneck/5th Wheel Prep is $495, and the Bed Utility Group (Spray-In Bedliner, LED Lighting, Deployable Bed Step) adds another $745.
Having somehow aggravated a long-standing but usually dormant right knee injury I’ve been making more constant use of the Adaptive Cruise Control over the last few weeks and vehicles and am now quite comfortable letting vehicles actually do the stop-and-going as needed so that my leg can be moved to different positions to avoid pain, not just using the technology on longer lightly trafficked freeway journeys.
This truck did very well in that regard, increasing the distance interval parameter with a steering wheel button made braking actions smoother than with a shorter interval (makes sense), and playing with that button in traffic made it possible to avoid others cutting in between by shortening the distance. It’s very interesting technology indeed but still does require attention (and the vehicle generally has a feature to alert the driver if it seems attention is flagging). This truck will fully stop for you but won’t start moving again without a button press, some others do the whole thing automatically, although choosing a longer interval when slowing helps to make it “crawl” along.
To channel my inner Ron Popeil “But Wait, There’s More!!!”, we continue with the Night Edition package detailed earlier for $2,495, and the Laramie Level 2 Equipment Group for $4,195 (a big load consisting of Ventilated Front Seats, Rain Sensitive Wipers, Remote Tailgate Release, Heated Second Row Seats, the Memory Settings, the H-K Sound System, various SiriusXM packages to help with traffic etc, a 4G LTE WiFi Hot Spot, and Blind Spot Monitoring).
$695 covers the Tri-Fold Tonneau Cover, $445 for an Anti-Spin Differential Rear Axle, the $95 Clearance Lamps, Power Deployable (automatic) Running Boards that are sorely needed and highly useful for $995, the Automatic Level Rear Air Suspension for $1,705, the 12″ UConnect with Navigation system for $1,295 and lastly the Trailer Camera Prewiring for $695. Add another $1,695 for destination charge and the hopefully fully depreciable total for you is $70,980.
As an aside and because I was curious since we have tested a couple of very expensive 1500-level trucks here within the last year I went into the RAM configurator and spec’ed out a 1500-series Laramie to as close to the same spec as this 2500 and before incentives I came up with a total of around $68,300, so really not very far off which was surprising.
Remove options that aren’t available on the lighter truck such as the 5th wheel stuff and you almost get to par. As durable as a half-ton truck is, the Heavy Duty is even more so, to see it offered at very similar pricing was interesting.
It’s another interesting truck from RAM that seems to be very up to date as far as useful technology is concerned, along with attractive and non-offensive styling and of course a multitude of ways to configure these trucks to exactly what might be needed (or desired) it’s no wonder they are so plentiful.
Couple that with what actually can be described as value if one is completely objective about it and it’s easy to see the popularity amongst those that can use it to its fullest to help them earn an income and/or run a business. And of course plenty are used for pleasure pursuits as well. Overall these trucks can work hard and play hard but either way they just keep on keepin’ on.
A Heavy-Duty Thank You goes to RAM for setting us up with this truck along with a tank of gasoline for the week!
It doesn’t take much to determine why Ram has been making Chevrolet squirm in the pickup sales race.
While I’m more of a Tradesman type of guy, where a Big Horn would be a nice perk, what I find interesting is the price points of the base truck in each trim. Looking at their website right now, with all examples being crew cab 4×4 with the 6’4″ box, the Tradesman is $40,350 with the Big Horn at $45,350 with a $7,100 jump to the Laramie. Further climbing to Longhorn and Limited has decently spaced rungs at $7,400 and $5,000, respectively.
Your recent test of a Highlander was using an example costing $51,000, which is darn close to the base price of this Ram. Between the two, while neither is cheap, the price of one of them seems much more justifiable based upon capability and utility.
What I find most interesting is the fuel economy. We all know it’s not great, this rig isn’t built for economy runs, but what you realized is so much better than your half-ton which is lighter, less powerful, and has lesser capability due to being a half-ton.
Thank you for remembering my explanation of the harmonic you experienced. It’s good to know somebody remembered!
Mr Jason Schafer, I’m awfully glad you have comment No.1, because it’s yourself, on this site quite a while ago, who gave the clearest explanation I’ve read as to the reasons for the existence of these monsters and all their slightly-lesser 2-mill-per-year type: which was, essentially, if you move not far from a US city, these are just plugged into the infrastructure and in that way, simply indispensible (and please do shout out if I have that wrong). Doesn’t matter if there could or should be better alternatives – and ofcourse, there are – it’s how things have evolved in the particular long-term circumstances, and would require rather wholesale changes to change.
I make my comment under yours because I want to say to Mr Jim Klein – clearly a man of great decency and sense – that for everywhere else in the world, these sort of vehicles are just a hideous and extravagant waste. If I couldn’t refer back to the enlightenment offered by the insights from your article, Mr S, it would sound only like I was making a bunch of rather tired attacks upon all who ever bought, drove or wanted such a vehicle in the US.
It’s a typically excellent review of the huggamugging thing, btw, Mr K!
While this version does have a fair amount of extravagances, in base form they do work hard. Look at the payload of a truck w/o all the extras, 4000 lbs, and its towing ability, and this one is at the lower end of the towing range.
So it really isn’t a waste since it can work hard all week long and still be a family hauler on the weekend that can bring along a lot of toys.
Why, thank you, kind sir.
There is perhaps one bit of clarification needed with the pickup-centric market in the US and the inherent usefulness thereof….our full-size pickups, coming in three distinct weight ratings, ought not be viewed as interchangeable. The biggest sellers are the half-tons, with sales seeming to step down with each rung up the weight rating ladder. Of the three pickups I’ve owned, two were half-tons. The first was indeed a three-quarter ton but it was a $400 special, so price was the driver there. But I never had to worry about overloading it.
Yes, pickups are Rural Americana in one of its purer forms. While I live in town (maybe, kinda, sorta as I’m within the city limits but on an unusually large plot of 2 acres) my rural roots keep pointing out how comprehensively useful tools they are. I say that as one who didn’t own a pickup until he was 34 years old.
To play Devil’s Advocate (a bad habit I’m starting to re-embrace), there are those in the US who would see Australian Utes and have the polar opposite reaction as you do to our pickups. The comments would be similar but opposite, disparaging the undersized nature of them.
I believe the spectrum of opinion and the resultant commentary all boils down to one’s perspective and what they’ve been exposed to. And there’s nothing wrong with any of it. While, like Jim, I have obtained a pickup I’m keeping quiet about, I will offer this….it has an 8′ bed. Recently, when it had a moment of hibernation while loaded with brush, a friend said he’d haul off said brush. In his mid-90s Ford Ranger.
What was not even a full load for my half-ton with an 8′ bed was two painfully full loads for that Ranger. Weight was never an issue, but volume was. It confirmed why I’ve always viewed smaller pickups as being woefully limited. But it all does boil down to one’s experiences and perspectives.
Sorry for my dissertation. Having carried the pickup torch around these parts for a while, I believe Jim has done an excellent job of inadvertently continuing with it.
Good point about the 8′ bed you can get on a full size. I had a Ranger and the fact that it would take two trips to do what the F350 that replaced it was a big reason why I’ve had a crew cab 8′ bed truck in the fleet for ~20 years. Yeah much of the time a Ranger could do what I need in one load, but when it can’t, it can’t.
Not to mention the fact that in many less than full size trucks you don’t have 48″ between the wheel wells, the common size for plywood or drywall in the US.
Unless I’m mistaken, the only non-full-size pickup with 48″ between the wheels is the Ridgeline, due in no small part to its full-size-esque body width of 78+”. Even the Dakota, when it did have an 8′ bed, was only advertised as being able to fit the quintessential 4×8′ sheet of plywood above the wheel wells.
Thank You, and I’m assuming “huggamugging” could be interchanged with another word with the same number of consonants…
As Jason also alluded to, they are indeed extremely useful, I didn’t acquire one until a couple of years ago although easily could have made the use case for it for at least the last two decades, making do with various vans, station wagons, a Jeep, and rental vehicles in lieu thereof in the meantime while refurbishing a couple of dozen houses and properties over that time while aiming to hire out as little work as possible (usually due to my budget and aim for greater and faster ROI). I was somewhat ambivalent about trucks, I suppose. When I finally decided to take the truck plunge myself it took quite a while to decide what was the most useful variant for me and I looked at the gamut (and consulted Jason a number of times). While I in general prefer the mid-size trucks, from a usefulness standpoint the one I ended up with has a mid-length bed (same as this one here pretty much) and that length has proven to be almost ideal although both a longer, smaller, or shorter bed could work better than what I used to work with. Add a rack and the usefulness factor increases exponentially. Whereas something like a Chevy ElCamino (or a Monaro or those similar ute things you have) would be fairly pointless and compromised, not the least of which being the limited passenger space (I have a crew cab and we have used it for family trips. Convenience is a huge part of it, I can often see that my one full load of debris, leaves, trees, rocks, mulch, lumber, furniture, appliances, or whatever would have translated into two or more with a smaller vehicle. Or involved waiting for a delivery or paying someone else to deliver or haul away based more on their schedule than mine. Over the last two years I have driven it about 14,000 miles, and very few of those miles were for pleasure or commute-type driving. (I do need to do a COAL on it, Scoutdude is right)…
While I’d prefer something older than what I have from a “character and general interest” factor, and at the same time would prefer something newer due to greater inherent safety technology, both passive and active (which is a genuine concern around here and where I drive it), it fit the bill and the price point I was aiming at to start my truck ownership. If I lived in downtown Denver or a condo though, no way, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle in parking alone. But I don’t see myself being without a pickup of some sort or size going forward.
By FAR the worst aspect of truck ownership is the labeling and stereotyping based on the outward appearance of the truck, a bigger factor in full size or larger trucks. There would be certain trucks (or at least trims) I would not own and indeed some of the apples out there do spoil a lot for some of the other, sweeter, apples. (Motorcycles have many of the same issues here). This tested truck for example, with the “Night Edition” package, presents a completely different persona than the same Laramie level truck without it, where the black is chrome, and while the same size, has a very different vibe outside. That’s more a testament to the skills of RAMs marketing and sales team that they are able to take the same exact truck and with a few very small and inexpensive changes completely straddle two very different buyers of the same trim level.
Some will say a trailer solves many of the same problems and could be towed by many of my other vehicles and that is true, my personal rationale there is I hate hitching up and the time involved with it, don’t feel comfortable towing at higher speeds that are a reality around here, find the technology in trailers lacking and out of date (most here appear to be built to conform to the absolute minimum standard if there even is such a thing), and storing them is a pain in my situation.
Modern safety stuff like airbags and ABS is why I finally replaced my 80’s era truck and Van, with ones from the 00’s about 4 years ago.
I take it these are the kind of vehicle yuppie wannabe rednecks buy and has a Confederate flag in the options list. Doesn’t look like it would last 5 minutes in a real working environment before its electronic gewgaws gor mangled. The grill looks like the sort the Chinese favour nowadays, perhaps that’s the intended market.
Having just come back from a trip to see friends down in the heart of Oregon cannabis growing country (Southern Oregon), the preponderance of these big (and mostly new trucks, thanks to crop prices being up) was all too obvious. They’re used to haul trailers with equipment and such. “Growdozers”, as they’re called hereabouts.
It’s easy to think they’re superfluous living in town (and some undoubtedly are), but out in the country it’s a different reality.
I have a 2014 dodge and I absolutely won’t be buying a newer truck, or a truck even as new as I have again. The body metal on these things are made from beer cans, or at least, they might as well be. I really did a number on my truck simply loading firewood into it after a recent storm knocked over a few trees. I did my normal loading method… Tossing logs over the side and into the bed from about 5 feet away. I’m not talking big logs, about 3-6 inches in diameter and about 12-16 inches long. Well, one log came up a lil short and hit the bed side… Caved the whole thing in, I’m talking a 2 foot dent. Another log bounced off the bed rail and into the bed… Guess what? Another dent. It actually dented the bedrail… A small log. What a hunk of junk. Oh, and I noticed a day or two later that all the logs being tossed in actuality started to cave my inner wheel well in as well.. what good is a truck, especially a 30k dollar one, if it’s beat to shit after ONE load of firewood? No. I worked my 78 ford way harder and I beat the crap out of my 94 chevy. Never had anything more than a minor dent (less than a credit card) in the bedsides after years of firewood. Hell, even my 06 chevy didn’t dent half as easy as this pos dodge. Never again!
Guess you shoulda sprung for the bed liner.
Yeah driving a truck with a 10k GVWR empty or lightly loaded can be brutal. There is a stretch of the local freeway, of course right after my entrance, that shakes my F250 and its passengers pretty good. Of course since it is the direction leaving my house the truck is usually relatively empty.
The fold out platform is interesting. It doesn’t look like it would handle that much weight. I do like the flat floor on my F250 crew cab but unfortunately since it is an XL the seat bottoms don’t fold up, though interestingly my older F150 XL Super Cab does have the fold up seat, that era F150 lacks the flat floor, though the hump it is a nice plateau so you can actually sit something on top of it. I’ve thought about trying to find one in the wrecking yard but Super Duty trucks in the self serve yards aren’t common and when they do hit the yard they are picked clean very very quickly. It would be nice though since the back seat is more frequently used for tools or supplies and not passengers.
You do need to sit down and do the COAL on your truck, you’ve been teasing us for a while, though you finally let it slip that it is a 1/2 ton and is “older”, though I’m thinking it isn’t a 60’s F100.
I neglected to see exactly what the “platform” thing was constructed of, most likely plastic with a carpet covering but there are multiple folding supports underneath. I doubt it could support me jumping up and down on it, but probably plenty fine for loading stuff like a portable compressor or toolbox or bins etc. I.e. if you can carry it by yourself and get it inside it can likely support it and avoids the load from being as unstable or less stackable with half of it on the floor and the other half resting on the underseat area which is physically higher.
Yeah I can’t see any sane person trying to use it for something like a load of concrete block. It isn’t the compressor just sitting there that would concern me it is when it and the tool box start jumping up and down due to rough roads or expansion joint oscillation. Not a bad work around though since they don’t have a flat floor in back.
Having occasionally driven new model half tons as U-Haul rentals when my ’90s truck is down, my impression is that the ride is much worse in the newer trucks, and part of it has to do with the wide, relatively low profile tires they use now. My ’96 Ram has narrow, tall “balloon” tires, compared to the newer ones. But the new trucks no doubt do much better in evasive maneuvers and braking distances.
I have also found full size trucks very sensitive to any suspension changes. A new set of “over the counter” universal front shocks did not work on the Dodge, making it jittery and bouncy. Going back to “factory” replacements settled the issue. I can’t imagine what the various “lift kits” and such things must do to the driving experience.
Trade-offs, always trade-offs with trucks.
Thanks for another ride in a vehicle I will probably never experience any other way. You have ably explained why I see so many of these out on the road in my area.
One thing I found curious was, with all the added options, where’s one of the few that seems like it would actually be useful. I’m talking, of course, of the dutch-door tailgate which was on the previously reviewed Ram. Very odd that wasn’t on this one.
I don’t believe the Multi-Function Tailgate is available on the heavy duty line yet, I don’t think it’s on the 2021’s either. But would probably not be on this particular one in any case since it has the Gooseneck/Fifth wheel prep package, often the tailgate gets removed or replaced with a lower one with a cutout if those options are utilized. They do tend to option these up in order to show off as many features/options as possible in one package, thus the higher sticker prices compared to whatever the average buyer may select. They may add it to the redesign of the HD line when that happens, but it probably depends on the take rate in the half ton sector as well.
I was kind of surprised it didn’t have a sunroof (not that I’m generally a big fan of them, but usually they add all the stuff they can).
What doesn’t seem to get mentioned much is that the heavy duty Ram pickups are still using the previous-generation’s cab and bed.
They did an excellent job restyling the front end and interior to make it look very similar to the new 1500s, but if you look at the doors and cab surrounding them, you can tell the sheet metal is quite different. Same with the bed… which is why the Dutch tailgate isn’t on these yet, I think.
I find it interesting that this doesn’t get noticed in really any reviews I’ve read. On the other hand, I feel like the endless squawking we used to hear about automakers continuing to build old platforms has died off a bit. Even when it’s mentioned (usually in reference to the Challenger/Charger/300), it’s more like “buy one if you like it, because soon they’ll be gone.”
My personal theory on this is that a lot of autojournos got embarrassed when they heaped praise on Toyota for redesigning the Camry every 5 years, right up until it was revealed that they used the same platform from 2002 through the 2015 restyle. Toyota definitely did more to continuously improve that platform than most automakers did at the time, but it put the lie to the idea that they were releasing an all-new Camry every 5 years.
I want to make it clear that I think this change is GOOD; vehicles have gotten so good for their general purposes that a full redesign every 4-5 years is a pretty big waste of development resources. Better to slowly improve existing platforms year after year and save the big money for completely new paradigms, like carbon fiber chassis, electrification, and other larger advancements.
Personally I’m happy to see both Toyota and Chrysler adopting this approach.
Interesting discussion, although a lot of it went over my head.
Part of that is due to my particular needs. The best pickup I ever owned was a ’96 Dodge Dakota 4×4 with a regular cab and 8′ bed. Assuming my current needs stretched to the outmost (aka, putting an ’11 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic in the bed and strapping it down – which means it’s either broken down, or mama isn’t up to doing the 700 mile trip pillion at which point we trailer the Superglide, not the Ultra), I have no idea why I’ll ever need anything bigger. And the 4×4 was entire optional, unfortunately I couldn’t get the same truck in 4×2 as dealers didn’t stock it.
Said Dakota travelled a reenactment sutlery for a decades, inventory under a fiberglass cap in the bed, and towing a 4×10 trailer which carried all the teen-age, etc. needed to set up shop.
In my eyes, the above truck is absolutely ludicrous. Which probably explains why I’m happy most of the time with a minivan.
Perhaps ludicrous for your needs but are your needs universal to everyone? Those that have need for these (and there are many) would view using a minivan for the same purposes as ludicrous.
Great highly detailed review as always Jim. When I saw the lead photo, I assumed the truck would be powered by a Cummins diesel, but was surprised to find it had the 6.4L Hemi. The vast majority of 3/4 and 1 ton trucks sold around here are diesels. For a while, Chrysler was offering a free upgrade to diesel on these trucks, but that was with the previous generation.
How is the passenger footwell in these new Rams? The previous generation has a narrow footwell due to the large transmission tunnel. I am curious if that carries over to the new generation or not? I am also curious how the ride is compared to the old generation? A friend and I recently used his 2016 Ram 2500 diesel (crew with an 8 foot box) to haul a heavy trailer full of equipment. It was a significantly stiffer ride than my half-ton, but certainly better than 3/4 tons of the past. Mind you this truck was the polar opposite of the one you tested, as it was a bare bones base model work truck.
In my part of the world, big HD loaded trucks are pretty common, but the vast majority of them are business vehicles that also act as semi-personal vehicles. My neighbor for instance works for a Forestry company, and he drives a loaded late model Ram 3500 (Crew Cab 6’4″ box) with a Cummins. It is his work vehicle for job sites, but he also uses it for personal use, like taking the family on a trip. My BIL also is the same. He owns a Millwright business and drives a F-250 Diesel, loaded to the nines with a crew cab and 8 foot box. He works the truck hard on the job, but it is also his personal vehicle.
For situations like that, a truck like this makes a whole lot of sense. In fact, my neighbour was telling me how much better on fuel his Ram is compared to his old worn out 2006 GMC 1500 with a 5.3L V8. On the other hand, I did work with a colleague who bought a 2500 Power Wagon with the 6.4L. He bought it strictly for it’s looks, as his boat can easily be towed by a half-ton (or even a mid-sized truck). He only kept the truck for about 6 months before trading it in on a Ram 1500, which he reports he is much happier with. Most weekend warriors that only use a truck for work occasionally seems to be satisfied with modern half-tons.
Thanks! I unfortunately did not sit in the passenger side long enough to notice any inadequacies but my wife had no complaints – however she is much shorter at 5’2″. The picture of the glovebox area sort of shows the cut of the floormat which seems cut differently than the driver’s side so it appears the side of the tunnel does perhaps go into the footwell area a bit, sorry I can’t be definitive on that.
I’m not familiar with the ride of the prior generation. This one rode rougher/firmer than the 1500 Rebel I had a couple of months ago and from what I recall a little harder than the 2500 Tradesman with the PowerWagon package from last year – that one had large knobby tires and Bilstein off road shocks, this one had air suspension in the back but coils in the front and the Firestone Transforce tires inflated to 70-odd PSI. The behavior on concrete freeways was basically the same between the 2500s (the jiggle effect) but on other roads both seemed fine (to me), not as soft as the 1500 of course but not kidney crushing either.
None rode as firmly as the Dually 3500 with the Cummins that I also reviewed last year, then again that one was set up to tow over 30,000 pounds IIRC so no surprise there.
Yeah, if you don’t need or can’t use the added capability of a 2500 or a crewcab with an 8foot bed then a 1500 (or perhaps even smaller) is much better suited to most regular people.
I’m not surprised these (all fullsizers) are popular in Canada, with your distances, like some of ours, and your worse conditions this (a full size truck) is the most comfortable way to travel and likely cheaper than an equivalently luxurious sedan, never mind the durability and resale value aspects. Even the fuel usage at reasonable highway speeds is quite respectable nowadays over long distances.
Do please keep in mind of course that I am not a truck expert and don’t try to pass myself off as such. Any comparison I make is for the most part what I’ve been exposed to with these testing opportunities for a week at a time and my own older half-ton, i.e. I don’t generally tow, and I haven’t been driving multiple generations of trucks for half my life. I just know that trucks are hugely improved and more user friendly than ever and while not cheap, the capability and more recently the comfort that is or can be provided makes it worthwhile (if that’s the budget space someone is looking at already). I’d guess a large portion the prior market for Cadillac and Lincoln sedans for instance has been taken up by big GMC trucks as well as similar offerings from RAM and perhaps Ford (the Lincoln Blackwood and Mark LT may have been a bit before their time in hindsight).
The footwell room should be the same, the 2500/3500 trucks are still using the cabs that date back to 2009.
I am still trying to get my head around a seventeen-speaker stereo. I’m not going to say ‘in a truck’; that’s not my point – in anything. I remember when four was Luxury.
I’m guessing you’d start with low,-range jobs in the kick-panels, midrange and high in the dash and each door and work up from there – there’s fourteen. With a sub or three to make up the odd number.
What’s the record number of speakers in a factory vehicle? Maybe I need to mosey on over the the Rolls-Royce or Bentley site and see what their premiumest sound system has.
I have no doubt the aftermarket guys hold the record – my son’s Lancer had a one-step-below competition-standard Alpine system in his Lancer, and that sounded awesome. Even if the sub took up a third of his usable boot space.
And I’m curious how high you go in speaker-count and audio quality (however you measure that) before the average Joe can’t tell the difference.
Seventeen speakers. And me with two ears…..
The vehicle I’m in this week has 26 speakers 🙂
The Santa Fe bridge looks familiar. Is that near Larkspur? I did not expect to recognize any of your filming locations.
Yes, just barely south I think, it’s right at a fork in the road. I took a wrong turn after getting off the freeway for a bite to eat on the way back from Colorado Springs and it turned into a very lucky (if long) detour – those four, the opening tunnel shot, and the roadside with the track in the background are all from there. I’m surprised you recognize the area, I didn’t realize you knew it.
We visited the area in the late ’90s and I spent a day taking train picture along that line from Denver to Palmer Lake. Probably wouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t mentioned Colorado Springs.
I can confirm that the truncated center cushion and floor hump on these DS platform cabs (2009-18 1500s, 2010-current HDs) make for a very uncomfortable ride indeed on longer trips. Hopefully the migration to the DT platform isn’t too long in coming, since both Ford and GM have adopted cabs with flat or nearly-flat floors and full-length center cushions.
I reckon that option is offered to save a lot of install hassle now and leak/rust hassle later for people who will use the truck to haul trailers more than 2,032 mm wide (used to be 80 inches, hence the odd number). That’s the threshold above which front amber and rear red clearance lamps (outer two) and identification lamps (central group of three) are required.
My use for a truck would be to tow a camping trailer. Since I’d be pulling a load on a hitch rather than hauling one in the bed, wouldn’t a half-ton be the best for this duty?
It all depends on the size of the camping trailer, they can easily reach a point where a larger truck will tow it easier and safer than a smaller one. This particular truck can also tow using the included hitch receiver under the bumper, it just happens to be pre-prepped for larger loads using the in-bed mounts.
Note that altitude matters as well of course, for example if I had a trailer and wanted to head west I’d likely be exceeding 11,000 feet a couple of times even within the first couple of hours of the trip. My mid-2000’s half-ton with the largest V8 available in it at the time wheezes and is straining and revving very high with just passengers on board over that, never mind a load on the hitch (A newer truck would likely be better, admittedly). How often and how far you tow probably would play into decisions as well.
There are a lot of factors as to what is the best truck for a given size trailer.
The key thing to keep in mind is the “when properly equipped” disclaimer. When they advertise “tows up to X,000 lbs” that is usually calculated for a truck with the only the max tow package and a driver. The same thing applies to the payload.
So you have to do the math twice, once for the payload and once for the gross combined weight rating for that particular truck.
Fill that crew cab with 5 people averaging 175lbs each stick a 200lb canopy on there to keep your 25lbs of gear per person dry and locked and you’ve used 1200lbs of your payload. If the truck only has a 1800lb payload your max trailer size would be 6,000lbs despite the fact that the truck could be rated to tow 10,000lbs.
Then you have the considerations that Jim mentioned, a truck that is just fine towing a few hundred miles per year in the flat lands at sea level, might not be the right choice if you tow thousands of miles per year, at high altitudes, or up and down steep grades.
Along with the great comments already listed here, it should be mentioned that the nature of the hitch doesn’t necessarily indicate which class of truck you’ll need. Yes, an HD is much more likely to have a fifth-wheel or in-bed ball hitch than a half-ton, in part due to the weight, but also due to HDs having beds long enough to actually take them. There are also now sliding fifth-wheel hitches that can fit in a 5.5′ bed without the danger of the trailer hitting cab corners on turns, but they’re not as common, and not all half-ton manufacturers will list fifth-wheel capacities on 5.5′ bed models.
There are many lightweight fifth-wheel trailers than can be pulled safely by a half-ton, and conversely bumper-hitch trailers that are too heavy for anything smaller than a 3/4 ton. It all comes down to the size of your trailer.