500 Mile Report

From: Gary Hedlin (garyhedlin@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Tue Oct 12 2004 - 23:49:03 EDT


HEHE.... It's only been a week! :)

Well, since I have driven the 05 dak for 500 miles, I think It's only
appropriate that I give a report from the guy driving the new dakota rather
than some armchair general that only took a 20 min test drive.

Bottom line, I LOVE IT!!

The 05 is one nice truck, the bigger wheelbase makes it a lot more stable
and the coil-over suspension is a HUGE improvement over the GenIII setup.
The passenger & driver has lots of room, sound system kicks ass, and it's
really fun to drive.

The BAD

I have 2 minor and one MAJOR complaint about the 05 dakota. The big
complaint is the cupholder. They put the cupholders smack under the dash,
making it impossible to fit my 64oz big gulp (and even some 44oz drinks)
securely. I even tried moving it out twords the seat... No dice! Bastards
cut the carpet arround it, so it would look like $hit if I moved it. But
I'm currently making a mock-up of an extended version of the cupholder so I
can fit my drinks in it.

Minor thing 1- Homelink is a b**ch to set up.

Minor thing 2 - Torque management sucks!

THE DETAILS

Drove 504 miles so far. Got an average of 18.6 MPG. Mostly city driving
even.

22 galons of V-power costs me 43.78. Cost per mile is 2.43 cents. Damn
cheap thrill in my book!

**Disclaimer** No animals, children, elderly, or piece of property was
harmed during this test drive! But yet again, it's only been a week!! :)



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Nov 01 2004 - 10:47:42 EST