Well, go figger....those Euro guys always think their stuff is better
than ours....everybody does Pininfarina?? Anyway, my 3500 crew cab
Diesel turns in a smaller radius than my '98 Dak 4x4.
But the Dak is way cool to drive, with the little clicking rattling
noise that my 4X4 stick makes to the rumble of dual exhaust to the
howl my li'l 42mm throttle body makes with modified intake...plus
regular is still cheaper than diesel to buy...
I only have short (relatively) distances to drive here in N Texas,
nearest Wal-Mart is 12 miles away and nearest decent restaurant is
15.....
On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 11:57 PM, rll <charger69rt@cox.net> wrote:
>
> From: Terrible Tom <silvereightynine@aol.com>
>
> Bernd D. Ratsch wrote:
>
>> We have the 2009 models already....of course they do. :) > > - Bernd
>>
>
> As far as I am concerned... with the departure of the Gen III in 2004 - the Dakota ceased to exist... While I dislike the 08 and 09 Daks less than I loath the 05-07 models... they are still dog-ass ugly shells of former Dakota Greatness. The low ground clearance car like suspensions have no business in a truck, the ride height of the 4x4's is the same as the 2wd models. No more stick shift options behind a V8, (as of the last time I checked build-your-own)... Hell.. Petersens 4wheel grenaded a front Diff on one of the test trucks the had...thats supposed to impress me?
>
> The interiors are horrid, the A-pillars are sloped WAY too much - and create the worst blind spot issue in a Dakota A-pillar location ever... headroom is reduced... electronic 4x4 actuation... placement of said 4x4 selector knob is in a horrible location...
>
> Daimler took the Dakota and I think tried to "euro" it... and the result was horrible... what artistically challenged 5 year olds at the R+D departments came up with the Ugly ass headlight and front clip themes that plagued these last rounds of Dodge Trucks? The Durvango... the 05-07 Dakota.... the departing Ram body style (05-08?) all have that ugly curved-back-and-up into the fender headlight style...
>
> All the good points of the Gen I, II, and III Daks went up in smoke with the Gen IV and V models. Granted, the original Gen I's are the superior truck out of them all... but that goes without saying...
>
>
> Anyway... I would hope that the current version of Chrysler retains Dakota and puts it back on the right path. With the current situation of the economy and the auto industry... its not likely that will happen however.
>
> TT
> your statement carries over in spades to the Durango...
>
> in 2007 we tried to buy a used Durango of the older smaller version. Before the bus size.
>
> For the price they were dealing we bought a new Kia Sorento.
>
> Last May after looking at the new dakotas we ended up with a 2007 4x4 hemi 1500 quad cab full size
> with 8000 miles...for 10K less...
>
> Of course the deals are better now, but the money we didn't lose by using it for the ram, heck the truck is almost free..and it is really big and faster than heck, and it turns in half the radius
> of the 92 dakota we traded in.
>
> rob/ferts/phx
>
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