As of today, my wife and I are the proud owners of a brand new '96
Dakota! It's aqua with a grey interior, 4x4, V8, club cab, towing
package, automatic, loaded. Dodge is offering some great incentives
right now, probably to get rid of the 96's to make way for the new
'97 model. We got a $26,500 truck for $21,350! (This included some
stubborn behavior on our part at the bargaining table.)
As you may recall, I posted a message recently asking about the real
towing capacity of the Dakota. Thanks to everyone who posted answers to
my questions, here and in private email. It doesn't sound like there
are many people here who are towing as much as we plan to tow. But we
were referred to a reputable trailer dealer, and he assured us that
people do tow horses with Dakotas, quite well. We went ahead and
ordered a horse trailer, then bought the truck.
One thing that this mailing list prompted us to do was get the extended
warrantee. Just in case Chrysler hasn't gotten all the bugs out of the
transmission, etc. We couldn't decide, at first, but finally caved.
This will be a first for me, and we'll see if it was worth it. I'm
already benefitting just from the peace of mind that the entire truck is
covered for 7yrs/75,000mi. (Plus I talked them down from $1,000 to $700
on the warrantee.)
I've learned a lot in recent weeks and months about trucks and towing.
I may write something up that summarizes what I've learned. Once we've
actually tested this rig, I'll be able to post some real-world
experience for others to benefit from. We got the biggest, heaviest
Dakota we could get, despite its lower towing rating (5100 lbs compared
to the Dakota maximum of 7100 lbs). We're convinced the beefier truck
is better, so the trailer doesn't outweigh it so much. We'll see if
that turned out to be the best strategy. If we end up trading up to a
Ram, I'll let you all know.
Thanks again, and I'll be sticking around as a Dakota-owning member of
this list. Bye for now ...
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Paul Caskey mailto:pcaskey@swcp.com http://www.swcp.com/pcaskey
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Mahatma Gandi (1869-1948) when asked what he thought of Western
civilization: "I think it would be a good idea."
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