2009 ram info.

[hemiram]

Dodge invited dealers to an event in Vegas to show them the new ram and challenger.  One dealer wrote:

To fill people in, Chrysler is hosting this week in Las Vegas 2 different dealer shows...basically a pep rally for the 4,500 dealers nationwide. Anyway, highlights of the show for me personally was being able to see the production 2009 Ram, Challenger and the new crossover, the Journey. First off, I have to say the Challenger is, for a hater of all that is retro, absolutely stunning in person. I saw it first in Detroit, but up on a turntable with oversized wheels, it was really hard to get a feel for it. The one they let us sit in was a TorRed production-spec '09 Challenger R/T (5,500 will be produced for '08, all SRT spec with an AT, priced around $38 even) with a pistol grip 6 speed...I was dumbstruck. Considering how lukewarm I felt towards the car, I was awed. It has a whole different presence than the Mustang. Its definitely a retro look, but they pulled it off better than expected for me. I love it because its the size of a GTO, and looks completely badass. Its a genuine 5 passenger coupe, with MUCH easier seating in the rear to get in and out of than GTO. The dash, while having retro cues, feels completely modern and far less gauche than the Mustang's over-the-top retroness. The seats are well bolstered and SOFT. You sit in them, not on them...as a lover of soft third gen seats, I am really impressed. The door panels are a little cheap, but as a Chrysler engineer pointed out, the soft materials are where the customer touches the panel, like where the armrest is. From behind the wheel, it gives off such a badass aura to it, its amazing. It doesn't feel chintzy or overwrought to me, like the Mustang does. Its big, its comfortable, and it has that "abuse me" feeling all my '02 Firebirds gave me when I was selling them. In a word, its absolutely everything the GTO woulda/coulda/shoulda been. The GTO I'm sure is every bit as competent in performance, but never had that aura or panache around it...

The second significant surprise is the '09 Ram. It will be out by September next year. If you like the current Ram, you'll love the new one. In Sport and Laramie trim levels, it even has a stitched dash that you'd swear is leather!! Think new Super Duty in terms of style and sophistication. It has a coil sprung rear axle for a better ride with the same payload capacity. 375hp from the new 5.7 Hemi, with better MPG. And get this...you thought the Ridgerunt's trunk was cool? The Ram goes one better. In the Crew Cab's (no more Mega Cab...traditional regular, Quad, and 4 door crews now...) 5 foot 3 inch bed, built into the sides and accessed from outside the bed are 2 locking, waterproof, hinged access doors to 8 cubic feet of storage on each side of the bed. Its hard to explain, but the openings don't wreck the look of the truck, and if you have a load in the bed its WAY better than the Ridgerunts idea...

The look is very evolutionary...same big crosshair grill, but canted inwards toward the bottom like the Charger. The hood bows down towards the headlights more now, so its more sleek but still has the unmistakeable Ram-ness to it. With a better ride, more power and an interior nicer than the LS Chevy (but, admittedly, not as posh as the LT2 or LTZ), I think this truck will kick some @#$. It looks way better than a Silverado IMO....

[dodger098]

Here's some spy shots.  People are saying that this thing looks obviously like a Ram.  I don't think it's going to be as big a change as everyone else does.

[hemiram]

Here's a video of it on edmunds.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/GeneralFuture/articleId=122950?tid=edmunds.il.futurelanding.latestnews..1.*

You can hear dual exhaust on the last one as it takes off.  Wonder if that means a dual exhaust ram will be an option from the factory

[hemiram]

Also, here's an article about the F 150 http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/GeneralFuture/articleId=121287

We're going to have some competition, which is a good thing.

[06Hemiman]

So ford is going to have over 400 hp, dodge should be offering up a Hemi that has around there too in the Ram.  Probably an SRT 8.  My big prediction for this truck is that it's grill will slant inward toward the engine at the bottom like the charger.

[hemiram]

375 won't beat the tundra's 5.7, I hope they decided to sacrifice power to get some mpg.  Plus as long as it's got over 400 torque we're right there next to the tundra's in a much better looking truck.

[squat]

One of the models will have a 5'3" bed, yikes I hope not.  I make fun of the ford guys in the mid 90s for their tiny beds.  I wonder how that truck would look, the cab being way bigger than the bed.

[gman]

A coil sprung rear axle that doesn't give you lower hauling capacity.  Weird, I'd rather have a beefier leaf system back there to support more weight, not the same weight.  And the 5'3" bed is a mistake.  It'll be pretty easy to say that Gilles was the right choice for making the ram more luxerious but he sacrificed truckness to do it.  These are trucks, not damn honda ridgelines.

[squat]

That's what different makes and models are for.  You want to haul more than 1500lbs you should get a 3/4 or 1 ton truck.

[06Hemiman]

A coil sprung rear axle that doesn't give you lower hauling capacity.  Weird, I'd rather have a beefier leaf system back there to support more weight, not the same weight.  And the 5'3" bed is a mistake.  It'll be pretty easy to say that Gilles was the right choice for making the ram more luxerious but he sacrificed truckness to do it.  These are trucks, not damn honda ridgelines.

Along with what squat said you should consider that many people want to drive trucks but don't need to haul 2 refrigerators every week.  If you don't need the longer bed then you should have that option, if you do need a longer bed then you have that option as well.

[squat]

I just worry that the new truck won't look like a truck.  These things should be beefy and I think a huge cab with a short bed would look a lot like a ridgeline.  The megacab barely pulls it off.

[no spoiler]

I'm more interested in what the new diesel engines will get in terms of real world mileage.  They can say 25 mpg all they want, those tests are probably with weight reduction and no windshield wipers and all that stuff.  I want some good honest real world numbers.

[hemiram]

They'll probably have a range of mileage.  All in all they'll still probably get low 20s at worst and high 20s at best.  I'm betting with just a cai and exhaust you can get to the mid 20s easily with the new diesels.

I'm more interested in what the new diesel engines will get in terms of real world mileage.  They can say 25 mpg all they want, those tests are probably with weight reduction and no windshield wipers and all that stuff.  I want some good honest real world numbers.

[squat]

It's always hard to tell what different people get for mileage.  Even on sites like this.  After reading hundreds of posts about mileage I have to assume that people lie when they say they don't use the overhead (always a couple mpgs high) or they just plain don't look and say they get 20s for mileage in a hemi.  I'd believe it if only a very small number of people say that.  I have owned 3 hemis and none of them have gotten even close to 20 mpg (my driving is 95% highway).  Even when I try to get good mileage and keep the engine under 2k rpms even while accelerating I haven't gotten better than 16.8 mpg.

[squat]

All my mileage is hand calculated too.