Well it's supposedly been confirmed that this is indeed the 2009 Dodge Ram...

http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/2009...m/524480/full/

I dunno, my feelings are kinda mixed. I have an 04 Ram 1500 Hemi that I bought new and that I still dearly love - this at first glance looks a bit like an upsized 1997-2004 Dakota. I'm gonna have to see more of it, which will hopefully be soon. I might end up getting one of these before I'm able to get a new Challenger...

What do you all think?

 

The Ram seems to draw inspiration from the tundra in the hood and body lines. Personally I like the new dakota better,



[IMG]local://upfiles/374/7A90937C6D214161A2ABC59FAD314C35.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/374/ED89CFBDE503474CA53255A614A59D40.jpg[/IMG]

 

Why would they deviate from the Power Wagon homage that brought them back to prominence in the mid 90's? You're right the darn thing looks like a toyota. Makes as much sense as the Mustang that looked like a Toyota supra or the GTO that looked rather asian....ridiculous.

 

Those were my thoughts as well. No offense, but I feel like each time they update the Ram, it gets less attractive. Chrysler needs some better designers desperately. All of their talent went to GM (though I'm not sure they are helping GM very much on the exterior of their trucks). I think they need to shrink the Dakota and offer a more competitive engine line (including a 5.7L Hemi).

 

Anyone think that this could possibly be a Photoshop picture?

 

Right on RLSH700, Dakota SRT (yes, SRT w/ smaller 8 leave the Big 8 SRT for the full size ram) Sport Truck...why wouldn't ya?

 

Thank you Skippy! Though I meant the 5.7L to be for the R/T, I was thinking the 6.1L for an SRT-8 Dakota and offering the 6.4L or 6.5L (whichever they offer in the Challenger) for a Ram R/T and reviving the SRT-10 with the new V10. My theory is offer two levels of performance to capture people's attention. The reasonable level that is affordable to satisfy the mainstreams interests, then the unreasonable one for the true performance enthusiasts. The problem I see with the current Dakota is it doesn't have an engine line that will appeal to those who want performance. The updated 4.7L is a definate improvement, but it hasn't caught up with the 5.9L powered R/T of the previous generation even though it produces more hp and slightly less torque because of the weight increase. The 5.7L should have been offered on the Dakota immediately in the second generation even if it would cost the Ram a few sales. I for one would consider a Dakota if they did offer it, but I'm not going to buy a Ram because I don't need that much truck at this point.

 

Your right about the size, and another problem is price. I could buy a mitsubshi raider below MSRP (i see commericals trying to push them all the time) and get virtually the same thing.

 

I've noticed that one as well. I'm not sure why the current Dakota is so expensive other than the fact that it is so big. I think the size is a lot of the issue. The problem is you can no longer get an optional V8 in the Raider like you can in the Dakota. That is one reason why they are not selling as it needs the V8.

 

As of the 2007 it has a V8. A 4.7 liter that puts out a 235hp; the same engine as a 07 dakota. the 08 dakota has 302hp v8 and a v6 gives out 210 hp.


07 dakota
http://www-5.dodge.com/vehsuite/dispatch.do

08 dakota (under larmie)
http://www-5.dodge.com/vehsuite/dispatch.do

raider
http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/j...x.do?loc=en-us