Miscellaneous Rants and Insights

For months people have been speculating on the “new” Ram for 2009. Chrysler wouldn’t say, which almost confirms by omission, that it would debut at the 2008 Detroit auto show (more properly the North American International Auto Show but the incongruity of “North American International” makes me think it’s a stupid name).

There’s some debate about the engines. Will the 3.7-liter V-6 base engine be dropped in favor of the 4.0? Very likely…the 3.7 has a hard time hauling around a Dakota or a Liberty, never mind a full-size, and when was the last time you saw a redesigned truck that weighed less? The 4.7 will clear 300 hp, because it already does in other applications. That means the Hemi will have to be tweaked, although I’m not sure going to the full 6.1-liter size used by SRT is the right way to do it.

And the big question: Will there be a Cummins V-6 or V-8 in a half-ton? It could easily be done (I drove one in 2004) but the “new management” at Chrysler hasn’t been in place that long, so we’ll have to wait and see. If I told you everything I know I’d be unemployed.

Spies report the new Ram has coil springs, trailing arms and a Panhard rod in back, like some 1970’s pickups and modern “stock” cars. This wouldn’t surprise me because you can get a good ride, payload won’t be much more than 20% of truck weight, and Chrysler has it sorted in the porky Grand Cherokee/Commander/etc. A Watts linkage like the Durango would’ve been really neat.

I had heard the Ram had a sloped forward grille - again a throwback to the ’70s and not surprising given the Avenger and Charger do as well, but that the interior got the major part of the upgrade. Seems any truck more than a few years old is “dated” these days because they’re not being used as tools and farm implements, they’re being used as cars.

And while the Challenger was taking first orders and those order slots, not the actual cars, were getting $15,000-20,000 on eBay, for a short time you could plainly see the 2009 Ram photo on a Mopar web page. Dodge claims it was a mistake, but we’ll never know because Executive Peon dismissals don’t merit press releases. Others think viral marketing and it was all planned. Conspiracy TDR theorists will say it’s just John Holmes getting even for forced retirement or a former stylist whose design was not chosen.

Did you see it? What did you think? Do you care? If you can’t answer positively to all those questions better let Dodge know ASAP so they get the HD version right.