"Megacab" Dodge blows away competition with 345 hp, huge rear seat
10-05-2005, 12:41 PM
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"Megacab" Dodge blows away competition with 345 hp, huge rear seat
full article
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autoscon...F01-337516.htm
LANSDOWNE, Va. -- It's unusual to watch automotive journalists jockey for positions in the rear seat of a vehicle but that's just what happened during the media launch of the 2006 Dodge Ram Mega Cab.
That's because the real story with the five- or six-passenger Mega Cab, the type of Detroit product that comedian Bill Maher likes to refer to as a "Godzillamobile," is in the back seat.
Dodge took a Ram 2500 Quad Cab long-box model and reconfigured it, shortening the bed while adding an extra 20 inches in length to the rear of the cab to create the Mega Cab.
The rear of the cabin is where Dodge lavished much of its attention with unusual seats that recline like La-Z-Boy chairs, big bins that hold tools or sports equipment, and the brand's first power-sliding rear window.
The cabin is so big it can easily accommodate a power sunroof and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, two options that are usually mutually exclusive because of the space constraints. Maybe that's why Dodge executives kept using the cornball description "room with a vroom" for their new truck.
From the rear seat, the vents on the center console were so far away from me that I found myself adjusting them with my foot when the vehicle was in motion, and I didn't want to unbuckle. I also had a hard time reaching the grab handle ahead of me on the middle pillar when the driver was slaloming down some twisting roads. But those may be small annoyances for some people, considering all the headroom and legroom you get in the new Dodge truck.
After spending hours in the Mega Cab's rear seat, I went through the same drill with its competitors, the GMC Sierra pickup and Ford F-350. There's little doubt that the Dodge truck puts them to shame, in terms of cabin space and comfort.
Still, be prepared for a mega price tag. The Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Mega Cab 4x2 I rode and drove had a base price of $45,505, including a $900 destination charge. My test truck came equipped with $4,945 worth of options and had a window sticker of $50,470. That's $3,000 more than the Lincoln Mark LT luxury four-door pickup I tested earlier this year.
The Mega Cab has a base price of $32,760, including destination, for the 1500 SLT 4x2 model. A top-of-the-line Mega Cab 3500 Laramie 4x4 starts at $48,595 and can hit around $56,000 when fully loaded. The Dodge Ram Mega Cab is on sale now.
While the Mexican-built Mega Cab may provide the ultimate in rear-seat comfort in this segment of the truck market, it's nearly the equivalent of owning a second home. You won't be able to park the Mega Cab in most conventional garages, a fact that Dodge executives acknowledge with more pride than regret.
Dodge's media launch of the Mega Cab came in the pre-Hurricane Katrina days of early August, when it was still semi-socially acceptable to drive mega-thirsty vehicles. Since then, depending on your perspective, this Dodge Ram may be saddled with the most unfortunate and untimely name of the 2006 model year, as buyers scramble to conserve fuel and think smaller.
A 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 makes 345 horsepower and 375 pounds-feet of torque is standard on Mega Cab 1500 and 2500 models and blows away the Sierra and the F-350 in terms of horsepower. The Mega Cab's Hemi is mated to a standard five-speed automatic transmission. A 5.9-liter Cummins six-cylinder turbo-diesel is standard on the 3500 model and optional on the 2500 model; it makes 325 horsepower and 610 pounds-feet of torque. The diesel is paired with a standard six-speed manual transmission.
The Environmental Protection Agency does not require truck manufacturers to report fuel economy on a vehicle this large, but Dodge says consumers can expect to get 14 miles per gallon in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway with the gasoline-powered Mega Cab. My test vehicle, equipped with the turbo-diesel, gets about 16 mpg in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway, according to Dodge. The numbers are respectable for a full-size, heavy-duty pickup.
The Mega Cab may be a winner in some quarters, especially if you are looking for stretch-out, family-style amenities in the cabin.
The 2005 GMC Sierra 2500 Crew Cab model I compared with the Dodge truck cost $42,117 and had a clearly inferior rear seat. The legroom was terrible next to the Mega Cab; there was no reclining seat for rear-seat passengers and limited storage behind the rear seat. GM won't introduce its redesigned GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups until model year 2007.
A 2005 Ford Super Duty F-350 4x2 XLT Crew Cab priced at $42,215 was similarly disappointing. You couldn't recline the rear seat, and there was less legroom and storage space than in the Dodge.
With the three trucks side-by-side, I was struck by how much more sophisticated the Mega Cab's cabin looked, with its storage setup that reminded me of the tidy work done by home organizers such as California Closets.
Despite what some truck purists may describe as its girlie interior characteristics, the exterior of the Mega Cab should please aficionados of the "get-out-of-my-way" school of design.
The face of the Dodge truck looks tough, with a dramatic new six-sided chrome grille and large, angular headlights intruding into the fenders and look more three-dimensional than previous Ram headlights. Be forewarned, it will be difficult for women and children to get into the cab of the Dodge truck without the optional aftermarket Mopar running boards.
Inside, bucket seats are available for the first time on a Ram, along with a new instrument panel with white-faced gauges and easy-to-use ***** and buttons. There are upscale options, like Sirius satellite radio and a new DVD navigation system with a full screen.
Despite the cushy interior, the Mega Cab is a workhorse, with a maximum towing capacity of 15,900 pounds and a payload capacity of 2,970. But the bed has shrunk to provide all that rear-seat space. Engineers took the Ram 2500 long-box model's 8-foot box and replaced it with a 6-foot, 3-inch box.
My two-wheel-drive test vehicle was surprisingly tame and proved relatively easy to park and maneuver, thanks to a standard independent front suspension and rack-and-pinion steering system. Four-wheel-drive models have the more big-rig-like recirculating-ball setup and a rigid-beam front axle. All models have a heavy-duty solid rear axle.
In terms of safety, Dodge apparently is convinced that the key is size and not equipment. You can't get stability control or traction control on the Mega Cab. Side curtain air bags that protect all outboard passengers are an extra $490. Antilock brakes are standard.
Mega Cab and its ilk may prove to be a tantalizing target for naysayers like comedian Maher, who recently said on his HBO show that "Detroit has completely forgotten the lesson of the '70s, which was, when an oil crisis looms, stop making Godzillamobiles."
There's an easy solution to that for buyers of the Mega Cab: follow the advice of President Bush and make sure you organize a fuel-saving carpool. And if you are part of that carpool, just make sure you jockey for the best seat in the house -- the back seat.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autoscon...F01-337516.htm
LANSDOWNE, Va. -- It's unusual to watch automotive journalists jockey for positions in the rear seat of a vehicle but that's just what happened during the media launch of the 2006 Dodge Ram Mega Cab.
That's because the real story with the five- or six-passenger Mega Cab, the type of Detroit product that comedian Bill Maher likes to refer to as a "Godzillamobile," is in the back seat.
Dodge took a Ram 2500 Quad Cab long-box model and reconfigured it, shortening the bed while adding an extra 20 inches in length to the rear of the cab to create the Mega Cab.
The rear of the cabin is where Dodge lavished much of its attention with unusual seats that recline like La-Z-Boy chairs, big bins that hold tools or sports equipment, and the brand's first power-sliding rear window.
The cabin is so big it can easily accommodate a power sunroof and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, two options that are usually mutually exclusive because of the space constraints. Maybe that's why Dodge executives kept using the cornball description "room with a vroom" for their new truck.
From the rear seat, the vents on the center console were so far away from me that I found myself adjusting them with my foot when the vehicle was in motion, and I didn't want to unbuckle. I also had a hard time reaching the grab handle ahead of me on the middle pillar when the driver was slaloming down some twisting roads. But those may be small annoyances for some people, considering all the headroom and legroom you get in the new Dodge truck.
After spending hours in the Mega Cab's rear seat, I went through the same drill with its competitors, the GMC Sierra pickup and Ford F-350. There's little doubt that the Dodge truck puts them to shame, in terms of cabin space and comfort.
Still, be prepared for a mega price tag. The Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Mega Cab 4x2 I rode and drove had a base price of $45,505, including a $900 destination charge. My test truck came equipped with $4,945 worth of options and had a window sticker of $50,470. That's $3,000 more than the Lincoln Mark LT luxury four-door pickup I tested earlier this year.
The Mega Cab has a base price of $32,760, including destination, for the 1500 SLT 4x2 model. A top-of-the-line Mega Cab 3500 Laramie 4x4 starts at $48,595 and can hit around $56,000 when fully loaded. The Dodge Ram Mega Cab is on sale now.
While the Mexican-built Mega Cab may provide the ultimate in rear-seat comfort in this segment of the truck market, it's nearly the equivalent of owning a second home. You won't be able to park the Mega Cab in most conventional garages, a fact that Dodge executives acknowledge with more pride than regret.
Dodge's media launch of the Mega Cab came in the pre-Hurricane Katrina days of early August, when it was still semi-socially acceptable to drive mega-thirsty vehicles. Since then, depending on your perspective, this Dodge Ram may be saddled with the most unfortunate and untimely name of the 2006 model year, as buyers scramble to conserve fuel and think smaller.
A 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 makes 345 horsepower and 375 pounds-feet of torque is standard on Mega Cab 1500 and 2500 models and blows away the Sierra and the F-350 in terms of horsepower. The Mega Cab's Hemi is mated to a standard five-speed automatic transmission. A 5.9-liter Cummins six-cylinder turbo-diesel is standard on the 3500 model and optional on the 2500 model; it makes 325 horsepower and 610 pounds-feet of torque. The diesel is paired with a standard six-speed manual transmission.
The Environmental Protection Agency does not require truck manufacturers to report fuel economy on a vehicle this large, but Dodge says consumers can expect to get 14 miles per gallon in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway with the gasoline-powered Mega Cab. My test vehicle, equipped with the turbo-diesel, gets about 16 mpg in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway, according to Dodge. The numbers are respectable for a full-size, heavy-duty pickup.
The Mega Cab may be a winner in some quarters, especially if you are looking for stretch-out, family-style amenities in the cabin.
The 2005 GMC Sierra 2500 Crew Cab model I compared with the Dodge truck cost $42,117 and had a clearly inferior rear seat. The legroom was terrible next to the Mega Cab; there was no reclining seat for rear-seat passengers and limited storage behind the rear seat. GM won't introduce its redesigned GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups until model year 2007.
A 2005 Ford Super Duty F-350 4x2 XLT Crew Cab priced at $42,215 was similarly disappointing. You couldn't recline the rear seat, and there was less legroom and storage space than in the Dodge.
With the three trucks side-by-side, I was struck by how much more sophisticated the Mega Cab's cabin looked, with its storage setup that reminded me of the tidy work done by home organizers such as California Closets.
Despite what some truck purists may describe as its girlie interior characteristics, the exterior of the Mega Cab should please aficionados of the "get-out-of-my-way" school of design.
The face of the Dodge truck looks tough, with a dramatic new six-sided chrome grille and large, angular headlights intruding into the fenders and look more three-dimensional than previous Ram headlights. Be forewarned, it will be difficult for women and children to get into the cab of the Dodge truck without the optional aftermarket Mopar running boards.
Inside, bucket seats are available for the first time on a Ram, along with a new instrument panel with white-faced gauges and easy-to-use ***** and buttons. There are upscale options, like Sirius satellite radio and a new DVD navigation system with a full screen.
Despite the cushy interior, the Mega Cab is a workhorse, with a maximum towing capacity of 15,900 pounds and a payload capacity of 2,970. But the bed has shrunk to provide all that rear-seat space. Engineers took the Ram 2500 long-box model's 8-foot box and replaced it with a 6-foot, 3-inch box.
My two-wheel-drive test vehicle was surprisingly tame and proved relatively easy to park and maneuver, thanks to a standard independent front suspension and rack-and-pinion steering system. Four-wheel-drive models have the more big-rig-like recirculating-ball setup and a rigid-beam front axle. All models have a heavy-duty solid rear axle.
In terms of safety, Dodge apparently is convinced that the key is size and not equipment. You can't get stability control or traction control on the Mega Cab. Side curtain air bags that protect all outboard passengers are an extra $490. Antilock brakes are standard.
Mega Cab and its ilk may prove to be a tantalizing target for naysayers like comedian Maher, who recently said on his HBO show that "Detroit has completely forgotten the lesson of the '70s, which was, when an oil crisis looms, stop making Godzillamobiles."
There's an easy solution to that for buyers of the Mega Cab: follow the advice of President Bush and make sure you organize a fuel-saving carpool. And if you are part of that carpool, just make sure you jockey for the best seat in the house -- the back seat.
10-05-2005, 01:13 PM
#2
Thats MR Hoss to you buddy!
From the rear seat, the vents on the center console were so far away from me that I found myself adjusting them with my foot when the vehicle was in motion, and I didn't want to unbuckle.
01-31-2006, 11:29 AM
#5
Registered User
Originally Posted by 4x4not
So it looks like they didn't up the Cummins? Or are they gonna do that next year to compete with the 360hp Duramax?
I hope for 2007 they do something to compete with the duracrap.
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