Im a very big Chevy fan, I absolutely love Chevrolet. But I swear I cant help but love the new Dodge 1500. I seriously think if I got a new truck its going to be the Dodge 1500 Shortbed Laramie, black, leather, and with the 345HP Hemi 5.7L powerplant. Anyone who owns a Dodge 1500 with the Hemi please give me some comments about it, bad or good. Hopefully it will be all good comments.

 

wow! those are impressive hp numbers... I thought the 5.7 was the GM's 350? I am a die hard Chevy fan although I really like the looks of the dodge, I just couldnt see buying one because of their reputation. I have heard good and bad things about them, but overall bad. I hear they have a lot of electrical problems with wireing and stuff. I always concidered Dogde to be like Polaris...JUNK [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] perhaps I will have to check into the new and improved Dodge and see if I can get over the bad experiences I have had with them. them Hemis do sound nice!

 

As I get older I become more less brand loyal, although Chevrolet will hold a special place in my heart!!! Dodge has really improved over the years I believe, and are building very nice vehicles. I think Dodge is the best looking truck on the road right now, Fords new body style doesnt kick much, and well Chevy? Hmm who knows, I think they were smoking weed when they were creating it. Hah na Chevy aint all that bad, I can live with it. But yes the Hemi seems like a very awesome engine, and with the horsepower rating.

 

As you can tell from my signature, I have one. The Hemi is a great engine. 345HP / 375lb ft. torque. It hauls! In a drag race between the Ford F-150 5.4L, Silverado 1500 6.0L Vortech, and Ram 1500 Hemi, the Dodge will come out on top. I know because I have raced them and have 1/4 mile times to prove it. But thats not what its about. Its about an overall package.

I am not brand loyal at all. In the past 5 years I have owned Dodge, Ford, Honda, and BMW. The only vehicle I never had a problem with was the Honda. People bash Dodge cause it has a bad reputation. Well, all autos are going to have their problems. My Ford fell apart after 60,000 miles in 2 years and I only got $4000 on trade in. It was destroyed. I won't buy another Ford. Dodge has problems too. My particular Ram needed to be brought in for the computer to be flashed cause it was stalling sometimes when put in reverse. It took them 10 minutes to fix and it was of course free of charge. That was the only problem I have had so far. Some people complain about the new Hemi because of the need to be flashed. Not a big issue if you ask me, and that only happened to certain 2003 models.

The interior is very comfortable. I have the premium cloth. IMO, leather does not belong in a truck. But thats just me. The truck looks great, and performs excellent. The ride is a little jarring with nothing in the bed, but that happens with any pickup truck. The Hemi is a sleeper. In stock trim, it is a good motor and holds its own against the competition very well. But there is so much power to be unlocked. With the addition of a Kenne Bell supercharger (as soon as its released) the motor puts out approx. 517 HP with the Intercooler. Add to that a 100 HP shot of NOS, and you have a 5,500 lb. truck that will do mid 12’s in the ¼ mile for only $6,500 in aftermarket parts. If you buy a Ram 1500 Short Bed Regular Cab Hemi for $20,000 off the lot, and add those parts, your looking at a truck that will hang with a Corvette ZO6 for half the price. Of course theres more to it then just that. Theres suspension, trans mods, etc. But the fact is, the motor needs nothing more then a few simple (but expensive) bolt on parts to turn it into a monster. No new pistons, gaskets, rods, valves, etc needed.

That’s all I have to say about the Dodge. You have to come up with your own conclusions. My best advise is to go to each dealership and test drive each truck. That’s what I did. Each truck shined in its own way. But after being thrown back in my seat on the test drive of the Hemi, I was sold. To me, it just felt better then the others. And BTW…with the Flowmaster 50 Series SUV Performance muffler I put on, the Hemi sounds MEAN!! Good luck with whichever you decide to go with.

 

Appreciate the replies guys, every truck has had there problems in the past. For example during the 80s the 305ci and 350ci engines Chevrolet put in there vehicles had a bad problem with Valve seals which caused oil burning. But im not going to look in the past, cause every Brand had a problem and it wasnt just Dodge. With all the people that are so brand loyal and think that all the other brands suck and there brand is the best is just an idiot. DEMag, sounds like you have a very nice truck and maybe she will last you a while.

 

my wife had a 96 Ram with 5.9 and auto. Had the tranny rebuilt 2 times, the A/C went out 4 times. Needless to say, I'm not too fond of the big trucks. I have had Dakotas and loved them. Never had any issues with them


When the Dak get's a Hemi, then I will look into Dodge again..... and I'm brand loyal to Dodge!

Ford runs a close second, Chebby's just suck

 

The only problem I have with Dodge is they are too easy to steal. My Durango got jacked like 4 months ago and came back all messed up. That is one time I wish they hadn't found my truck. The insurance agent told us that they can be taken in less than 20 sec. Another person I know got there's Stolen at a store parking lot which had a camera. Exact time it took to take, 27 sec's. I guess when it come to theft, if they want it, they are going to take it and it doesn't matter what brand it is. The Dodge will just be gone faster[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Just my $0.02

 

check on tranny i hear a few that arent happy.

 

"Some people complain about the new Hemi because of the need to be flashed. " Could you tell me more about this??

I got my Dodge 3 months ago and put 10,000 miles on it. I also owned a 97 Z-71 from new to 85,000 miles. The chevy got better gas milage not by much maybe 2 miles to the gallon. With the dodge on the highway the best I got was 17.1 mpg in the city 13.5mpg. The dodge pulls way harder from a dead but has a flat spot that I dont like between 45 and 50. If you just cruse on up to 55 and let it run through the gear it will shift to od at 45mph. If you need to get up and go you got to give it alot of gas for it to drop down in passing gear and when it does it hits like a power band on a banshee,lol. If you just give it enough so it dont drop down in passing gear it lugs in low rpms to 55 then starts pulling again in the rpms after 55. It might have something to do with the 20 inch rims. It just seem it shifts to OD to soon. My chevy shifted cleaner.
I replaced just about every ac-delo part on my chevy between 35k miles and 80k miles. Other than that I was satisfied.

I feel my dodge handles better , pulles my trailor better and is more powerfull than my chevy was but as for reliability I dont know yet??????

 

Some of the new 1500s and 2500s with the Hemi needed to be flashed to fix the shift problem. Sometimes (maybe three times in 6 months) the motor would stall when you would go from Reverse to Drive. Also, the tranny shifted very hard. They just hook up a little computer to your truck's ECU and swap the software. Takes only a few minutes and costs nothing.

So, if your truck ever stalls when you go from Reverse to Drive, take it in to be flashed. But it was only happening to certain trucks built between certain dates. Not sure of the exact dates atm.