Thinking of buying one, opinions?

[blindside.AMG]

I'm thinking of purchasing a new Dodge Dakota in the near future and I was wondering what you owners thought of the truck. How is it in reliability, comfort (I sit in bumper to bumper traffic a lot), transmission problems?, gas mileage, does it tow well, and pretty much anything you guys have to offer. I'm looking at the Club Cab SLT Plus 4x2 with the 4.7L V8 and automatic transmission. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[d. lynne]

Well, I would personally get the manual (even with the bumper to bumper traffic). I've had both. I had a '99 Sport reg cab 4x2 auto, and then traded it for an '03 SXT 5-speed. Both of them had the 3.9 though. My mom had a '00 Quad Cab 4x4 with the 4.7 and she loved it. I loved both of mine as well. My point with the manual over the auotomatic is less tendancy for something to go wrong. On my '99, I had to replace my speed sensor on the tranny after about 50,000 miles. Now, that was 50,000 miles, so all in all, not bad. But bottom line, I loved my '99 so much, I wanted nothing else but another one when it was time to trade. In fact, I already have plans to trade for the new body style in a few years. The Dakota gets decent gas mileage, drives like a dream, hadles well, is confortable in long driving trips. I used to take 3 hour drives to visit my friend in college on the weekends, it was very comfortable.I'd like a club cab, but could never find one with the options I wanted when I bought the other two. Anyway, I love them, my friends love them, you can't beat them.

[rusher75]

my friend has a 2002 4.7 2wd 5 speed. i can tell you if you want pick up and go, thats the truck, its fast. put it this way, we beat a mustang gt, (newer one) not by much. his truch has 3.92 posi rear. i know alot dont have that. must have 3.55. they are real comfort to ride in (before we lowered 55 inches). i would say its a good truck. but be warned, i heard alot about dodges trannys going. i knw a few it happened to. i heard they are coming out in 2005 with a 6 speed manual trans. with a high out put engine that is 250 horse power. i also heard somewhere something about a hemi in them as well. im not sure about the hemi though, check it out. well good luck man.

[Shakey]

Beat a Mustang GT my ass.....lowered that beat 55 inches right?

[d. lynne]

I'm not even going to respond or acknowledge shakey's attempt at a contribution, but I will say this, I am not surprised to hear a Dakota beat a mustang. You tune one right and they'll run great. The only tranny problems I heard about where with automatics. I heard the Hemi rumor as well, but right now that's still a rumor. That would be one sweet ride though.

[bad360rt]

No problems beating Mustangs here, but I don't waste my gas on GT's, I go for Cobra's

As far as comfort goes, I travel a lot for work, so I get a lot of rental cars, none of them compare to my truck. Gotta be the most comfortable seats I've seen in anything short of a luxury vehicle. I've driven my truck 12 hours straight with no complaints My transmission just went out, but I'm also putting out over 500hp (432rwhp/422rwtq), so that was bound to happen. But if you don't get crazy like I did, then the stock tranny will be fine. Towing is good, best of anything short of a full size truck. Gas mileage is good for a V8 truck (you're not gonna set any records), I get 16-17 on the highway if I stay out of it (4.7's get better mileage than the 5.9's). I had a '93 Dakota 4x4 before my R/T, great truck, 151,000 miles with no major problems (replaced the clutch and the radiator). Get one, you'll love it!

[Foobz]

I own a 00' Dodge Dakota and the tranny does slip a lil...but not often enough that i even worry about it. Dakota's are pretty quick though ill give them that...im lookin at makin a 2wd mudder out of mine but really Dakota's are great trucks and comfortable as hell for a truck. Good Luck with your decision.

[mprtech]

Buy it you will love it. Make sure you get the 4.7 and the 45rfe 5 speed auto is the best trans chrysler ever built. I've personally worked on quite a few 4.7 auto dakota's and durango's with over 150000 miles and all the original parts.(ball joints excluded) . Good luck and enjoy your new Dodge.

[blindside.AMG]

Hey guys! Thanks for all your help and opinions. I actually bought a 2004 Dakota SLT with the 4.7 and 5-speed auto tranny back in April. The sticker price was around $27,500 but since I work for DaimlerChrysler I ended up only having to finance around $21,500. So far the truck has been great, although I do hear some suspicious up front that I'm gonna take it in for.

I ended up doing a couple modifications to it, nothing big, just tinted the front windows, spray-in bedliner, and got some clear front turn signals to clean things up. Here's a couple pictures:

[98R/TDailyDriver]

My full review http://www.chucksirois.com/reviews/D...dakota_rev.htm

This will definately help your decision

[jerp]

I have a '97 dakota 2wd and I really like the truck. Very comfortable but the transmission sucks. It slips all the time, I ad it worked on once to have a faulty sensor replaced,but that didn't help. I see big $$$$ in my future.