Children and Pickups

[Oz]

I bought a Honda Ridgeline RTL right after Thanksgiving. Inside, it's like a nice SUV with leather and sunroof with lots of room. The drive is quiet and smooth. Underneath, it's 4WD and switches to Front Wheel Drive when there is no slippage. Fuel economy averages 18-18.5 with my normal short round trip totalling about 15-20 miles per day. On the highway, I get 21-22mpg with several trips on the odometer now. And there's a 5 foot truck bed when I want to bring bags of mulch home. There's a trunk in the truck bed which can double as a beer cooler!

Awesome truck! GM, Ford, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan actually have competition from outside the box. And Honda has done their homework!!

 

[kom526]

I had a 2000 Durango 5.9L it was a good truck until I had some service done at a local dealer. After I got it back, it was back in the shop with the same problem, the explanation I was given-"The engine has 85,000 miles on it. You are going to start having problems." My reply was,"If I can over 125,000 miles out all my other vehicles w/o problems why not from this one?" The answer was, "You can't compare a DODGE motor to a Japanese motor."

Anyway, we dumped the Durango and got a Honda Pilot. Like OZ said it is a well thought vehicle with reliability you can trust.

If you are set on the Dakota, do yourself a favor and go to Tate Dodge on West St in Annapolis. We got our Durango there and it was a pleasurable experience. Honda of Annapolis is right across to street also.

Good Luck with your purchase, whatever it may be!

 

[teverheart2002]

We absolutely LOVE our Ford F-350 Diesel Powerstroke. I told hubby that we had to get the crew cab in case for kiddos. Now we like it because the pups have their own backseat when we take them places with and we like all the room.

 

[sleuth]

I've gotten some negative feedback from some folks about Dodge, I like it (Dakota)... It also has a pretty good rating on http://www.edmunds.com.

I'll be researching for a while....

I have a Dakota 4 door. Love it.
Only bad thing is there's NO storage space except for the actual back seat.
For example, I have my jumper cables and a tire iron in the back seat.
And with the 5' bed you really don't want to buy a big tool box. Kinda sucks.

I wish they'd make the 4 door with a 6 or 8 foot bed.. but then... it'd be like a boat!

 

[bcp]

I have a Dakota 4 door. Love it.
Only bad thing is there's NO storage space except for the actual back seat.
For example, I have my jumper cables and a tire iron in the back seat.
And with the 5' bed you really don't want to buy a big tool box. Kinda sucks.

I wish they'd make the 4 door with a 6 or 8 foot bed.. but then... it'd be like a boat!

Im not sure about the Dakota, but the 1500 ram has storage under the back seat.
look to see if you have a release on the drivers side below the seat that will allow you to lift the back seat up.
there are compartments under there for storing things.

 

[Pete]

I have a Dakota 4 door. Love it.
Only bad thing is there's NO storage space except for the actual back seat.
For example, I have my jumper cables and a tire iron in the back seat.
And with the 5' bed you really don't want to buy a big tool box. Kinda sucks.

I wish they'd make the 4 door with a 6 or 8 foot bed.. but then... it'd be like a boat!

<------cleek for a big fat I EFFING TOLD YOU SO.

Some people just don't listen

 

[crabcake]

I bought a Honda Ridgeline RTL right after Thanksgiving. Inside, it's like a nice SUV with leather and sunroof with lots of room. The drive is quiet and smooth. Underneath, it's 4WD and switches to Front Wheel Drive when there is no slippage. Fuel economy averages 18-18.5 with my normal short round trip totalling about 15-20 miles per day. On the highway, I get 21-22mpg with several trips on the odometer now. And there's a 5 foot truck bed when I want to bring bags of mulch home. There's a trunk in the truck bed which can double as a beer cooler!

Awesome truck! GM, Ford, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan actually have competition from outside the box. And Honda has done their homework!!

You're my kind of rain.

 

[willie]

I appreciate the feedback, however I am willing to bet that if we keep this thread active long enough that at some point, someone will say, "Don't buy a ford", "Don't buy a chevy". Don't buy this, don't buy that....

I'm sure I will research the hell out of this and no matter what I end up buying, some will say great buy and some will say, "steeeempy you idiot"...

If you're just going to commute, the Dakota should be OK. The 1500 & 2500 model trucks are the only ones that I have heard having excess transmission and brake rotor problems.

 

[crabcake]

If you're just going to commute, the Dakota should be OK. The 1500 & 2500 model trucks are the only ones that I have heard having excess transmission and brake rotor problems.

Buy a truck to do what YOU need it to do; not what others need it to do. If you don't plan to tow a boat or haul a crapload of awkward stuff in it, you'll be fine. Dakota's are nice trucks for the money. Sure you could spend more, but if the only thing you're hauling around on a regular basis is your's and your kiddo's azzes, why should you? :shrug:

And someone else said it (RR maybe); stay away from Park Dodge. They gave Tater the run around when he was buying his Dakota a few years back. He ended up going with a dealership in Annapolis, Upper Marlboro or Laurel, and had a pretty good experience. If you decide to go the Dakota route, I can find out for you.

 

[Fishn Guy]

Just buy a tractor... I recomend the Farmall Super H.... very kid freindly

 

[onebdzee]

I have a '01 Dakota Quad cab and for what I do(running kids here and there, trash runs, taking supplies over to clements) I wouldn't ask for anything more....My ex had a Ram 1500 ext cab with the V-8 and he would get 16mpg....mine(V-6) gets 22....and the back seats fold up for extra storage underneath

The guy I contract for has 2 GMCs(rotor problems, mpg sucks) and 1 Ford('05 no reported problems, yet)

I got mine(used) off of autotrader.com....they have new ones on there also depending on if you want new or used....and I would stay away from Park also....they bent my ex over the table(if you know what I mean)

 

[mainman]

I did some tirekicking today, I drove a Ford Ranger and 2 different F150s. I like the F150 more than I did the Ranger, in the Ranger I felt like I was in a high car.

I'll try more this week..

 

[Oz]

I did some tirekicking today, I drove a Ford Ranger and 2 different F150s. I like the F150 more than I did the Ranger, in the Ranger I felt like I was in a high car.

I'll try more this week..

Whatever you do, DON'T drive a Honda Ridgeline. It will redefine the meaning of truck after kicking the tires of the Ford/Dodge/GM/Toyota/Nissan varieties.

 

[mainman]

Whatever you do, DON'T drive a Honda Ridgeline. It will redefine the meaning of truck after kicking the tires of the Ford/Dodge/GM/Toyota/Nissan varieties.

Funny you should say that, they ran a commercial last night on the SB for that truck... Sweet...

 

[Oz]

Funny you should say that, they ran a commercial last night on the SB for that truck... Sweet...

You don't know how sweet it is, until you drive it!

 

[mainman]

You don't know how sweet it is, until you drive it!

Hmmmm, maybe I'll check this one out too...

 

[sleuth]

<------cleek for a big fat I EFFING TOLD YOU SO.

Some people just don't listen

Hey... it gets the job done. And I get almost 20 mpg, so I'm thrilled with it.

 

[sleuth]

Im not sure about the Dakota, but the 1500 ram has storage under the back seat.
look to see if you have a release on the drivers side below the seat that will allow you to lift the back seat up.
there are compartments under there for storing things.

There's some room under the seats, but not much.
Under the back seat is my scissor jack, and I have a couple cylindrical cases stuffed under there holding bungee cables, ropes, etc. And my ice scraper. But that's it. No room for my jumper cables or a 4-sided tire iron.

 

[mainman]

Ok, to date I have driven a:

-Ford Ranger
-F 150
-Dodge Dakota.

So far I am digging the F-150 more than the others.

Maybe I'll check out Toyota and Nissan tonight...

 

[mv_princess]

Toyota tocoma's are great..I will be getting one this weekend