Driving Impressions Of Dodge Ram Mega Cab Agawam MA

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Driving Impressions

The Dodge Ram Mega Cab feels like a big, heavy duty pickup because it is a big, heavy duty pickup. All Rams are wide-eight feet on duallies, and on small, rural roads oncoming traffic sometimes required us to edge away from the center line to create comfortable passing for both parties. Fold-out mirrors demarcate width well, and if the mirrors go through the rear fenders (integral with the bed sides on Mega Cabs) should too.

Parking a truck as big as a Mega Cab requires some care and attention. We found it necessary to execute three-point turns into most parking spaces and sometimes to get out and look to check our final position. This, even with a very quick 2.75-turn steering ratio that helps maneuvering at low speeds, and you'll maneuver often with 50 feet needed for a U-turn, a condition not unique to the Ram.

The steering has been improved on all Rams. The 2WD Mega Cab comes with rack-and-pinion steering, while 4WD models come with a recirculating ball system. We found a minimum of bump steer and relatively precise tracking, not easy to engineer on a tall 4x4.

We noticed right away that the use of laminated front window glass and re-designed door seals has cut down on wind noise, inherent in big pickups with wide mirrors. The interior is remarkably quiet, even as we ran the air conditioning, which offers minimal fan noise on the lower settings. With any pickup, especially a 4x4, a certain amount of noise and vibration is to be expected.

We were quite comfortable in an all-day drive in a Laramie model through Virginia. With the heavier spring package that comes on dual-wheel 3500 models, we noticed some vibration leaking through to the cabin as we passed over rough railroad tracks and bridged creek crossings, but overall, found the chassis to be well damped, with a nice balance between the opposing priorities of comfort, control, and load-bearing capability. As a general rule, the more weight a heavy-duty pickup carries, the more the ride improves.

The 5.7-liter Hemi V8 is EPA-rated at 13/17 City/Highway mpg in the 1500 (2500-and-higher models are not rated) and any real-world mileage in the teens is doing well. The Hemi is an overhead-valve, pushrod V8, with a cast-iron block and hemispherical combustion chambers. It develops 345 horsepower at 5400 rpm and like any good truck engine, it makes more torque than horsepower, delivering 375 pound-feet at 4200 rpm.

The vaunted Cummins Turbo Diesel has been enlarged to 6.7 liters for 2007, meets 2010 emissions requirements and has an exhaust brake as standard. The option price is listed at $6,100 but it requires an Ultra Clean Diesel charge of $995, making it about the same price as Ford and GM heavy-dutys. Unlike the GM the Cummins comes with a six-speed manual, and unlike Ford the new automatic is a six-speed unit. Neither Ford nor GM offer the exhaust brake that makes intermountain towing stress free by delivering up to 190 braking horsepower (bhp) to control descent speed, thereby leaving the service brakes cool and free for more immediate stopping.

The Cummins is an inline six-cylinder built like a tractor-trailer engine, with exceptional longevity and low-end grunt, and it's frequently used in trucks and motorhomes that carry 2-10 times what a Ram pickup will. With the latest injection system, it is very clean (the tailpipe won't even go dark), much quieter (you won't hear it with the stereo on), more responsive, and more powerful. With either transmission it makes 350 hp at 3000 rpm, in the same neighborhood as Ford (350) and GM (365). Torque with the standard manual gearbox is 610 lb-ft at just 1400 rpm; with the automatic it rises to 650 lb-ft at 1500 rpm. Torque is what gets a load in motion, and with the Cummins making as much torque when you let the clutch out as the Hemi does at 4,000 rpm, it is the obvious choice. Many RVers report better fuel mileage towing 10,000 pounds with their Cummins than a Hemi gets in an empty truck.

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