Retired my VX

[Heraclid]

Nice truck, I think the Dodge Ram 1500 is the best looking half ton out there. I had a 2007 Toyota Tundra that I sold a couple months ago to get out of truck payments. I definitely miss the space & comfort of the Tundra but don't mind the extra money in the bank .

I hear ya... the only reason this happened is I work two jobs now and I lucked into getting a great deal on a truck I normally couldn't afford.

I think they had a hard time moving it so they were motivated to deal. Could be a lot of things, don't know. Black truck in Florida = very hot. Metallic paint = harder to fix. Crew Cab = short bed, which is fine for me, maybe not for a lot of guys (mine is 5'7" vs. 6'4" or 8'). The Ram Box feature is only available on Crew Cab models, and while I love it, many may think they lose too much space with them or opted for dual exhaust and larger wheels instead (Bighorn version). Actually, it just fills up the space over the wheel wells that often isn't used anyway. Mine has 17" wheels (which I actually prefer having driven both) instead of 20's like the Bighorn version, and also doesn't have a dual exhaust setup, which looks pretty nice. Mine has the body color grill - maybe many prefer the chrome grill and accents on other Ram models. I wasn't planning on buying quite yet, but in my case it was exactly what I wanted, it just fell into my lap and the circumstance were right, so I jumped on it.

Would not have chosen black normally but in every other way if was exaclty how I wanted it. Now I am actually really liking it, and I actually prefer the blacked out grill area and think it looks better than if it had chrome there. In fact, I'm thinking I'd like to maybe get some black wheels for it. I've always thought nothing looks better than a very clean black vehicle. It's also probably the hardest to keep that way.

Ya know, when I started looking, I was shopping the Kia Sportage against the FJ Cruiser, but I would often toss in the Tundra on some of the websites where you can compare up to 3 vehicles head-to-head. That was initially the truck I was most interested in. One of the biggest things that killed the Toyotas for me was the wimpy 3 yr/36,000 mile warranty. The Kia had 10 yrs/100,000. Problem is, if my wife's Sedona is any indication, you'd probably have to use it alot too (hers has had lots of little but annoying things come up). The Dodge Ram is 5 yrs/100,000. My brother in law who lives with us was also too cramped in the back of the FJ. We found the Ram Quad Cabs to be a bit too small also, so we got a Crew Cab.

The Ram now has an independent rear suspension and all of its competitors wear leaf springs in the rear, so the Ram's ride is nicer (for now). The Ram V6 is underpowered and then there are two V8 options(4.7 L 310 hp and 5.7 L Hemi 390 hp). This one just happened to have the Hemi, and I have to say I LOVE the engine. And it is nice to have a vehicle sound nice but not obnoxious and still be quiet in the cabin under acceleration. The PowerVault muffler on my VX had gotten loud to the point that it had quit being enjoyable and was just irritating me. The Hemi-powered Ram just doesn't even break a sweat when the VX would have been sweating bullets. I drive conservatively nowadays, but this thing has serious punch when you want it.

When I got the VX I swore I'd never go back to a car, and figured I'd always be in SUVs. The funny thing is, I was never much into trucks. Maybe it's getting older or whatever, but I am getting more practical and want something very versatile. My wife and I want to have kids and her tall autistic brother lives with us, so while she has a minivan, I like the redundancy of having a second vehicle that can cart us all around also, with back doors instead of having to be a contortionist to crawl in and out. I want to do more outdoor activities and haul around the gear that goes with it. It was really the interior design (lots of storage compartments) of the Ram that first got my attention when I was watching video reviews online. My VX tended to be cluttered. With the Ram, I can have all sorts of stuff in it and it will still look empty. I some times haul around gas-powered equipment and the interior of the VX reeked of gas and that can't be healthy - a truck bed fixes that.

Haha Wormgod, good to see you're still around. Hey, I've been a stranger here for years now anyway. Yeah, didn't see myself getting a full-size pickup until quite recently, but life happens and changes need to be made. Like I said above, I even briefly considered FJ Cruisers! I know there are posts on this board from years gone by where I said I didn't care one bit for them, but they grew on me. Dare I say I even looked at the 4-door Jeep Wranglers?! Just not a lot of bang for the buck with those I thought (too expensive for what they are).