AURORA | Retrospective forecast bingo is the best new game sensation sweeping the nation. Whip out your blotter to ink the absurd claims found in a recently uncovered LA Times story written in 1988. Those off-base, foolish futurologists called in predictions for 2013 that we would be snared in traffic (thanks to three times the number of automobiles on the roads) driving to our service industry jobs in banking, real estate, law or communications instead of manufacturing jobs, only to dodge crime on our drive back to homes we can’t afford. If anyone has an “English isn’t the prevailing language anymore,” you qualify for the speed round.
Maybe that’s not the best example, but it’s fair to say that even 5 years ago most people couldn’t have predicted what would come from the 2013 Ram 1500. It would have been hard to predict that the full-size truck market would sway so heavily toward fuel economy rather than capability. It would also have been hard to predict that Ford and Chevrolet’s vise grips on the segment would loosen enough to justify the Ram 1500, if not outright necessitate the third-party offering.
Ram’s marketing machine would now like me to tie everything together now and say, “The Ram 1500 is the truck of the future, today,” but that wouldn’t be accurate. Perhaps more accurately, the Ram 1500 is the truck you wanted, but never asked for.
That’s not faint praise for the full-size truck. Ask most product planners and they’ll tell you the worst indicators of consumer preferences are the consumers themselves. It takes courage to throw in a push-button, 8-speed automatic transmission when conventional knowledge assumes truck owners would prefer to sledgehammer home their own cogs while driving if they could. Bravery, not businessmen, would hinge a full-size truck’s lineup on a 3.6-liter V6 that produces 305 horsepower instead of a coal-burning powerplant that requires 12 Dickens-era child laborers to keep alive, day in and day out.
Maybe I’ve gone a little too far.
But the Ram 1500 isn’t a stranger to dealers or consumers at the moment. The Ram brand is riding a popularity wave that has helped increase sales 7 percent over last year. The 2013 Ram 1500 was crowned Motor Trend’s Pickup of the Year, and picked up a slew of other regional awards from just about everyone with an acronym.
In order to win those awards and new buyers, the lineup has to be solid anyway. The Ram 1500 effectively comes with only two engine options, a 5.7-liter V8 that produces 407 horsepower or the 3.6-liter V6. Those engines will be complemented by Ram’s 3.0-liter diesel engine — which
will be available in the third quarter of this year as a 2014 model — becoming the only light duty full-size with available oil burner under the hood. The diesel and V6 engines can be mated to an 8-speed transmission for mileage hawks on long hauls, or buyers can opt for the standard 6-speed, which is the only transmission available on the V8.
We’ve driven the “six and eight” engine-transmission combo and can report that it’s actually better than advertised. Winding roads up mountains can present a bit of a challenge with gear searching and endless shifting, but for the most part, it’s a smooth ride up and down with eight forward gears. It stands to wonder how long Ram will offer the six-speed with the V8 considering how good the 8-speed is, and after driving the latter it’s easy to see how outdated the former really will look side-by-side.
Dated isn’t the word I’d use to describe the inside, but I would say the interior looks good and feels good for a truck in the middle of it’s lifecycle. Chrysler’s UConnect system grates on me more each day, although the navigation and audio system has bigger touchscreen buttons and an improved menu design over its rivals. The column-mounted shifter is gone in the eight-speed, which is mounted to the right of the steering wheel below the radio, and drivers select forward, park, reverse by turning a knob. There’s a prediction made true from yesteryear: Everything has a knob!
Overall the cabin is extremely quiet and comfortable for two to four adults depending on cab configuration. I appreciate the space between driver and passenger; I just wish the space were filled with something other than a center console the size of a mid-sized ottoman. I could lose a small child in there. The cloth is sturdy without being sandpaper, and the leather, which we’ve sampled in other test models is soft without feeling artificial.
Ram makes no bones about it: The 1500 starts at $22,640, but they’ll take all the money you’re willing to give them for a truck. Optioned up, the 1500 can clear nearly $50,000, which is far away from blue-collar dollar. Our test model came to $36,215, a Ram Express Quad Cab with 4-wheel drive, which seemed to hit all the right spots short of an 8-speed automatic.
I never thought I’d gripe about a pickup not having 8-speeds. Also, I never thought I’d gripe about not having an exer-helmet flashing scenes of a Hawaiian beach while I completed my government-mandated 20 minute workout. Thankfully some predictions are better suited for reality than others.
Aaron Cole is a syndicated auto columnist. He knows he’s wrong, he’d just rather hear it from you. Reach him at aaron.m.cole@gmail.com or @ColeMeetsCars