Description: On sale date: Summer 2001 Estimated pricing: $15,000 to $30,000 Dodge is rolling out a new generational design for its full-size Ram pickup. It will be introduced as a 2002 model and should arrive late this summer (2001). Restyled with a get-out-of-my-way face, the 2002 Ram rides on a stiff new chassis and brings a choice of new powertrains, along with two bed lengths and two-door and four-door cabin designs stretched to achieve best-in-class interior space. This new treatment of Ram, like its predecessor that emerged in 1994 with the big-rig styling of a Peterbilt, will be hard to overlook. It's bold and assertive, a massive prow dominating the design with flat-faced grille and stair-step hood underscored by a thick-lip bumper and liberal coats of chrome. You can tell in an instant this is not some namby-pamby pickup where the slick styling imitates a car. Rather, Ram looks like it was built for business -- macho truck-type work like lugging lumber or tugging a trailer, hauling hay to pasture or running up the range and crawling over rough terrain. Despite the muscular exterior styling, Ram has concessions for comfort in the revamped cabin, which adds three inches longitudinally to expand the space. Those extra inches for the cabin came out of the rear bed, as the regular-length box was chopped from 78 to 75 inches to prevent over-extending the length of the truck. An optional long box remains the same length at 96 inches. The previous Ram, during its eight-year product life, led the race for multiplying cabin doors, including the first deployment of four front-hinged doors in the Quad Cab edition. This new Ram pares the parade of doors by restricting the cabin to two designs -- two-door Regular Cab and four-door Quad Cab. In the Quad Cab, a rear bench has the seatback tipped rearward at a slight angle so adult riders may sit comfortably with ample room for heads and legs. An optional 60/40-split bench permits transporting a passenger on one side and cargo on the other. Also, lids on the flat floor pop open to reveal below-deck storage bins. In the Regular Cab, Ram's additional room allows more seat travel and seatbacks recline further. The bench-style seatback splits in 40/20/40 sections and incorporates a fold-down center console that's large enough to hold a laptop computer. New optional adjustable-position brake and accelerator pedals more forward or backward to fit oversized or undersized drivers. Safety gear extends beyond the dual frontal airbags to three-point safety belts for all seats (three for Regular Cab and six for Quad Cab), with two sets of tether anchors in the rear of the four-door for installing a child's safety seat. Further, side curtain-style airbags will be optional for both cabin sizes. The current Dodge Ram has fallen behind Ford and GM in terms of ride quality and general refinement. Dodge will attempt to change that with a rigid new chassis. The ladder-type frame has one-piece side rails contoured through hydroforming, a process that creates a stronger yet lighter structure. Ram also gets handling hardware normally associated with sports cars, including an independent front suspension with upper and lower A-arms, gas-charged shocks, rack-and-pinion steering, huge 13-inch disc brakes (vented up front) with two-piston calipers, and oversized wheels and tires (standard P245/70R17 tires with steel 17-inch wheels plus optional wheel/tire packages culminating at 20-inch aluminum wheels with P275/55R20 tires). The light-duty Ram 1500 series will show up this summer as a 2002 model with three engine selections, while the heavy-duty Ram 2500 variation will lag a year and appear as a 2003 model equipped with either a V10 or Cummins diesel powertrain. Ram 1500 will offer a new 3.7-liter V6, a new-for-Ram 4.7-liter V8 and an optional 5.9-liter V8. The single-cam V6 will deliver 210 horsepower and 230 pounds-feet of torque, which edges out the V6 power ratings of full-size competitor trucks by Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. The 4.7-liter Magnum V8, borrowed from Dodge's mid-size Dakota truck, musters 235 horsepower and 295 pounds-feet of torque, while the optional 5.9-liter Magnum V8 -- carried over from the previous model -- hits 245 horsepower with 335 pounds-feet of torque. A new four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission will team with the V6 and smaller V8, and the 5.9-liter V8 has a heavy-duty automatic. Stronger powertrains produce stronger trucks, so this new Ram earns higher ratings for weight, payload and towing. The tow rating for a Ram 1500 Regular Cab increases to 8,660 pounds. Payload for the Quad Cab bumps up to 1,750 pounds, and its Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) climbs as high as 13,500 pounds. Both 2WD and 4WD versions of Ram will be available for all cab sizes and box lengths, along with the four trim packages of SL, SLT, SLT+ and Sport. All flash a chrome-plated grille and bumper except for Sport, where the body-colored grille ring has horizontal chrome bars inset in each quadrant of the grille. Pricing for the new Ram 1500 has yet to be announced, but the range is expected to compare with the previous editions, starting around $15,000. Manufacturer Info Sources 1-800-423-6343
Similar news:
2001 Slump May Not Have Been Recession at All - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Not only was the US recession in 2001 the shallowest on record, it may not have been one at all -- at least in the classic sense of two straight quarterly declines, new government data show.
GE restates earnings back to 2001 - General Electric Co. on Fridaysaid it was restating earnings from 2001 through the firstquarter of 2005 after an internal audit found that itsaccounting for certain currency and interest rate derivatives did not comply with accounting standards.
16 ( -6 -37.5% )