Its official America hates the new Dakota!
Login  | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 8:20:13 AM
|
|
|
71RoadRunner
Posts: 9542
Joined: 7/28/2003
From: United States
Status: offline
|
That's good 'ol Dumler for ya'. The only thing they really want to do is put more money into their Benz operations, they were found taking huge fistfulls of Chrysler profits and funds and putting it into the Benz divisions.
_____________________________
71 Plymouth Roadrunner 440 Auto. Modified
04 Dodge SRT-4 2.4L DOHC Turbo Intercooled 5-spd. Modified
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 8:36:00 AM
|
|
|
Midnight
Katrina Fund Contributor
Posts: 17500
Joined: 12/10/2004
From: Tallahassee, Florida
Status: online
|
I think that the new Dakota looks great. I love the new grill and I was wating for it to go on the Ram. Give DC time for the Charger. I do agree on that the Durango looks terrible. But the Dakota does not. Everyone down here in the south loves them..
_____________________________
Dodge News: http://www.dodgeforum.com/forumid_42/tt.htm
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3051794
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 10:22:38 AM
|
|
|
moparturd
Posts: 10141
Joined: 1/27/2004
Status: offline
|
I think the Charger will catch on, but the Dakota is one ugly truck. They really mangled the features with the re-style for sure. I've seen only one on the road so far.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 11:57:28 AM
|
|
|
dakota2112
Posts: 78
Joined: 9/17/2004
Status: offline
|
I have a comment that is slightly off-topic but is tangentially related...
I own a 1997 Dakota club cab base model, V6, manual transmission. To be honest, if I could choose between a 2005 Dakota and a brand-new clone of my 1997, I'd take the 1997 re-issue in a heartbeat. Maybe I just got lucky and my truck was made on a good day, with all of the parts bins being "good batches" and whatever... but the fact is, at 150k miles, my truck runs as good as it did when it was new. Hardly any rattles or squeaks. No slop in the steering or suspension. It doesn't even burn any noticeable amount of oil, and it doesn't drip any either. Original starter. Original alternator. Original fuel injectors. Original fuel pump. Original valve cover gaskets (although they are beginning to seep very slightly, to be expected). Original muffler. Original oxygen sensors. It even has the original CLUTCH!
With the exception of maintenance items and just a few replacement parts (front brake calipers, upper and lower balljoints, and a noisy timing chain) my truck is bone stock OEM factory original.
What's my point?
Again, maybe I just got lucky, but I have to wonder... why did they have to go and scrap a good truck platform like this? Mine was even the first model year of that platform, so common sense would say that it'd be the most likely to have bugs... yet it's been the best vehicle I've ever owned. This does not apply just to the Dakota or even just to Dodge... in general, I find it ridiculous that automotive companies invest millions of dollars in a vehicle platform, and then do ground-up redesigns every 5-10 years or whatever. In the case of the Dakota... why couldn't they have just continued building that platform, and perfect the thing over time? Ok, give the truck some external changes just to satisfy the people concerned with aesthetics... but under the skin, why did they really need to scrap the chassis and do a complete ground-up redesign? My '97 has given me 150k miles of never-been-stranded reliability. Yes, it's got the aged 3.9L V6... but in terms of the vehicle platform itself, it just seems to me that if they would extend that Dakota platform for a 15-20 year production run, they could gain three huge benefits... first, they could work out all the bugs (not that my truck had many to begin with), and they could save money because there would be no re-design by the engineers, and they could also save money because of no major re-tooling as would happen in a re-design. A good example of what I'm talking about is the VW bug (the original one of course). Look at the longevity of that thing.
But, this industry is market driven and the market apparently demands everything to be NEW NEW NEW, new and improved, etc etc blah blah. I guess people in general don't want to see the same product year after year after year. They'd rather pay to have the existing, perfectly adequate vehicle platform totally scrapped and re-designed from the ground up, have new bugs introduced, and then repeat the whole process again 5-10 years down the road.
Maybe I should live in Russia, because I guess I have a relatively utilitarian viewpoint on this topic... but give me a brand-new clone of my 1997 base model no options Dakota and I'll (hopefully) be a happy camper for the next 150,000+ miles and/or 8+ years. 
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 12:50:10 PM
|
|
|
techmanbd
Posts: 2368
Joined: 4/6/2004
From: Burbank, CA
Status: offline
|
Ah, I am glad I wasn't the only one who thought the new Dakato front end was fugly.
_____________________________
HAHAHAHA
2006 Mustang GT Deluxe Tungston Grey
2004 Triumph Daytona 955i Yellow
2000 Yamaha YZ426
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 1:45:25 PM
|
|
|
ptschett
Posts: 196
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: Sargent County, North Dakota
Status: offline
|
in Soviet Russia Dodge Dakota redesigns YOU!
_____________________________
ptschett
'05 Dakota Laramie Club Cab 4x4, 4.7L, Patriot Blue, Accessories: Mopar non-skid bedliner, Access tonneau cover
'99 Kawasaki KLR650
'96 Ford Thunderbird 4.6L
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Its official America hates the new Dakota! - 1/25/2005 2:02:48 PM
|
|
|
ptschett
Posts: 196
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: Sargent County, North Dakota
Status: offline
|
I say give it time. The small pickup truck market as a whole isn't exactly the healthiest segment and all the players but Ford have had a major redesign recently. It wouldn't surprise me if people are waiting till the new Frontier and Tacoma are available to test-drive alongside the recent Colorado/Canyon and new Dakota. Also Dodge's recent ball-joint debacle might have people holding back.
On styling, the '97-'04 Dakota was an exceptionally good looking model but you can't keep things the same forever. As an engineer with a consulting company that works with a major manufacturer in the compact equipment industry I know full well what would happen if they stopped innovating. Maybe the '05 was too much. Maybe not. I don't think half a model year is enough time to tell. Personally I love the new style and I'm sure I'm not alone.
< Message edited by ptschett -- 1/25/2005 2:05:20 PM >
_____________________________
ptschett
'05 Dakota Laramie Club Cab 4x4, 4.7L, Patriot Blue, Accessories: Mopar non-skid bedliner, Access tonneau cover
'99 Kawasaki KLR650
'96 Ford Thunderbird 4.6L
|
|
|
|
|
Printable Version
I can't believe how badly they're screwing up good things.
