I'm looking to purchase an 04 dakota and see that it has the awd system. Can anyone clue me in as to the pros and cons of this system as opposed to rwd with part time hi and lo 4wd? Thanks in advance for your responses.

I have an 05 with the AWD. It's not bad. The nice thing is you won't spin the tires on wet concrete. I dragged my truck at the track and I had a lot faster take off than the guy I raced. The bad thing is, you lose hp's at the wheels. With the mods that I have on my truck, I only had 168 at the wheels. I don't know if that means anything to you or not. In the snow, it doesn't do too bad, it's good at correcting itself, but I always put it into 4X4.

Good luck with your decision.

__________________
I own a Charger now and I love it!!

Thanks for the info. Any idea what causes the hp loss? Do feel there isalso a hit in fuel mileage?

The hp loss is from the wheels sharing the responsibility of moving the truck. Most of the power is in the back wheels. I want to say its' about 30/70 for power, with the 30 being front and 70 being back. I don't think this made any difference in mileage.

One nice thing about the AWD is the handling. I can take curves nicer than a regular truck with RWD.

__________________
I own a Charger now and I love it!!

Sounds like a pretty good way to go...thanks for the input.

Cons is most the vehicles (non semi) I ever seen in ditches after snow or ice is 4wd/awd vehicles. Cause of that is people THINK that awd/4wd is some magic thing that will keep them from losing control.

Another con is extra maintanance compared to 2wd.
Fuel economy also suffers compared to 2wd.

Yeah it's true about the mileage, but I don't think it's all that much. About the vehicles in the ditch, we had snow here and I didn't have any ditch issues. But then again, I don't drive like an ass either. I know how to control my truck in snow, since I've been in it most of my life.

__________________
I own a Charger now and I love it!!

Dont drive like an ass in any vehicle and you most like wont end up in a ditch. Sadly here SUV's are the norm and most of them are piloted by people who shouldnt even be driving a tricycle. OTher day I was driving home on the interstate and you can SEE the huge ice patches on the roads on the underpasses. Yet I had people BLASTING past me in 4X4/suv's at near 70-75mph while most SANE people were doing 40-45.

Personally I couldnt care less about the mileage myself. If I did, I'd would had bought a Frontier before this Dakota. I needed something with some power (frontiers V6 was real anemic in 99-2000) to tow trailers.

Welcome to the forum and good luck purchasing the Dakota. I'm not sure if this is of interest, but superchips does not make a programmer for the '04 dakota. So if you are looking to gain some HP, I hear KRC sells some great cams and can custom flash your PCM for about $400. Again, good luck!

Eric.

Jet Chip also has Jet Chip Stage I and II. There's all kinds of CAI's out there too and exhaust systems and such.

__________________
I own a Charger now and I love it!!