8 Dodge Trucks That Were... Less Than Great

The Dude: 1970-1971

The 'Dude' pickup was marketed by Dodge in '70-'71 as sort of a custom Sweptline D100 (1/2-ton) truck with a 'Sport Trim Package,' which turned out to be little more than an extended side graphic, 'Dude' decals at the rear of the bed, tail lamp bezel trim, and dog dish hub caps and trim rings for the wheels. Perhaps this is why only 1,500 units were ordered with the Dude option in its two-year run.

Ramcharger: 1974-1993

In the late '60s and early '70s, the Ford Bronco, Chevy Blazer, and International Scout were all vying for a piece of the SUV market share against the popular CJ Jeep. In 1974, Dodge decided to throw their hat in the ring with the Ramcharger. While the Ramcharger looked the business, especially with its top off, its full-time 4WD was horrid on gas mileage and the thing ate front wheel bearings for lunch. Issues would be eventually be remedied, but a new failure-prone vacuum operated Center Axle Disconnect introduced in 1984 would plague the Ramcharger until its demise in 1993.

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Dodge Ram 50: 1979-1994

The Dodge Ram 50 was not much of a Ram at all as it was actually a rebadged or 'badge-engineered' version of the Japanese Mitsubishi Triton. Chrysler felt they had a void in their vehicle lineup after the A-Series lineup was canceled in 1970, but because of their investment in the upcoming K-platform vehicles and limited engineering staff, they reached out to Mitsubishi to sell their mini-truck under the Dodge brand (which proved to be profitable). We can't blame them, though, as Ford and Chevy did the same with their Courier (Mazda) and LUV (Isuzu), respectively.

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AMC Powered 2nd Gen Dakota: 1997-2002

The second generation Dodge Dakota was a popular mid-size truck with great styling and various trim/engine options that could not be rivaled by their competitors. That said, one of the available powertrain options was the measly 2.5-liter AMC inline-four producing a minuscule 120 horsepower. While durable, the AMC engine lacked the gusto to push the 4,000 lbs truck, which is why buyers typically opted for the larger V6 or V8 engines with minimal decreases in fuel economy.

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California Cummins Ram: 2002-2004

CARB in California tends to suck the fun out of all types of vehicles, and this hit the diesel Dodge Rams in 2002 as their 5.9-liter Cummins engines received a catalytic converter and 'special computer tuning' that effectively robbed them of power. The engines were identical to the 49-state models, so California owners often applied 49-state or aftermarket tunes to their engine in order to unleash the power that was already there.

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HemiGTX: 2004-2005

Chrysler has had no shortage of special edition trucks, but unfortunately, there was nothing too special about the HemiGTX sold in 2004-2005. Similar to the 'Dude' sold 30 years earlier, the HemiGTX had no performance improvements over a standard Ram pickup, but instead featured one of four 1970's Mopar Impact Colors, 20" American Racing wheels, hood and side decals, and special two-tone upholstery. The HemiGTX package was an $8,300 option, but nobody was fooled as fewer than 1,000 units were sold in its two-year production run.

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Third Gen Dakota: 2005-2011

After the success of the second generation Dakota, Dodge followed it up with a redesigned model in 2005. Unfortunately, the US market lost interest in mid-size pickups as a whole and sales figures tumbled as low as 10,000 units per year. Dodge finally called it quits in 2011 after a 25 year run of the Dakota. Surveys showed that buyers did not see the value of the smaller Dakota because for a few thousand dollars more, they could purchase the full-size Ram 1500.

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Ram Daytona - 2005

Similar to the HemiGTX, the Ram Daytona was another dressed-up 1/2 ton truck that featured body cladding and an SRT hood scoop. It also received a couple of performance goodies via a 3.92 rear-end and a Borla dual sport exhaust system. The reason this one makes the list is because of its huge 11" rear wing (its defining feature) that limits the use of the tailgate. Eventually, most owners removed the wing entirely.

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