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2019 RAM 1500


bamabonners

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I loved my 2010 and love my 16.  Ram has made a loyal customer out of me.  I firmly believe if you really SHOP all the brands in the half ton market, there's no comparison.  At my hunt club we have 7 chevys, 2 fords, and my ram.  Every single truck has been stuck but mine.  When a buddy just got a GM, I was like did you even go to the Ram dealer?  "No".  why not?  "I dunno, I guess I just always thought chevy made the best trucks"  :lol:.  Seriously I could not have been happier with either of mine and the redesign is farkin awesome!

cole, 5.7 on both of mine (oldjeep too).

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I was burned hard by GM after they couldn't fix the chevy shake and various other issues.  

That second video with the 12" display in the Laramie is amazing...  

With a 15 year old driving now, my next vehicle will be for him so no new truck for a while for me...unfortunately.

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I really like that new screen they have. 

Saw the first ones on a transport truck just today. 

I’ll always have a HD truck. Interested to see how much of the tech boils up to the 3500. 

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ahopkins22LSV
15 minutes ago, RyanB said:

I really like that new screen they have. 

Saw the first ones on a transport truck just today. 

I’ll always have a HD truck. Interested to see how much of the tech boils up to the 3500. 

New heavy duty is not far behind this 1500.

I wanted to like this new truck so bad, but after working with FCA to launch it; I'll never buy one. I am sure the truck is great because the previous gen was quite good and I like that too. Short version is it left a terrible impression on me for them as a company and I'm not sure if that feeling will ever go away. Time will tell.

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5 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

New heavy duty is not far behind this 1500.

I wanted to like this new truck so bad, but after working with FCA to launch it; I'll never buy one. I am sure the truck is great because the previous gen was quite good and I like that too. Short version is it left a terrible impression on me for them as a company and I'm not sure if that feeling will ever go away. Time will tell.

Elaborate? 

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ahopkins22LSV

Zero leadership, demand perfection but lack the knowledge and expertise to design products and processes to meet their own expectations. That’s all I’m going to say. They have also lost touch with reality in the market in my opinion. They have had two failed vehicles because they dumped so much money into design and launch then priced the vehicles out of their class and or they were just crap vehicles. One of those failed vehicles they had renovated and retooled one of their plants five ish years ago and then just now again renovated and retooled the entire plant for this new truck. I suspect this truck is going to be quite a bit more then previous Rams. The new Pacifica is not selling, the old minivan that they are still making even though the launched a replacement is out selling it! The grand Cherokee and the ram are the only things keeping fca above water. There has also been many rumors/news articles about fca meeting with Chinese companies to buy fca out... it’s just not the best situation imo.

Like I said I’m sure this truck is great, I’m not a huge fan of the looks but I also lived it for the last year. I’m sick of seeing it lol. But I’m out now!

 

Edited by ahopkinsTXi
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Maybe it's just my area, but the Chrysler dealerships around me are absolutely terrible. A friend of mine is a service writer for Honda, apparently the Chrysler dealerships are a curse word according to his techs. I had a terrible experience with one them myself and now drive an hour and a half out of my way to not give them my business.

Granted, I just broke 200k with my 2007 6.7L mega and have only had my fuel injection pump go out. Otherwise solid and no complaints. Well... besides the typical doors wanting to fall off on this gen.

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 Caravan outsells the Pacifica due to pricing and the fact that rental car agencies buy the Caravan like crazy. The Pacifica is more profitable which is what they want. 

And I assume you are talking about retooling for the 200 and then dumping it for the new truck?  Business wise it makes sense as well. Chrysler has always been a truck company. They have more of a following there. And more profitability. They didn’t have enough capacity to build trucks, and the new trade policies are going to favor vehicles built in the US. Makes perfect sense. 

Jeep, RAM and the minivans are the future of the company.  Fiat was supposed to bring the small car expertise but that hasn’t followed through.  Just like the Daimler “merger”, the Chrysler trucks have kept both companies afloat.  At least Fiat has done some reinvesting. 

I doubt there will be a buyout or merger with one of the Chinese manufactures, but I could see it with Hyundai/Kia.  That would make sense for both companies.

I will agree that the Chrysler dealership network leaves a lot of be desired. My truck is out of warranty and I don’t really know where I would take it for service if needed. The local Dodge / RAM dealer used to be ok but lately they have been very bad. Fortunately I have had very little need for service outside for general maintenance that I can get done elsewhere. 

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6 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

Zero leadership, demand perfection but lack the knowledge and expertise to design products and processes to meet their own expectations. That’s all I’m going to say. They have also lost touch with reality in the market in my opinion. They have had two failed vehicles because they dumped so much money into design and launch then priced the vehicles out of their class and or they were just crap vehicles. One of those failed vehicles they had renovated and retooled one of their plants five ish years ago and then just now again renovated and retooled the entire plant for this new truck. I suspect this truck is going to be quite a bit more then previous Rams. The new Pacifica is not selling, the old minivan that they are still making even though the launched a replacement is out selling it! The grand Cherokee and the ram are the only things keeping fca above water. There has also been many rumors/news articles about fca meeting with Chinese companies to buy fca out... it’s just not the best situation imo.

Like I said I’m sure this truck is great, I’m not a huge fan of the looks but I also lived it for the last year. I’m sick of seeing it lol. But I’m out now!

 

I love my Ram Diesel 6.7 and all else am a GM guy.  I bet if you look under the skirts of ford, gm toyoyo, etc you will find the same thing going on. Organized chaos..  I think it is inherent with mega companies that have to build a product that changes every year, along with dealing with diff administrations, oil price fluctuations, etc.  JMO.

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ahopkins22LSV
28 minutes ago, carguy79ta said:

I love my Ram Diesel 6.7 and all else am a GM guy.  I bet if you look under the skirts of ford, gm toyoyo, etc you will find the same thing going on. Organized chaos..  I think it is inherent with mega companies that have to build a product that changes every year, along with dealing with diff administrations, oil price fluctuations, etc.  JMO.

Well I’ve worked with all of them except Toyota and you don’t. Some organized chaos, yes but not like what I experienced over the last year.

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31 minutes ago, carguy79ta said:

I love my Ram Diesel 6.7 and all else am a GM guy.  I bet if you look under the skirts of ford, gm toyoyo, etc you will find the same thing going on. Organized chaos..  I think it is inherent with mega companies that have to build a product that changes every year, along with dealing with diff administrations, oil price fluctuations, etc.  JMO.

I agree, every fortune 100 company i have done work for seems like a mess once you are inside.  Yet they all seem to make money and continue on.  For me the proof is in the product - don't like it then buy something else. 

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ahopkins22LSV
3 hours ago, RyanB said:

 Caravan outsells the Pacifica due to pricing and the fact that rental car agencies buy the Caravan like crazy. The Pacifica is more profitable which is what they want. 

Only works out if they actually sell the Pacifica. What I posted here was right out of the mouths of people who I worked with at fca.

And I assume you are talking about retooling for the 200 and then dumping it for the new truck?  Business wise it makes sense as well. Chrysler has always been a truck company. They have more of a following there. And more profitability. They didn’t have enough capacity to build trucks, and the new trade policies are going to favor vehicles built in the US. Makes perfect sense. 

You can try to spin it that way but, Im not sure retooling a plant, twice, costing the company millions if not billions in the span of 5-6 years can not be considered a wise business move. A necessary move? Yes. The current Ram is already built in the US. About 10 miles from where the new one is being built. 

Jeep, RAM and the minivans are the future of the company.  Fiat was supposed to bring the small car expertise but that hasn’t followed through.  Just like the Daimler “merger”, the Chrysler trucks have kept both companies afloat.  At least Fiat has done some reinvesting. 

And now you have fiat designing the new ram and any new jeeps come out. The only two vehicles that fiat has designed from the ground up have flopped. 

I doubt there will be a buyout or merger with one of the Chinese manufactures, but I could see it with Hyundai/Kia.  That would make sense for both companies.

That would be great for Hyundai/Kia, but great for Chrysler? A company that prides itself on being a strong American company? “Imported from Detroit”. I don’t think so...

I will agree that the Chrysler dealership network leaves a lot of be desired. My truck is out of warranty and I don’t really know where I would take it for service if needed. The local Dodge / RAM dealer used to be ok but lately they have been very bad. Fortunately I have had very little need for service outside for general maintenance that I can get done elsewhere. 

 

Edited by ahopkinsTXi
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25 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

I agree, every fortune 100 company i have done work for seems like a mess once you are inside.  Yet they all seem to make money and continue on.  For me the proof is in the product - don't like it then buy something else. 

I agree too.  It's amazing what you see when you look behind the curtain.

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41 minutes ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

 

The Chrysler Pacifica sold 118,274 units in 2017.  The Grand Caravan sold 125,196.  Just about the same volume.   If you compare minivan sales by model, that puts it as the 2nd best selling minivan, ahead of both the Honda (100,307) and Toyota (111,489), and gives Chrysler over 50% marketshare in an admittedly shrinking market.

From what I can find, Chrysler Town & Country sold around 50,000 units in 2016.  So I would say that they are selling pretty well.

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/01/minivan-sales-america-december-2017-year-end/#1

Every company makes decisions that in hindsight don't look good.  Chrysler is no different.  But I am not sure they would change that one.  For all I know, the re-tooling that plant for car production was a requirement of the merger with Fiat.  

And you are right, truck production has been in Warren MI.  But the new plant will be adding production to that plant plus moving production from Mexico.  Which is important with the current administration.

I would say that it is much too early to say how the new Jeep and RAM will go, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt.  Reviews of the RAM so far have been very positive from what I have seen.

Chrysler hasn't been "a strong American company" since about 2007.  Probably much before that.  Imported from Detroit was a great advertising campaign (that I haven't seen recently), but that doesn't make it reality.

You hate Chrysler/FCA.  I get it.  But I don't think the reasons you have given are valid.

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ahopkins22LSV
1 minute ago, RyanB said:

The Chrysler Pacifica sold 118,274 units in 2017.  The Grand Caravan sold 125,196.  Just about the same volume.   If you compare minivan sales by model, that puts it as the 2nd best selling minivan, ahead of both the Honda (100,307) and Toyota (111,489), and gives Chrysler over 50% marketshare in an admittedly shrinking market.

From what I can find, Chrysler Town & Country sold around 50,000 units in 2016.  So I would say that they are selling pretty well.

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/01/minivan-sales-america-december-2017-year-end/#1

Every company makes decisions that in hindsight don't look good.  Chrysler is no different.  But I am not sure they would change that one.  For all I know, the re-tooling that plant for car production was a requirement of the merger with Fiat.  

And you are right, truck production has been in Warren MI.  But the new plant will be adding production to that plant plus moving production from Mexico.  Which is important with the current administration.

I would say that it is much too early to say how the new Jeep and RAM will go, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt.  Reviews of the RAM so far have been very positive from what I have seen.

Chrysler hasn't been "a strong American company" since about 2007.  Probably much before that.  Imported from Detroit was a great advertising campaign (that I haven't seen recently), but that doesn't make it reality.

You hate Chrysler/FCA.  I get it.  But I don't think the reasons you have given are valid.

Those volumes are true, but what that article doesn’t tell you is that they expected the Pacifica to sell much more then that. So their profit margin isn’t really working out. It was supposed to over take the old van and it’s not.

You are going by internet research and that’s great but, have you worked with or for fca? This is why I said I’d keep it short and sweet originally and then people asked for more... should have know that it was going to go this way. Everyone just came in here and said oh well every company has chaos. I agree, but again have you worked with or for fca? ....

You are also choosing to ignore the fact that they have had two failed vehicles within the first few years of fca owning them and making the major decisions for the company. That’s huge and crippling. If things went as planned the 200 would still be at the plant ram as at and they would have probably opened a new plant for the new ram. 

Anyway that’s my two cents on fca. Like I said in my first post I’m sure this new truck will be great. The old one was very good for them and a lot of people out there. I also thought long and hard about buying one when I bought a new truck last year. Things changed after I started working with them.

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ahopkins22LSV
1 minute ago, RyanB said:

The Chrysler Pacifica sold 118,274 units in 2017.  The Grand Caravan sold 125,196.  Just about the same volume.   If you compare minivan sales by model, that puts it as the 2nd best selling minivan, ahead of both the Honda (100,307) and Toyota (111,489), and gives Chrysler over 50% marketshare in an admittedly shrinking market.

From what I can find, Chrysler Town & Country sold around 50,000 units in 2016.  So I would say that they are selling pretty well.

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2018/01/minivan-sales-america-december-2017-year-end/#1

Every company makes decisions that in hindsight don't look good.  Chrysler is no different.  But I am not sure they would change that one.  For all I know, the re-tooling that plant for car production was a requirement of the merger with Fiat.  

And you are right, truck production has been in Warren MI.  But the new plant will be adding production to that plant plus moving production from Mexico.  Which is important with the current administration.

I would say that it is much too early to say how the new Jeep and RAM will go, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt.  Reviews of the RAM so far have been very positive from what I have seen.

Chrysler hasn't been "a strong American company" since about 2007.  Probably much before that.  Imported from Detroit was a great advertising campaign (that I haven't seen recently), but that doesn't make it reality.

You hate Chrysler/FCA.  I get it.  But I don't think the reasons you have given are valid.

Those volumes are true, but what that article doesn’t tell you is that they expected the Pacifica to sell much more then that. So their profit margin isn’t really working out. It was supposed to over take the old van and it’s not.

You are going by internet research and that’s great but, have you worked with or for fca? This is why I said I’d keep it short and sweet originally and then people asked for more... should have know that it was going to go this way. Everyone just came in here and said oh well every company has chaos. I agree, but again have you worked with or for fca? ....

You are also choosing to ignore the fact that they have had two failed vehicles within the first few years of fca owning them and making the major decisions for the company. That’s huge and crippling. If things went as planned the 200 would still be at the plant ram as at and they would have probably opened a new plant for the new ram. 

Anyway that’s my two cents on fca. Like I said in my first post I’m sure this new truck will be great. The old one was very good for them and a lot of people out there. I also thought long and hard about buying one when I bought a new truck last year. Things changed after I started working with them.

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@ahopkinsTXi

I haven’t worked for them. My dad is a Chrysler retiree, but that was a while ago. I do have two friends that are GMs of dealerships - one Chrysler and one Dodge/RAM. 

What are the two failed vehicles?  I am assuming it is the 200 and Dart?  I am sure that Chrysler would have rather seen more sales. But those vehicles were not in their wheelhouse. Pretty sure that their production was dictated by our government when they were allowing Chrysler to emerge from bankruptcy, not from the management team itself.

And it is hard to build something that isn’t in your niche. Toyota has never garnered their target sales from the Tundra. Same with Nissan Titan. And did you see what happened when VW tried to enter the luxury market with the Phaeton?  Similar results, although Toyota and Nissan hasn’t given up on their trucks 

I could spend hours telling you all the things I think the company i work for does poorly. And I would bet that everyone in this forum could do the same. Your stance with Chrysler is no different. 

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