Ram-less and missing it..

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PoMansRam

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East Aurora NY
Ram Year
2019
Engine
Hemi
Months back I got the itch to trade in my 2019 Ram 1500 classic CC 4x4, hemi for a new classic. I had about 63K trouble free miles on the 2019 that was purchased in 2020 as an ex-rental and I loved my 2017 Ram 1500 QC pentastar I had before it as well. That one was purchased lightly used as well.

I paid $27K for my 2019 classic w/ 15K miles on it in June 2020. With ~63K miles on it and 2yrs later I was getting trade-in offers in the $26K range. I owed about $8K on it, so had a bit of trade equity.

As we all know, the truck market is insane and the best offer I could find back in Sept/Oct on a Ram 1500 that was close to what I could tolerate, was a quad cab, pentastar 4x4 at about $43K. Basically MSRP or nothing at the time. I tried 4 different dealers. That is just too much for what you get IMO.

Still having a bug up my butt for a new truck, I wound up finding a deal on something totally different, but a make/model I was familiar with because my family has owned them in the past. A Nissan Frontier. I struck a deal on a 2022 Frontier S-model with crew cab and 4x4 and 2K miles on it for ~$33K. It's a sweet little truck with great power, handles like it's on rails and is a breeze in a parking lot, but it rides like a truck. Every little bump jostles your body badly, where a Ram 1500 soaks them up like a big old Buick.

The Frontier has the new direct injected VQ38DD in it and the Jatco built 9G Tronic 9spd AT (Mercedes Benz trans). They all have 3.69 gears now with M266 axles. They still use hydraulic power steering and the frame/chassis is the same since 2009, although my short wheel base crew cab turns on a dime compared to my father-in-laws 2017 crew cab long wheel base.

As we all know, small trucks don't do much better than full size in terms of fuel economy. I'm getting 21mpg average tank to tank with the Frontier, vs the 19-20 I would get with my hemi Ram.

In the end, the 2022+ Frontier is neat little truck, but I do miss my Ram 1500 classic and I'll probably be back some day. I'll always be poking in on this great board of course.

My 2019 Ram 1500 classic vs my new Frontier:


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PoMansRam

PoMansRam

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Frontiers are tough, enjoy!

Thanks. That's kind of why they were on my radar in the first place.

Back before my father-in-law retired, he was buying them for service trucks where he worked. They started buying them around 2009. The tundras and tacomas they had been buying were just way too expensive and didn't hold up any better. Prior to that they were buying chevys that seemed to always be in the shop. They never had a lick of trouble with the Frontiers and they got beat to heck.
 

2020PW

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Biggest issue I had was the 4.0 left some room for improvement. Nothing as far as reliability just felt underpowered. Now with the new models they introduced a new power plant fixing that.
 

turkeybird56

Military Vet 1976-1996 Retired US Army
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2019 Bighorn, 4 X 4, 3.21 rear, Bright Flame Red Pearl Coat, Mopar tonneau cover,Westin Bed rug
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Months back I got the itch to trade in my 2019 Ram 1500 classic CC 4x4, hemi for a new classic. I had about 63K trouble free miles on the 2019 that was purchased in 2020 as an ex-rental and I loved my 2017 Ram 1500 QC pentastar I had before it as well. That one was purchased lightly used as well.

I paid $27K for my 2019 classic w/ 15K miles on it in June 2020. With ~63K miles on it and 2yrs later I was getting trade-in offers in the $26K range. I owed about $8K on it, so had a bit of trade equity.

As we all know, the truck market is insane and the best offer I could find back in Sept/Oct on a Ram 1500 that was close to what I could tolerate, was a quad cab, pentastar 4x4 at about $43K. Basically MSRP or nothing at the time. I tried 4 different dealers. That is just too much for what you get IMO.

Still having a bug up my butt for a new truck, I wound up finding a deal on something totally different, but a make/model I was familiar with because my family has owned them in the past. A Nissan Frontier. I struck a deal on a 2022 Frontier S-model with crew cab and 4x4 and 2K miles on it for ~$33K. It's a sweet little truck with great power, handles like it's on rails and is a breeze in a parking lot, but it rides like a truck. Every little bump jostles your body badly, where a Ram 1500 soaks them up like a big old Buick.

The Frontier has the new direct injected VQ38DD in it and the Jatco built 9G Tronic 9spd AT (Mercedes Benz trans). They all have 3.69 gears now with M266 axles. They still use hydraulic power steering and the frame/chassis is the same since 2009, although my short wheel base crew cab turns on a dime compared to my father-in-laws 2017 crew cab long wheel base.

As we all know, small trucks don't do much better than full size in terms of fuel economy. I'm getting 21mpg average tank to tank with the Frontier, vs the 19-20 I would get with my hemi Ram.

In the end, the 2022+ Frontier is neat little truck, but I do miss my Ram 1500 classic and I'll probably be back some day. I'll always be poking in on this great board of course.

My 2019 Ram 1500 classic vs my new Frontier:


View attachment 508633
View attachment 508644
U had a purty Hydro Blue Hemi and U went for a Frontier? Hmmmmmmmmmmm...... Smoking yer socks prior? Joke... :33::anitoof:
 

Socalramfan

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Months back I got the itch to trade in my 2019 Ram 1500 classic CC 4x4, hemi for a new classic. I had about 63K trouble free miles on the 2019 that was purchased in 2020 as an ex-rental and I loved my 2017 Ram 1500 QC pentastar I had before it as well. That one was purchased lightly used as well.

I paid $27K for my 2019 classic w/ 15K miles on it in June 2020. With ~63K miles on it and 2yrs later I was getting trade-in offers in the $26K range. I owed about $8K on it, so had a bit of trade equity.

As we all know, the truck market is insane and the best offer I could find back in Sept/Oct on a Ram 1500 that was close to what I could tolerate, was a quad cab, pentastar 4x4 at about $43K. Basically MSRP or nothing at the time. I tried 4 different dealers. That is just too much for what you get IMO.

Still having a bug up my butt for a new truck, I wound up finding a deal on something totally different, but a make/model I was familiar with because my family has owned them in the past. A Nissan Frontier. I struck a deal on a 2022 Frontier S-model with crew cab and 4x4 and 2K miles on it for ~$33K. It's a sweet little truck with great power, handles like it's on rails and is a breeze in a parking lot, but it rides like a truck. Every little bump jostles your body badly, where a Ram 1500 soaks them up like a big old Buick.

The Frontier has the new direct injected VQ38DD in it and the Jatco built 9G Tronic 9spd AT (Mercedes Benz trans). They all have 3.69 gears now with M266 axles. They still use hydraulic power steering and the frame/chassis is the same since 2009, although my short wheel base crew cab turns on a dime compared to my father-in-laws 2017 crew cab long wheel base.

As we all know, small trucks don't do much better than full size in terms of fuel economy. I'm getting 21mpg average tank to tank with the Frontier, vs the 19-20 I would get with my hemi Ram.

In the end, the 2022+ Frontier is neat little truck, but I do miss my Ram 1500 classic and I'll probably be back some day. I'll always be poking in on this great board of course.

My 2019 Ram 1500 classic vs my new Frontier:


View attachment 508633
View attachment 508644

They always come back :gr_grin:
 
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PoMansRam

PoMansRam

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Ram Year
2019
Engine
Hemi
Biggest issue I had was the 4.0 left some room for improvement. Nothing as far as reliability just felt underpowered. Now with the new models they introduced a new power plant fixing that.

The new 9spd they use would have really woken the 4.0L up, although the old 5spd AT was a really good transmission and easy to DIY service. The new 9spd has a plastic pan like the Ram's 8spd and is serviced somewhat the same. Level check/drain/fill is done from the same port on the pan with a special indexing fitting. Why make it simple. LOL

With the new 310hp 3.8L, 9spd, 3.69 gears and being ~700bs lighter than something like a pentastar powered Ram 1500, it really scoots along. Like I say, the ride difference is astonishing though. Ram 1500s just ride so nice.
 

JHoward

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Months back I got the itch to trade in my 2019 Ram 1500 classic CC 4x4, hemi for a new classic. I had about 63K trouble free miles on the 2019 that was purchased in 2020 as an ex-rental and I loved my 2017 Ram 1500 QC pentastar I had before it as well. That one was purchased lightly used as well.

I paid $27K for my 2019 classic w/ 15K miles on it in June 2020. With ~63K miles on it and 2yrs later I was getting trade-in offers in the $26K range. I owed about $8K on it, so had a bit of trade equity.

As we all know, the truck market is insane and the best offer I could find back in Sept/Oct on a Ram 1500 that was close to what I could tolerate, was a quad cab, pentastar 4x4 at about $43K. Basically MSRP or nothing at the time. I tried 4 different dealers. That is just too much for what you get IMO.

Still having a bug up my butt for a new truck, I wound up finding a deal on something totally different, but a make/model I was familiar with because my family has owned them in the past. A Nissan Frontier. I struck a deal on a 2022 Frontier S-model with crew cab and 4x4 and 2K miles on it for ~$33K. It's a sweet little truck with great power, handles like it's on rails and is a breeze in a parking lot, but it rides like a truck. Every little bump jostles your body badly, where a Ram 1500 soaks them up like a big old Buick.

The Frontier has the new direct injected VQ38DD in it and the Jatco built 9G Tronic 9spd AT (Mercedes Benz trans). They all have 3.69 gears now with M266 axles. They still use hydraulic power steering and the frame/chassis is the same since 2009, although my short wheel base crew cab turns on a dime compared to my father-in-laws 2017 crew cab long wheel base.

As we all know, small trucks don't do much better than full size in terms of fuel economy. I'm getting 21mpg average tank to tank with the Frontier, vs the 19-20 I would get with my hemi Ram.

In the end, the 2022+ Frontier is neat little truck, but I do miss my Ram 1500 classic and I'll probably be back some day. I'll always be poking in on this great board of course.

My 2019 Ram 1500 classic vs my new Frontier:


View attachment 508633
View attachment 508644

I would have kept the RAM.

That Nissan isn't as nice looking as the RAM that you traded for, imo.

I'm not sure why folks go from a full sized truck to something smaller, but to each their own.

Good luck and happy motoring.
 
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