Considering a Ram 1500, but concerned about reliability... New to 5GenRam

[Black19]

Here ya go! MUZZYS A/C HACK KIT for Rams https://a.co/d/5AyUeyv

Thank you!

 

[RAL]

I have a 2020 Ram Laramie. Has 30k. Have had zero issues. Love the truck. We leased it because I was uncertain of reliability, but based on our experience we will buy it at lease end and add a Mopar extended warranty given the expense associated with repairing any of the high tech features of these new cars.

 

[CJ8Ranger]

Just my $0.02, buy a new Ram. They all have their little problems as have been stated here.

Ram just looks the best overall, and is the most comfortable overall. My opinion of course, but I shopped them all prior to purchase.

Just stay away from low mileage, almost new trucks. I've seen several stories and have a friend that has been burned twice buying someone else's lemon, and not just Ram.

funny you should mention this... I ran across a limited with 15K miles that when I ran the car fax had 3 different owners.... Hard pass. I wonder if Mopar keeps a computer log of the services that are done and what the resolution of those problems done. I'm sure they have it in the Service Department computer system, but I'm sure there's no way to access them. Like a patients medical record.

 

[Pyleketerson]

Good responses on this thread. I have a 2020 Built to Serve edition with 50,000 miles and have had no issues, except getting in to our crummy local dealership for regular service. Love my truck.

 

[Olscool]

funny you should mention this... I ran across a limited with 15K miles that when I ran the car fax had 3 different owners.... Hard pass. I wonder if Mopar keeps a computer log of the services that are done and what the resolution of those problems done. I'm sure they have it in the Service Department computer system, but I'm sure there's no way to access them. Like a patients medical record.

Like any car, you can certainly request the repair history from your service advisor. All repairs performed at an authorized dealer will be shown.

 

[boogielander]

2022 Rebel ordered through Mark Dodge took delivery last November here.

Only issue I have is it makes me want to go places... and the mileage adds up quick. Im at 11k miles already lol

 

[brewdad]

2022 Limited & zero problems.

 

[kdoublep]

60K only issue is small leak rear window on both top corners. No visible cracks. I'm DIYing it. Love my truck regardless. No regerts! Lol

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I've owned Dodge now Ram off and on since the early 2000's. I was happy with all of them. Why none now? Not enough change since the 2019 Ram Limited 4X4 eTorque I had. Went to F150 which I had owned plenty in the past. Tried the Powerboost and that was the worst Ford I've owned. Trying out GMC for the first time because they actually have a great interior. I'm happy with it but will check out the Hurricane powered 2025.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I've owned Dodge now Ram off and on since the early 2000's. I was happy with all of them. Why none now? Not enough change since the 2019 Ram Limited 4X4 eTorque I had. Went to F150 which I had owned plenty in the past. Tried the Powerboost and that was the worst Ford I've owned. Trying out GMC for the first time because they actually have a great interior. I'm happy with it but will check out the Hurricane powered 2025.

I guess if you want something different every time, it makes sense to switch to other brands. Grass isn't always greener though. Chevy is just now catching up to what RAM has been since 2019, and Ford is still a step behind, especially when it comes to interior

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I guess if you want something different every time, it makes sense to switch to other brands. Grass isn't always greener though. Chevy is just now catching up to what RAM has been since 2019, and Ford is still a step behind, especially when it comes to interior

Yep, not a fanboy of Ford, Ram or GM individually but I am of the 3 together. Yes, I trade everyother year and I won't buy basically the same vehicle as a replacement. Up until covid and the ev push. The manufacturers were refreshing every 4 years so I could swap between Ford and Ram and get "new" all the time. GM was out of the picture because if their interiors not power trains. Now, my GMC Sierra Denali Ultimate exceeds the 2019 Ram 1500 Limited interior in both features, finish and comfort. That's saying something because the Ram Limited interior was great.

 

[GeoffreyXE]

I owned the all new for 2019 Ram 1500 for 13 terrible months. I bought the truck brand new in June of 2019. In July of 2020 while the truck was at the Ram dealership being fixed for one of its two dozen issues I gave it back for a 2020 classic Ram and had zero issues with the classic. How many recalls does the 2019 all new Ram have now? 25? I wouldn't be surprised if that number does not grow to 50 that's how bad my experience was with my all new 2019 Ram. Ram is going downhill in regards to reliability.

Every single week something would break or go wrong with my all new 19 Ram 1500. I can give a run down of what I remember happening.

The power sterring failed while driving off the interstate towing a trailer. Its always fun to lose power assist without warning and almost crashing. Ram refused to tow my truck because I lived to far from the dealership. So I drove the truck there all while power steering assist randomly stopped working. After they, the Ram dealership, had the truck for a week I was told the issue was fixed. I picked up my truck, not happy how they took care of it. But as I was driving to a carwash the steering failed again. Lovely. After a 2nd week with the truck they fixed the issue.

I never expected some issues and that has changed the way I look at buying anything from now on. So thanks Ram for building such a crapy truck that now I am paranoid to the point of checking a new trucks ac vent tempurature. However, thats what happened with the all new Ram. Every single vehicle I have ever owned with a working functional ac system blows air out the vents in the 42 to 45 degree range. Sometimes you will see a 39 blowing out the vents when cruising. My new Ram blew out 55 degrees. So the cab never got cold or even close to being cold. Then after pinching off the heater hose to the heater core the vent temp went down to the 40s. Great! But now no heat whatsoever. There was a blend door issue.

Another Ac problem with my Ram is the defrost never turned off and that would cause my windshield to constantly fog up. So I cut a sheet of vinyl to block the defrost vents. Fixed the issue but no defrost.

Now you might say "wow buddy" just take it to the dealership and get these issues fixed. I did, and that's another issue. They said the ac vents temp was within specification. Plus, there was no fix for the defrost issue. Ok "dude" take it to another dealership then. I did, three, they all repeated the same thing. At one dealership I spoke to a technician at length for about an hour. He didn't have to but he could see I wasn't having a great day. He helped me see that keeping my truck might be a lost cause. We talked about some of the issues that I was having with the truck and he stated a ton of facts. He knew his stuff and I give him credit for having a conversation with me when I couldn't get answers from anyone else. I will share his wisdom at the end of my rant. But now, back to problems.

At different times different things would break or mess up. And it just seam to be the new normal and I wasn't happy about any of it. Not for a new truck. Here are some more issues I remember:

Being stranded because the battery had a slow drain. And then yeah, not going anywhere.

Tailgate wouldn't pop randomly. Fun too

Weatherstripping falling off. Ok, put it back on by hand, try and remember to tell the dealer when I see them again. But maybe that's within specification too.

Bluetooth never remembers devices.

If it did connect finally and someone was calling you the truck made the sound like you were calling them. Weird. After hanging up on people because I thought they were being butt dialed by my truck I finally figured out the sound was backwards.

Because the ac was always on full blast because the vent Temps were warm compared to every other car I had a hard time using the hands free calling feature. I couldn't hear a conversation over full blast mildy cold air.

The radio volume would bounce like a kid was playing with the volume dial. This by far is annoying to the point of not listening to the radio at all. Just riding around in silence.

Had a cd player but wouldn't remember what track was played last. So it would start from the beginning every time you started the truck. But if you did play a cd that annoying volume bounce thing didn't happen. Just with the radio

I spent $800 fixing two door dings that were on the truck when I bought it. But the day I bought the truck it was raining and I couldn't see the dings. Think the dealership cared about that? Nope. Its a my problem.

That vibration cancelation module, randomly failed. Giving you the feeling a u joint was failing or something. Kinda reminded me of those horror movies where the sound gets louder and louder and then turns off all of a sudden and your like, oh, ok, it's nothing. Like that. Relief

Now I should end this here and mention what that awesome tech relayed to me, but there is more. As awful as that sounds its almost like getting injured and people throwing salt into the wound. The Recall letters! So many it was hard to keep track. Seatbelts not working in a crash, airbags not working, ect, ect, ect. I think it was 13 recalls when I got rid of the truck and now it's up to 25. I still get some of the letters. I guess they didn't realize I couldn't take it anymore.

So my wife gets involved. No more shuttling kids around because of the recalls. I spoke to the dealer over the telephone about the recalls and they were months out just to get an appointment with no loaners available. Oh cool, so I need to buy a second truck just so the Ram dealership can fix my all new 19 Ram for months on end. Cool.

Chapter 10. Just kidding, but really, I could write a horror book about his truck. I got rid of the truck after 13 months. It was a painful 13 months that I will never get back. The tech said get a "base tradesman classic" and she will last. Do your regular thing and these trucks run well. Get a bighorn or above and problems start to mount. More things to break. He said the new Ram is a joke and stay away from it if you want something for work. He was right and my classic tradesman has been great. Zero recalls on my classic!

Can I ask Ram corporate a question? You want to build a truck with the most horsepower, the most towing stats, the most payload, the most mpgs, but why did you forgot about reliability?

Now you have the most recalls and the most pissed of customers! Way to go Ram.

 

[Magredvet]

Having owned Dodge/Ram trucks since 2000, after an awful experience with a Silverado (that I traded after 15 months due to it's incessant issues) I can say I have had very little go wrong. (now I've jinxed it !) Have had a 2001,(2500), 2003, (2500), 2007 (2500) 2009 (1500) 2013 (1500) 2019 (1500) and now a 2024 (1500) Only one that was ever in the shop apart from recall's was the 2013, which had a bad door module replaced, so I can honestly say they've all been pretty good. The 2019 I had none of the "typical" issues, so whilst there are some lemons, there are also "good " trucks. I do think dealer quality has slipped since FCA, and now Stellantis have the reigns, so that's just something I need to deal with if this 24 turns out to be one of the bad ones............
I'd say buy a Ram............every manufacturer has issues to some degree..

 

[Darksteel165]

I owned the all new for 2019 Ram 1500 for 13 terrible months. I bought the truck brand new in June of 2019. In July of 2020 while the truck was at the Ram dealership being fixed for one of its two dozen issues I gave it back for a 2020 classic Ram and had zero issues with the classic. How many recalls does the 2019 all new Ram have now? 25? I wouldn't be surprised if that number does not grow to 50 that's how bad my experience was with my all new 2019 Ram. Ram is going downhill in regards to reliability.

Every single week something would break or go wrong with my all new 19 Ram 1500. I can give a run down of what I remember happening.

The power sterring failed while driving off the interstate towing a trailer. Its always fun to lose power assist without warning and almost crashing. Ram refused to tow my truck because I lived to far from the dealership. So I drove the truck there all while power steering assist randomly stopped working. After they, the Ram dealership, had the truck for a week I was told the issue was fixed. I picked up my truck, not happy how they took care of it. But as I was driving to a carwash the steering failed again. Lovely. After a 2nd week with the truck they fixed the issue.

I never expected some issues and that has changed the way I look at buying anything from now on. So thanks Ram for building such a crapy truck that now I am paranoid to the point of checking a new trucks ac vent tempurature. However, thats what happened with the all new Ram. Every single vehicle I have ever owned with a working functional ac system blows air out the vents in the 42 to 45 degree range. Sometimes you will see a 39 blowing out the vents when cruising. My new Ram blew out 55 degrees. So the cab never got cold or even close to being cold. Then after pinching off the heater hose to the heater core the vent temp went down to the 40s. Great! But now no heat whatsoever. There was a blend door issue.

Another Ac problem with my Ram is the defrost never turned off and that would cause my windshield to constantly fog up. So I cut a sheet of vinyl to block the defrost vents. Fixed the issue but no defrost.

Now you might say "wow buddy" just take it to the dealership and get these issues fixed. I did, and that's another issue. They said the ac vents temp was within specification. Plus, there was no fix for the defrost issue. Ok "dude" take it to another dealership then. I did, three, they all repeated the same thing. At one dealership I spoke to a technician at length for about an hour. He didn't have to but he could see I wasn't having a great day. He helped me see that keeping my truck might be a lost cause. We talked about some of the issues that I was having with the truck and he stated a ton of facts. He knew his stuff and I give him credit for having a conversation with me when I couldn't get answers from anyone else. I will share his wisdom at the end of my rant. But now, back to problems.

At different times different things would break or mess up. And it just seam to be the new normal and I wasn't happy about any of it. Not for a new truck. Here are some more issues I remember:

Being stranded because the battery had a slow drain. And then yeah, not going anywhere.

Tailgate wouldn't pop randomly. Fun too

Weatherstripping falling off. Ok, put it back on by hand, try and remember to tell the dealer when I see them again. But maybe that's within specification too.

Bluetooth never remembers devices.

If it did connect finally and someone was calling you the truck made the sound like you were calling them. Weird. After hanging up on people because I thought they were being butt dialed by my truck I finally figured out the sound was backwards.

Because the ac was always on full blast because the vent Temps were warm compared to every other car I had a hard time using the hands free calling feature. I couldn't hear a conversation over full blast mildy cold air.

The radio volume would bounce like a kid was playing with the volume dial. This by far is annoying to the point of not listening to the radio at all. Just riding around in silence.

Had a cd player but wouldn't remember what track was played last. So it would start from the beginning every time you started the truck. But if you did play a cd that annoying volume bounce thing didn't happen. Just with the radio

I spent $800 fixing two door dings that were on the truck when I bought it. But the day I bought the truck it was raining and I couldn't see the dings. Think the dealership cared about that? Nope. Its a my problem.

That vibration cancelation module, randomly failed. Giving you the feeling a u joint was failing or something. Kinda reminded me of those horror movies where the sound gets louder and louder and then turns off all of a sudden and your like, oh, ok, it's nothing. Like that. Relief

Now I should end this here and mention what that awesome tech relayed to me, but there is more. As awful as that sounds its almost like getting injured and people throwing salt into the wound. The Recall letters! So many it was hard to keep track. Seatbelts not working in a crash, airbags not working, ect, ect, ect. I think it was 13 recalls when I got rid of the truck and now it's up to 25. I still get some of the letters. I guess they didn't realize I couldn't take it anymore.

So my wife gets involved. No more shuttling kids around because of the recalls. I spoke to the dealer over the telephone about the recalls and they were months out just to get an appointment with no loaners available. Oh cool, so I need to buy a second truck just so the Ram dealership can fix my all new 19 Ram for months on end. Cool.

Chapter 10. Just kidding, but really, I could write a horror book about his truck. I got rid of the truck after 13 months. It was a painful 13 months that I will never get back. The tech said get a "base tradesman classic" and she will last. Do your regular thing and these trucks run well. Get a bighorn or above and problems start to mount. More things to break. He said the new Ram is a joke and stay away from it if you want something for work. He was right and my classic tradesman has been great. Zero recalls on my classic!

Can I ask Ram corporate a question? You want to build a truck with the most horsepower, the most towing stats, the most payload, the most mpgs, but why did you forgot about reliability?

Now you have the most recalls and the most pissed of customers! Way to go Ram.

Way too long not reading it.
Gota learn how to format stuff for the internet, I even read long posts but Holy crap.

 

[Biga]

I'm at 68K on my 2019. Had a few issues earlier on like broken mirror gears replaced under warranty then the dreaded cracked rear window frame which I got fixed over a year ago, oh and the gas tank fueling issue was fixed last year. For the past year it's been running trouble free, hopefully will be good for a while. It still looks like new inside and out and has no rattles.

 

[go-ram]

I owned the all new for 2019 Ram 1500 for 13 terrible months. I bought the truck brand new in June of 2019. In July of 2020 while the truck was at the Ram dealership being fixed for one of its two dozen issues I gave it back for a 2020 classic Ram and had zero issues with the classic. How many recalls does the 2019 all new Ram have now? 25? I wouldn't be surprised if that number does not grow to 50 that's how bad my experience was with my all new 2019 Ram. Ram is going downhill in regards to reliability.
...

.
I'm genuinely sorry that you had such a bad experience, it's sad. But my experience has been COMPLETELY OPPOSITE of yours.
.
My 2020 Laramie Longhorn has never once been to the dealer except for a battery check and an oil change. Not one single flaw or problem with mine. I'm a hard grader, but four years later I'm still impressed with how incredibly well built and trouble-free my 2020 Ram has been.
.
On the other hand, most people I know would not buy a brand-new model in the first year of its production. I waited for halfway through the 2020 model year before I ordered mine.
.
I'm really sorry you had such a bad experience. All auto manufacturers occasionally put out lemons, it's not exclusive to Ram. Maybe you should buy a different brand next time, though, and just put that experience behind you.
.

 

[Andymax]

I'm at 68K on my 2019. Had a few issues earlier on like broken mirror gears replaced under warranty then the dreaded cracked rear window frame which I got fixed over a year ago, oh and the gas tank fueling issue was fixed last year. For the past year it's been running trouble free, hopefully will be good for a while. It still looks like new inside and out and has no rattles.

I'm at 123K miles on my 2019. It still looks like new inside and out and has no rattles either!

I'm genuinely sorry that you had such a bad experience, it's sad. But my experience has been COMPLETELY OPPOSITE of yours.

SAME! I LOVE this truck! Runs and drives like a champ! Other than maintenance and upgrades the only things I've ever had to do were the third brake light gasket and one cracked manifold.

It really is a bummer that some get true lemons...but this is true of every single manufacturer out there, so I just can't make the leap to Ram being awful...or at least any worse than the rest of them.

I'm aiming for 300K miles.

 

[RAL]

Geoffrey's experience is not typical or Ram would sell zero trucks, but I believe what he is saying. I suspect his truck was perhaps damaged in shipping (partially flooded perhaps?) or intentionally sabotaged in some type of plant dispute. That being said, there is a lesson in that increasing complexity brings increased risk of inconvenience when things break and cost when those things break out of warranty. This forum skews towards the higher content trucks, but I think there is value in thinking about the features that you would actually need versus anything you could possibly want, and trying to be judicious. Fwiw, when we were looking I was looking at a Big Horn or a Classic, but once the kids found the truck we bought, and my wife also really liked it, it was 3-1 against me and that was that. Gorgeous truck, but I do really worry about the amount of stuff it has (pano roof? What will that cost if it dies out of warranty? Radar cruise control? Same question.)

All that being said, our 2020 Laramie has been pretty much perfect reliability-wise, and I was so skeptical I leased it at first. After three years of Toyota like reliability (only real issue is the dealer extreme over-selling of service items), I bought it without hesitation. I did get the 8/85 warranty from Mopar, but that was really more about the reasonable cost of the warranty ($1900 or so) relative to the high cost of some potential failure items than any real concerns the truck would self-destruct. And after three plus years and 30k plus miles, it still looks and runs like new.

 

[GrumpyOleMan]

I have 84k on my '19 Limited and so far, the only issue was a leak from the center brake light that was quickly diagnosed and repaired by my local dealer. Runs strong and looks like new. I too was concerned about all the electronics when purchased my truck, so I bought an extended warranty. Not a big fan of extended warranties, but it does give me peace of mind.

 

[JOGG]

I think the top 3 most common issues are:
-Leaky rear window/3rd brake light. Pretty sure this problem persisted into ‘21 and possibly is still a problem.
-Lifter/Cam failure
-Exhaust manifold bolts breaking
And a bonus one that’s not a failure but it is something kinda annoying, is the AC doesn’t get very cold. There is a cheap $20 kit you can buy to work around this issue though.
I’ve heard of plenty of other issues but they’re usually few and far between. These are the only ones I’d personally be worried about & check into if I was buying used

I know this is an older thread, but I have a 2021 ram and the AC is far from robust, can you post the kit you mentioned?