I recently joined the Ram family. Honestly, I never expected to be here.
I have not owned an American car since I bought a Dodge Daytona in 1992 when I graduated college. That was my first new car. My family was always a Mopar family, so it was a given I'd buy a Mopar product. While I loved that car (it was the IROC R/T), it proved to be too small as we started having kids and I needed a 4 door sedan. After finding nothing in the Mopar family that was exciting, or reliable, I bought my first Honda; a 1996 Honda Accord with a 5 speed manual transmission. The difference in quality blew me away and I've been driving Hondas and Toyotas ever since.
My job recently changed their company car policy where they give me a monthly stipend instead of giving me an actual car. The one stipulation: it must be a vehicle from a US manufacturer. This was a strange conundrum since I haven't considered any US vehicle in over 30 years. My wife and I were about to buy a Honda Passport, but quickly had to pivot to look at something else.
Throughout November, we looked at many different vehicles from Ram, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Jeep. We considered SUVs and pick ups in all sizes. We also considered sedans. This was time well spent to give us a sense of what's available that appeals to us. We considered just buying something cheap since we'd make money from the company stipend. But ultimately we decided to buy something where the stipend covers the payment, is something we actually will enjoy driving, and something that will be useful to us in a few years when we both retire. That decision pushed us towards the half ton pick up market.
We then drove variants of the Ram 1500, Ford F150, and Chevrolet Silverado. We were both impressed by the Ram's and completely unimpressed by the F150 and Silverado. In fact, we were surprised how cheap the interiors were on these trucks compared to the Rams. With that, we purchased a 2026 Ram 1500 Laramie in Forged Blue Metallic with the Hurricane SO engine. It has the sport appearance package and Laramie Level 2 package.
We're only 372 miles into the ownership, but thus far it's been a nice addition to our stable of vehicles.
I have not owned an American car since I bought a Dodge Daytona in 1992 when I graduated college. That was my first new car. My family was always a Mopar family, so it was a given I'd buy a Mopar product. While I loved that car (it was the IROC R/T), it proved to be too small as we started having kids and I needed a 4 door sedan. After finding nothing in the Mopar family that was exciting, or reliable, I bought my first Honda; a 1996 Honda Accord with a 5 speed manual transmission. The difference in quality blew me away and I've been driving Hondas and Toyotas ever since.
My job recently changed their company car policy where they give me a monthly stipend instead of giving me an actual car. The one stipulation: it must be a vehicle from a US manufacturer. This was a strange conundrum since I haven't considered any US vehicle in over 30 years. My wife and I were about to buy a Honda Passport, but quickly had to pivot to look at something else.
Throughout November, we looked at many different vehicles from Ram, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Jeep. We considered SUVs and pick ups in all sizes. We also considered sedans. This was time well spent to give us a sense of what's available that appeals to us. We considered just buying something cheap since we'd make money from the company stipend. But ultimately we decided to buy something where the stipend covers the payment, is something we actually will enjoy driving, and something that will be useful to us in a few years when we both retire. That decision pushed us towards the half ton pick up market.
We then drove variants of the Ram 1500, Ford F150, and Chevrolet Silverado. We were both impressed by the Ram's and completely unimpressed by the F150 and Silverado. In fact, we were surprised how cheap the interiors were on these trucks compared to the Rams. With that, we purchased a 2026 Ram 1500 Laramie in Forged Blue Metallic with the Hurricane SO engine. It has the sport appearance package and Laramie Level 2 package.
We're only 372 miles into the ownership, but thus far it's been a nice addition to our stable of vehicles.
