Have you "downgraded" trim level and been satisfied?

[JerryBsizzle]

I'll start by saying I had a 19 Laramie, a year later I got a 20 Rebel, 7 months later I'm in a 21 Laramie.

I thought I would okay losing some creature comforts when I went to the Rebel, I bought a Big Horn equivalent Rebel. But while I loved the Rebel and it was a pure badass truck, I missed the blind spot monitoring, leather, ventilated seats, rain sensing wipers, cross path detection, 4auto, etc. (Yes I know I could get a more loaded Rebel).

So when I decided to make the jump there were a few additional things I wanted, and I'm very happy I did it. 12" uconnect, etorque, power steps, and sunroof are the main differences. My first Laramie had none of those.

Not the way I pictured things to unfold, but has anyone else left a higher trim vehicle to something more basic and never missed the little gadgets and conveniences?

 

[Mikejones11]

I did this with my grand Cherokee. I bought a Altitude then upgraded for a high altitude (had everything). I traded this in on my 2020 rebel with leather and the 12 inch. I really miss the adaptive cruise and vented front seats.

 

[Trippi]

My last vehicle had the blind spot monitoring and my truck before had 4 wd auto - my Rebel has neither (Level1). While I wanted NONE of the Level 2 safety features, I immediately missed the blind spot monitoring but that only lasted a week once I got used to not having it. Had rain sense wipers years ago in a cadillac - was a neat gimmick but I am still capable of figuring out speed and they were not always perfect in sensing. I think one thing I would never go back without is heated seats and steering wheel living in snow belt of NYS.

 

[ElkoNV]

Upgrading is a one-way street. Better to have never had the feature than to have had and lost.

 

[jdmartin]

I did in my Miata. After I sold my 95 because it was getting up there in miles, which was outfitted how I really liked (black on black, torsen limited slip, plus some add-ons I put on) I bought another 95 that was a "higher" trim - leather, nicer head unit, bass thumper setup, two-tone trim, etc. I found I liked my original setup better, but most of it was either practical - the leather used to burn the hell out of me - or because I missed some of the mods that I had done (I added a remote control trunk popper, for example).

 

[Richard320]

Nope. I've never gone backwards. My first vehicle was a 1956 Willys. Manual trans, manual brakes, manual steering, manual windows, even manual turn signal cancellation. No radio. Next up was a 1973 Chevy pickup. It had power brakes and the turn signals self-cancelled! It had no radio initially, but I added an AM radio that came out of my sister's Chevette. 1988 Ranger came with AC and AM/FM cassette!. 1995 Cherokee all the above plus power steering and cruise control. 2001 Wrangler was similarly equipped to the Cherokee. CD instead of cassette. And now I have all kinds of bells and whistles that can fail that I really couldn't care less about. I mean, what's the deal with all these buttons on the backside of the steering wheel? How hard is it to reach over to adjust the volume?

The only thing I really wish for was to have the passenger seat be power like the driver's seat. My wife's Camry has it and it's nice on long trips when I'm the passenger. Once in a while I let her drive the truck and it would be nice to have it power me into an upright position after I've been snoozing. But I wouldn't use it enough to justify spending the extra on a Laramie.

 

[Sportznut]

I went from a fairly loaded Highlander to a semi loaded Laramie.

I found I can do without a
Sunroof (but have the big one) but really miss my adaptive cruise.


Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[JoeCo]

I like having both. All of my rams have gotten progressively nicer, but all along I've had my 66 buick to have a balance. That car just has power steering, that's about it. Nice to have the creature comforts in a daily driver though.

 

[jdefoe0424]

I had a level 2 Laramie with the 12 inch screen.
We covid bought a camper not long after buying the truck so I had always been kind of on the lookout for a 2500 that I could trade it in for. We're also going to have a third child in June. My wife needed a vehicle with a third row and I decided that I would just go up to a 2500 at the same time.
To help save cost on the 2500 I ended up with a 2019 tradesman, but it is the same Patriot Blue color. It has almost no extras, running boards and push button start are where it ends. I do wish I had the 8.4 screen, I also miss siriusxm, led headlights, heated seats/wheel. Ventilated seats were nice but could do without.
The blindspot, auto wipers and high beams 12" screen were things I didn't need, but the 12" screen was nice and worked pretty good for me.

The money I got out of my 1500 will be useful, we have a few projects around the house to complete. Ultimately, I don't care what I'm driving really. I've had crappy and I've had nice, in the end it's just a vehicle.

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[jdmartin]

Nope. I've never gone backwards. My first vehicle was a 1956 Willys. Manual trans, manual brakes, manual steering, manual windows, even manual turn signal cancellation. No radio. Next up was a 1973 Chevy pickup. It had power brakes and the turn signals self-cancelled! It had no radio initially, but I added an AM radio that came out of my sister's Chevette. 1988 Ranger came with AC and AM/FM cassette!. 1995 Cherokee all the above plus power steering and cruise control. 2001 Wrangler was similarly equipped to the Cherokee. CD instead of cassette. And now I have all kinds of bells and whistles that can fail that I really couldn't care less about. I mean, what's the deal with all these buttons on the backside of the steering wheel? How hard is it to reach over to adjust the volume?

The only thing I really wish for was to have the passenger seat be power like the driver's seat. My wife's Camry has it and it's nice on long trips when I'm the passenger. Once in a while I let her drive the truck and it would be nice to have it power me into an upright position after I've been snoozing. But I wouldn't use it enough to justify spending the extra on a Laramie.

56 Willys! Man, there's nowhere to go but up in options there . Those things were just a half step up from Fred Flintstone's ride

 

[jdmartin]

I like having both. All of my rams have gotten progressively nicer, but all along I've had my 66 buick to have a balance. That car just has power steering, that's about it. Nice to have the creature comforts in a daily driver though.

That's what I forgot to say in my post. I like having a "basic" vehicle for fun driving, and a nice, comfortable vehicle for when I actually have to go places. I used to fix up old Mustangs and they were fun drivers - you got a lot of road feedback, which is imperative to driving "sporty". It's what I love about my Miata - it's a fun go-cart to cruise around on Saturday and Sunday when I'm just burning fuel for the fun of it. If I had to pick one ride only, it would be the Ram and part of that is because of the creature comforts, what we call options.

 

[IvoryHemi]

Absolutely it’s hard to go back.

My last vehicle was my first with ventilated seats. Now they are a must have item for me

Every new vehicle I get has one more “new to me” feature that I end up requiring on my next vehicle.

Never had a 360 camera before my Ram. Now it’ll be a must have on my next truck

 

[TravisJ]

I had a loaded Jeep Cherokee. The two things I dearly miss are memory seating and adaptive cruise. But I wasn’t spending enough to get all that in a truck, just too much for me. A lot of the stuff I don’t miss though. Vented seats were pretty useless to me, self park was dumb, rain sensing wipers always wanted to be on way too high of a setting, not a person that needs leather.

But I got a lot of things in a truck I needed so the trade off doesn’t seem so bad in the end. I can’t imagine going backwards in the same type of vehicle...that would be rough.

 

[JerryBsizzle]

Absolutely it’s hard to go back.

My last vehicle was my first with ventilated seats. Now they are a must have item for me

Every new vehicle I get has one more “new to me” feature that I end up requiring on my next vehicle.

Never had a 360 camera before my Ram. Now it’ll be a must have on my next truck

That's exactly how I feel. I THOUGHT I could go backwards and not miss it, but everyday that went by I missed it more and more.

I'm in Louisiana, ventilated seats are a must from now on. Blind spot monitoring is a must. Just knowing not to attempt to switch lanes when that orange triangle is lit is a biggie. I had, didn't have it, now have it again and I NEED it.

 

[securityguy]

I only buy FULLY LOADED vehicles and have most all of my life. That way I can never look back and say "I should have gotten that"

 

[FYRSTIX]

That's a lot of new trucks in a short amount of time. Did you take a bath on the trade-ins or were you able to do well due to the lack of used trucks that we hear about on the forum?

 

[Neurobit]

Reason I got a loaded Limited. I do like all the included safety features and creature comforts. Life’s too short to drive a base vehicle.

Drove for many years bare bones vehicles when I could not afford better. Now I always get everything I want, but nothing I don’t need.

 

[Every20years]

56 Willys! Man, there's nowhere to go but up in options there . Those things were just a half step up from Fred Flintstone's ride

Yeah but those Willys were beasts. You could go in to 4lo and pull a freaking tank. Used one at a marina I worked at to pull boats from the water. Had an old Bronco that was used for most boats but the really big (35’ and up) we just used the willys. Keep the tires dry and it was crazy how much it pulled up the ramp.

 

[nc_beagle]

We have a 2015 Grand Cherokee Summit and a pretty basic longbed 1996 F150. I don't really miss anything on the GC when I'm in the truck. The A/C and stereo both work. But, there are some features on the GC I'd hate to lose and some I wouldn't care about losing in the 1500 we're looking for.

I really don't need the ventilated seats. If I'm covered in sweat, I use a seat cover and the air couldn't get through. I don't use adaptive cruise and I very rarely use the sunroof. The safety features are the biggest area I'd hate to go backwards on. The one item I'm on the fence about is the air suspension. I like it on my GC and am considering it on the 1500.

 

[JerryBsizzle]

That's a lot of new trucks in a short amount of time. Did you take a bath on the trade-ins or were you able to do well due to the lack of used trucks that we hear about on the forum?

The only way I did it is to not take a bath on them. The 19 I bought pre-covid and got a pretty good deal on. I kept watching the trade in value and when it was as high as I paid for it new thats when I traded it. On the Rebel I lost about $1,000 but I also got 0% interest so I will make up for it, assuming I keep it for a while.

Its crazy what the used truck market is like right now. The lot is selling my 2020 Rebel with 11,000 miles for more than I paid for it new in September.