My 2004 Toyota Tundra got near totaled by a deer so I decided to get a new truck. Other than the Toyota (which was a second truck for us, I bought used), my other trucks had all been Chevy NAFTA specials (1994 Suburban, 2004 Avalanche). Since we use this truck for traveling with multiple people (our other cars are small: Audi A4 Cabriolet and a Chevy Volt), we wanted a crew cab. Ram came out tops for ride comfort (just ahead of the latest Tundra) in all the reviews, so I started researching 1500's in the area.
Found that to get the safety features I wanted (adaptive cruise control, lane departure, etc...), you're either talking about special ordering a Laramie (nobody seems to stock the Laramie II package around here) or going with the Limited. My wife wanted the leather seats anyhow so that's what we got. The only hiccup was the truck they brought out for us to look at was a different (but very similar) one than the one I had inquired about. I got through the purchase process pretty easily (even though my wife had to leave in the middle, I still got to drive off with the truck on the promise she'd come back and sign things). The tonneau cover (about the only thing apparently missing from my list of must haves) was back ordered.
Got home and found slight disappointment #1: Tow mirrors delete the surround camera. If I'd known that, I'd have tried to find one that didn't have it. No big thing I guess, but it would be handy so I wouldn't drive over the curbs in parking lots.
Mild disappointment #2: No CD player. The one I'd inquired about had it. That's not too big of a thing, we're both iPhone junkies but one of our traveling partners always brings audiobooks on CD. But this is fixable.
Take the thing on a long trip up to see my family. Stop off at Lowes and get a tarp and cargo net for the bed to keep the bags dry. Indeed the ride is wonderful. Rivals my Dad's old Cadillac for comfort.
Bonus #1: Adaptive cruise control and the lane departure warning is a real hoot.
Bonus #2: The thing gets better mileage than the Tundra and way better mileage than my Chevy trucks did.
Come home and order some accessories. Got a USB CD player that allows us that feature (and we can put it away when we don't care about it which is most of the time).
Order the utility rails and bed extender. The Utility rails take a few minutes to install mostly because the holes for it are full off spray in bed liner.
The bed extender assembly is rather silly. No pre drilled holes, lousy template, needs a pop rivet gun (seriously, pop rivets?). Anyway, I get that installed.
Call up the stealership and ask where's my bed cover. Oh, it arrived yesterday. Do you want us to install it? That will take three hours and $300. Forget it.
I show up to pick the thing and the guy is pushing it along the floor like it weighs a ton. Again tries to tell me how involved it is to install. I go to move it to the truck. Well, the box is unwieldy, but it doesn't really way much. I can throw it in the back of the truck easily without opening the tailgate. I drive down the street to the local shopping center and the curiosity gets the better of me. I open the box and pull out the instructions. There's no assembly or modification to the truck. It doesn't even take tools. You clamp the thing to the rails by turning knobs by hand. I install it and it takes me longer to stomp the box into submission so I could throw it in under the cover than it did to install the cover.
Guess I won't be using that service department.
Got UConnect all set up, and the apps and even Alexa to start the truck remotely (not sure I'll use that a lot, but it's cool). On the whole, I'm overjoyed with it.
Found that to get the safety features I wanted (adaptive cruise control, lane departure, etc...), you're either talking about special ordering a Laramie (nobody seems to stock the Laramie II package around here) or going with the Limited. My wife wanted the leather seats anyhow so that's what we got. The only hiccup was the truck they brought out for us to look at was a different (but very similar) one than the one I had inquired about. I got through the purchase process pretty easily (even though my wife had to leave in the middle, I still got to drive off with the truck on the promise she'd come back and sign things). The tonneau cover (about the only thing apparently missing from my list of must haves) was back ordered.
Got home and found slight disappointment #1: Tow mirrors delete the surround camera. If I'd known that, I'd have tried to find one that didn't have it. No big thing I guess, but it would be handy so I wouldn't drive over the curbs in parking lots.
Mild disappointment #2: No CD player. The one I'd inquired about had it. That's not too big of a thing, we're both iPhone junkies but one of our traveling partners always brings audiobooks on CD. But this is fixable.
Take the thing on a long trip up to see my family. Stop off at Lowes and get a tarp and cargo net for the bed to keep the bags dry. Indeed the ride is wonderful. Rivals my Dad's old Cadillac for comfort.
Bonus #1: Adaptive cruise control and the lane departure warning is a real hoot.
Bonus #2: The thing gets better mileage than the Tundra and way better mileage than my Chevy trucks did.
Come home and order some accessories. Got a USB CD player that allows us that feature (and we can put it away when we don't care about it which is most of the time).
Order the utility rails and bed extender. The Utility rails take a few minutes to install mostly because the holes for it are full off spray in bed liner.
The bed extender assembly is rather silly. No pre drilled holes, lousy template, needs a pop rivet gun (seriously, pop rivets?). Anyway, I get that installed.
Call up the stealership and ask where's my bed cover. Oh, it arrived yesterday. Do you want us to install it? That will take three hours and $300. Forget it.
I show up to pick the thing and the guy is pushing it along the floor like it weighs a ton. Again tries to tell me how involved it is to install. I go to move it to the truck. Well, the box is unwieldy, but it doesn't really way much. I can throw it in the back of the truck easily without opening the tailgate. I drive down the street to the local shopping center and the curiosity gets the better of me. I open the box and pull out the instructions. There's no assembly or modification to the truck. It doesn't even take tools. You clamp the thing to the rails by turning knobs by hand. I install it and it takes me longer to stomp the box into submission so I could throw it in under the cover than it did to install the cover.
Guess I won't be using that service department.
Got UConnect all set up, and the apps and even Alexa to start the truck remotely (not sure I'll use that a lot, but it's cool). On the whole, I'm overjoyed with it.
I have one in my Truck and have never used and most likely won't
