habu987
Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2018
- Messages
- 556
- Reaction score
- 459
I picked up my truck on Friday! I've got pictures over here in this thread.
As a disclaimer before I go any further, this is my first truck. I've owned and leased sedans and SUVs in the past (and got handed down my mom's minivan for my first vehicle back in the day), mostly the non luxury brands, though I do have extensive experience driving an Audi A4 and a BMW X5. I traded in a 2014 Hyundai Azera that I'd had for a few years.
I really like the truck! I spent about 15 minutes at the dealership going through a QC checklist (the one from the delivery checklist thread) and only found one very slight niggle--both RamBox lids sit about .2" above the bed side. It is noticeable when you're up close, but nowhere near as bad as some of the early RamBox misalignments people posted when they started to come in. When I take it in for the first service, I'll see if they can adjust them to be flush. Besides that, everything on the QC checklist passed with flying colors. The bed step and bed extender pins from the BUG package were missing (the divider was included), but I knew that was most likely going to be the case going into it. The sales guy (Craig at Koons CJDR) noted that on the contract and will order them when they're available.
All that out of the way, here's my point by point review and impressions, having had the truck for a few days and put on ~90 miles.
Loving it so far!
As a disclaimer before I go any further, this is my first truck. I've owned and leased sedans and SUVs in the past (and got handed down my mom's minivan for my first vehicle back in the day), mostly the non luxury brands, though I do have extensive experience driving an Audi A4 and a BMW X5. I traded in a 2014 Hyundai Azera that I'd had for a few years.
I really like the truck! I spent about 15 minutes at the dealership going through a QC checklist (the one from the delivery checklist thread) and only found one very slight niggle--both RamBox lids sit about .2" above the bed side. It is noticeable when you're up close, but nowhere near as bad as some of the early RamBox misalignments people posted when they started to come in. When I take it in for the first service, I'll see if they can adjust them to be flush. Besides that, everything on the QC checklist passed with flying colors. The bed step and bed extender pins from the BUG package were missing (the divider was included), but I knew that was most likely going to be the case going into it. The sales guy (Craig at Koons CJDR) noted that on the contract and will order them when they're available.
All that out of the way, here's my point by point review and impressions, having had the truck for a few days and put on ~90 miles.
- Interior quality: Excellent all around. I haven't seen any mismatched trim, the fit and finish is uniformly excellent, and the materials feel high quality all around. Ambient lighting works and the light above the upper glove box is a mostly uniform line. I'd say the interior definitely feels like a $65k vehicle.
- Passenger room: Really not sufficient for any reasonable person's people carrying needs...just kidding! Way more room front and back than my Azera, which was a full size sedan. My wife sat in the backseat behind me with our son while we were erranding yesterday and she noted that she had roughly 10" of knee room, which is about 6" more than she had in the Azera. That, and the flat floor, makes for a great space for passengers.
- Noise level: This bad boy is quiet! My Azera was pretty quiet, but this thing is much quieter. So far I haven't been able to hear normal traffic around me, though I can still hear the loud motorcycles and other loud vehicles. Drove through rain this morning and it was muted compared to previous vehicles. Conversing with my wife in the back seat was very easy at highway speeds.
- Sound system: 100%. Still fiddling with the equalizer to nail it down, but the quality and volume are terrific.
- RamBoxes: Love 'em! Tossed my swimming gear (among many other things, I'm a competitive swimmer and coach) in one and had room to put the groceries in there after a run to the store. I put my ice scraper and a few odds 'n ends in the other one and still have plenty of room for other stuff. Side note--the lids don't stick at all on mine when I close them (I don't need to slam them, just shut them with the same force as the doors), but pushing the button only pops the lids up maybe .5", just enough for me to put my finger under the lip and open them manually. I'm not sure if they're supposed to pop open more than that when you hit the button, but it doesn't bother me so far. Might be a different matter when there's snow and ice in the mix, but for now not a problem. Anyone else with RamBoxes have the same thing happen with theirs?
- Suspension: I can definitely tell I'm driving a truck, but the suspension is actually better than my Azera. That one had a really flinty ride--serene on the highway, but broken pavement sucked and expansion joints on a curved stretch of the road were uncomfortable to drive over, since you'd bounce and shimmy sideways. Much more muted response to the same driving conditions, and I think the pending Hellwig sway bar purchase will help take care of any residual shimmying, I wouldn't go so far as to say the air suspension is buttery smooth, but it's definitely smoother than the Azera.
- Start/Stop: Doesn't bother me in the slightest. So much of the traffic in Northern Virginia where I am is stop and go, so I'm taking full advantage of it. It is noticeable with a pretty small shudder when it restarts, but it's quick and way less of a hassle than any other auto start/stop vehicle I've driven, including a truly abominable Jeep Grand Cherokee rental I had back in May.
- Engine: I test drove two Hemis before I ordered my truck and I can tell this is definitely not a Hemi, but I'm perfectly happy with its amount of power. It's not a rocket ship, but so far it's met my driving needs with no problems whatsoever. The transmission is another matter, more on that below.
- Transmission: I assume it's because it's in the learning phase, but I haven't been 100% happy with it so far.
- My 11.2 mile drive home from the dealer was during rush hour, so it took me about 45 minutes. Stop and go on the highway for about 10 of those miles, and there were 2-3 times where the transmission jerked and the truck lurched forward. Hasn't happened since then, but I also haven't been in traffic like that since then.
- Shifting patterns if I'm not doing a continual acceleration are odd. There's definitely a tendency to not downshift unless I prod the gas pedal harder than I'd like, especially in the 30-50 mph range. Case in point, we had an outing yesterday that was 18 miles out and back, mostly on a parkway with only a few stoplights and a 50 mph speed limit. Accelerating up to 30-35 from the lights was no problem, but the more gradual acceleration to 50-55 as the cars spread out would either result in no downshift unless I jabbed the pedal, or would not upshift once I reached my desired speed unless I took my foot off the pedal momentarily. For the latter, there were multiple times I'd get to 50 and would cruise in whatever low gear at 2.5-3k RPM until I took my foot off the pedal, then it'd downshift and go back to the ~1.5k RPM it should've been at. I need to turn on the gear indicator in the dash so I can see where it's getting bogged down and if it's the same gears every time. If all this is from the transmission being in learning mode, I expect the hilly terrain isn't helping, either. On the other hand, if I'm doing a continual, steady acceleration from a stop to 50-60, there's no bogging down or anything, the shifts are crisp and the RPMs stay where I'd expect.
Loving it so far!
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