REVIEW: Our Long-Term Laramie Sport Hits The 10,000 Mile Mark:

We’ve reached the 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers) mark on our long-term 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie Sport since we bought it back in April. Overall, the ownership experience has been pretty great. We have had a few issues with the truck, but as of this writing, all of the issues have been fixed. So let’s take a look at what the ownership experience has been like for the past 9 months.

We purchased our truck on April 16th of this year, from our friends at St. Clair Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in St. Clair, Michigan. The truck was built at the very end of March, so when we picked it up from the dealer, it was only a couple of weeks since it came off the line at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP). 

The first thing I noticed while driving the fifth-generation Ram 1500 as a daily driver, is just how well it drives. Our truck’s coil spring suspension soaks up the rough Michigan roads like we are in a 1970s Cadillac. I found myself, driving the truck almost every day, compared my 2014 Dodge Charger R/T Plus AWD Sport which served as my daily for three years until purchasing the Ram. There is no comparison of the ride of the Ram to the Charger. After driving the Charger’s stiff suspension on the rough road surfaces on long distances trips, I found myself just jumping into the truck for a more relaxing and comfortable ride.

While we don’t have far to drive to work every day, we have done quite a few road trips in our Ram. The first big trip we did was to drive from Metro Detroit, meet up with our Co-Editor Jared Balfour and drove through Ontario, Canada to visit Niagra Falls, Ontario before backtracking to Grand Bend, Ontario for a drag racing event. Since then, the truck has been on trips to Indianapolis, Indiana to see our friends at Stevens-Miller Racing and their PREFIX #40 Dodge Challenger team dominate the Trans Am race at the Brickyard, Michigan City, Indiana, Bay City, Michigan, Frankenmuth, Michigan, Petoskey, Michigan, several trips through Ontario, as well as a massive trip across Michigan’s upper peninsula and across to Duluth, Minnesota, where we got to be among the first to drive the brand-new 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel lineup. 

The truck even served as a shuttle for my sister during her wedding in October, upon her request. 

Our truck features the legendary 5.7-liter HEMI V8 without the eTorque system. The truck also has a more mileage friendly 3.21 axle ratio, and I have noticed that this truck isn’t that bad on fuel when compared to my Charger. The truck seems to best the 5.7-liter HEMI AWD Charger by a mile per gallon in the city, averaging around 15 MPG around town and gets a lot better fuel economy than the Charger on the highway averaging about 22.5 MPG on longer trips. On an average combination of mixed city and highway driving, we average close to 18 MPG. Not to bad for the massive pickup.

We have run into a few issues, which have included curb rashing one of our 22-inch wheels in a bank drive-thru, having the clips that hold the floor LED lights in the rear under the front seats have broken clips on both sides, our Uconnect system dropping phone calls, as well as our truck starting without a key being present. However, since then, we have gotten a stock replacement wheel, and have resolved all of the truck’s other issues.

We have gone through two routine oil changes before long trips. All of the service that has been done on our truck has been completed by our dealer.

Now, I have had the chance to drive every trim level of the fifth-generation Ram 1500 pickup, except the Canadian Sport model and I can still say that I still feel that the Laramie Sport was the best fit for me as a daily driver. Each trim has its own unique flavor and without bias, I can say, that I have no regrets getting the truck I did. With that being said, I have been overall very impressed with the overall ownership experience, despite having a few technology-related issues with the truck. However, I continue to enjoy driving the truck every day and find myself still find myself ditching my Charger, in favor of the more comfortable ride that the Ram has to offer.

We have done some small modifications to the truck since we bought it. However, there are some fun plans coming for spring, which we will be covering on here and the 5thGenRams YouTube channel… so stay tuned.