A Spacious New Home For Chrysler's Pentastar V-6
Multiple sources are reporting that Chrysler’s recent (and voluntary) SEC filing revealed something not normally found in those rather boring financial documents: EXCITING TRUCK NEWS!
According to Chrysler’s filing, the RAM pickup will be updated with the same Pentastar V-6 and eight-speed automatic transmission currently winning hearts and minds in the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300. A set of lightweight axles will also appear, enabling the RAM 1500 to take a run at the F-150’s class-leading mileage numbers.
Assuming the Pentastar is up for traditional light-truck duties such as:
- Rolling in slow-motion through a bumpy construction site
- Staggering under the weight of a machine which, for no apparent reason, dumps a ton of rocks and dirt into it from an entirely unnecessary height
- Receiving approving looks from male models dressed as construction workers and streaked with the appropriate amount of charcoal to represent some sort of sweaty work
- Serving as an ad hoc location for unprotected sex between high-school dropouts
- Permanently occupying dealer lots in an era of five-dollar gasoline
the majority of RAM buyers are likely to find it a perfectly satisfactory choice. Ford’s Duratec 3.7 has been reasonably popular in the F-150. The GM light pickups offer a rather non-compelling choice between the 4.3 “Vortec”, which more or less is the same engine which used to make for a reasonably rapid S-10 back in the Reagan era, and a 4.8-liter V-8 which barely beats the Duratec and Pentastar for outright power and certainly won’t match them for mileage. On the positive side, there’s always something to be said for an SBC descendant of any stripe.
TTAC will make an effort to be among the first to use the new vehicle as an excuse to tow a race car somewhere comprehensively test the new RAM truck. If the current trend in gas prices continues, don’t be surprised to hear that the catchphrase for the don’t-call-it-a-Dodge truck has become
“You got a Pentastar in there?”
More by Jack Baruth
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The transmission from one of the high performance mustangs would hold up in a half ton, but the gear ratios would have to be reworked to make it work right in a truck. The 6 cylinder mustang trans would certainly not be beefy enough, except for the people who never haul anything. As others have said on here the reason they are offering less trucks with manuals is because the typical truck buyers simply don't want them. Automatics are especially better for towing and make things much easier. Almost no one who owns a boat has a manual equipped truck anymore. Back in the day I saw more than one person with a stick shift truck almost lose it on a boat ramp. It's almost impossible to get a boat out of the water with a stick. You have the boat pulling back on the truck, the driver has to let the clutch out quickly enough to keep the truck from rolling back, yet not stall the engine, he has to give it enough gas so that it does not stall, yet try not to break the tires loose on the slippery ramp. Ask anyone who ever tried to get a boat out of the water with a stick what a nightmare it was. And like someone else pointed out, it's much easier to let your automatic equipped truck idle back toward a trailer hitch, you can then concentrate on lining the ball up with the tongue intstead of messing with letting the clutch in and out. Then you have hills, it's not pleasant sitting at a redlight on a hill in a stickshift with a several thousand pound trailer behind you and all of a sudden have someone pull up behind you and stop almost right against it.I have noticed that people in small cars are the biggest offenders when it comes to this. And then you have hilly roads, have you ever hauled a heavy load through hilly terrain? You're shifting about as much as the driver of an 18 wheeler, it gets tiring and you're putting alot of wear and tear on the clutch and transmission. The diesel powered pickups don't need to shift as much because they have so much more torque, but with a gas powered truck it's different. And an automatic serves as a cushion for the engine and entire driveline via the torque converter.
"I saw more than one person with a stick shift truck almost lose it on a boat ramp. It’s almost impossible to get a boat out of the water with a stick. You have the boat pulling back on the truck, the driver has to let the clutch out quickly enough to keep the truck from rolling back, yet not stall the engine, he has to give it enough gas so that it does not stall, yet try not to break the tires loose on the slippery ramp. Ask anyone who ever tried to get a boat out of the water with a stick what a nightmare it was." There was a reason that everytime that Toy was sitting at the bottom of a boat ramp it was locked into 4LO. If it had been a 2WD forget about it. It didn't have much for low end grunt(Which is why I don't think OHC engines belong in a truck) so the low range necessary. Luckily the parking brake was hand operated.