Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Crew Cab Review

What you see is the new Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Crew Cab in its natural environment. The 3500 is a one-ton pickup...the kind of thing best suited for hauling huge horse trailers (or Brahma bull trailers) around. The ideal rodeo vehicle.

In fact, I would have said that the market for this was pretty well limited to the horses for business and/or pleasure set until I drove it.

You see, as civilized as trucks have become over the years, theres a sliding scale and it has to do with towing/hauling capacity and heavy duty status.  It applies across Chevy, Ford, GMC and Dodge pickups. A 1500 is a half-ton pickup...light duty. These have become pretty comfy cruisers.

2500? Thats a 3/4-ton. Now were on the entry end of heavy duty...you climb up to get in and youd better hang on, because the ride is usually noticeably rougher than the 1500.

And the 3500? Well, unless youre going commercial hauling, thats the big boy. One ton, riding high and....well, like a truck.

Its tough to tame a one-ton, but somehow, Dodge has done it. The 3500 Laramie Crew Cab I drove for a week was not only luxurious, but actually comfortable to drive. Parking? Not so much. Ive had smaller apartments.

The key to the livability here seems to be the Laramie trim level. You can get a 3500 for as little as $35,630, but its a 2-door, bare bones beast. At the base ST trim, a Crew Cab like ours begins at $39,200.

So pop an extra $10,745 (total base $49,945) into the calculator and the transformation is amazing. Suddenly, leather trimmed bucket seats are part of the package, along with heated second row seats, ventilated front seats, an AM/FM/Sirius/CD/mp3/DVD audio system (506 watt Alpine Premium Sound with 9 speakers and a subwoofer), 17 inch aluminum wheels and a bunch of brightwork to make it look...can you say this about a one-ton?....pretty.

The beautification continued on our tester with extra-cost paint...the Deep Water Blue Pearl Coat adds $225 to the sticker...and by the time the Dodge PR deparment finished with the six-speed automatic transmission, power sunroof, a further upgraded audio system (with a 30 gig hard drive and navigation) and Sirius Backseat TV, the price (with destination charge) was $56,820.

Now, that, cowboys and cowgirls, is steep...but its a testament to just how good the all-new Ram 3500 is that at no point did I think it wasnt worth it.  And a big part of that is the engine. The 6.7 liter Cummins Turbo Diesel engine is a marvel...quiet, smooth and powerful. 350 horsepower, but as always with diesel, the story is in the torque...and its very nearly impossible to beat 650 pounds per foot of torque at just 1,500 RPM.

The word is that the 2011 Ford Super Duty is an amazing truck. It needs to be. Until it arrives, the Dodge Ram 3500 is king of the mountain.

Old vs New 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16 year old Dodge Viper

Old vs. New: 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16-year-old Dodge Viper Its easy to play the "Would you rather have a New X or an Old Y with a bunch of upgrades?" game more often than we care to admit, but the crew at Car and Driver have taken bench racing to the next level with their latest video. In it, the magazine pits a brand-new 2014 SRT Viper against a highly modified 1997 Dodge Viper GTS. There are 16 years between the time this particular GTS rolled off the production line and when the new car bowed, but that doesnt mean the old snakes owners have been sitting on their hands.

Old vs. New: 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16-year-old Dodge Viper

Old vs. New: 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16-year-old Dodge Viper

Thanks to a spate of modifications, the GTS offers up a better power to weight ratio than the new machine, but is that enough to overcome the technological leap forward represented by the 2014 Viper? We wont spoil it for you. Youll just have to check out the full clip below for yourself.

Old vs. New: 2014 SRT Viper takes on upgraded 16-year-old Dodge Viper

K K Insurance racing team for 1968 1969 Dodge Charger

K & K Insurance Team - shiny new 1968 Charger drove by Bobby Isaac

At one season, the champion racing driver incorporated in the K & K Insurance team is ready to race to beat the big boys play NASCAR. In preparation for a teacher was Harry Hyde car mechanic has been perfected to be used for the race while Bobby Isaac is ready to trade with Petty and Yarborough and Pearson last rider of the Grand National star. 

K&K Insurance racing team member in the garage with a 1969 Charger 500

The team of K & K Insurance will receive full support from the factory Dodge, so they will not spend time in vain to play around in the arena of this race. Isaac drove Dodge to win the race in third place in Montgomery, AL in the second case this year, then another again in Brisol which consists of five races and the third is in the Greenville-Pickens to race to nine.

K & K Insurance Team - Daytona mule testing at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea

In the race of Isaac uses 1968 Charger muscle car with car number 71, then to the other races Isaac drove some 1967 Charger with the number 73 to compete with peers include former teammate Charlie Glotzbach.

K & K Insurance Team - by 1969 Dodge Charger 500  Isaac won in Daytona 125 qualifying races

Then at the beginning of the season appear good news for K & K Insurance team since Chryster will put the team into their listings with the support of the racers got more support. Support from Chryster of engineering and mechanical engineer and machine parts on the shelf. Some teams then take advantage of this, then the company is considered as "intruders" in their business. In contrast to Hyde who then took full advantage by establishing a closer relationship with Chryslers expert mechanical engineer named Larry Rathgeb.

Harry ponders which 426 Hemi to install

As a team of K & K Insurance, Isaac gets kemengan when using the No. 71 car and holds the key points. Then he collected two more victories in GA and MD Beltsvilee and in Augusta. All kemengan achieved by K & K Insurance team using the car charger, although some 1967 Charger with the body model 1968. Of the few races have shown that the track circuit is not suitable for large Ford slender. Ford vs Chryster in "Aero War" racing just considered as a warming up and also K & K racing team.

 

Bobby Isaac on hard racing against his good friend, David Pearson.

 

Mills battle each other on the aerodynamic supremacy was saw at the 1969 NASCAR season, It was trying in vain to keep things under control. Dodge added a flush rear fastback and its front grille of the charger, and "Charger 500." was dubbed it. In addition, A new nose was created by Ford, and lower grade for their Torino. 

Isaac finished fourth and then won at 1969 season finale at the new Texas World Speedway

After superspeedway that was under construction in Alabama. Than the race for 125 miles of Daytona finally won by David Pearson. It was the first qualifying round in his Ford while Bobby Isaac Charger 500 put her in victory lane in 125 seconds. On the race Dodge Ford Lee Roy Yarbrough beat Charlie Glotzbach is the stripe for the win in Daytona 500 while Chrysler knew he still had some work to do before the Dodges could compete with the Fords in superspeedways.