Test drove a Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Today

[clemsonfor]

Well, not really. One is a contractor, I transport boats, one is a commercial mower/landscaper, one is a welder, one owns a large diesel shop along with his brother-n-law, a couple are farmers, one is a electrician that pulls a large 28' trailer daily, one owns a excavating business., ect. So yes, we all work with our trucks. There are also 4 5th wheel campers and 3 bumper pull campers (smallest 26') sitting in the drives out of the 12 homes. Only one guy on my road does not use his truck for work, he runs a retirement village.

I can not think of any of the trucks other than the one that does not have 10,000# plus behind it at least once a week.


Chris

There are farmers that live on your street. They dont live on their land? Or is your street less sububan and more like 5 miles and the land is around the house? Seems everyone is self employed in your area.

 

[clemsonfor]

I have an 07 3/4 ton diesel that I bought new, will probably keep a couple more years and then trade it in on a new one again. I work hard for my money and put quite a bit away for retirement, and don't blow it on "stupid" things, but I enjoy my truck and enjoy driving it. If someone else feels they need a truck they can't afford, that is on them and not me. I think what put our society where it is, is people who have no self control and feel they are entitled to something.
Just want to say that i'm not flaming or slamming you, just putting my opinion out there.

No slam taken, i sound more like im slamming folks than anyone. I understand spending on what you want, if thats a truck and you want and can afford it great for you, like piolot said some spend money to fly somewhere for a weekend and blow 2K when they get there.

But maybe its where we live and the cost of living, trucks pretty much cost the same throughout the country new, used is a different story as here in the south ours last longer and in the north if not taken religious care of rust out. But i really cant see spending half of what i make each month on a truck payment/ fuel and insurance for it ( i dont use my truck for a living). And before you say i must only make $12/hr im talking about what i take home after insurance taxes 401k etc etc, which is about $2400/month.

This boils it down to i guess i cant afford it. NO im not jealous of your new trucks, if i disipaplined my self i could have one, but its not high on my list. I am i awe of the money some will throw around to have a new on though!

 

[Lt CHEG]

Im late in on this discussion but after bouncing through a couple pages this cought my eye. To each his own but this seems like a crazy and fiscally irresponsible attitude to me. If you have a business thats one thing but to own an 8 year old truck no warrenty and 125K there is nothing wrong with that and that means it is in no way not dependable. You are saying you would rather pay out $500-800 month on a payment vs paying even a $2000/year repair bill? You prlly wont have many if any $3000 repairs on even a 12 year old truck, How many of those $600 payments would it take to pay of a modest $1100 repair bill, not many. I just cannot buy a $30-40K new truck ever never, one i cant afford it and two its crazy to spend that kind of money on something that reduces in value. Im not rich but i make a living, my house is only 125K im not buying a truck every 5 years that approaches 1/3 of my homes value. I guess it takes guys like you buying them new so that i can buy them used.

On s side note i have looked at 10-12 year old Cummins doges. They are still 12K with 200K miles on them, this is crazy. A 9 year old 1/2 ton still is bringing almost 8K, i wont even pay that call me cheap, but i drive old and into the ground before i get rid of it, save the money and spend it on something i care about, which is not really my truck. I have 3 vehicles i drive, a saturn for economy a ranger for light loads and my 1/2 ton chevy for hauling. The ranger was bought for $800 or so 7 years ago. Roof was faded then and now the hood is to, had a scrach/dent from a gaurd rail or something on the passenger side, but i have driven that truck 130K miles in the last 5 years and it now have over 270K on it. I keep the fluids topped off and have oly put a new exhaust manifold on it totally redone the A/C and a new radiator, as well as maintence. I have done all these my self for minimal cost and the truck has never been in anothers shop for a day for any repairs. That is not to say that it has not been down a day for repairs though, but i have spares so i tend to put off 1 day jobs to 2 day jobs etc. But total downtime in 7 years for repairs would be about 6 days. Ok i just remembered 5 years ago i had put it in the shop for a busted bbrake line as i had no time to repair it and had a 1 hour commute one way each day, so i paid some friends to fix it cost $100 ( this was the back main line, they pulled one off a junk truck and pulled my bed off to replace it).

Sorry for the rant but i think this mentality has gotten our society in the shape we are currently in. Not saying you cannot afford your cars but im sure you have friends or neighbors that cant and they see you and want to have what you have cause we put so much status in the type of truck one has. Much money is wasted on vehicles here, yes thats a sector of the economy but what has it gottem them, bailouts, they have nothing to show, unless your an import or Ford guy.

I would never advocate for someone to spend money that they don't have on a truck. If I couldn't afford truck payments, or couldn't afford payments as high as what I spend then my buying habits might be different. My wife and I both work pretty decent jobs and have no kids, nor do we have any desire to have them any time soon. Frankly this might sound kind of bad but I'd rather spend my money on having fun right bow while I'm young enough and physically fit enough to enjoy the things that I really like to do instead of spending it on children. So I buy toys and have fun with them. I also live in a very modest home right now too and haven't been in too much of a rush to upgrade because I'm never home, as I'm either working or playing with my toys. I will admit that I'm trying to put some of my toy money towards our new house now though as the wife and I really would like to get building sooner rather than later.

Another factor for me is geography. Frankly I don't like driving a vehicle with rust. In this part of the country rust develops much sooner than in areas that don't get much snow. Yeah, I suppose that looks aren't everything in a vehicle but I do think that they are important to most people and I'm certainly in that camp. So if I keep a truck for a long time, I'm also likely going to have to spend at least $6500 or so to have the rust repaired and the truck repainted. So add all of that to the eventual costly repairs and I end up getting pretty close to new truck payment territory. So, I just suck it up and buy a new truck. For my wife, we don't even buy cars anymore, we just lease them. She won't keep a vehicle for too long anyway so since we're always going to be making payments we may as well make smaller payments and lease the vehicle instead of buying it.

In the end, I know a lot of it comes down to priorities and for me, having nice, newer things is a higher priority than others. I'm blessed to have a good job as does my wife so we are able to do so. I don't fault people that have a different outlook on vehicle ownership than I do. I also don't think that I'm hurting the economy by buying new vehicles as long as I can afford them. I've never been late on any payments for any of my toys and I know I haven't stretched myself too thin so I don't feel irresponsible for the economic decisions that I have made. It's all a matter of priorities in the end.

 

[Diamondpilot]

There are farmers that live on your street. They dont live on their land? Or is your street less sububan and more like 5 miles and the land is around the house? Seems everyone is self employed in your area.

My street is 7 miles from the nearest gas station or business for that matter. I am in the sticks. Its about 1.5 miles long and only 12 homes or so. Its a odd deal. There are 2 parallel streets that are 1/2 mile from each other. They are streets with street names. Mine is Twilight RD and the other is Sunrise Lane. There is not another named street for a good 5-6 miles. Everything else is county roads. One less than a mile from me is gravel. Its very rural but its a street to me. No cable, no gas, no sewer or city water, ect. Most of the homes are about 15 years old or less but there are 3 older homes that were the farm houses from way back.

The 2 farmers have tons of land. One guy, the welder/fabricator has 1,600 acres and I am not sure what the other family farms total but I have heard they own 600 acres and then share crop more.

I heard from others all the land was owned by one family and they put in the streets for the kids to build homes and start familys on. Over time the land got sold off in chunks. Most have 6 acre tracts on my street. My good friend down the road has 83 acres but does not farm. The one farming family will cut hay from time to time on his land but thats about it.

You are right about most being self employeed. Never realized that. Most of the women do work normal jobs though. Mine is in pharmaceuticals, 2 are nurses, 2 teachers, 1 works for a hospital, one works with her husband running the office at his diesel company, another works a at grave stone monument company, ect.

Chris

 

[transferred]

Clemson, don't worry it's clear you're not what the young'uns call a "hater," in fact my cousin is similar to you...he's bought a two of my old trucks and still has them both, running sweet with a combined 450k on the odo.

That said there are plenty of jealous types about...I remember back in around 06 when I still had my 3500 Cummins 5.9 a guy that must've been in his 50s with a walking cane pulled up at the fuel pump next to me in a brand new 1500 Ram and out of nowhere proceeded to tell me how I'd wasted my money on a "3500" and how I should've bought a Hemi. I just said to him, "glad you like your truck" and kept on refueling when he said, "you don't even have a tow ball in." At this point I told him that's because there's an (obscured) gooseneck hitch in the bed as among myriad other reasons the factory hitch isn't rated to pull my work trailer. Possibly sensing my irritation he then did a 360 and was very friendly and we bid each other good day.

Still can't work out his deal initially given that my truck was bone stock, covered in about an inch of road grime and had a cubic yard of topsoil in the bed...just hope for the other road users he didn't go home and try and gooseneck up his half ton.

Basically, people shouldn't have to justify their purchases. My neighbor has a lifted Duramax which has never towed a day in its life and a new 911 which he has no plans to take to the track... but he's a really nice guy and if that's what he wants to spend his money on then more power to him...:thumbsup:

 

[Diamondpilot]

This boils it down to i guess i cant afford it. NO im not jealous of your new trucks, if i disipaplined my self i could have one, but its not high on my list. I am i awe of the money some will throw around to have a new on though!

Thats what it comes down to. Spend your money on what is important to you. Like I said I know some couples who take 3-4 vacations a year. My neighbor has went to FL once, Las Vegas once, Seattle once, and Branson once already this year. Seems crazy to me but maybe I am the crazy one buying trucks, boats, and equipment????

Chris

 

[clemsonfor]

Thats what it comes down to. Spend your money on what is important to you. Like I said I know some couples who take 3-4 vacations a year. My neighbor has went to FL once, Las Vegas once, Seattle once, and Branson once already this year. Seems crazy to me but maybe I am the crazy one buying trucks, boats, and equipment????

Chris

I know what you mean Cris, sadly at this stage in my life seems i cant do either, we might go to the beach or somewhere for a weekend by car once a year but thats it. Well i guess i should say we put our money else where, remodeling the house a little all the time (bought 470sq/ft of #2 redoak tuesday, there went $980) and money on boat gas for the 2 boats and money for food plots etc.

This poor southern boy has hardly been out of this state in my life. Had not been in a plane till i was 21 years old (and was scared to death). I have taken a road trip to see an uncle in Iowa when in 6th grade to Fl once to see an aunt when even younger, road trip to DC in school, and other than that just weeked visits etc to NC, TN, GA, WV. Since i started work i have flown to MD, Chicago (still scared of that place and really dont want to go back, and i was in the suburbs! ) and GA. Cant forget i went to see my brother graduate HS and went to NH then drove to maine, so i guess im not doing to bad, Im only 28 afterall.

 

[MMH]

You see it like I do. I have a 04 and a 06 Powerstroke and they will turn in a honest 17 mpg mixed and do nearly 24 on the highway. They are both 4x4 and used hard. I love the new trucks but there is no way I am cutting my economy more than 50% just so I can have a new truck. I don't even get the diesels out of the barn unless I am hitching up 10K or more. Like you said the newer gassers can easily handle the 10,000# tow ratings most have.

I love the looks of the Dodge also but after owning one before I would have to get a great deal to go down the road again. If I were you I would look for used 5.9 Cummins, something around a 07. I know where 2 are for sale now by boating buddies of mine but they both want a arm and a leg for them because they know they have the last of the goodies.

Chris

You are absolutely right on that one. It's not just the Dodge's, all diesel trucks took a mileage hit in 2007. New emmision standards came out which required a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). DPF's capture the soot, which is burned out approximately once every tankfull. There is an injector of sorts that fires up the DPF to over 1000F for about 20 minutes or so.

The Dodge's made it a little more obvious as the 2007 models still manufactured in 2006 did not require the DPF & got the 5.9 Cummins. The ones w/ the DPF were distinguished by getting a 6.7 Cummins.

If it were me, I would not buy any 2007 or later diesel truck. Dodge's up to early 2007 are OK. Ford's - I would stop half way thru 2003 (any truck manufactured in 2003, but not the entire 2003 model year). This is when Ford switched from the 7.3 to a 6.0 power stroke. While no DPF on the 6.0, they have had serious head gasket issues, required a EGR, etc.

Long story short, look for a good used truck. Today's diesels have great performance, but significant reliability/maintenance issues, and the mileage (i.e. mpg) is in the toilet.