Will be buying a newer truck soon.

[Industrial Toys]

I never understood that rear wheel only ABS on my one Dakota (or both?) You can't steer because the front brakes are locked up so WTF?

Had a 94 and a 2000. I miss the nice soft cloth interiors of both those vehicles.

 

[Jstpssng]

The AC on my '93 was the best of any vehicle I've ever owned. It could be 80' (F) out, and I would freeze my tail off, blasting it while trying to get my dog cooled down after a day at work.

 

[Oaktree]

I had an 2002 with the 4.7 V8 and a 5 speed, put 213,000 on that little thing.
Over worked it a few times, drove it like a hot rod many times while commuting to and from work,
on ramps in 3rd be doing 70 mph into the 3rd lane then grab 4th.
Went thru several sets of front brakes and rotors and calipers, they tended to seize up from the salt,
the rears were still original, I had replaced the alternator but never pulled a valve cover on her.
The gas mileage was poor it was a 16 mpg truck even on long trips.

I've had 2 Dakotas...an '88 and my present '02. IMHO the best non-fullsize truck out there by far (though the 3rd generation ones didn't impress me much). I agree on the gas mileage...the 4.7 isn't known for being a mileage champ no matter what it's in. The '88 had the 3.9 V6...I'd get 20-ish with that. Both were 4WD. Still see a lot of them on the roads up here, with the possible exception of the Ranger you can't say that for any of the other non fullsize trucks.
Never had any brake issues with either one...I think '02 still has the calipers it had when I bought it 11 years ago. PITA to change the pads though...there's this odd clip that holds the pad assembly in place that's not easy to put back in.

Keep hearing rumors that it's being re-introduced. I hope so.

The AC on my '93 was the best of any vehicle I've ever owned. It could be 80' (F) out, and I would freeze my tail off

Can't really comment on the AC in mine. Checked to see if it worked when I bought it, haven't used it since.

 

[jasonzee]

I had a new Dakota in 03 worst truck ever.4.7 engine lacked power but drank gas like a drunking sailor!

 

[LouNY]

I had a new Dakota in 03 worst truck ever.4.7 engine lacked power but drank gas like a drunking sailor!

Mine was an 02 it had good power but you had to wind it up to get, they had no low end torque.
All the horse power was way up in the rpm band, I didn't care for that but it did run out good even being twisted like it was.
Pulling a heavy trailer at highway speed in 3rd gear was unnerving to me but she did it for 150 miles one day.

 

[Tractorable]

I remember test driving a new Dakota in 1988 with a manual trans and that thing was clunky dog. We went with a Mazda B2200 long bed and put a few hundred thousand miles on that little truck. Kinda miss the low bed height long bed.