So I spent the day out with my father and on the way back from drooling over Ducatis we hit up a car lot and ended up leaving several hours later with an '05 Dodge Dakota. 4.7 V8, 4x4, auto, 50k miles. This will be the family utility vehicle, I will probably use it more than him as he only spends about 7 weeks a year in country.
The point I am getting to is what to look out for on this truck? What issues to look out for?
And I was >< close to taking a Solstice GXP for a test drive, but logic won out as I would only torture my self over knowing I couldn't buy it
RossD
HalfDork
10/21/09 8:46 p.m.
Something seems out of order with this topic... 
neon4891 wrote:
The point I am getting to is what to look out for on this truck? What issues to look out for?
I had a 2001 with that powertrain. I loved the engine but the transmission never shifted right. I sold it with 38,000 miles on it. Also, the fuel gauge failed repeatedly.
I loved the size of the truck, but I just couldn't live with it.
also, there was only 1 key, and it has all the remote fob stuff built into it. Will a standard "cut" replacment work on the ignition, or is it "coded/chipped/whatever"
Get a spare key, better yet 2. Not sure about coded or not, but they should be able to make a cheaper "valet" key with out the buttons.
Interesting. A few months ago, not sure when, my mother and father were out riding on a saturday afternoon and my father found a Dakota somewhat similar to yours and wound up buying it that afternoon. (His was a '94 extended cab, with V8 and 4X4 with about 100K on it.) It wasn't until he got it home, and drove it awhile that my father "realized" it had the V8...and it's huge thirst for gasoline. Between the fuel economy, and the larger than what he was used to dimensions (it barely fit in his overloaded garage), he turned around and abruptly sold it and bought a newer, smaller, '99 Ranger. To get the smaller (non-extended) Ranger, he went with a manual trans. even though he is in his late '80s and suffers with arthritis.
(What "we" put up with for the sake of fuel economy.)
Actually, it has the newer 5spd auto and is rated for 19-20 HWY, an improvment from the 4spd auto.
