First Drive - Dodge Ram Redesigned for 2009

It's really not fair that the all-new 2009 Dodge Ram pickup truck comes onto the market at a time when people are thinking less about new pickup trucks, because Chrysler has done such an excellent job with this total redesign.

The 5.7-liter Hemi engine has been redone for 2009, with Variable Valve Timing at the top of the long list of engine and breathing advancements, including the Multi-displacement System enabling the engine to cruise on four cylinders, invisibly. The new Hemi is even more powerful while getting better mileage. The Ram rides on a new chassis and - for the half-ton - coil spring rear suspension, breaking new ground for trucks. It's gotten an aerodynamic facelift, a cabin redesign, and has been accessorized with electronic technology. "It's the most researched vehicle we’ve ever done," says Chrysler.

Facelift and accessories notwithstanding, it's every bit as macho as before while feeling smoother and at least as satisfying as the Toyota Tundra, and that's saying a lot. It's winning awards already, deservedly.

Meanwhile, the price has been lowered as content and quality have been added. In '09 it's a better deal by its increased performance plus two grand: $1100 worth of standard new equipment and $900 less in MSRP, on average. The new stuff is in safety: electronic stability control, airbag curtains and tire pressure monitor.

Because there are many truck needs, there are many models. The Ram comes in half-ton, ¾-ton and one-ton (1500, 2500 and 3500 models); 2WD or 4WD; and Regular, Quad and Crew Cab (for the first time), with bed lengths of 8 feet, 6 feet 4 inches, and 5 feet 7 inches. The version I drove for eight days was a Ram 1500 SLT Crew Cab Sport, a two-wheel-drive, 390-horsepower Hemi, contender for master of the sport truck universe.

With that limited '09 Ram experience, I can't address all the heavy-duty Ram possibilities and capabilities for the kind of hard work that contractors, farmers, and others do. It ain't no hay hauler, this big black Hemi with the massive chrome grille. Not that you couldn't use it to haul hay, in style. Got thoroughbreds?

Besides, 407 pound-feet of torque opens up a lot of possibilities.

For example, this is what you can do with a Ram like this: drive it like Kasey Kahne drives his Dodge Charger. In the twisty Texas Hill Country, in the middle of a hot summer night, no one around but you and the cows and 30-year-old Cadillacs sleeping in gravel driveways. With your windows wide open and big speakers blasting Lucinda Williams and Joe Ely off new CDs you just bought in Austin. The sound system's humongous woofer is whumping your bucket seat off its bolts, as you thrash the Ram pretending to be Robert Mitchum pretending to be Junior Johnson on a moonshine run. The truck corners and stops and sounds almost like a stock car, with its big brakes and 6-spead gearbox out of the Viper.

And that was the previous generation of Ram, with a mere 345 horsepower from the Hemi. The new one is so much better, 390 horsepower on its new stiffer frame and coil-spring multi-link rear suspension with anti-roll bar. Given a mandate and clean sheet of paper, Chrysler engineers chucked the leaf springs, which no truckmaker has dared to do before. They delivered a half-ton pickup truck whose ride eliminates the harshness without being soft. Throw in the rack-and-pinion power steering for responsive handling, and add the Sport's big bucket seats with ideal bolstering, and you'll love every mile.

The 6-speed Viper transmission is gone in 2009 (lack of demand, can you believe it?!), but the 5-speed automatic now comes with a floorshift and Autostick (they call it ERS, Electronic Range Select), which is true and likes to be played with. If you want a 6-speed you have to stay with the V6, but neither the 3.7-liter V6 nor 4.7-liter V8 get any better mileage than the Hemi, so the 5.7-liter Hemi is the only way to go.

Engineers chased fuel mileage for 200 hours of wind tunnel testing, 40,000 hours of durability testing, and many miles road testing, from Death Valley to Tampa. On the short highway between those two, you'll get 20 miles per gallon.

Show off in the city and it'll cost you at the pump. But guys in the post office parking lot, who won't be wearing Birkenstocks, will tell you what a great truck you've got. They'll admire the innovative RamBox, locking compartments on each side of the bed that can hold 10 cases of cans of something - beans and beer for hunting, guns while we're at it, whatever. You won't have to buy an aluminum bed box or rifle rack for the rear window.

Despite the big square-ish nose, restyled to be bolder than ever (personally speaking, grille in chrome is too much; it looks much better body-colored), the Ram's aerodynamics are best in class. The front fascia is smooth, and the "power bulge" (horsepower hump?) on the aluminum hood looks awesome; if it doesn't make you smile as you look out over it from the driver's seat, you maybe aren't right for a Ram Sport with a Hemi engine. The twin four-inch tailpipes and integrated spoiler into the tailgate offer a similar touch at the rear. Unfortunately all you can say about the 20-inch chrome wheels is that they're 20-inch and chrome, the style gone missing. The good news is that they're optional, like the grille.

Moving back inside, there are 42 "storage features" - places to put things - in the cabin. From coins to 25-ounce cans of malt liquor, but only in the Texas Hill Country, passing one can around to your four buddies and/or galfriends, three of them in the back seat of the Crew Cab with limo-like legroom, watching Sirius Backseat TV that offers three channels: Nickelodeon, Cartoon and Disney.

Yes, I can see five women taking a big macho Ram truck out into the hills, drinkin' malt liquor and watchin' teevee, hooting it up over SpongeBob SquarePants in surround sound. I think I'd like to know them. Or maybe not.