Another Look

2005 Dodge Ram Power Wagon: That's big

On the down side, this not being the New York Times, my editors do not allow me to simply make up entire columns, or even portions of one. They won’t even let me use anonymous quotes from unidentified sources, preferring to stick with old-fashioned concepts like “facts.” This explains why I have not yet won my Pulitzer.

On the upside, I don’t have to worry about going to jail, at least not until they start imprisoning people for crimes against the English language. Jail isn’t my idea of fun. For one thing, I’m too pretty. For another, unless you’re Diana Ross in Greenwich, they won’t let you order in your own food.

But, just as with Judith Miller and the New York Times, questions about my sources seem to be especially popular with readers. Which dealers, they ask, give you these cars, and don’t you then owe them something? That’s usually followed by, “Can I have your job?”

The answers to the latter question and the latter half of the first question are the same: No. But that doesn’t mean the question isn’t important (the first one, at least) and deserving of an answer.

Let’s debunk a popular myth first. The Hour Newspapers does NOT buy me a new car every week. I know readers, especially Hour employees, may find this hard to believe, but the publisher has refused to give me the expense account I need.

So how do I get cars? The old-fashioned way – I hotwire them. Oops, there’s that prospect of jail again.

Seriously though, most established auto columnists get their cars from the auto companies themselves. Ford or GM or DaimlerChrysler or Toyota or any other automaker isn’t going to give a car to just anyone for a week, but if you know the secret handshake and have the special decoder ring, they deliver cars to you each week so you can tell the world about them. Without the handshake and the ring, you have to convince them by virtue of having clips and an affiliation with some reputable publication – or The Hour – that you really do have enough of a readership to justify their sending expensive pieces of machinery to your driveway and saying go have fun for a week.

Why do they do this? Because they want you to buy their cars, and everyone knows free media (that’s what those old-fashioned newspaper people call “news”) is more valuable than paid media (normally called “advertising,” or “The Apprentice”). People tend to trust what they read in the “news,” even when it’s in the New York Times, so car companies are willing to send me their latest symbol of upward mobility in the hope that I’ll have something nice to say about it and you’ll spend your hard-earned dollars buying it.

The fact that it’s a car company sending you the car makes it so much easier if you have to say something bad about it. It’s not like having to report that your next door neighbor was caught stealing Dan Malloy posters. You’re dealing with huge, faceless corporations, not an auto dealer you may run into at the next Rotary meeting. This is much less personal, and even for heartless reporters, less anxiety-inducing.

But, you may ask, don’t car companies exert control by virtue of their advertising budget? Don’t they want you to write only nice things? The real world answer is that they could try, but usually choose not to. The few times they’ve thrown a snit, as with pulling ads from the LA Times, the result has been so counterproductive as to remind them why the wall between advertising and editorial serves both sides.

Frankly, I’m not going to be able to convince you to look at a car unless you think I’m giving you my unbiased opinion. Now I could tell you that my personal integrity would guarantee you no less, but one look at the New York Times (sorry, but don’t you just love bashing Mr. Perfect when he’s down) tells you that personal integrity could crumble when attacked by the right weapon.

No, your best guarantee of an accurate, unbiased review is that that’s what the car companies want you to have, because otherwise, all the money they spent getting the car to me and having me bash it into immovable objects would have been wasted. Of course they’d like that accurate, unbiased review to be filled with nice things about their cars, but if they’re not, that’s just a cost of doing business.

If I’ve done this right, you should now understand not just how we get cars, but why this column is at least as trustworthy as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, if not as funny. Now on to the car of the week:

2005 Dodge Ram Power Wagon

At $43,410 fully loaded, the Dodge Ram Power Wagon isn’t cheap. With my gas mileage barely making it into double figures, this truck doesn’t promise to be cheap to operate either. But if what you’re looking for is a mixture of on- and off-road capability, towing capacity, comfort and a 5.7-liter V8 Hemi to take you as far as that tank will let you go with best-in-class acceleration, this is a truck you should consider.

Normally this kind of gas mileage would rule out a vehicle for everyday use, but the Power Wagon is an extremely specialized vehicle, even for a 4x4. I’m no truck maven, but one look at that front electric winch with its 12,000-lb. front electric winch and 33”-tires, the largest tires on any production truck (hint: get the running boards) and you know this is a truck built for business.

The Power Wagon has a running height of 14.5 inches, and an approach angle of 35 degrees; the departure angle is 26.5 degrees and the breakover angle is 25.5 degrees. This gives the Dodge Ram Power Wagon significant clearance for navigating a variety of off-road trails, especially when tackling severe inclines and declines.

“The Dodge Ram Power Wagon is built for extreme off-road conditions, but will attract a wide variety of buyers,” said Darryl Jackson, Vice President, Dodge Marketing. “In addition to extreme off-roaders, Dodge Ram Power Wagon will be used in agricultural and forestry applications, and by enthusiasts in extreme recreational situations or on their daily drive route."

Those who are much more knowledgeable about trucks than I am love the Dodge Ram Power Wagon. Four Wheeler Magazine named it its 2005 Pick-Up Truck of the Year.

The Hemi gives you 345 horses and 375 lb-ft. of torque, handled by a 5-speed automatic. The truck is fast, with an extremely firm suspension, but the fact that it’s filled with luxuries like a navigation system, premium sound, all leather and much more is much more about making the ride to the worksite comfortable than about giving in and becoming a yuppie (remember that term) pick-up truck. This is a working truck, and one that’s especially useful if work takes you off-road. My regular cab (it is also available as a Quad cab) had an 8-foot cargo box capable of holding about 75 cubic feet of stuff. Cargo width is about five and a half feet, with the tailgate opening being just over five feet. Towing capacity is about 11,000 pounds.

Dodge gave the Ram Power Wagon enough safety features to match its horsepower. Included are a side curtain air bag system and power adjustable pedals , a standard anti-lock braking system (ABS), pretensioning and constant-force seat belt retractors, the largest brakes in its class and 17-inch wheels. Also standard are next-generation multistage driver and front-passenger air bags. The passenger side air bag may be turned off on regular cab Dodge Ram Power Wagons to accommodate child seats. The all-new 2005 Dodge Ram Power Wagon also includes standard Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren (LATCH) child seat anchorage system. The LATCH system works in conjunction with the standard child seat tether anchors to make it easier to attach child seats.

The Power Wagon is based on the Ram 2500 SLT 4x4, which starts at $29,750 if your pocketbook won’t stretch to cover the Power Wagon, or if your needs aren’t extreme. But as it did with the 300C, Chrysler has once again come up with a vehicle worthy of a distinguished name. After 25 years, once again astride the land is a Dodge Ram Power Wagon, and once again, it is as capable an off-road production pick-up as you will find.

posted by Andy Mais @ 4:05 PM