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Ram’s Upcoming Midsize Pickup Will Be Body-On-Frame

Ram’s Upcoming Midsize Pickup Will Be Body-On-Frame​

No Unibody Here—Ram’s New Truck Targets Real Truck Buyers​


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After years of speculation, Ram is finally getting back into the midsize pickup game. And here’s the kicker—it’s going body-on-frame, not unibody like some expected.

moparinsiders.com

Ram’s Upcoming Midsize Pickup Will Be Body-On-Frame

Ram’s upcoming midsize pickup will be body-on-frame, providing ruggedness and traditional strength for truck enthusiasts.
moparinsiders.com moparinsiders.com
 
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I agree with some others who have posted. The timeline on this is WAYYYYY too far out. 2028 is another 2.5 model years away now. By then the competitors will have advanced even farther.

As far as the news of this being body-on-frame, at least they are making the correct call there. They NEED to take a page out of the 1st Gen Dakota book and give this truck features the competitors don't have. A V8 option would be nice. A 6' bed option is a must. And it has to lead the segment in payload/GVWR so that it can do more work than the others. Second row legroom that is actually usable for adults would be something else that would put it ahead of the competitors.
 
From a personal perspective. I'm overjoyed that the brand is getting back to being a brand of the people and a brand that us as enthusiasts may one day be happy with. Now I could be way off my rocker here with his but I think the Ram brand would do well to sell both a STLA:Large platform Midsize truck (Rampage) and an STLA: Frame Midsize truck (Dakota). Even without making the Rampage much larger, an STLA Large platform Rampage with a 4-cylinder hybrid longitudinal AWD drivetrain would sell extremely well, Just like an STLA frame Midsize truck if Ram does their marketing correctly and produces a proper vehicle under each name with enough trim levels that fit each vehicle. It's obvious that manufacturers know that their vehicles are priced outside of the range of alot of their buyers along with the fact of being excessive. I'd say over 70% of the people who buy a Ram truck don't used it to even half of its capability. A Rampage with a 4ft bed and a Dakota with a 5.5ft bed works great with both of them having 4-doors.
 
scatpack_69 said:
Why would they? So they could sell two?
No one wants or buys one. And those that claim they want one….are either too broke to buy or end up with a four door
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Remember the Dakota Sport and R/T?

I wasn't talking about strippy work trucks.

There is still a market for sport trucks.
 
I mean, I think they have to. This truck will have to tow a minimum of 7,500 lbs. with SAE J2807 certification to compete. 8,000 lbs. would actually be a smart target considering that the main competitors are at 7,700. And you are not doing that with a tiny little 2.0L engine, turbos or not. There is a reason the 2.0 was not offered in Gladiator and it's because they couldn't get it to meet J2807 targets.

So, that leaves you with the Pentastar engine as a possible base engine. But I think the 5.7L would be a great optional engine. It would do what they need by easily meeting towing targets while simultaneously giving them something the competitors simply don't have. I mean, they could try the 3.0L Hurricane but packaging would be TIGHT and heat would still be a problem. Another option would be to develop a new engine to launch with this truck, which would also generate a ton of buzz and sell a lot of them.
 
HuJass said:
Dodge, Ram, Stellantis, Tim Kuniskis,
If you're reading these comments, make sure you make a 6 cylinder engine at least optional in this truck!
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Likely will drag out the poor old Pentastar..... thing keeps getting call to service way past its retirement day.
 
TripleT said:
Likely will drag out the poor old Pentastar..... thing keeps getting call to service way past its retirement day.
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Nothing wrong with the Pentastar 3.6. Chrysler milked the 318 forever, why not the 3.6? It’s a dependable engine, gets great gas mileage no matter what it’s in. Our family is running it in our 2019 Cherokee, 2021 Charger and Durango. My daughter is doing 24/31 in her Charger (which is slightly better than I did in my ‘13 Charger 21/30).
As for my Durango I am getting 20/26 w/ a 92K mileage on my engine. My 2000 Durango with the 318 got 10/14! Big difference. Love the Pentastar and would buy it again if available in what my next ride is.
 
Mike201 said:
Nothing wrong with the Pentastar 3.6. Chrysler milked the 318 forever, why not the 3.6? It’s a dependable engine, gets great gas mileage no matter what it’s in. Our family is running it in our 2019 Cherokee, 2021 Charger and Durango. My daughter is doing 24/31 in her Charger (which is slightly better than I did in my ‘13 Charger 21/30).
As for my Durango I am getting 20/26 w/ a 92K mileage on my engine. My 2000 Durango with the 318 got 10/14! Big difference. Love the Pentastar and would buy it again if available in what my next ride is.
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Meh

Was once one of the best engines in the world. Just better options now.
 
Mike201 said:
Nothing wrong with the Pentastar 3.6. Chrysler milked the 318 forever, why not the 3.6? It’s a dependable engine, gets great gas mileage no matter what it’s in. Our family is running it in our 2019 Cherokee, 2021 Charger and Durango. My daughter is doing 24/31 in her Charger (which is slightly better than I did in my ‘13 Charger 21/30).
As for my Durango I am getting 20/26 w/ a 92K mileage on my engine. My 2000 Durango with the 318 got 10/14! Big difference. Love the Pentastar and would buy it again if available in what my next ride is.
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Yep, 18-20 MPG in every vehicle I've ever had a 3.6L P-star in (Challenger, Wrangler, Gladiator, Grand Cherokee) and no direct injection which is so helpful. My last one (2020 Grand Cherokee) had 202,000 on the odometer when I traded it in back in January. No repairs except a water pump. Much much better engine than any of the little turbo motors coming over from Europe.
 
What would be amazing and do something to make the “Dakota” stand out is put a V8 back in it like the original Dakota. If memory serves me right I think Tim Kuniskis said that a V8 could fit in the STLA large platform if it was going to be that. But, with it sharing the Gladiator frame you know that a V8 will fit because of people customizing and putting the 5.7 in it. Now they could do an R/T version of it and put the 5.7 in to compete against the Ranger Raptor just a thought.
 
JTMoney0101 said:
What would be amazing and do something to make the “Dakota” stand out is put a V8 back in it like the original Dakota. If memory serves me right I think Tim Kuniskis said that a V8 could fit in the STLA large platform if it was going to be that. But, with it sharing the Gladiator frame you know that a V8 will fit because of people customizing and putting the 5.7 in it. Now they could do an R/T version of it and put the 5.7 in to compete against the Ranger Raptor just a thought.
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Heavy old lug would not be performance anything, it would literally be the least performing powertrain at this point. Given the weight the new 300+ 2.0T would outperform it. They would have to dust off the V6 to be more pedestrian... Maybe bring back the 4.7 that was awesome.

You want drop it in because people are in love with the configuration, and the exhaust note, and Nostalgia .... but pretending it is a performance option is comical. An please NO with durability argument. None of the OEM V8 have been especially durable.

You want to make a hot version you drop Hurricane and ZF with assist in it.
 
TripleT said:
Heavy old lug would not be performance anything, it would literally be the least performing powertrain at this point. Given the weight the new 300+ 2.0T would outperform it. They would have to dust off the V6 to be more pedestrian... Maybe bring back the 4.7 that was awesome.

You want drop it in because people are in love with the configuration, and the exhaust note, and Nostalgia .... but pretending it is a performance option is comical. An please NO with durability argument. None of the OEM V8 have been especially durable.

You want to make a hot version you drop Hurricane and ZF with assist in it.
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How’s the hurricane durability working out so far? Just asking not arguing
 
I'm wondering how much this midsize Ram will share with the Wrangler and Gladiator. The Gladiator's frame isn't simply just a stretched Wrangler frame, there was some serious attention and engineering effort going into the Gladiator frame and chassis. The Wrangler and Gladiator do share drive train parts. The Gladiator never offered the 48V BSG it was found only on the Wrangler. Now Jeep just cheaps out and uses a clunky start/stop on those models. The 4-door Wrangler does offer a PHEV option however.

When Stellantis laid out their future planes for the unions it was revealed that the next Wrangler and Gladiator would only be battery electric with an optional range extender, similar to the Ram REV and Ramcharger models. This would happen after a mid cycle refresh. Coincidently, that same document said there would be a midsize Ram pickup coming from Belevidere.

If Jeep does offer an EREV option on the Wrangler and Gladiator this would make the plugin 4Xe redundant. Such a scenario leaves room for a regular hybrid option without a plug, either 48V or high voltage.

At this point in time a pure battery electric drive looks to be a very hard sell. A setup like the Ramcharger holds a lot of promise both in performance and sales potential. If Stellantis were to offer a smaller version of that drive for the Gladiator, they should also offer for a midsize Ram.

Stellantis should once again offer a 48V mild hybrid option with the Pentastar V6 for both the Jeep and Ram midsize products. If there is buyer reluctance to PHEV, offer the high voltage ZF hybrid transmission with out the plug. Use the 2 liter GME evolution as a performance option, once again for both Jeep and Ram midsize products.
 
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PHEV reluctant? They are the best selling PHEVs. They certainly can drop the plug and offer smaller lighter battery to remove that option and lower cost. But as we have seen with EVERYONE else in OEM world there is zero Hybrid reluctantance, it is quickly becoming the standard offering.

Mopar can no longer just keep rolling out old tech, that lets be honest outside our partisanship really never was that reliable and expect to be competitive. The honorable Pentastar should stay retired with its interim hybrid system. Offering a 2.OT just hybrid system would be quite easy, the parasitic torque converter needs to be put to rest.

YES a REV needs to be the next step but first they need to just get product going, having so much capacity idle is killing them.
 
TripleT said:
PHEV reluctant? They are the best selling PHEVs. They certainly can drop the plug and offer smaller lighter battery to remove that option and lower cost. But as we have seen with EVERYONE else in OEM world there is zero Hybrid reluctantance, it is quickly becoming the standard offering.

Mopar can no longer just keep rolling out old tech, that lets be honest outside our partisanship really never was that reliable and expect to be competitive. The honorable Pentastar should stay retired with its interim hybrid system. Offering a 2.OT just hybrid system would be quite easy, the parasitic torque converter needs to be put to rest.

YES a REV needs to be the next step but first they need to just get product going, having so much capacity idle is killing them.
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Redundant, as in, If they offer an EREV, a plugin hybrid option will be superfluous. If I ran the circus I would start with a 48V mild hybrid, which is the default setup in the gen-4 ZF eight speeds. The 48V e-motor is inside the transmission. Let Jeep have the extended range electric drive first for the Gladiator. Keep the mid-size Ram simple to start with.

The introduction sequence for the range extended drive technology is first the Ramcharger, next the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, and then the Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator.

Pure battery electric is going to suffer another setback because in the legal prep to counter California's lawsuit over their losing there emissions exception, it was discovered that when the CAFE standards were passed into law in 1975, EVs couldn't be averaged in because the authors of the legislation didn't want it to lead to EV mandates. Battery electric isn't outlawed, it possibly might not count towards the CAFE.
 
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