It’s time for a Dodge Ram XFE … and perhaps old-fashioned granny gears.
The <a href=”/reviews/2009/ram-1500.html”>2009 Dodge Ram</a> is a really impressive truck - but some people don’t need its size or capacity. For them, I propose the more fuel-efficient Dodge Ram XFE, with judicious modifications to keep the look and utility for those who just need a great big bed to carry great big things in.
Seriously, how many people cross streams and boulder beds in their pickups? How many load up 9,000 pound trailers? Would a lighter-duty, lower-height, lighter-weight pickup be just as good, say with a mild 5,000 pound tow rating and an inch or two less ground clearance?
Would people buy this truck if it came with a standard tonneau cover (to cut wind resistance) and an extra 2 or 3 miles per gallon?
Now, let’s shift gears for a moment. Has the time also come for smaller engines? While it’s terrific to have a speedy Hemi, lots of people operate their trucks on farms and construction sites. For them, a top speed of 65 mph would probably be fine; it’s torque that matters, and you can get torque from gearing. You used to be able to buy full-sized pickups with <a href=”/slant6.html”>slant sixes</a> - that’s a whopping hundred horsepower. Indeed, the slant six was an improvement over the prior flat-head six!
I wonder whether one could get away with a heavy duty truck driven by a little 3.7 liter V6 and power-oriented gearing. Indeed, I wonder about the 2.4 liter four-cylinder used in the PT Cruiser. It gets 150 horsepower, far more than the old slant six and way more than the flatheads. Keep in mind I know it might be a crazy idea. I’m not an engineer. The old in-line sixes had way more torque than today’s four-cylinders, and they generated it right off idle. Still, I can’t help but think that in the Ram 3500, a 3.7 liter V6 with granny gears might be a great combination for people who don’t care much about acceleration or top speed, as long as they get the pulling power they need.
Just about every automaker now is playing with small-displacement, turbocharged engines for cars - 1.4 liters, for example, to replace today’s 2.4 liter engines. They’re working on all sorts of harebrained schemes to extract every last mile per gallon and spending literally hundreds of hours in wind tunnels. Perhaps it’s also time to use that flex manufacturing skill and adapt the traditional full-sized pickup truck to a new era, too.