January 9th, 2009 • by David Zatz
So… the 2009 Dodge Ram has gone from the best to the worst truck in a single month. At least, that’s what I gather when I read in the New York Times that the 2009 Ram is now the worst truck on the market, because it’s such a gas guzzler.
I mean, don’t bother to drive it, or use it, or read reviews from people who have done one or the other. Why should a person writing for an international newspaper do anything like that, when they can get a cheap shot in?
Why should an editor bother to fact check an article to see if the Ram really is so bad in gas mileage that we should ignore its superior ride and handling, brakes, interior, and features?
I’m going to look at the rear wheel drive pickups’ gas mileage now. Forgive me if I start to bring facts into a car blog.
I’m going to look at the top and bottom engines for the Ram. The V6 is rated at 14/20, the Hemi at 14/20. Ouch.
What about the Chevy? Their C15 2WD — the equivalent of the Ram 1500 – V6 is rated at 15/20, one mile per gallon higher around town than the Ram. Their big V8 is at 13/19.
The much vaunted Ford? No V6, but the V8 with the four-speed automatic gets 14/19, less than the Dodge V6 and the Dodge Hemi. The six-speed V8 is rated at 15/20 – yes, a whole ONE MILE PER GALLON higher than the Dodge – around town only.
Well, one mile per gallon separates best from worst. And Chevy apparently isn’t counted at all, because their mileage is worst of the domestics.
How about Toyota? Well, you can’t have Toyota on bottom. But let’s see how they’d fall out. Tundra V6, 15/19 – not quite up to Ram standards. The V8, with the same power rating as the Dodge Hemi: 14/18, TWO miles per gallon LESS than Dodge.
So we might not know what the worst truck on the market is, but we know what newspaper not to trust when it comes to car summaries… which makes me wonder about their regular news coverage, too.
November 2nd, 2008 • by David Zatz
This was a comment from “Patfromigh” which I found interesting enough to make into its own entry. Keep in mind, I did NOT write it and am not necessarily saying I believe it. But it IS interesting.
Was Cerberus just a middleman to get what Daimler really wanted in the first place?
Remember the Valentines Day Massacre? GM wanted Chrysler then. Cerberus had completed the purchase of half of GMAC. So they were in contact with GM also.
If Daimler simply sold Chrysler to GM it risked a public outcry. The pundits who praised Daimler for “saving” Chrysler a decade ago now acknowledge that Chrysler was bled to death by Mercedes’ thievery. Unfortunately it is mentioned in their eulogies for the American auto industry and Chrysler in particular.
If we look at the activities under Daimler’s stewardship of Chrysler we find evidence for a coverup. Shortly after Mitsubishi was kicked to the side of the road, serious small car development was stopped. Talks were started with Chery and other Chinese manufactures. Jeep engineering was turned into a front man for the Mercedes SUV operations in Alabama. The resulting Jeep and Dodge products, the Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Nitro started tanking in the marketplace before fuel prices took off like a rocket. Dodge trucks became more of a consumer toy in the showrooms while Daimler directed the engineering resources into soon to be gone Sterling.
Somewhere in all this has to be the realization that Plymouth customers were not coming back. My guess is that sometime in 2006 with the Dollar’s slide the celebrated LX sedans started getting pricey to build. The restyled Rams lost some of their edge and the styling on other vehicles exterior and interior was careless. No real money was put into updating the PT Cruiser. The Neon went away and the much loved midsized cars were going away. The platform which was used in the replacement for all these products was a hack job. Final development was again left to the customer.
In 2006, anyone who was paying attention could see the shift in the market. SUV sales had peaked. Truck sales looked OK, but crossover sales masked the consumer shift toward smaller vehicles.
Here comes General Motors. They will help with the disposal of the body. A dead Chrysler will put fear in the ranks of the UAW. The watchdogs at the Justice Department and SEC were neutered by the current regime in Washington, but the union would raise hell. The media would amplify any hell the UAW elevated.
When the odd bidding process began and Cerberus “won” [a buyout offer from Kerkorian involving employee ownership was not even considered], immediately there were promises: “we won’t strip and flip Chrysler” and “we are in it for the long run.” Now the body is beginning to smell. GM was willing to bury it before. The guilty parties apparently didn’t see the financial collapse coming [though Chrysler's own economists did]. The party insiders working for Cerberus certainly didn’t see an overnight shift in voter concerns from defense to the economy. GM is being blackmailed to finish the dirty deed before the new sheriff arrives in town. It was supposed to be quick and easy. There is collusion and a conspiracy to cover it up.
