[jerseyjoe]

Made up my mind, If I have to replace my V6 Challenger it needs to be something that can haul a large desk and average 32 miles per-gallon. Also needs to occasionally seat 4. You won;t get that MPG from a full sized pickup, yet. I don;t drive a lot of miles so I don't want the expense of a diesel,

 

[jerseyjoe]

Maybe for the large desk you can get a u haul. Even a Subaru Baja got only 24mpg hwy.
Toyota 2wd tacoma gets 25mpg same as the ram 1500.
Maybe if they make the Dart 2.0L or 2.4L a pickup it perhaps might get 32mpg. A Journey 2.4L if made into a pickup still is only 26mpg. Might change with the better transmission.

I Know it doesn't exist now, I am putting my order in ahead of time. Maybe something like a plugin compact hybrid pickup.

 

[jerseyjoe]

They should forget about the Dakota and bring back the Rampage! Base it on the Dart. Then they'd have something really different. The problem with the Dakota is it’s only going to get 1 or 2 MPG more than a Ram 1500. A Dart based Rampage would be a great fuel saver.

That's a great Idea, I could forgo a diesel option, at 8K miles a year I don't need the expense of a diesel and get Dart gas mileage.

 

[jerseyjoe]

Dakota was not a small, light truck. Ranger is much smaller. My 1992 Dakota with aluminum cap tips the scales at the landfill at 4420 lbs, and the newer Dakotas were about 1,000 lbs more than that. The 92 Dakota was capable of 20-23 mpg depending on drivetrain. It wasn't poor gas mileage that did it in. But bloating up over the years might have adversely affected sales by taking it out of its niche.

For me to be interested in a pickup it needs to fit easily in a New Jersey strip mall parking space and get LX type fuel economy. I don't see that out there anywhere.

 

[jerseyjoe]

I really liked the Magnum, I rented one for a week and found parking was similar to a pickup truck, got into it and instantly knew the boundaries. Issues were marketing, poor usage of cargo space and every one that dealers tried to sell me was the loaded to the gills 3.5 4 wheel drive cars that cost a fortune and had worse fuel economy then the Hemi. One guy didn't understand how I could refuse such an "economical Mercedes clone. You get marched passed the car you asked about. That kind of treatment drove me away from the show room for years,Some of attitude is still around.

Magnum towing is listed at 2000 lbs one data sheet I found, not enough. Even the lowest rated pickup has more.