A few months
back we saw a fleet of
2009 Dodge Ram 1500 prototypes running through Las Vegas on their way
to Death Valley for some hot weather testing. Now, with its anticipated
world debut at the 2008 North American International Auto Show rapidly
approaching, it looks like the all new Ram will turn up the heat on
its full size half-ton competitors with at least two revolutionary
suspension and storage features in the segment.
Allpar.com is
quoting a source who claims to have gotten up close with the truck.
That person says the 2009 Dodge Ram will do away with leaf springs
in the rear and will instead use an entirely new coil sprung rear
axle. Also coming, 8 cubic-feet of dry, lockable storage space on either
side of the box with hinged access doors.
Using a
coil spring setup in the rear should provide better ride comfort
and virtually eliminate rear axle hop on rough roads. It sounds
almost identical to the Chevrolet
Avalanche sport utility truck, which uses a five-link coil sprung
setup for its back end. Dodge uses a similar multilink coil sprung
solid axle in the front suspensions of its heavy duty pickups.
A coil sprung rear suspension is different from a coil over rear
suspension, like Honda uses in the Ridgeline crossover utility truck.
Questions
are likely to be raised about the potential impact this new suspension
could have on payload ratings, but Allpar's source is stating that
payload will remain the same as the current model. Payload capacity
runs from 1,470-lbs on Regular Cabs to 2,430-lbs on Mega Cabs for 2008
model year light duty Rams.
The side
saddle storage compartments described sound much more substantial
than either the small cubby found in the back of Nissan's Titan or
the two top-box storage compartments on the Avalanche. Two 8 cubic-foot
trunks would be the equivalent of the 16 cubic-foot trunk on a small
car, like Volkswagen's Jetta sedan.
Other changes
cited by Allpar are a bump in HEMI horsepower to 375-hp from 345-hp,
while displacement remains unchanged for the 5.7-liter V8. The Mega
Cab will disappear from the lineup but there is word of a crew cab
configuration, which sounds like a traditional-sized four door cab.
And exterior changes won't be radical - unlike the suspension and in-box
storage. It will be sleeker with the same style snout as the Dodge
Charger sedan.
