Faults:

The power steering went out, but I think it may have been my fault because I was doing donuts on loose gravel. Either way, it was covered under an extended warranty that I paid $500.00 for when I bought the truck used, and they replaced it.

There has also been a very strange metal grinding noise. It's very faint, and the dealer has said it is not out of the ordinary. It doesn't seem to effect the truck, but none the less it still seems strange to me.

The truck does have an engine pinging noise that is like a gargling sound when you run between 10-40 miles per hour. It clears up when you go faster. I have checked with other owner of trucks similar to mine and they say they have it too. It's just the exhaust - similar to that of a police interceptor engine.

I had to have the brakes replaced because they were squeaking very very loudly around 40,00 miles. The cost was pretty high I thought, around $140.00 just for the brake pads, plus the cost of labor.

General Comments:

The truck is very nice. It has everything except leather seats and power mirrors, and an alarm. It does however have the Infinity Audio which is a wonderful factory system, keyless entry, it's very roomy on the inside, and clever storage below the rear seats that holds a surprisingly large amount of small equipment.

I work in public safety and I have 3 or 4 radios, gloves, first aid kit, etc all under the rear seat.

It has a great battery and plenty of audible reminders if you leave keys in the igntion, lights on, etc as well as the door will not lock by the electic lock button if you leave either things on. I leave a 50 Watt/20amp Police radio, as well as a scanner turned on 24/7 and it has never cause a battery problem.

It's comfortable and the controls & gages are well laid out and easy to use/read.

It's an extended cab and is very stylish and sleek. I have had numerous compliments on it's appearance.

The vehicle also has wider tires as a standard - they are Goodyear, and it handles like a dream for a truck.

I like the truck a lot, but I still wish I would have bought a bigger Chevy. This truck is bigger, but the Chevy never made weird noises, and I never questioned whether or not it would do well on a long trip.

Faults:

Hum! Where to start?

I own a 99 Dakota club cab, it has only 60K miles and it has been in the shop numerous times.

The truck most recently is in the shop for a torque converter. This round of repairs cost me $1500. This was Easter when it blew out on me on the highway. The week before, I tried to get an alignment, and the service guy said he could not on the account that it needs new tie rods…. I had them do the work and do the front brakes (rotors and pads) $400.

Previous to that I’m on my 3rd set of ball joints. Mind you, this truck only has 60K miles on it. They put in the second set, but replaced them with the same defective type of ball joints, and I had to replace them again 1 year later when the warranty conveniently ran out. Even though they replaced them only a year ago, they told me that I was on my own. Only when I went to a private garage did they put in the grease-able ball joints.

Then I noticed that when going up hills, the engine would knock and ping. I took it to the dealer, and they said I needed a new intake manifold. They had to replace it, and then I had to bring it back to them to install the intake manifold gasket on separate occasions (very inconvenient). Still to this day I can’t use 87 octane or it will ping, so I have to use the premium fuel for this gas guzzling pig, which is currently getting an average of 13.5 miles / gallon.

The solenoids in the door locks both went at the same time. The gas gauge also died, causing me to run out of fuel twice in 1 week. And the switch for the door locks works on an intermittent basis.

I would say, that on an average, this hunk of metal costs me approximately $2500/year to keep it on the road. And that is not including oil changes and brake pads, or any other typical maintenance.

General Comments:

I can't seem to keep it out of the repair shop.

I suggest to any prospective buyer to steer clear of the Dodge name and the Daimler Chrysler corporation.