I admit, I have a solid record of ragging on people who daily drive pickup trucks. Here in rural Oregon, a LOT of my neighbors have at least one full-size truck in their family. And until driving and reviewing this 2021 Dodge RAM, I REALLY didn’t get it (and spoiler, I still kinda don’t). Now, I have a better idea of the benefits of a do-everything vehicle and why some may choose driving a vehicle of excess, even in light of fluctuating and expensive fuel prices.
The top 3 best-selling vehicles in the USA are pickup trucks, followed by a couple of crossover SUVs, with the Camry and the Civic still holding to spot 6 and 7 respectively. Even though I don’t think it make sense to drive something that is so large, and something that uses more fuel than necessary, it seems a lot of folks like the idea of a vehicle that can do anything at any time. Tow a boat? Yup. Seating for 6? No problem. Road trip in a snowstorm with the entire family, two dogs, and a travel trailer? Yeah, “words.”
I have to admit that I loved the sound of the Hemi V8 and I was overall really impressed with the smoothness and drivability of this particular truck. There are a lot of really nice creature comforts that are becoming standard and other vehicles, but I was pleased to see them here as well. Features such as CarPlay and parking cameras and aids help a lot when driving a vehicle so large. Families who already daily drive pickup trucks will probably laugh at this video, but for someone like me who drives small Mazda’s (and achieve a 30MPG average, ahem), it took some getting used to.
This particular truck is owned by my father-in-law, Eric. They have a travel trailer that they told periodically, and whenever family comes into town, it’s the vehicle we take all together because of the size of the interior. We had planned to go to Montana later this summer, and that was the vehicle choice despite the fuel economy, because of this and comfort out on the road. I started to understand that these really are an all-in-one vehicle that can do anything.
After spending a few days with the truck, although I gained an understanding for why folks purchase trucks as their daily driver, I still wouldn’t personally. These machines have some pretty neat engineering in them to strike the balance between capability and drivability, but I still could not live with the fuel economy. According to the computer, we averaged about 16MPG – about half of what I get in my 2017 Mazda 3. Oof. While that Hemi makes a nice noise and I could sleep in the cab, I will stick to Mazda for now.
