Spy Photos: 2013 Dodge Ram Testing in Death Valley. Is it a Pentastar V6?

The Ram 1500 still uses a solid rear axle...it's just has coil springs rather than using leaf springs like Ford and the GM twins.

No reason for IRS on a Ram. It rides and handles well as is. If you want to drive faster then the current suspension can handle then you don't belong in a pick up truck.

I would like to see a twin turbo V6 but not in the Ram. Build the engine but put it in something much smaller and lighter.

Thanks, Grocer...you beat me to it...

What this rig needs is a small, torquey turbodiesel.

+1 blueprint1

Fiat? Whatcha got?

Ram really needs a decent 6 in their line. Ford is blowing Ram and GM away in 6cyl trucks right now. The Pentastar is a natural fit for the Ram.....hope they do it.

Yeah...that was a fairly epic flub. I pretty much owe everyone who read that a Coke or something.
-mm

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/05/30/cummins-developing-28-mpg-2-8-liter-4-cylinder-diesel-for-nissan/

so Chrysler whats new!!!

Ram trucks been looking the same for ever.. they just extended the hood and make it looks like more uglier, plus here is a tip, extend your 4 door truck, i am talking about the the crew truck doors... make it more appealing and put little better quality materials inside.... how hard is that...

"Ram trucks been looking the same for ever.. they just extended the hood and make it looks like more uglier, plus here is a tip, extend your 4 door truck, i am talking about the the crew truck doors... make it more appealing and put little better quality materials inside.... how hard is that..."

Uhh what?

The Ram is an all new design, unlike the F-150 which uses the same exact cab from the last generation.

Care to elaborate about better materials inside as well? There has been absolutely ZERO complaints from anyone about the cabin materials, which has been said time and time again that they are class leading. Want poor materials, look at the Titan and Tundra.

You can either get the Quad Cab with 4 forward opening doors, or the Crew Cab with 4 even larger forward opening doors. Do you want them to offer the Mega Cab on the 1500 again then?

It's also pretty well known that Chrysler is working on 2 versions of a 3.0L Turbocharged DI Pentastar with Multiair. They pretty much laid it out in their 5 year plan, which has been pretty spot on.

As far as the 3.6L making it into the Ram, the same "spy" photographers caught the truck with the hood open and the 3.6 is plain as day in there.

Assuming this is the NA 3.6L Pentastar, my question is what transmission will it be attached to? Up to now the Pentastar has only been paired with the W5A580/Mercedes 5 speed Auto in RWD applications, but this transmission has never seen duty in the Ram. Will this use the new 6-speed that is attached to the Hemi for 2012?

Also, I would expect the Pentastar to put out at least as much hp/torque as the Challenger version (305 hp/268 lb-ft) and maybe more considering all that room under the hood. The 5.7L in Challenger duty puts out 376/410 while in the Ram its 390/407 so might there be around 315-320 hp for the Pentastar in this application? We can only wait and see.

I bet the Pentastar will have around 300hp but tuned for more tq down low for truck use. I like the Pent in my Avenger but it likes to rev for power and in a truck that is not the best thing. Man when it hits 3500 or so it pulls like a freight train in a light car like my Avenger.....it surprises a hell of a lot of ricers that think it is a rental special.

Hey! What happend to all of the "professionals" that said American brands days of pick up truck domination were over with the introduction of the tundra and titan?

What happend to all of that expert advise?

Maybe they are having their camshafts/brakes/u joints/rusted out frames/sub-par interiors/sludged engines/ replaced, and are too exhausted to post.

Maybe its the beginning of the Ram "Mad Max" edition?

"Hey! What happend to all of the "professionals" that said American brands days of pick up truck domination were over with the introduction of the tundra and titan?"

LOL classic Straw Man......who said the stuff you are claiming, when? How about some links to back that up?

I don't recall any experts claiming Tundra/Titan were going to end American truck domination.

However, in 2007 Toyota clearly did all it could possibly do to make the Tundra palatable to American truck buyers. There was certainly an expectation that it would make a big dent and it is therefore a bit surprising how little the market share for the Tundra actually is, 3 years later.

IIRC, Ford sold well over 500k F-150 and GM sold about 500k GMT-900. Toyota sold only 93k Tundras and I can't even find the Titan sales numbers.

Nice to see Detroit still controls this market.

It is amazing how many F 150s Ford actually sells.......even more amazing is the V6 take rate on them......both EcoBoost and non.

"Note that the headlights don't quite fit either indicating that the production version will have new lights as well."

Actually that's just typical Chrysler fit-and-finish. Zing!

@ziggerman,

I'm actually surprised Toyota sold 100K Tundras. Regardless of how good or bad it is, the pickup market is deeply entrenched. Probably more so than any other segment. A good number of those buyers would only buy a Ford/Chevy/Dodge till the day they die, and the funny thing is we ALL know a few of them too.

"Actually that's just typical Chrysler fit-and-finish. Zing!"

Could not be worse than BMW paint jobs! DOULBE ZING!

Maybe its because the Tundra's state of the art DOHC i-Force V8 uses a timing belt! I though the i stood for intelligent.

Toyota uses a belt not chains like Ford? Hmmmph. That is a serious demerit to the Toyota.

Toyota uses a belt not chains like Ford? Hmmmph. That is a serious demerit to the Toyota.

Hemi and Pentastar use chains. Ford V8s use chains. GM V8s use chains. Toyota uses belts on 4.7 and 5.7. Not sure about 4.6 but I would assume they are belt also.

That, for a truck buyer, would be a HUGE deal. What about Nissan?

Not sure about Nissan

I believe its a chain in the 5.6L Nissan

"Could not be worse than BMW paint jobs! DOULBE ZING!"

Dunno what you're talking about there... my BMW paint jobs have held up beautifully. And no defects or blemishes from the factory on any of mine.