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First (real) truck!
- Thread starter DCC
- Start date
H3LZSN1P3R
You're doing it wrong
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- May 29, 2020
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You can get that with the tradesman aswell with the safety group
Take the truck you can get for 5% below invoice and have the dealer put in a new order for the right one at 5% below invoice. Trade in the "loaner" when your truck comes in.
I'm guessing that if I ran a company that bought a couple 1 ton trucks every year, picking up a new Ram 3500 Tradesman, would be a non-event. It's just a truck that's used like any other tool.
Now imagine you've been driving a 2005 Honda Pilot for the past 10 years and then you step up to one of these (I mean, I had to make sure there wasn't a cassette tape in the player before trading the Pilot in). You might enjoy my first impression.
But, before I go there I want to share our (my wife and I) buying experience yesterday - it took us 6 hours and it was actually fairly positive.
After reading the comments about the differences between the Tradesman, Big Horn and Laramie trims, I was a bit uneasy on how my wife was going to take not being in the Laramie (see previous post for why the Laramie is not happening). We had only drove a 2500 Laramie last year and she was happy with that interior. In our house, my wife is the car fanatic. She comes from a drag racing family and has an appreciation for big engines and finer automobiles. I'm more of a "cars are a PITA" kind of guy. If I can haul the people and building supplies and I don't need to be constantly fixing stuff, I'm pretty much content.
The dealer (dealer A) that messed up on my Laramie order was holding a Tradesman for me. The plan was to drive the Pilot and Cadillac SRX down and trade those in. An hour before we were supposed to leave, I found a 2022 3500 Big Horn “ON DEALER LOT” using the Ram website. I figured it was already sold so decided to call the dealership (dealer B) and not get my hopes up. It was still there. Gave the sales guy a deposit to hold it and said we were on our way down.
We sat in the Big Horn and then he let us take a look at a 2500 Tradesman for comparison. We went back and forth a couple of times. The interior of the Big Horn did have more niceties. It also had things that I didn’t really care for or that were missing. It didn’t have the 50 gallon tank, was missing the clearance lights and wasn’t the color I wanted. It did have the 220 alternator and the 400W outlet in the bed, along with the soft tailgate drop. Spray in bedliner didn’t care about since I’m putting a cap on.
If we are talking money, dealer A had the Tradesman at $58.5K and dealer B was selling the Big Horn for $68.8K.
Was the Big Horn worth $10K more?
I bought into RAM for 6.7L primarily. I guess if I had more options I would have taken a HO with the Aisin, but I’ll take my chances with the 68RFE. Interior? Not high on my list, so I couldn’t justify the extra bucks.
My wife looks at both the Big Horn and Tradesman with cloth seats shrugs. She can’t see that more money for the Big Horn translates into something of value for her. Plus we haven’t seen the actual Tradesman at dealer A yet.
The sales manager at dealer B does a check on 3500’s in transit and finds the only other candidate for us is already under deposit. We have the two trades appraised and tell them we will head over to dealer A and look at the Tradesman. Who know, maybe after sitting in the actual Tradesman we may change our mind. Wife and I caravan across Tampa bay to dealer A.
I’ve been dealing with the same sales manager at dealer A since last November when I put in the order for the Laramie. When we arrive, he’s got the Tradesman pulled up out front. I let him know that we’ve found a Big Horn and that we are going to do a quick comparison before deciding to move forward.
Wife and I hop into the cab and it took us no time at all to decide that we wanted this truck. There is just not enough difference in features on the other truck to justify the more money. Let me just add that I’m not saying the Big Horn trim level is not of value. It most definitely is. Its just in our situation, it made more sense to take discounted Tradesman.
We take it out for test drive. Its now rush hour on Friday so we don’t go far. Come back to the dealership and I start going through my checklist. Everything looks good. We ended up taking the extended warranty.
On the way home, my wife has setup both our phones on UConnect. We are taking selfies and sending to the kids. We pull into the driveway, its dark and we are both tired but feel we made the right decision. I call dealer B to let them know we purchased.
Before I get into my first impression of the 3500, I wanted to make some comments about the buying experience. First, HD Rams are selling out and the Tampa market is as hot as it gets. Dealers do not negotiate. Its MSRP or above. There is another dealer in the area that is adding $5K to all trucks calling it a “market adjustment”. We did not consider any trucks they had. Both dealer A and B were professional and easy to work with. In fact, I gave dealer B a thousand dollar deposit and they didn’t even process it since I was coming in the same day. Nice. Lastly, these trucks are holding their value. People are trading in trucks 24, 12 and even 6 months old because they can get as much or more than what they purchased for and get a newer/better vehicle. The finance guy showed us a stack of extended warranty cancellations telling us these need to be closed cause the vehicles are being traded in. That was an eye opener.
I know you guys that have been driving HDs for a while are probably going to chuckle at my review, but I figured if I can bring some levity to your day, I’ve contributed to the positive.
This truck is big. How big? I pulled in the driveway last night and my wife opens her door. Our dog comes running out of the house and tries to jump in the cab. He bounced off the side of the seat.
All kidding aside, a 3500 4x4 CC SWR long bed is a large vehicle. What really impressed me out of the dealer lot, however, is how easy it is to drive. Everything mechanically on this truck is scaled up from my past vehicles – suspension and axels especially. I’m going to need a bigger torque wrench.
Cabin and seats are comfy and adequate. Lighting is again, adequate. Storage in front and rear seems about average. The automatic rear window is cool, although once I put a cap on it, don’t know how useful the automation will be.
What can I say about the 6.7L that hasn’t been said already? It’s a beast. I think I actually had to press on the accelerator on the drive home last night. Flipped on the Exhaust Brake and Tow Haul just for kicks. Thought I saw “WTF” on the instrument panel, but not sure.
What excites me is that I have the column (manual) shifter and the manual transfer case (Tim “The Toolman Taylor” grunt). Going to try putting that into 4L today.
With this particular build, they added the UConnect 8.4 with Touch Screen Display. I’ve heard from different sources that the Ram technology is better than the competition. From just the ride home last night, I’m pretty impressed. Thanks to @RVTRKN for making me aware of the gauges setup. Going to try that today.
What’s next? I’ve got the running boards and Bed Rug ordered. Going down to put in an order for the cap. 12 week lead time. Got to build the bed racks for the e-bikes. 500 mile break in? Well maybe I’ll hit that before I head to Round Rock to pickup the trailer, if not, its over a 1000 miles there. Already told my wife about the additional 500 mile towing break in and not going over 50 mph. Also told her that the manual says “… do not make starts at full throttle.”
Maybe I’ll build a ramp for the dog.
Now imagine you've been driving a 2005 Honda Pilot for the past 10 years and then you step up to one of these (I mean, I had to make sure there wasn't a cassette tape in the player before trading the Pilot in). You might enjoy my first impression.
But, before I go there I want to share our (my wife and I) buying experience yesterday - it took us 6 hours and it was actually fairly positive.
After reading the comments about the differences between the Tradesman, Big Horn and Laramie trims, I was a bit uneasy on how my wife was going to take not being in the Laramie (see previous post for why the Laramie is not happening). We had only drove a 2500 Laramie last year and she was happy with that interior. In our house, my wife is the car fanatic. She comes from a drag racing family and has an appreciation for big engines and finer automobiles. I'm more of a "cars are a PITA" kind of guy. If I can haul the people and building supplies and I don't need to be constantly fixing stuff, I'm pretty much content.
The dealer (dealer A) that messed up on my Laramie order was holding a Tradesman for me. The plan was to drive the Pilot and Cadillac SRX down and trade those in. An hour before we were supposed to leave, I found a 2022 3500 Big Horn “ON DEALER LOT” using the Ram website. I figured it was already sold so decided to call the dealership (dealer B) and not get my hopes up. It was still there. Gave the sales guy a deposit to hold it and said we were on our way down.
We sat in the Big Horn and then he let us take a look at a 2500 Tradesman for comparison. We went back and forth a couple of times. The interior of the Big Horn did have more niceties. It also had things that I didn’t really care for or that were missing. It didn’t have the 50 gallon tank, was missing the clearance lights and wasn’t the color I wanted. It did have the 220 alternator and the 400W outlet in the bed, along with the soft tailgate drop. Spray in bedliner didn’t care about since I’m putting a cap on.
If we are talking money, dealer A had the Tradesman at $58.5K and dealer B was selling the Big Horn for $68.8K.
Was the Big Horn worth $10K more?
I bought into RAM for 6.7L primarily. I guess if I had more options I would have taken a HO with the Aisin, but I’ll take my chances with the 68RFE. Interior? Not high on my list, so I couldn’t justify the extra bucks.
My wife looks at both the Big Horn and Tradesman with cloth seats shrugs. She can’t see that more money for the Big Horn translates into something of value for her. Plus we haven’t seen the actual Tradesman at dealer A yet.
The sales manager at dealer B does a check on 3500’s in transit and finds the only other candidate for us is already under deposit. We have the two trades appraised and tell them we will head over to dealer A and look at the Tradesman. Who know, maybe after sitting in the actual Tradesman we may change our mind. Wife and I caravan across Tampa bay to dealer A.
I’ve been dealing with the same sales manager at dealer A since last November when I put in the order for the Laramie. When we arrive, he’s got the Tradesman pulled up out front. I let him know that we’ve found a Big Horn and that we are going to do a quick comparison before deciding to move forward.
Wife and I hop into the cab and it took us no time at all to decide that we wanted this truck. There is just not enough difference in features on the other truck to justify the more money. Let me just add that I’m not saying the Big Horn trim level is not of value. It most definitely is. Its just in our situation, it made more sense to take discounted Tradesman.
We take it out for test drive. Its now rush hour on Friday so we don’t go far. Come back to the dealership and I start going through my checklist. Everything looks good. We ended up taking the extended warranty.
On the way home, my wife has setup both our phones on UConnect. We are taking selfies and sending to the kids. We pull into the driveway, its dark and we are both tired but feel we made the right decision. I call dealer B to let them know we purchased.
Before I get into my first impression of the 3500, I wanted to make some comments about the buying experience. First, HD Rams are selling out and the Tampa market is as hot as it gets. Dealers do not negotiate. Its MSRP or above. There is another dealer in the area that is adding $5K to all trucks calling it a “market adjustment”. We did not consider any trucks they had. Both dealer A and B were professional and easy to work with. In fact, I gave dealer B a thousand dollar deposit and they didn’t even process it since I was coming in the same day. Nice. Lastly, these trucks are holding their value. People are trading in trucks 24, 12 and even 6 months old because they can get as much or more than what they purchased for and get a newer/better vehicle. The finance guy showed us a stack of extended warranty cancellations telling us these need to be closed cause the vehicles are being traded in. That was an eye opener.
I know you guys that have been driving HDs for a while are probably going to chuckle at my review, but I figured if I can bring some levity to your day, I’ve contributed to the positive.
This truck is big. How big? I pulled in the driveway last night and my wife opens her door. Our dog comes running out of the house and tries to jump in the cab. He bounced off the side of the seat.
All kidding aside, a 3500 4x4 CC SWR long bed is a large vehicle. What really impressed me out of the dealer lot, however, is how easy it is to drive. Everything mechanically on this truck is scaled up from my past vehicles – suspension and axels especially. I’m going to need a bigger torque wrench.
Cabin and seats are comfy and adequate. Lighting is again, adequate. Storage in front and rear seems about average. The automatic rear window is cool, although once I put a cap on it, don’t know how useful the automation will be.
What can I say about the 6.7L that hasn’t been said already? It’s a beast. I think I actually had to press on the accelerator on the drive home last night. Flipped on the Exhaust Brake and Tow Haul just for kicks. Thought I saw “WTF” on the instrument panel, but not sure.
What excites me is that I have the column (manual) shifter and the manual transfer case (Tim “The Toolman Taylor” grunt). Going to try putting that into 4L today.
With this particular build, they added the UConnect 8.4 with Touch Screen Display. I’ve heard from different sources that the Ram technology is better than the competition. From just the ride home last night, I’m pretty impressed. Thanks to @RVTRKN for making me aware of the gauges setup. Going to try that today.
What’s next? I’ve got the running boards and Bed Rug ordered. Going down to put in an order for the cap. 12 week lead time. Got to build the bed racks for the e-bikes. 500 mile break in? Well maybe I’ll hit that before I head to Round Rock to pickup the trailer, if not, its over a 1000 miles there. Already told my wife about the additional 500 mile towing break in and not going over 50 mph. Also told her that the manual says “… do not make starts at full throttle.”
Maybe I’ll build a ramp for the dog.
H3LZSN1P3R
You're doing it wrong
- Joined
- May 29, 2020
- Messages
- 9,122
- Reaction score
- 8,272
Nothing wrong with a well optioned tradesman i love mine
Highcountry
Active Member
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- Jan 15, 2021
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Glad you found one you're happy with. That's pretty funny about the dog, mine can't get in either. Check out weathertech's ramps, i can set it right on the side step and the door still clears it
I attached the window sticker on a previous post, so you can see it came with a few goodies. It didn't come with running boards so I ordered those as well as a Bed Rug. Going to head down to my ARE cap dealer soon to get that ordered. Got mud flaps ordered. I found it kinda funny that Ram wouldn't let me order floor mats with the Laramie but they came in the Tradesman. One of the sales guys I spoke with says it's all about "allocation" and what dealer gets what trucks. Oh, I got to order seat covers - any suggestions?
Got through the (first) break in period...
So I thought I would take the truck first its first dump run...
Backing up is quite a bit different than the Honda Pilot. Learned how to use the trailer light test feature. Actually works better than my wife.
As for goodies, not much. Got running boards on. Seat covers. Got a leather wrap from Wheelskins, but apparently they don't sell many for Rams 'cause I had to complain that the leather didn't go all the way around the bottom of the wheel because of the diameter change. They were gracious enough to send me another one that fit.
Still need to put the wheel well liners on.
Oh, and I've got this setup from Bulletpoint Mounts installed...
On the left is my cell phone magnetic mount. Middle is for the Garmin dashcam and right is going to be for the backup display and swapping out with another mag mount for my wife's cell phone.
If you're wondering why my windshield is covered, its because my driveway is surrounded by live oak trees (gotta love FL). The debris from those is constantly clogging my cabin air intake. 1st world problems.
STILL waiting for my ARE V Series cap. Bedrug should be here next week.
So I thought I would take the truck first its first dump run...
Backing up is quite a bit different than the Honda Pilot. Learned how to use the trailer light test feature. Actually works better than my wife.
As for goodies, not much. Got running boards on. Seat covers. Got a leather wrap from Wheelskins, but apparently they don't sell many for Rams 'cause I had to complain that the leather didn't go all the way around the bottom of the wheel because of the diameter change. They were gracious enough to send me another one that fit.
Still need to put the wheel well liners on.
Oh, and I've got this setup from Bulletpoint Mounts installed...
On the left is my cell phone magnetic mount. Middle is for the Garmin dashcam and right is going to be for the backup display and swapping out with another mag mount for my wife's cell phone.
If you're wondering why my windshield is covered, its because my driveway is surrounded by live oak trees (gotta love FL). The debris from those is constantly clogging my cabin air intake. 1st world problems.
STILL waiting for my ARE V Series cap. Bedrug should be here next week.