2001 Dodge Ram Wagon 3500 Review (continued)
Add your own review or comments

Walkaround

Though it's getting a bit long in the tooth, the 2001 Dodge Ram still looks great. The bold design with broad-shouldered front fenders is reminiscent of big Freightliners steaming down the road with a full load of logs. It remains the best-looking pickup on the market. though caps, grille guards and other adornments don't improve the styling.

The Quad Cab four-door pickup truck design is said to be as strong as a conventional pickup body shell even though it does not have a pillar between the doors. To improve structural rigidity, Dodge designed a beam that runs laterally under the truck, and reinforced both the A and C pillars. Side door guard beams were also added to improve protection from side impacts.

The optional Sport package comes with a body-colored grille and front and rear bumpers, decals, fog lamps, outline white letter tires, and cast aluminum wheels. The front end on the Sport uses a different grille design and clear-lens headlamps.

Interior Features

The Ram Quad Cab offers cavernous space, and as a result has become the best-selling model in the Ram lineup. It offers buyers a roomy interior with conventional front doors and rear-hinged rear doors. The absence of a B-pillar makes it much easier to get in or out of the rear seat; it also makes it much easier to stick something behind the front seats. The door handles for the rear doors are integrated into the front interior face of the door, providing a more secure dual locking system for all four doors when the rear door is locked.

The Dodge Ram's big, wide instrument panel has a more modern layout than the original design. This includes a new steering wheel design, a big storage compartment, an extra power point, and new cupholders designed to handle any commercially available drink container. Ram also offers reduced-force air bags with a lockout for the passenger side. Other recent improvements include a keyless remote entry system, an upgraded base sound system, a cassette and CD sound system option and a new center console. The instrument pod features vacuum-fluorescent odometer and trip odometer that are tamperproof, and there are driver-programmable keyless entry key fobs. Other interior features include heated power mirrors, illuminated power door locks and window switches, and an optional security alarm system.

The front seat in all Rams is divided 40/20/40, with a huge fold-down center section that doubles as armrest and writing table. The cloth-covered seats in our test truck were nicely upholstered, plush, supportive and comfortable. When no one is sitting in it, the center position provides a large storage box, with divided spaces for coins, cassettes, maps or a laptop computer. The front seat belts are integrated into the seats themselves, which gets rid of messy hanging belts -- a particularly nice improvement for the wide-open Quad Cab doorway.

The Quad Cab rear seat is the same one used in other extended cab versions. It's handy for children, pets and petite adults, but it is not very comfortable for adults on long trips. The bench portion of the seat flips up out of the way effortlessly from either side for hauling tools or cargo. The power window option comes with an express-down switch on the driver's side. Steering wheel mounted radio controls are optional. There are two new overhead console designs; one with and one without trip computer. A rotary headlamp switch replaces the former pull switch design on the left side of the dash.