New 2025 Ram 1500 with hurricane engine.

[paulsharvey]

Not Ram, or trucks, but I just saw a video with someone bragging about 0% down, and $580 for 287 months fiancing on a Mecedes C class. That's 24 years... and $166k.

 

[WinterDeere]

Not Ram, or trucks, but I just saw a video with someone bragging about 0% down, and $580 for 287 months fiancing on a Mecedes C class. That's 24 years... and $166k.

I paid less than that for my first house, in the late 1990's. But I wasn't driving a Mercedes.

Priorities.

 

[ruffdog]

I didn't read all the answers, but I think it sucks that they don't have a dipstick!

You have to depend on a light, I REALLY don't like that.

SR

It looks like it has an electronic level gauge.

 

[WinterDeere]

It looks like it has an electronic level gauge.

If it's a proximity sensor with no moving parts, it's assuredly more accurate and reliable than 99.99% of the driving public, remembering to check their dipsticks with any regularity. They have to play to the odds, when trying to improve their reliability ratings, as that's an important marketing metric for them.

Of course, to Rob's point, a sensor and a dipstick would have been nice for those of us who actually like to check such things.

 

[DarkBlack]

Not Ram, or trucks, but I just saw a video with someone bragging about 0% down, and $580 for 287 months fiancing on a Mecedes C class. That's 24 years... and $166k.

F that

 

[Hay Dude]

Not Ram, or trucks, but I just saw a video with someone bragging about 0% down, and $580 for 287 months fiancing on a Mecedes C class. That's 24 years... and $166k.

F that

Probably “no credit check” either.
For someone dumb enough to pay $100,000 in interest on a “status” car, one has to think the banks figure “what the heck”.

 

[DarkBlack]

Of course, to Rob's point, a sensor and a dipstick would have been nice for those of us who actually like to check such things.

There’s no room for a dipstick
Where’s the I6 engine block?

 

[mrmikey]

Another $5 part replaced by a $100+ sensor that probably requires a dealer to 'calibrate' it

 

[Hay Dude]

Another $5 part replaced by a $100+ sensor that probably requires a dealer to 'calibrate' it

“It’s all about the Benjamins” aint it?

 

[Blue Mule]

I've always heard that in Japanese vs German vehicles, there are totally different cultural assumptions.
In Germany, they make the assumption that if the "book" say to service/replace Part A at 50,000 miles, people will; because it says to, and everyone follows the rules.
In Japan, the assumption is that people will not do the required services, and that it needs to be designed to work even if the service isn't done.

I think in the US, the assumption is, it will fail and break regardless, so keep it cheap, and the customer really only needs it to last to the end of warranty, but it does have to "look cool".

The Americans I know, myself included, view it this way: It's going to eventually break or need service, so design it in a way that makes it easy to repair or service.

We have another term for this. We call it "common sense". My problem with EVERYTHING European that's been in my driveway over the last 20 years is that it was designed the exact opposite of this. Working on a BMW car once...needed a starter...the entire upper intake manifold had to come off because the starter was in the valley of the engine. What idiot decided that would be a good idea? The current 2.0L turbo engines in Jeeps...a timing job is a 20 hour labor job on a 4 cylinder engine?? The current 3.0L turbo engines in Ram trucks and Jeeps is the same way. The packaging is an absolute nightmare, and the parts are not designed to last. The engineering in general that I see just makes no sense to me at all. It's as if they expect you to throw it away and buy another one first time something fails. They don't even use oil dipsticks anymore, so now you can't physically look at the condition/level of the vital engine oil. It's just maddening. What about the "EcoDiesel" engines in Ram trucks and Jeeps? Those are straight out of Italy and they're complete garbage. It's rare to see one with 150k miles on it.

My wife bought a new MINI Cooper in 2011. Had engine work done under warranty in the first 12 months of ownership. She ended up trading it for a 2012 the following year because she got tired of shifting gears. The 2012 also had engine work done in the first year. Twelve years passed and last year she bought a brand new 2024 MINI Cooper. Guess what? We just took it to the dealership for an engine related recall last month with only 16,000 miles on the clock.

I don't say this to be "racist" at all, it's just a fact to me that Europeans couldn't design a paper bag correctly and that's why I will not touch a Ram/Jeep/Dodge product built recently. Stellantis is putting too much of a Euro touch on these new vehicles, the reliability is going down the tube, and their sales are falling off a cliff. They are consistently showing the largest sales decreases of any domestic auto maker.