Sucky thing about that is that the manual Cummins have a significantly lower towing capacity than their auto counterparts. I know some guys that won't have their truck any other way, but it sucks that, at least on paper, they can't tow as much. But Ford gave up on the manual market in 2010, and manual Dmaxes are like unicorns lol. So the market must not be there. I love that Dodge still offers a 6 speed manual, floor shift 4x4, rubber floor, and leather, all wrapped up and available together.

 

that is nice. but me drive a ram? nah.

the market just isn't there. I kinda want to swap one in my truck (not one of the scrap piles they came with). I love them, but I have to accept they're gone. I know some people that will not buy an auto anything. I don't mind it in a half ton pickup, but a heavier duty or compact.....nah. good luck getting me to drive a vehicle without a box so I'm indifferent to cars etc anyway.

I think the weak link is the clutch. I've heard of manual pulling stuff as good as an auto, but going through far more clutches than a less worked truck.

 

I hate Dodge/Chrysler everything, but I love earlier Cummins. I'd love an 02-04 5.9 megacab with a 6 speed. I even like the new ones for some reason. Anything with a gas motor in it is still a disgusting, unreliable POS to me though.

I can certainly see the clutch being the problem there. It's more important to be shifting and doing everything really well when you've got a heavy load on the back.

 

GM doesn't offer a manual in their HD trucks anymore either. Ram is the only one left that does.

 

you don't see very many rams with one anymore either. they're pretty much like unicorns

 

Yup, and GM stopped even before Ford IIRC.

I work at a giant used dealership and actually see a pretty good amount of manual Rams. "Good amount" is relative and objective, but they aren't too uncommon.

 

My dad had a 2001 Ram 1500 with a 318 and 5 speed stick, it was a bitch to try to sell it in 2004, no one wanted one with a stick

 

I mas mostly talking about current gens, even last gen to a lesser degree. I see a lot of older ones, but you can't count them, they faded over time as is the point.

a giant used dealership? I say you would. I've only seen a couple current gens face to face, a couple more online local, and never one brand new on lot.

GM stopped for '07

 

The vast majority of our cars are within 5 years old, maybe 0.5% have over 80k miles, and it's the biggest single-location dealership in the entire country. I meant giant when I said it!

All I'm talkin' 'bout is current gens I've driven a 2014 with like 110 miles. I have to say "used dealership" cause all we sell is used vehicles, but it's cooler than any new dealership IMO cause we have at least one of everything.

That makes sense that they stopped for the new body style.

 

haha. I do hardly ever see them. but the dealership I check out has maybe a couple dozen rams at a time, mostly 1500s. that dealership must be huge!!

lol, I find used trucks cooler anyway. new ones are nice, but no character lol

 

It's a gigantic car factory. 70 some service bays/lifts, it's pretty cool.

I'm fine with used as long as they're unmolested. I don't know how people buy used trucks with a lot of work done to them already. Like I'd never buy my truck used cause of all the stuff on it now haha. It was bone stock when I bought it.

 

yeah, I just like old stuff lol. even a few years old is better than new. I hate the idea of buying a new truck.

I got the '99 with a drop in liner and bed cover. both are gone now with a lot more on and lot more coming. I like a clean slate.

'04 had a drop in liner and bug deflector. not changing much I don't think, considering I went to buy paint for her but couldn't spend the 20 bucks lol

 

Yeah, so why is the 99 the "baby" and your 04 is the "POS DD?" Haha

 

lol she's also my insult target. if she had ears, she'd hate me....just don't like the '04 that much, but she was a great deal and a clean well looked after reliable truck. '99s the first truck I ever drove and I'm after putting a lot of work into restoring her....so there's a lot of sentiment in there. plus she's just....my kinda truck lol

 

When I bought my 1992 Explorer, I ordered it with a manual transmission based on my "old-school" notion that AT's eventually go bad and MT's last forever. The synchros went out at around 100K and I had to pay for a fairly expensive rebuild. Meanwhile, I've never had an AT go bad (e.g. 155K miles on my current Xterra). Time to realign my paradigm.