4 Wheel Drive/SUVs: Buying a New Truck, dodge ram 1500, light duty trucks

Question
I am interested in buying a new Dodge Ram 1500.  I have heard alot of negative talk about Dodge.  I was wondering what your take is on the new truck and what is wrong with the Dodge Ram 1500.
Any advise you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Answer
Hi David and thanks for the question.  My experience has been that most of the negative comments come from people who do not like that particular vehicle.  A couple of prospectives I could give you though:  As a general rule, the value of a vehicle after it is three years old has a lot to say about its general desireability.  Another milestone is the length of the warranty, the more problems the longer the warranty and Dodge has the longest warranty of the big 3.  You can go to a site like edmunds.com for much more detailed warranty, recall and maintenance info and they may even have side by side comparison charts to study.  For the last many years the best selling pickups has been Ford with the 150 being by far the best seller.  But, in the end the choice must be what you are the most comfortable with.  My personal problem with Dodge is that since Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp.  most of the engineers and stylists and management have left and have been replaced with Mercedes people(who dont know a lot about light duty trucks).  In any case thanks for the question and best of luck to you.  Bud