Dodge Dakota reviews

2006 Dodge Dakota Driving Impressions

We found the Dodge Dakota surprisingly quiet, smooth and civil in its behavior, more like a car than a truck inside. Thick glass, big mufflers, and generous sound insulation throughout the body and firewall help reduce noise.

The Dakota drives bigger than it looks, with a hefty, Ram-like way about it, a nicely muscular street swagger.

The V8 is worth every penny. The V6 feels a bit light on power for this big, heavy pickup and it doesn't offer a big fuel economy advantage.

The 3.7-liter V6 is rated 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque. The 4.7-liter V8 generates 230 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque. The 4.7-liter High Output V8 is rated 260 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, thanks to higher compression and more aggressive valve timing. Fuel economy differences between the V6 and V8 are not great when four-wheel drive and automatic transmissions are involved. A V6 4WD automatic is rated 15/19 mpg City/Highway by the EPA; a V8 4WD automatic rates 14/19. Most frugal is a V6 2WD with manual transmission.

Our Quad Cab with the standard 4.7-liter accelerated with uncommon vigor and a wonderful exhaust note. At highway speeds it settled down to a nice background burble in overdrive fifth gear. Its strong torque means plenty of low-down grunt for pulling payloads of up to 1,800 pounds or towing up to 7,150 pounds.

The transmission has perfectly spaced ratios for trucking, and worked without complaint, roughness or harshness, even in high-rpm full-throttle upshifts. With only two occupants and no load, it really scoots from the stoplight despite the nearly 4800-pound weight of the Quad Cab 4X4. For towing, there's a Tow/Haul setting that alters the shift pattern of the automatic transmission.

Dakota's rack-and-pinion power steering is a bit over-assisted for our taste, but the chunky steering wheel feels great in the hands. The truck tracks extremely well, responds quickly to inputs, and stays hunkered down during mountain road playtime. Its 265/70R16 B.F. Goodrich Wrangler tires gripped corners yet were quiet at highway speeds, adding a measure of plushness to the ride quality that we really appreciated. We liked the ride and handling, though like all pickup trucks it can get choppy over small, high-intensity bumps and ruts.

The Dakota comes with rear-wheel anti-lock brakes as standard safety equipment, but four-wheel ABS disc/drum brakes are optional. We deliberately tried the rear ABS on a straight, flat, dry road for several maximum-g stops with no load and no passengers, and it worked well, keeping the unladen, light-in-the-rear pickup straight and coming to crisp stops four times in a row without locking the rear wheels.