NMRam
Still Here Because I'm Not There
Before the BS starts, these are just my personal opinions based on back to back drives.
I helped our property guy take delivery of some new vehicles today, and got to drive two new 2011 Silverado ECSB 4x4's across town back to the office. They were both 5.3's with the 6 speed auto, 3.42 gears, base model trucks. They compared very similarly to my new Ram configuration and equipment wise, so I thought I would post some driving impressions.
Power-wise, the Ram 5.7 has lots more power than the 5.3. When I get into the HEMI, it presses you back in the seat and is going well over the speed limit in no time. The 5.3 had some good kick off the line (probably due to the 6 speed's low first gear) but once you started revving, it fell flat in the power band. It was also easy to "confuse" the transmission, say if you accelerated fairly hard, then let off, then got back on it; it would upshift then downshift hard before taking off. I have never had the tranny in the Ram do that yet. As for the ride, the Chevies both rode much "harsher" than the Ram over the city streets. The steering in the Chevies was also a little touchy, they seemed to wander a lot with road imperfections. They did seem well put together, I didn't notice any rough edges or rattles (although a truck with 6 miles shouldn't rattle). The seats were also on par with the Ram, although I like the interior in the Ram better as a whole. The one complaint I have with the Ram interior is that the interior lights are not all the same color/shade at night. The guages are bluish/white, the radio is bright green, and the switches/buttons are a different green.
Overall, I am very happy with my choice of the Ram HEMI, and would still recommend it over the Silverado after driving these.
I helped our property guy take delivery of some new vehicles today, and got to drive two new 2011 Silverado ECSB 4x4's across town back to the office. They were both 5.3's with the 6 speed auto, 3.42 gears, base model trucks. They compared very similarly to my new Ram configuration and equipment wise, so I thought I would post some driving impressions.
Power-wise, the Ram 5.7 has lots more power than the 5.3. When I get into the HEMI, it presses you back in the seat and is going well over the speed limit in no time. The 5.3 had some good kick off the line (probably due to the 6 speed's low first gear) but once you started revving, it fell flat in the power band. It was also easy to "confuse" the transmission, say if you accelerated fairly hard, then let off, then got back on it; it would upshift then downshift hard before taking off. I have never had the tranny in the Ram do that yet. As for the ride, the Chevies both rode much "harsher" than the Ram over the city streets. The steering in the Chevies was also a little touchy, they seemed to wander a lot with road imperfections. They did seem well put together, I didn't notice any rough edges or rattles (although a truck with 6 miles shouldn't rattle). The seats were also on par with the Ram, although I like the interior in the Ram better as a whole. The one complaint I have with the Ram interior is that the interior lights are not all the same color/shade at night. The guages are bluish/white, the radio is bright green, and the switches/buttons are a different green.
Overall, I am very happy with my choice of the Ram HEMI, and would still recommend it over the Silverado after driving these.
Hemi
