1999 Dodge Dakota Club Cab review from North America

Hum! Where to start? I own a 99 Dakota club cab, it has only 60K miles and it has been in the shop numerous times. The truck most recently is in the shop for a torque converter. This round of repairs cost me $1500. This was Easter when it blew out on me on the highway. The week before I tried to get an alignment and the service guy said he could not on the account that it needs new Tie rods…. I had them do the work and do the front brakes (rotors and pads) $400. Previous to that I’m on my 3rd set of ball joints. Mind you this truck only has 60K miles on it. They put in the second set, but replaced them with the same defective type of ball joints and I had to replace them again 1 year later when the warranty conveniently ran out. Even though they replaced them only a year ago they told me that I was on my own. Only when I went to a private garage did they put in the grease-able ball joints. Then I noticed that when going up hills the engine would knock and ping. I took it to the dealer and they said I needed a new intake manifold. They had to replace it, and then I had to bring it back to them to install the intake manifold gasket on separate occasions (very inconvenient). Still to this day I can’t use 87 octane or it will ping so I have to use the premium fuel for this Gas Guzzling pig. Which is currently getting an average of 13.5 miles / gallon. The solenoids in the door locks both went at the same time. The gas gage also died causing me to run out of fuel twice in 1 week. And the switch for the door locks works on an intermittent basis. I would say, that on an average this hunk of metal costs me approximately $2500/year to keep it on the road. And that is not including oil changes and brake pads or any other typical maintenance. I suggest to any prospective buyer to steer clear of the Dodge name and the Daimler Chrysler corporation.

I can't seem to keep it out of the repair shop.

I suggest to any prospective buyer to steer clear of the Dodge name and the Daimler Chrysler corporation.