2003 Dodge Pickup 1500 review from North America

No problems at all.

I have owned this truck for just over one year and have put 25,000 miles on it. It has the "sport appearance" (ie it has the vertical chrome grill, not two toned... just red all around including front bumper... it does not have the ground effects, ram air hood, and gray gas cover).

It has the 5.7L Hemi and it has loads of power. I haul cars, grain, etc and it has plenty of power to spare; even when hauling. From a stop, or anything up to about 85 mph the truck performs like a fast car. My son owns an 88' Firebird with the Corvette 350 in it and this truck beats it in the quarter mile by a car length. This really will take care of most vehicles off of the stop light. After 85 mph the aerodynamics of this full size truck really weigh it down. At 105 mph the governor kicks in.

I owned a Chevy truck previously to this and was not happy. The trany went out at 60,000 miles and had to be replaced. I have talked to a lot of guys with a lot of different trucks and I have come to believe that all the manufacturers have issues with their vehicles... sometimes you get lucky, treat your vehicle right, etc and you don't have much for problems. I think that the idea that Dodge makes bad tranys is just a myth. Whenever a Dodge has a tranny go out, you hear about it. When Chevy has a problem, you just write it off as a fluke. The 5 speed auto with this Dodge is geared perfectly (3.92 rear) for everyday driving, and for heavy hauling. My Dodge has more power than the 1999 350 Chevy Silverado I owned previously.

I like the inside of the Dodge truck. It is not as plain as the Ford, but not as clustered as the Chevy. The rear seats are not a roomy as the Crew cabs of Chevy and Ford (the new Dodge trucks have taken care of this problem) which is why I gave it an 8/10 for interior comfort.

Good luck on your buying!