Hello there!

I've made the decision to get a 1500 and would like to get the limited but not too excited about the cost difference between that and a big horn. I have nothing to tow yet, but live near the water and a small boat would be a lot of fun.

Does anyone have a spare friends and family code to share with this single dad of three kids??

thanks in advance.

I'll also take any suggestions on what I should get. I have a commuter for work so this would just be used to haul the kids around on a few longer road trips a year, and for when it snows like 10 times a year.

I just picked up a loaded Laramie Black edition. Leather. 12" screen. Sunroof - damn hard to find but wife wanted. NO ETORQUE - heard nothing but trouble with those. Had 6000 miles. Think an employee bought or leased it then flipped it after a few months for a PROFIT. Was $57K I had been looking for a WHILE. Prices are crazy and the right truck is hard to find. If you want something specific it has to be ordered now a days. I say just get rid of dealers and salesman (sorry guys) and save us buyers some money. $57k is about what I paid for my first HOUSE.

Thanks for the heads-up about the etorque. I was debating about going that route. The dealership near me actually has a pretty decent stock and I'm looking to take advantage of "truck month" as they are actually selling their trucks for under MSRP which I haven't seen near me in a long time..

eTorque is a bit of a stop gap that I assume will be gone shortly as the next generation ZF 8-speeds will have electric motors right in them, with 331lbft or torque

I bought a new 1500 Big Horn , Hemi., 4x4 , quad cab, 3.92 rear, trailer tow pkg. etc. last year , it listed for 50K I paid a few K under that after waiting 4 months for a regular cab , short bed Ram I ordered that never came. I really like the truck , so many improvements over the 08 H.Q.C. I had of course it has a lot of features I didn't need but I am learning to appreciate them , it tows my race car trailer great with tons of power and is very comfortable. I also don't use it daily and have another car for that as a matter of fact I have had it 8 months and only have 3500 miles on it. I did add an Air Lift bag system in the rear for towing my trailer and recently had it Ziebart undercoat/ rust proofed. As I said I had another Ram on order but just got tired of waiting , the dealer called, told me about this truck that had just came in and it had the rear I needed and the tow pkg etc, so I took it.

Not Ziebart!!!!!!!!!!!!

truck looks great my friend!!!

Beautiful truck 11secdart and sounds like you did well with price, especially looking at where prices are now!!!

I wondered about the etorque too.

My 2020 had E-Torque. I had no issues with it, but the truck only had 22,000 miles on it when the dealer traded me out of it.

My 2021 does not have it. It seems like mileage is not quite as good as the 2020, but I am pretty sure that's because this one has 3.92 gears.

Heading to the dealership tomorrow to look.

I want the Laramie with the black out option but of course the dealerships near me only one they have with that package and of course its a limited for $71k (MSRP 73). I'd rather stay upper 50's low 60's.

There's a Laramie for $58.6k I can hopefully get down to $57 and save me at least $10k over the limited. Debating about having them order the one I actually want but then I know they wont cut me any breaks.

I have seen the negatives about Ziebart for what it cost and if it prevents any rust I will be happy. My last 08 H.Q.C had only 58,000 miles on it and was 13 years old and started to rust after 10. I don't use my trucks a lot mainly to tow my race car and haul things once in awhile. I use them to get to my snow removal job if the snow is to deep for my AWD car but thats rare and if I do its washed the next day. I don't have a garage for my truck it is kept outside under a quality all weather cover but I suspect sitting in the damp driveway doesn't help the undercarriage. I had to replace a rusted thru brake line, a rusted thru trans cooler line, a rusted power steering cooler line and it was rusting over the rear wheels despite filling the inner fender holes with silicone to keep moisture out. I painted the frame a few times also. Look hard enough and you can find something wrong with anything. This new truck is going to have to last me a long time especially since I don't use it a lot and I don't want it to rust like my 08 did. I looked at another alternative type undercoating but it just appeared to me to be a paint like product and the price was the same as Ziebart. So far this past winter I didn't have to use the truck in the bad weather or on salty roads.The amount of salt used on the roads by me is ridiculous my plow site is only about four miles from my house and I only use local roads no interstates to get there my car is completely white by the time I get home.

Go to the Ram.com and build a truck. Somewhere in the process a $1,000 coupon should pop up.
Also 5thgenrams.com has many threads on saving money off MSRP. There are still a few dealers offering discounts. I you want to place a factory order you can save up to 5% from invoice.
I am also looking...

I agree ! the Ram website is pretty good you can build the truck with the options you want and see the prices of the options, there is also a feature where you can see similar trucks like the one you want in your area up to 200 miles I believe. I found a truck in Maryland like they one I had on order I was ready to buy it until I found out it had a vinyl interior, ( I wanted cloth ) . Be prepared to wait if you chose to order a truck I ordered one about a year ago in the end of February and it still hadn't arrived in July and I ended up buying a " just came in " truck pretty much the way I wanted and I canceled the one on order.

Ziebart works alright if it's installed on a brand new vehicle. Usually when you see cars with it where it peels off its clean brand new looking metal under it. That truck on youtube is what it looks like when you spray that sort of hard undercoating stuff under a used vehicle especially if it already has rust. If it was done brand new like he said then maybe it was applied over something else that was already there.

Rubber coating is garbage no matter how or when its applied, once the water gets under its game over

Another wonderful example of that trash



Oil spraying annually is the only way

My parents bought two 1970 Pontiac's in Columbus Ohio, had them both done. They did it on recommendation of my Grandparents in Michigan. I recall Ziebart not wanting to do them if they were more than two weeks old and the expertise of the applier. The station wagon died in a head on crash in 1979 rust free, the convertible is still here, been repainted, three or four years ago, had some fairly minor rust damage repaired at that time, wasn't apparent until painted. I did watch Eric from South Main Auto complaining about Ziebart, but that material didn't look like what was on my folks cars, and there was never any discussion about redoing (spraying more) it yearly. Maybe things have changed?

That looks like Ziebart changed their formula and process or it's not being applied properly. Ziebart used to be thick like the factory looking undercoating that's several mm thick and like 3hundred said it was done once and that was it. If it went back for annual it was to fill in where it might have been scraped off. When that stuff peels off it's clean metal underneath.

The stuff in those youtube videos looks like the crap undercoating you buy in spray cans and do yourself and that's the same way it makes vehicles rust too. It looks like it's not thick enough to begin with to do any sort of protection and then re-applying it is what's causing the rust because you are now sealing in the areas that it's started to peel.

I have cars that were Ziebarted new and they are rust free underneath. But I've never had it done myself because i don't buy new cars, I always get them oil sprayed.

Sounds like an expensive truck that from the sounds of it you are more than capable of doing without. A small boat can be towed with most anything, maybe even what you already have.
You pointed out you are a single dad, yet seem to have no issues spending a ton on something you seem to have little use for