redblack
05-27-2014, 12:08 AM
For the past year ive been looking to upgrade from my subaru impreza to a larger vehicle with more space and decided to get a truck. At first i was only looking at smaller trucks but due to the lack of room and comparible gas miliage from the 4.0L V6 to 5L V8s i ended up with a 2014 Ram 1500 sport with the 5.7 hemi V8.
Prior to purchasing a truck i purchased a few car cost canada reports and knew what the invoice price was and any factory incentives offered at the time of all the trucks i tested.
A quick google search revealed a ton of piss poor reviews at the local dodge dealerships around me but Airdrie dodge has surprisingly good reviews on dealerrater. A few of the reviewers mentoned that they had great service from Sean Miles, i called him and had a brief conversation on what i wanted and was looking for. We ended up setting up a test drive the next day, i managed to drag a fellow beyonder (COS) with me to ensure that there was not going to be any shenanigans pulled that day.
We headed up there and met Sean, this particular dealership was tiny and did not have a very large showroom. Sean pulled up in a Ram sport loaded the way i asked and went over all the features. Pictures online do not do this truck justice, everything just felt right. We ended up going for a 30min drive and the 5.7L motor/8 speed tranny was buttery smooth with a throaty exhaust growl. After the test drive we sat down in his office and went over some numbers. To my surprise the final price he gave me was excellent, it worked out to being only a few hundred above the CCC report minus all the incentives and the best part was there was no extra DOC fees or other hidden fees. I told him that i wasnt planning on buying today and will contact him in a week or so if i decided to go further. I absolutly felt no pressure during the entire buying process.
Up to this point i had driven the tacoma TRD sport limited,. Its was the first one i test drove out of the seven mainly because of the reviews about it. While that truck had ample room, the 4.0L V6 seemed a little underpowered and thirsty for the size of the truck. Being the top model, it did not have some of the features i was looking for.
Next up was the frontier Pro4x followed by the titan SL. The frontier was definately sportier and cheaper than the tacoma but the rear seat was too small. It actually had less back seat room than my subaru with a baby seat installed. The titan SL was a good size truck with lots of space and options. This truck ended up being the cheapest of all the full size trucks i tested because it was due for a major refresh in 2015.
I went up to olds ford with COS and took a F-150 FX4 with the 5.0L V8 out, power was decent but the ecoboost is where its at. Pricing for this particular unit was a few K more than the titan but the tech in the ford was alot better.
A few days later i decided to go back to toyota and take a Tundra crew max out. While the interior was very nice, it drove like a big camry in my opinion. Loaded with the options i wanted, it was the most expensive truck out there.
Finally i took a GMC sierra all terrain out and this truck was quite impressive. Its too bad the salesman didnt want to work numbers with me or i may have been convinced to buy it.
After pondering it for a few days, i pretty much knew that the ram was the truck i wanted to buy. My wife wanted to have a look at it so we decided to meet up with Sean the next day. Now my wife absolutley hates domestic vehicles and was expecting a box with 4 wheels with a cheap interior. Sean ended up going over the whole truck with her and explained all the feature again. After the test drive she was blown away at the Ram, it had almost every option that she has in her Audi Q5. We sat down with sean and went over the numbers agian, we took another day to think about and decided the purchase the truck. The final price was the price i was quoted the first time, no hidden fees or BS. Overall this was one of the best new vehicle purchases i have made second to buying the Audi Q5 from glenmore audi.
Here is the truck i purchased
2014 Ram Sport
5.7L hemi
3.92 with anti-spin axle
loaded except for the air ride and ram box
http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q678/redblack211/Mobile%20Uploads/EFBF2A88-EA40-472D-8430-27B651CD6E8D_zpsavbwmjrj.jpg (http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/redblack211/media/Mobile%20Uploads/EFBF2A88-EA40-472D-8430-27B651CD6E8D_zpsavbwmjrj.jpg.html)
Prior to purchasing a truck i purchased a few car cost canada reports and knew what the invoice price was and any factory incentives offered at the time of all the trucks i tested.
A quick google search revealed a ton of piss poor reviews at the local dodge dealerships around me but Airdrie dodge has surprisingly good reviews on dealerrater. A few of the reviewers mentoned that they had great service from Sean Miles, i called him and had a brief conversation on what i wanted and was looking for. We ended up setting up a test drive the next day, i managed to drag a fellow beyonder (COS) with me to ensure that there was not going to be any shenanigans pulled that day.
We headed up there and met Sean, this particular dealership was tiny and did not have a very large showroom. Sean pulled up in a Ram sport loaded the way i asked and went over all the features. Pictures online do not do this truck justice, everything just felt right. We ended up going for a 30min drive and the 5.7L motor/8 speed tranny was buttery smooth with a throaty exhaust growl. After the test drive we sat down in his office and went over some numbers. To my surprise the final price he gave me was excellent, it worked out to being only a few hundred above the CCC report minus all the incentives and the best part was there was no extra DOC fees or other hidden fees. I told him that i wasnt planning on buying today and will contact him in a week or so if i decided to go further. I absolutly felt no pressure during the entire buying process.
Up to this point i had driven the tacoma TRD sport limited,. Its was the first one i test drove out of the seven mainly because of the reviews about it. While that truck had ample room, the 4.0L V6 seemed a little underpowered and thirsty for the size of the truck. Being the top model, it did not have some of the features i was looking for.
Next up was the frontier Pro4x followed by the titan SL. The frontier was definately sportier and cheaper than the tacoma but the rear seat was too small. It actually had less back seat room than my subaru with a baby seat installed. The titan SL was a good size truck with lots of space and options. This truck ended up being the cheapest of all the full size trucks i tested because it was due for a major refresh in 2015.
I went up to olds ford with COS and took a F-150 FX4 with the 5.0L V8 out, power was decent but the ecoboost is where its at. Pricing for this particular unit was a few K more than the titan but the tech in the ford was alot better.
A few days later i decided to go back to toyota and take a Tundra crew max out. While the interior was very nice, it drove like a big camry in my opinion. Loaded with the options i wanted, it was the most expensive truck out there.
Finally i took a GMC sierra all terrain out and this truck was quite impressive. Its too bad the salesman didnt want to work numbers with me or i may have been convinced to buy it.
After pondering it for a few days, i pretty much knew that the ram was the truck i wanted to buy. My wife wanted to have a look at it so we decided to meet up with Sean the next day. Now my wife absolutley hates domestic vehicles and was expecting a box with 4 wheels with a cheap interior. Sean ended up going over the whole truck with her and explained all the feature again. After the test drive she was blown away at the Ram, it had almost every option that she has in her Audi Q5. We sat down with sean and went over the numbers agian, we took another day to think about and decided the purchase the truck. The final price was the price i was quoted the first time, no hidden fees or BS. Overall this was one of the best new vehicle purchases i have made second to buying the Audi Q5 from glenmore audi.
Here is the truck i purchased
2014 Ram Sport
5.7L hemi
3.92 with anti-spin axle
loaded except for the air ride and ram box
http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q678/redblack211/Mobile%20Uploads/EFBF2A88-EA40-472D-8430-27B651CD6E8D_zpsavbwmjrj.jpg (http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/redblack211/media/Mobile%20Uploads/EFBF2A88-EA40-472D-8430-27B651CD6E8D_zpsavbwmjrj.jpg.html)