I think the Ram ad is good, it you press 'mute'.

If the ads were any good, then maybe I could see going with the whole "brand image" advertising, but they're not; as the folks above me have stated... they just suck. The new ad campaigns for Jeep and Dodge, er, "Ram" are terrible... which is a real shame because Jeep used to have some of the best tv and print ads of any automaker back in the late 90's.

the tv ad with the WJ Grand Cherokee in a driveway shaking mud off like a dog.

the one with a ZJ Grand Cherokee where the woman driver stops for directions and the gas station attendant points off to the distance and says "just head over those mountains" and the woman heads off road (the attendant had just previously given another drive directions using a bunch of highways and turns).

the print ad for the XJ Cherokee with a caption that read, "Authorities require a person be gone 48 hours before they're considered missing (longer if they drive a Cherokee)".

heck the semi-recent tv spot for the JK Wrangler showing people going over dunes and through the woods raising their hands out the roof and screaming like they're riding a rollercoaster was ten-fold better than the new clocks/time ad.

To echo two other comments... yeah, where's the 1984 Jeep Cherokee?! Basically single-handledly responsible for the SUV craze. And I think it was the first compact SUV to be offered with 4 doors. Without the 1984 Jeep Cherokee there would be no 1991 Explorer!

And I dare say that the 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer could be considered the first "luxury" SUV... with leather trim, power windows and locks, full-time 4WD, a big V8 under the hood, automatic transmssion.

Come down here to Texas... construction is BOOMING and I don't go a day without seeing at least 2-3 campers/RVs on the road, and right now it's hard not to go even a few miles on the highway without seeing a big boat behind some big truck or SUV (granted, there are lots of lakes around the DFW metroplex area).

Granted, living here in Texas my perspective on trucks may be a bit different than in other "urban" parts of the country, but I don't know anyone down here with a dually that doesn't *need* a dually, though there are probably a lot of folks with SRW (single rear wheel) trucks that got them simply to have a big truck (or a diesel truck).

tritonofg,

Fuel prices in Europe are far higher than in the US. But there are only a fraction of the number of trucks and SUVs on the road there as there are here. Your proposition that the fuel consumption trucks and SUVs are the reason gas prices are high is absolutely ludicrous.

It's not like the oil barons are just going to lower prices if we all switch to cars. Playing devil's advocate here... but it's possible prices might actually go UP. The oil co's are in the business of making money, and lots of it. Think about it... if usage suddenly decreases they could very well raise the price to make up for selling less.

It's like a life-sized version of the toy cars I played with as a kid where you pull the car back, stuck a penny in a slot in the back of the car, and it would ride a wheelie across the floor.

rem83,

Yes, we probably could have gotten a 1/2 ton for most what we use our truck for, but honestly we really wanted a diesel -- they last longer, get better fuel economy, and diesel is generally/historically cheaper than gasoline (around here anyway). And I like the possibility of running it on bio fuels.

I've towed with a gasser and there's really no comparison once you get behind the wheel of an oil burner. Trying to keep up with a diesel on our way from Dallas to Las Cruces, NM, for a big Jeep/4x4 event 2 years ago it was really sealed the deal for us on going diesel. We had a GMC Denali XL as the time and it had a hard time keeping pace with the diesel Ram that was leading our group, plus it got at best 7mpg towing. Our new diesel Ram gets 2x that while towing, and it gets better mileage all around than our Denali did. Plus the mileage will only get better with age and the motor will probably go a few hundred thousand miles without issue. We're planning on keeping this truck for quite a long time so we wanted a motor that we knew would be reliable for the long term.

Oh, and our truck isn't a dually, even though it's a 1-ton. ;) We were originally planning on getting a 2500, but the truck we found with all the options we wanted turned out to be a 3500. If there were diesel 1/2 tons available, we might have gone that route, but wanting a diesel motor dictated we get a 3/4-ton or bigger truck.

I wouldn't have gotten a car anyway though, at least not as a highway commuter vehicle in Texas. In the last 10 years I've owned 3 Jeeps (2 of which we still have), 2 fullsize GM SUVs (both now gone), and now the Ram Megacab... cars really aren't my thing -- too small, too low, too easy to break if they hit something or get hit. I see on average probably 2 wrecks a day during my commute, nearly all are a car hitting a truck or a car hitting another car (no joke, I *rarely* see a truck/SUV hit something else). The truck drives off with a scuff on the bumper, the cars always go off on a flatbed wrecker. Any cars I'd even consider driving probably wouldn't be "reasonably" priced anyway.

I spent upwards of 2 hours a day in my vehicle commuting, so it's GOT to be something I enjoy driving, and honestly I love driving my diesel. Parking it can sometimes be interesting, but I see it as giving me more exercise by having to park further out, haha.

The "King Ranch" edition is just the top of the line fancy version of the SuperDuty. It's named after a big ranch here in Texas. And honestly I figure "real" ranchers would probably opt for the lower trim models as more 'work' trucks, vs the decked out upscale ones.

And just because you may see these big 1-tonners driving down the highway with an empty bed and only one person doesn't mean they never get used... Just because someone doesn't live on ranch with acreage in the thousands or doesn't always have cargo in the bed or a trailer on the back, doesn't mean they don't need or really use one of these trucks.

We've got a 1-ton Ram Megacab. Most of the time you'll see the bed is empty and I'm driving it solo on my daily work commute. On the weekends is when it sees "truck" duty, hauling our Jeeps on a trailer, or landscaping or construction materials, or helping a friend move, or taking our dogs to the lake, or loaded up with camping gear for a trip. All while getting better fuel economy than a gas truck.

Why'd they used a photo of the old SD though? Not that they didn't sell well, but I would assume that the huge sales numbers are for the new '08 models?

I'm currently in Texas, and haven't seen a free air station in the tri-state area in probably 10 years. Granted though, since getting a shop compressor for my garage a few years back, I really don't pay much attention to the gas station air pumps anymore...

Texas currently. I haven't seen free air at a gas station in probably 10 years... they're all coin-op now, usually $0.50 to $0.75 for a couple minutes of air time.

As for a gas tank full of gas vs an air tank at over 4K psi... I'll take my chances with gasoline or diesel any day, a rupture in my fuel tank isn't going to cause an explosion (in real life, cars don't instantly blow up like in the movies) and a leak in my fuel line isn't going to be able to cut off a finger (well, maybe a leak in the fuel line of my diesel truck could...).

I've got a 30gal shop compressor in my garage that pressurizes to about 250psi. If that tank were to rupture, it would probably blow my garage door off the house, and could likely put a hole through the side of the house. The chances of that happening are pretty slim, and I'm sure they've done lots of safety research on the air system used in those vehicles.

Considering air is inert for the most part, it'd probably still be safer than running on propane or CNG, both of which are relatively common (maybe not for passenger vehicles though). Sitting on an air tank at those pressures would still make me uneasy though.