Ram SRT-10 Auto Vs. Manual

elambeth · September 8th, 2006, 05:47 PM

Ok, so the prices on these have gotten good enough that I'm tempted to trade in my trusty '02 Durango. I mean, seriously, a Viper powered truck with 10k miles for under $30k??? I can't believe these aren't flying off the shelves. (er, parking lots. whatever.)

Anyway... here's my dilemma... a 9mpg 500hp 2wd truck is impractical enough as it is... so since I already have custody of one kid on the weekends, and I have a gilfriend with a second kid on the way, I really probably ought to be able to fit all 4 of them into a vehicle at the same time once in a while. Furthermore, I need to tow a 6500lb trailer every once in a blue moon. So, it seems like the Quad cab is by far the better option for me, right?

Here's the problem though... THE QC ONLY COMES WITH A LAME 4-SPEED TRANSMISSION!!! Gay, gay, gay! What a tragedy it must be to have all that horsepower on tap and have it mated to the same 4-speed auto tranny I've got in my durango! The Durango is the 5.9L Magnum V-8, which is already a plenty big engine compared to most other vehicles, and even with that much power I couldn't outrun a 4-cyl saturn on the freeway the other day, because of the clunky automatic transmision.

I really don't want to shell out for an 8.2L engine and still have 4 and 6 cylinder coupes outrun me because they've got manual 5-speeds and I don't!

So really I guess I have two questions:

1) For those who own the quad cab version, or who have driven both manual and auto versions and can compare... honestly, how much does it suck to have the auto tranny? How much tire-burnin spinnin-out raw acceleration joy do you give up by making this tradeoff?

2) Has anyone purchased the quad cab and then slammed a manual tranny into it aftermarket... if so, how much did it cost you and how hard a job was it?

Thanks,
E

zengarage · September 8th, 2006, 05:55 PM

stock form the quad tranny blows. 800 bucks and a DC Performance new computer and you have a tire smokin good ole time. The new computer changes the shift points and redline. Smoke em in first, spin in second and chirp in third. Should have come this way from the factory.

Brad00GTS · September 10th, 2006, 01:30 PM

What zen said, but if you still want a stick, go to vtcoa.com for more info