Good evening followers. Today it has been one month since I got the 2017 Ram 1500. It went fast for sure and feels like the newness has not quite wore off yet. Surprising cause I thought it would. Wanted to give some up updates and thoughts.
One things I will start with is miles. This is a lease and when I signed the paperwork 30 days ago I agreed to 15,000 miles a year or a total of 45,000 for the three years when it gets turned in. This is an issue for anyone in a lease really. The salesman and I discussed this and we agreed that the mileage we picked would work. As of today I am at 1610 miles. Went roughly about 1568 miles in one month. 35 months left… if I keep that pace up I will be at roughly 52,500 miles give or take. Guess I will be policing my driving little more to save miles when I can. If I don’t then $0.20/mile will add up to a lot.
It will help that we live closer to things than we used to and school is now out for the summer. Other than sports for kids and going to and from work it will hopefully be easy to keep better track and pace at racking them up. Also getting more two wheel time on the Harley will help to and from work pending weather of course.
Modifications. In the last month I have taken the badges off. Cleaned it my way but need to really clay it and give it a good wax on one of my days off. Would love to give it a ceramic coating to help protect it the best but it is seriously pricey. Yesterday I got the front windows and visor tinted. Got to have this done. Only other thing left that I feel is a need is a rubber bed mat to help protect the bed. Would love to have a spray in liner done but still am not convinced that I will keep this truck yet. Did purchase some floor mats off of Amazon but I was in a hurry for some dumb reason and trying to save money at the same time since they are not cheap. I ordered a quad cab set not the crew cab for which I have. FRUSTRATING!!! What I ordered was the Mopar factory rubber slush mats. Today they were sent back and I ordered Husky liners instead since they have better coverage but cost more. Lessons learned in the end though.
Since the annoying noise I had coming from the back is now more or less stopped. Thank goodness. It will rear its head every once and awhile and all it takes is a little tap on the rear of the center console and it stops. There are other noises I hear now and again that annoy me and I’m not sure why really. Well that’s not entirely true. With my Ford F-150 I got used to certain noises that it made. The 2012 and 2014 both had door rattles and rear window rattles. The 2014 was a little better and the rear window got fixed when it was taken out for body work and re-set back in.
Why the noises get to me in this new truck is probably higher expectations for interior quality and a brand new truck of a different make than what I have had the last seven years. Hoping to have this truck prove it is better in all ways and that it’s worth maybe buying at the end or getting into another one. Not convinced as I said above. However, there is a long ways to go so we will see. It could also have to do with the newness not wearing off so I am extra sensitive to each noise and bump. Not used to this trucks manors and how it drives on everything or in all weather yet.
Part of my issue is also my OCD. I am very anal and want everything perfect and when I find an issue or problem it nags me and I end up obsessing over it until it’s either fixed or taken care of in some manor. Examples are the annoying noises. The tint I had done yesterday had to be fixed today due to an issue with the visor strip having bubbles and looking not like I wanted. The tint though I paid for and it should be done and to my expectations. The company had great customer service and had no issue fixing anything with a smile and a hand shake each time.
The other issue is as stated the newness. Once the truck isn’t “new” to me anymore I more than likely wont notice as much or be as critical. Well at least I hope this is the case anyway. Only way to know on this is with time, or the saying is time will tell. With all of this I feel bad for my wife. She is awesome though cause she deals with my complaints and issues and will always help me when she can. Today alone I called her twice to share my frustrations with things. Thanks babe!
One month in. 30 days down. 35 months to go. A lot of days to see what this truck has in store for me and my family. Many seasons to perform well I hope. Overall still at this point I am pleased. Love the looks of it. The performance is getting better and better and even gas mileage is slightly going up as the engine breaks in. It is feeling more like my truck and about have it where I want it for the lease limits that I am able to change. All of which can be switched back easily if need be.
Oh, one last thing. Not sure if it was mentioned in my previous blogs or not but somehow all of my vehicles have been given a name. Yes you can admit you talk to your vehicle and therefore it needs a name. Usually men call their calls a female name and females give it a males name. Betsy is a common name for some odd reason. With this said my daughter kept asking me what the trucks name was or did I pick a name yet. One night in the garage as I cleaned it up my wife and daughter were in there and we picked a name. After some Google searching for something related to the color red it was determined it shall be named “Blaze”.
Blaze take care of us and we will treat you well.
Thank you all for reading and I will be back to update here in a few weeks or less.
The Vehicle Guy 