Fireman78
Expedition Leader
Absolutly!.. I live 50 miles from my job in the city with the fire dept, and I drive a 96 Subaru Wagon with 250K on the clock for that job. For eveything else though... the Power Wagon!
Suburban 2500 vs Power Wagon vs Tundra
- Thread starter sargeek
- Start date
Absolutly!.. I live 50 miles from my job in the city with the fire dept, and I drive a 96 Subaru Wagon with 250K on the clock for that job. For eveything else though... the Power Wagon!
shovelbill
Observer
i may be in the minority here.....but i think with carefull planning you can build a late 6.2 Suburban as bulletproof as the Dodge for less than half the cost.
and still get 20 mpg on the road. that seems to be important these days.
and still get 20 mpg on the road. that seems to be important these days.
bobcat charlie
Adventurer
I'm with Shovelbill, and I have aCummins. You can build a great expedition vehicle with the 6.2/6.5 GM diesel that will give you 20mpg on the highway, and, with proper gearing, will go anywhere off road. You won't have the amazing power on demand of the Cummins, but you will have good power, solid reliability, economy, and an easy to maintain package. This without the recurring issues of a radically modified vehicle.
STREGA
Explorer
Power Wagons vs ....
Been wanting to post on this thread, but for some reason I was temporarly blocked now all is good,
I owned a 2005 PW for about 3 years and for the most part was very happy with it. As posted elsewhere the fuel economy is well not great, best I ever saw was 15mpg empty, worse was 9mpg with a Outfitter Apex 8 pop up with full tanks, loaded ready to camp.
What I liked/loved the most about it: Its capability off the showroom floor, which has already been talked about in this thread so no need to list all the cool stuff it comes with from the factory again(which is all covered by the factory warranty to boot). For about the same $$ as a Cummins powered 2500 without the cool PW stuff it was a no brainer for me which truck to buy, I didn't really need the diesel engine I was not planning on towing much with the truck.
What I didn't like/love about it: Belive it or not the fuel mileage wasn't it, I knew when I bought it that was what it would give me. Getting good warranty service from the local dealers was the biggest problem I encountered. The only problem I had during the 36k that I owned it was a stuck throttle that occured twice, once with the cruise control on, once without(floor mats were not the issue btw). The dealerships did not take it seriously IMO, basically was blown off at 2 different Dodge dealers.
For the most part the Hemi put out enough power for most situations I encountered, with the Outfitter pop up on there was a noticable power loss but not bad, a 4wheel popup or flippac would have been a better choice for a camper unit(the outfitter was to heavy in hind sight not to mention other problems) and a AT trailer would have been a good match to the PW IMHO.
Been wanting to post on this thread, but for some reason I was temporarly blocked now all is good,
I owned a 2005 PW for about 3 years and for the most part was very happy with it. As posted elsewhere the fuel economy is well not great, best I ever saw was 15mpg empty, worse was 9mpg with a Outfitter Apex 8 pop up with full tanks, loaded ready to camp.
What I liked/loved the most about it: Its capability off the showroom floor, which has already been talked about in this thread so no need to list all the cool stuff it comes with from the factory again(which is all covered by the factory warranty to boot). For about the same $$ as a Cummins powered 2500 without the cool PW stuff it was a no brainer for me which truck to buy, I didn't really need the diesel engine I was not planning on towing much with the truck.
What I didn't like/love about it: Belive it or not the fuel mileage wasn't it, I knew when I bought it that was what it would give me. Getting good warranty service from the local dealers was the biggest problem I encountered. The only problem I had during the 36k that I owned it was a stuck throttle that occured twice, once with the cruise control on, once without(floor mats were not the issue btw). The dealerships did not take it seriously IMO, basically was blown off at 2 different Dodge dealers.
For the most part the Hemi put out enough power for most situations I encountered, with the Outfitter pop up on there was a noticable power loss but not bad, a 4wheel popup or flippac would have been a better choice for a camper unit(the outfitter was to heavy in hind sight not to mention other problems) and a AT trailer would have been a good match to the PW IMHO.
Johnston
Observer
That's to bad STREGA about your problems with the throttle because it is an easy fix. I've had it happen to me and a friend to him in the snow. A friend/mechanic had me disconnect the battery and then go turn the key to start the truck and hold it for a minute. Then reconnect the battery. Hadn't had it do it since.
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
:iagree:
I kinda like the old 6.2/6.5L engines. They make dencent power too once fitted with a Banks kit. I would take one of those over any VT365 6.0L Powerstroke anyday.
coder
New member
The PW is the best adventure vehicle I have ever owned, the dealers by me have been great, no problems whatsoever. Here are some teaser pics from a few of my trips, mostly exploring around the California mountains and desert.
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shovelbill
Observer
nice pics coder....thanks for sharing
Rovertrader
Supporting Sponsor
enough of the pics!! Was selling mine, now killing me to think about it :wings:
STREGA
Explorer
Too bad the Dodge dealer mechanics didn't know that simple fix, that's what I love about this and other forums I'am on is that somebody out there has knowledge/experiance about almost anything and is willing to share it.
I wasn't to worried about driving the truck even knowing that it could happen at anytime, although I could have done without that thought in the back of my mind, but I was not willing to let the wife drive it anymore after the 2nd time that it did it to me.
