2012 Dodge Ram 1500

Until recently, Dodge was known for building outrageous high-performance muscle cars, including the Challenger and Charger, with brashly named trims—Hellcat, anyone? Dodge is still finding its footing during the transition to electrification and stricter emissions laws, with plans for electrified and turbocharged muscle yet to materialize in dealerships. The Hornet compact SUV is based on the Alfa Romeo Tonale, and is available as a plug-in hybrid. The Durango SUV soldiers on, largely unchanged from 2011 and still based on the same design as the 2011-2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Most alarmingly, it lags behind more modern vehicles in crash tests. Dodge sits near Chrysler at the bottom of our used car reliability rankings.

The 2009 redesign brought the Ram up-to-date with a coil-spring rear suspension, which improved ride and handling significantly. This made the pickup fully competitive in the marketplace. Fuel economy for the 5.7-liter V8 was improved and cabin quiet approached that of a luxury car's. If towing is important to you, be aware that models with the 20-inch wheel option sacrifice 1,000 pounds of rated capacity. Ram became a separate brand in 2011.