Despite what Dodge marketing types would lead you to believe, the Dakota is a compact pickup. While certainly larger, longer and more powerful than other small trucks, the Dakota is much closer in size and concept to vehicles like the Chevrolet S-10, Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma than it is to full-sized haulers such as the Ford F-150, GMC Sierra and Toyota Tundra.
That said, let it be known that among compact pickups, the Dakota excels at providing a comfortable ride, a roomy cab, heavy-duty towing and hauling capacity, and capable performance both on and off the road. Plus, the truck is damn good looking, with styling that mimics its larger brother, the Dodge Ram.
We tested one of the multiple variations of Dakota, an extended-cab, four-wheel drive Sport model equipped with a 5.2-liter V8 engine. Our truck's fuel-sucking V8 made 230 horsepower at 4,400 rpm and 300 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm. Power was adequate to muscle our Dakota's 4,109-pound curb weight around town pretty quickly, though accelerating around right-hand turns with an empty bed resulted in plenty of wheelspin. The EPA says our test truck is supposed to get 13 mpg in town and 17 on the highway. Our lead feet only made matters worse.
Had we decided to tow something with our Intense Blue Dakota, we could have hitched up a 6,200-pound trailer with a tongue weight of 800 pounds, thanks to the optional $245 Trailer Tow Group on our test truck. Dakotas can tow up to 6,900 pounds, but you've gotta get a regular cab, five-speed model with two-wheel drive, a 5.2-liter V8 and a 3.92 axle ratio. Our particular truck was rated to haul 1,450 pounds of cargo in the bed; a properly configured Dakota can handle up to 2,600 pounds.
Dakotas come in four trim levels (Base, Sport, SLT, R/T), two body styles (regular and extended cab) and two bed lengths on two-wheel drive, regular cab models (6.5-foot shortbed and 8-foot longbed) with a choice of two-wheel drive or shift-on-the-fly, four-wheel drive. The Sport model pictured here is one of our favorite configurations of Dakota; the R/T is the other. The R/T is a limited production sport truck, available only with rear driven wheels and a torque beast 5.9-liter V8 engine. A lowered suspension, fat wheels and tires, and gobs of power make the Dakota R/T as much fun to drive as many sport coupes.
But an R/T can't go off-road, and that's just as good a time as drifting around corners. We took our Sport boulder bashing in the foothills southeast of Denver and found the Dakota extremely capable in the dirt. Nary a rattle nor a squeak was evident and only when we traversed severe erosion berms at an angle did the bed creak. Mudding through deep puddles was no problem for the Dakota, thanks in part to 10.2 inches of ground clearance at the rear axle, though we selected to turn around at one point rather than venture across an unfamiliar and rapidly flowing stream after a day of heavy rain. Selecting four-wheel drive is easy; just pull the floor-mounted transfer case lever back one click and off you go. The power recirculating ball steering and tight turning radius helped us complete our off-road test quickly, and we never suffered from a lack of grunt on hills, thanks to the torquey V8.
We expected the Dakota to perform well off road, because the design of this truck is just two years old. What surprised us was how nicely the four-wheel drive Dakota performed on pavement. Obviously, the truck was reasonably quick, thanks to the V8, but it didn't seem much speedier than rivals from Ford and GM. Where the Dakota shined was in ride quality, cab comfort and braking. Zooming along I-70 into Denver one day, we misjudged the exit speed on an unfamiliar off ramp. Hitting the brakes hard resulted in an immediate drop in velocity and the ability to get around the loop without sliding into the grass. The brake pedal provided excellent feel and feedback, something GM dreams about and Ford is still fine-tuning.
The steering was communicative, and the small wheel helped maneuverability. The cab was surprisingly quiet, a characteristic purposely designed into the vehicle by Dakota engineers. And while you won't mistake the ride for that in your mother's Lexus LS400, our Dakota was easier to live with on broken pavement than some passenger cars we've driven recently.
The cab was roomy for two front passengers in large, comfortable bucket seats; for short trips, three can be accommodated on an available bench front seat. Visibility was quite good, and all controls except those for the stereo were within easy reach. Large rotary dials control climate functions and the Dakota employs an old-fashioned pullout knob for the headlights - bravo! Our truck had an optional sound system with a CD player that supposedly benefited from an Infinity speaker system. Uncharacteristically, the sound quality in our Dakota was terrible. Interior materials like fabric and plastic looked and felt average - better than GM pickups but not as nicely executed as those found in the Ford Ranger/Mazda B-Series twins. On the positive side, the Dakota received a passenger-airbag cutoff switch for 1998, allowing my baby daughter to ride up front where she enjoyed a fresh perspective on automobile travel.
Dodge press releases tout the Dakota as "the only domestically built compact extended cab that can accommodate three people in the back seat." Listen up. Just because there are three seatbelts back there doesn't mean squat. The only way three adults can sit on that uncomfortable slab of cloth and foam for even a minute is if the front chairs are in their forward-most position. One female passenger would only agree to be a back seat driver if she didn't have to share the space with anyone else, and she deemed the rear of the cab acceptable for one person so long as she sat sideways with her feet off the floor.
Getting in the back can be tricky, since the Dakota doesn't have a rear access portal like Chevrolet, Ford, GMC and Mazda compacts. The easy-entry feature for the front passenger seat helps, but this truck sorely needs another door or two. We've heard that the 2000 Dakota extended cab model will offer a Quad Cab option like that available on the larger Ram pickup, so if more doors are as important to you as they are to us, you'll ether want to wait or shop for a Ford, GM or Mazda truck.
Our truck was well assembled, free of aural annoyances (save the stereo speakers), comfortable and fun to drive. But it was oddly equipped. For example, we got a trip computer with compass and external temperature readout, but power mirror controls were absent. We got a CD player, but no cruise control. We got Sport décor including nice alloy wheels, but no fog lights. Also missing was a tilting steering wheel and a power driver's seat. All of these items are available on the Dakota, but opting for them, in addition to the extras on our test truck, would have pushed the sticker price higher. Compared to other compacts, the Dakota isn't much of a bargain.
Also, our truck also idled roughly when cold, even threatening to stall on a couple of occasions. The 5.2-liter V8 ran about as smoothly as the carbureted 351 in my mother's old Torino wagon after 10 hard years on the job, and this Mopar motor had only 3,000 miles on it. Bad gas? Maybe. But it ran poorly on a fresh tank from a different station, too, so we doubt it.
Despite the high price, the lack of rear entry doors and the rough idle, we found the Dakota a likeable truck, perhaps even more likeable than our current favorite, the Ford Ranger. What we need to do now is pit the Ranger against the Dakota (and other rivals from GM, Nissan and Toyota) to see who's king of the compact hill. Stay tuned.
