Show, Tow, And Go!

A key aspect of today's new breed of four-door trucks is versatility. They're designed to function as some combination of car, truck, and sport/utility. Among them, we're quite fond of Dodge's Dakota Quad Cab. It's great looking, offers V-8 power, and, like Baby Bear's bed, the size is "just right." So, with multiple goals in mind, we rounded one up and attacked.

We wanted a truck that performed better, but wasn't finicky. It had to have improved handling, without a complete degradation of ride quality. It had to look better, but not sacrifice one iota of practicality. Finally, increased comfort, luxury, and 100-percent reliability had to be part of the mix. In other words, we were looking for a well-balanced approach to performance, much as BMW takes with its M models, or Mercedes-Benz with its AMG editions.

In selecting the various aftermarket suppliers, Mopar Accessories and Mopar Performance Parts for our Dakota, we went with premium stuff all the way-yet very little was handbuilt, so you could easily duplicate our efforts. The motto: "A real truck, that real people would really build-and really drive."

Our Dakota began life as a moderately equipped two-wheel-drive quad cab packing Dodge's popular 5.9-liter/245-horsepower Magnum V-8. Because nothing impacts the looks and handling performance of any vehicle more than the right rolling stock, the folks at The Tire Rack worked with Borbet and Pirelli to set us up with an attractive plus-two upgrade package. The wheels are Borbet's CW4 model, featuring a painted center, polished rim, and hidden lugs; these 18x8.0-inch alloys are wrapped by Pirelli's premium Scorpion Zero 255/55VR18 performance tires.

While we're not into the mega-slammed sport truck look, tasteful, properly executed lowering can increase handling potential-and look great at the same time. We went to one of today's top suspension experts, John Hotchkis. Hotchkis Performance has just released a comprehensive suspension upgrade for the Dakota that includes lowering springs, firmer anti-roll bars front and rear, and Hotchkis-spec Bilstein gas shocks. The result is a drop of about 3 inches in the rear, and 2 inches up front.

There's a lot to be said for factory-offered accessories: They were designed, built, and/or approved by the people who built your rig. Plus, you know who to go to with any warranty issue. You can usually have factory-offered goodies installed by the dealer at the time of purchase and financed into the price of the vehicle. Mopar Accessories offers a comprehensive line of products for the new Quad Cab, and we went for several of them.

The Mopar hitch receiver we selected adds the ability to tow our favorite toys, or the use of a multitude of accessory racks. Only a fool would buy a new truck and not protect it with a quality bedliner; we selected Mopar's-it's tough and fits beautifully. Because virtually all consumer-targeted crew cabs have shorter beds (4.5 to 5.5 feet in length), cargo capacity may occasionally come up short. Mopar worked with AMP Research to offer a foldaway bed extender. This tubular cage folds down over the tailgate to extend useable cargo area and is easily removed when not in use. Nifty.

We debated long and hard whether to equip the MT Dakota with some sort of tonneau cover or a cap/shell, but ultimately decided to go the cover route to preserve its truckish good looks and practicality. Mopar Accessories offers this innovative hard tonneau cover with three independently opening panels. The rear opens conventionally, while two smaller lids up front open "butterfly" style; each has a security lock, high-quality seals, and gas struts to keep it open. The cover even comes painted to match the truck's factory color.