1997 Dodge Dakota SLT - Engine - Sneak Peek

One of the traditionally weak dynamic areas for unloaded pickups is braking. With their lopsided front/rear weight bias, stopping can be a wild ride, with yawing and bucking quite common. And that's on a dry surface. Add water or ice and you've got the makings for a long, scary stop. The Dakota's standard arrangement is front discs and rear drums with rear-wheel anti-lock. Our SLT was equipped with the optional four-wheel anti-lock system, enabling it to stop straight and in just 150 feet from 60 mph. That's good for a pickup, particularly given the less-than-smooth braking lane at the test site.

Our test vehicle had the healthy 5.2-liter Magnum V-8 and premium four-speed automatic. This would be our first choice for a sporty daily driver, with its gutsy 220 horses and 6900-pound trailer-tow capacity. An effortless 8.3-second sprint to 60 mph confirms that this truck has serious pick-up.

Dodge also offers the Dakota with a manual five-speed and a 2.5-liter/120-horsepower inline-four and a 3.9-liter/175-horsepower Magnum V-6. The smooth-shifting manual tranny features a hydraulic clutch mechanism. With its relatively light and progressive action, take-offs are smooth and shudderless.

If you need four-wheel drive, Dodge offers a rugged part-time system with a manual floor shift. We took a four-wheel-drive Dakota off-road on the same deeply rutted, narrow trail where we recently sampled the all-new Jeep Wrangler, and our sense was that the Dakota scrambled over that beastly terrain nearly as neatly as Jeep's classic off-road device.

With either the 6.5- or 8.0-foot bed, the Dakota manages to bridge the gap between smaller compacts and full-size pickups. We believe its bold new styling, special attention to cab quiet, and car-style suspension tuning will move the Dakota to the top of truck buyers' shopping lists.