I'm looking to buy my second Dakota (drove a new '95 Club Cab from '95-'06) and am afraid my criteria isn't matching up with what's available. Hoping someone on here can set me straight.
The criteria:
- Need the bed to do occasional light hauling; mulch, lumber, furniture, etc.
- Need to flat-tow behind the RV
- 95% of miles are unaccompanied, the rest are short distances
- Foresee a 2000-2500 lb boat dragging behind it in the future
On that basis, I've been searching for an '05 or '06 Club Cab, V8, manual tranny, but can only find V-6s except for an occasional Quad Cab w/ 4WD, and I really don't want to be dragging that extra weight behind the gas hog, especially through mountains.
If I knew there is no such animal as a Club-V8-6spd out there, I suppose I would roll the dice on a V6 balking on a boat ramp. On the other hand, I don't have to make a purchase this week, or even next month, if there's a possibility of an 8 popping up on the internet in the near future.
The criteria:
- Need the bed to do occasional light hauling; mulch, lumber, furniture, etc.
- Need to flat-tow behind the RV
- 95% of miles are unaccompanied, the rest are short distances
- Foresee a 2000-2500 lb boat dragging behind it in the future
On that basis, I've been searching for an '05 or '06 Club Cab, V8, manual tranny, but can only find V-6s except for an occasional Quad Cab w/ 4WD, and I really don't want to be dragging that extra weight behind the gas hog, especially through mountains.
If I knew there is no such animal as a Club-V8-6spd out there, I suppose I would roll the dice on a V6 balking on a boat ramp. On the other hand, I don't have to make a purchase this week, or even next month, if there's a possibility of an 8 popping up on the internet in the near future.