Can A stock maxima 5 speed beat a stock Dodge Dakota R/T Automatic?

 

Yes and we need to stop asking questions about trucks taking maximas.

He might be you off the line, but you'll have him in every other gear.

 

Interesting this came up. My acquantence has a Dakota R/T 5.9 L and he went to the drags this friday. He ran a 15.7. That's nothing! My mom's v6 camry automatic ran a 15.4, and my Maxima before it was modified ran a 15.1 towing a 90 lb subwoofer box! For a truck with double the engine size, it should be much faster. Typical inefficient american iron... but watch out for those new Chevy trucks... they are supposed to be very fast.

 

Lightning only has to strike one to kill you

 

yea i agree with sprint that if its the lightning, you have somethin to worry about... i heard that they can keep up with a GT stang or even have an edge over them or somethin... forgot it was a long time ago but theyre quick as hell

 

an automatic Maxima running 15.1 unmodded is BS.. my bad your thing says except auto trans , <-- just a lil crunk

 

Neel he is a bit under the weather, even i who am NOT DRUNK thought u had an AUTO until i read your sig.

 

A standard cab Dodge Dakota R/T CAN hit high 14s. The extended cabs are a bit slower. At my track I've seen about 3 R/Ts go down the track between 15.4-15.8 in the upper 80s. Yes, I've never seen a R/T hit a 14, but I'm not gonna sit here and say it can't be done. There are plenty of guys who've already done it. The R/T is a great deal for the money ($23K), but if you really want to go fast (mid 13s) then get a Lightning.


Dave

 

The 2002 Lighting has more horsepower (360) and a more agressive rear-end ratio...and it can spank a new Mustang Cobra...now why ford would do something like that is beyond me....unless they are trying to NOT sell mustangs. Typical FORD move.

 

That would be a good race. the only Dakota R/T i've ever seen at the dragstrip was running 14.8s with just intake and exhaust. this one was a 5 speed however, not auto. they make 255hp, just in case anyone was wondering.... its the same engine as in the 5.9L Grand Chero Ltd.

Neal

 

With that much HP and I'm sure gobs of torque you would think that they would be in the 13s or at least low 14s out of the box...

 

It wasn't a real R/T is it had aa 5 speed. The R/Ts only come as automatics. The 5.9 is rated at 250hp and 345 ftlbs of torque. The problem with the R/T is heavy weight, 5.9s inability to make power past 4500 rpms, and a poorly geared automatic. Adding a set of headers and intake supposedly "opens" this motor up and lets rev to a more realistic 5100rpms. The earlier R/Ts wwere largely inconsistent at the track and many believed Dodge had some problems with quality control.


And whomever said it was a bad marketing move to make the Lightning perform better than the Cobra, I agree, BUT Ford sells EVERY Mustang they make. They must be doing something right. BTW, the new 2001 Cobra is making all it's 320 hp this year and Car & Driver ran a 13.8@102mph which is the same et and speed as they ran with the Lightning. If you add a set of 4.30 gears to the Cobra (it comes with a extremely weak 3.27 ratio) the Cobra would smoke the hell out of the Lightning. I find it amazing the Cobra can even run a 13 with the stock crap gears.


Dave

 

Yeah, the 5.9 in the Dakotas aren't that bad. I had the same setup on my Ram, and I know personally that those motors are REALLY hard to make good power out of. Ask any MOPAR fan, and they know that the electronics on Magnum engines totally eats crap when it comes to modifying. Don't know why, but it does. They already come with 3" exhausts, and you'd think they'd be a great platform for a sport truck. By the way, my truck in it's earlier years revved past 5K just fine...and I'm not talking about wheezing in the upper rpms either, it pulled, even before the exhaust with 3.73 gears. Surprised all the service writers too. But be careful of those Lightnings...I love those trucks. They're bad boy machines. Last year I've seen a club of their's at my local dragstrip, and the fastest one was running 11's...no juice.

 

I ran a V8 Dakota one evening on a rolling start... He had pretty good low end but after about 50... pulled away easily... and that was before the Y....

 

The Lightnings are very fast trucks and would blow the doors off a maxima. But give that maxima a supercharger also and see what happens. The Dakota R/T are also quick but considering the size moter and the little truck it is slow. The new chevs are something to talk about.

 

You should've seen the Red R/T running the Chicago SoloII this weekend. Modified engine, suspension & gutted for weight. Guy works as a Chrysler mechanic in one of their plants.

He stomped on 300ZX's, a Miata, IS300, Vette, etc. It was scary to see that thing coming at you from the slalom!