Starting out with a truck that's almost four inches longer than the previous Dakota, with almost all the extra length devoted to front crush space and deeper bumpers to meet future crash standards, the new Dakota boats almost 56 cubic feet of interior space.
The new size goes hand in hand with an all-new look, with much sharper edges on the laid-back grille, roof, fenders, doors and bed, and fender lines deliberately extended halfway along the length of the door. The Dakota retains the look of the Dodge Ram and Durango, though it looks crisper and the grille is laid back, not vertical. The intersection of the front fender, multi-element, twin-lens headlamp and grille makes the whole design work beautifully.

Underneath, there is a completely new frame shared in part with the Durango SUV, a frame that is eight times as strong in twist resistance and twice as strong in bending resistance as the old frame, introduced in 1997. A new coil-over-shock independent front suspension is used on both two- and four-wheel-drive models, with conventional leaf springs at the rear. All models come with front and rear tow hooks and tie-downs in the bed.

New to the Dakota is an Enhanced Accident Response System or EARS, which automatically turns on interior lights and unlocks doors in the event of an air bag deployment, so that medical or response personnel can help faster and easier.

Just about everything on the inside of the Dakota is new. There are new black-on-white gauges with chrome rings, with the central speedometer about twice as large as the other two gauges. The angular center stack houses the sound system, climate controls, and vents. The thick four-spoke steering wheel features audio and cruise controls.
The designers have added in more brushed sheetmetal accents around the cockpit, and the whole design works very well in terms of usability, convenience, and reach. The plastic materials looked good, but not great, and interior fits and finishes were good.

books

sponsored links

This truck has four huge doors that open out to nearly 90 degrees, so ingress and egress were very good, indeed. The rear seats are deliberately stepped up on their bases so that rear-seat occupants can see out more easily, and they are split into 40/20/40 folding sections with two rear cupholders.

The driver's seat, the only one we occupied for any length of time, looked good and felt good with its upper and lower support wings and good padding where it counts. Interior room, even for a tall, gangly driver like me, was excellent. It's the best in the class with this new cab size. The rear seat room in our Quad Cab test truck was more than generous for family-style use, with 33 cubic feet of storage behind the rear seat. A center console and lots of cubbyholes provide space to stash stuff.

New interior features for the 2005 Dakota include standard head restraints and shoulder belts for all seat positions, taller head restraints, optional Sirius Satellite Radio, and an optional hands-free communications system that uses Bluetooth technology to make a compatible cellphone work as part of the truck.