2009 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab Lone Star

This truck is very well equipped, including heavy-duty suspension and trailer towing equipment. -Photo © Chrysler Motors LLC.

Despite the photo, the truck we tested was a Crew Cab Dakota with the Lone Star package, essentially a Dodge Dakota SXT with a couple of "Lone Star" badges for Texas bragging rights. (Dodge actually did this to a Dodge sedan back in the mid-1950s, selling a "Dodge Texan," though nobody we talked to outside of Texas believed us when we told them about it.)

What Dodge now calls a "mid-size" truck is about the size large American pickups were ten years ago or less. Still, it offers another option for those who need a truck and a family car as well, and the Dakota as tested is a great deal less expensive than the big trucks we've tested. It does, of course, have less equipment on it as well: no four-wheel drive, no leather seats and no DVD player in back, for instance.

On the other hand, all of those things are no doubt available for just a bit more money if you just have to have them. But at $29,810, this truck was very well equipped, including heavy-duty suspension, trailer towing equipment, 3.7-liter V6 engine, four-speed automatic transmission, limited slip rear differential, heavy-duty suspension and the usual cruise, tilt, air conditioning, remote keyless entry and remote start, plus the almost mandatory satellite radio system.

In other words, this truck is comfortable, but not pampering; ready for work, but not intended for heavy hauling, which makes it a very good compromise for those who need a truck and a car but can only justify buying one. And, let's face it; a truck makes a better car than a car does a truck.

This is, as the Dakota has always been, a three-quarter-size pickup truck. It's just a bit larger than the small trucks, but just a bit smaller than the really big pickups. And it is really only larger because everything else in its market has gotten larger, a not uncommon trait for vehicles sold in the United States, no matter where they are designed and built.

Well, everything is a compromise, and this is a pretty good one. For starters, you don't need a ladder to get into it, particularly in two-wheel drive configuration. And it's a good bit easier to maneuver in a parking lot or while driving through an area in which the road is under construction. Yet it still has four doors and reasonably comfortable space for three adults in the back seat.

The Dakota Crew Cab is comfortable on the road as well. The four-door configuration and the truck bed at the rear mean the wheelbase is fairly long, improving the ride under most circumstances. There is space for adults in front or in back, and aside from not being able to recline the rear seats they are as comfortable as the fronts.

We question the wisdom of leather seats in a work truck, so we think the cloth seats (treated against both stain and odor) make sense in a multi-purpose vehicle. Visibility is better than in most sedans and coupes, and as the driver and passengers ride a little higher than in cars they have a better view of the road without the Dakota feeling top-heavy.

Fuel economy is rated by the EPA at 15 miles per gallon in town and 20 mpg on the highway, but we didn't get to make a good mileage check, as we had no highway trips to make that week. Past history with both Dodge and the new (as of 2008) EPA numbers lead us to think 17 mpg in town and 22 mpg on the highway is probably conservative. The Dakota did come equipped with a 22-gallon fuel tank, so range shouldn't be much of a problem.

Dodge does have one major advantage with the Dakota, of course: no one else makes a three-quarter-size pickup, though that could change in the next few years. A lot of things might change, and the future of the large pickup might well look like a Dakota if we get a little smarter about things.

Still, the Dodge Dakota is here now, and makes a pretty good four-door sedan with a truck bed behind it at about the price of a well-equipped four-door sedan. We also happen to like the fact that a Dodge pickup doesn't look like all the other trucks on the market, but that's a personal thing.