2015 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn EcoDiesel Reader Questions Answered
Tim Esterdahl | Aug 06, 2015 | Comments 7
After receiving a lengthy list of questions from our readers … well Randy … I decided it would be best to respond to all of them via a video. Here you go Randy, this one’s for you!
I hope this answers all of your questions for now. Some of the questions we just couldn’t get to with time constraints and being a one-person shop.
We will have more details in the coming weeks.
Filed Under: TundraHeadquarters.com
Nicely done Tim. I have been following this project since it started being an old Diesel Mechanic for 40+ years.Really appreciate you looking at various brands and models. This is very cool. Thanks again I will be watching for more !
“with time constraints and being a one-person shop”
May be there should be a single site that caters to both the Tundra and Tacoma. With the volume that both attract, a second person could help support it. Perhaps ToyotaTrucksHQ?
Just a thought.
LJC,
It is a good thought and one that Jason and I have discussed. He is owner of both sites, yet his business has pushed his attention elsewhere.
Our synopsis is that a Tundra and Tacoma customer are often different people. One is into working/towing while the other is into off-roading. I’m not sure I do a great job covering the off-road aspect since I don’t do that very often. And this is likely why TundraHQ is much larger than Tacomahq.
Also, the reality is I’m less than a part-timer. So, we would have to quadruple our traffic (or better) to make it feasible.
-Tim
Tim:
I am very thankful that you folks even considered doing this test on the Eco Diesel.Being the old Diesel wrench I am always looking for info. Now Have to look at the new Titan HD with the 5.0 Cummins V-8. That would be quite a write up as well.Likely to be a game/class changer too.Love the Articles.
Wayne,
I’m inline to the get the new Nissan Titan in September. I CAN’T WAIT! It looked amazing frankly at the Detroit Auto Show and I’m incredibly curious how it will be in person.
-Tim
Tim,
Great update, thanks for posting the Ram details.
Weather Stripping: It looks like the Ram and Tundra are very similar. The Tundra has two complete “circles” of weather stripping; one on the door and one set on the door jamb. I think the Ram was the same, but a little hard to see that part of it in your video, since you focused only on the doors. The miscellaneous filler sections on the door were also similar. The filler sections on the Tundra seemed to be higher quality?
Navigation: No question the Tundra has a significantly better Navigation system. Here is why;
1. It uses conversational style free form language.
2. This means you can use it while driving.
Thus you do not have to spend an inordinate amount of time hitting numerous buttons on the screen, nor do you have to wait and enter the information into “buckets” and “pockets”. Nor do you have to pull over to the side of the road and play with it forever, to try to make it do what you want.
This makes the Tundra’s Navigation more user friendly (at least for an automotive infotainment system) and a good bit faster.
Because the “entire” infotainment system uses a conversational style voice command system, it means you usually do not have to bother with even saying things like “navigation” or other “buckets” to hit.
Thus you can simply say: “Play Blake Shelton” (bam you got it).
And then say: “Give me directions to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Terminal C” (bam you got it). By default you have it linked to either Bing or Yelp, without having to even tell it that. And of course by voice command you can override your own defaults as well.
You can be as vague or specific as you want; for example if I say: “Take me to the Alamo” it will list about a dozen places in Dallas that have “the Alamo” in their name (there are quite a few). But if I want the “real” one in San Antonio I say: “Take me to the Alamo in San Antonio”. It quickly provides me with all “the Alamo’s” in San Antonio in a list, I hit the interrupt button on the steering wheel and say “2” (the second one on the list) and bam I am on my way.
Keep in mind; this is easily accomplished all while driving.
So based on your review, here are my grades on these items:
Weather Stripping: Tundra “A-“ Ram “A-“
Navigation: Tundra “A-“ Ram “D-“
I understand the new Ford Sync 3 that should be here in a few months? This is their attempt to copy the Tundra’s navigation conversational style language. Time will tell if it works?
Of course Tundra has already had several improvements since my 2014 Tundra is now 2 years old. I understand the 2016 Tundra has got some significant improvements as well, particularly in the Navigation area. Who knows they could take it to the “A+” level?
Thanks
Randy
It looks like the Tundra’s navigation will be going to A+ sooner than later.
I just got an email notice of a new “Destination Search” that will be replacing the Bing engine search. I suppose the Yelp search is still there but do not know for sure.
The listing in the email has several new features – all designed to make the ease of use even better. All of these are included in the 2016 Tundra, but Toyota has got the 2014 and 2015 covered as well with the “update” this month.
Smartphone users will automatically get the update and then the next time you drive you truck you will be ask to load the update to the multimedia system (like JBL Entune).