Maybe part of the problem is dealers trying to pull this crap, lol
I have seen pics of widow stickers where dealerships were upcharging for cat etching on full-electric vehicles, of all things.
I feel conflicted about this whole topic - I needed at least a full size if not an HD recently for tow capacity in a
big hurry and it ended up being a tossup between:
- F250's, of which there were basically only 95k+ trims and bare bones work trucks on the lots
- Ram 2500's, but again with awful selection despite the voluminous inventory
Basically none of the Ram dealers were willing to budge on MSRP - some even wanted upcharges over sticker. They were drowning in white work trucks with no fleet sales people working. Ford was offering pretty decent discounts, but it was just white XL's and there were zero crew cab short beds within 150+ miles.
Ended up snagging a RAM 2500 Tradseman w/ the Power Wagon package, cutting a check for MSRP 😑 . Only one on a lot in the state so between that and our time crunch, talking them down wasn't really practical. They did come out with a
15k upcharge for every BS addon under the sun, which we promptly rejected and didn't pay for. Not that I really care about free wheel locks or ceramic coat, etc.
I love the truck, Stellantis vibes aside; we have never owned a full size let alone a 3/4 ton. 6.4 gets me better gas mileage on the highway than my Frontier if I'm not towing. It hauls what I need to tow effortlessly (3-7k lbs). Payload is a couple hundred pounds higher than most of the actual Power Wagons because it is
bare bones - it's like sitting in a U-haul rental. OEM brake controller and tow-haul mode is excellent. All I needed was Line-X, some Sumosprings in the back, and low profile step boards and we're good. The 10 year old Frontier will almost certainly get replaced by another newer one in a couple of years, but having this giant ass truck has really been life changing. We don't daily drive it but 2/3 of the 5000 miles on it has been pulling a trailer, and most of the rest has had the bed full.
Other notable aspect of it is that overall it's on the small side for an HD cab - not that we feel it coming from a midsize - and it fits in a normal parking space.