I truly love the look of the 2000 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab with the XLT package. I particularly love the styling of the wheel well protrusions, particularly for the front wheels. I love the look of the front grill. The truck's profile is pleasing to the eye. The particular truck I have was bought used, and the previous owner had the vehicle stripped of all identifying markers except the symbol that says "V8 Magnum." The clean look, dark tinted windows, spray on bed liner, lowered suspension, and premium alloy wheels give this truck a high-end look. I also love the practicality of the truck. As a father of five, the quad cab is much needed and often used. I found the back seat floor board to be surprisingly spacious. While one sacrifices some bed space because of the four doors, the bed space is adequate for most of my needs. Of course, I find myself using the truck bed constantly, and I am not sure how I functioned without it. The truck has had some mechanical issues over the years, certainly more than I am pleased with. I have replaced both 02 sensors twice, tie rods (in the process ruining two tires that should have still had a year or more of tread on them), then the entire steering system. I have also had to replace the water pump and all the hoses in that system. The compressor went out in the ac system. A year later, the evaporator went out. I have since been without AC as I have not had the money to get it fixed. The truck only has 160,000 miles on it, and really I am not pleased with the number and nature of the needed repairs.

When I first purchased this vehicle I was extremely happy with it. It had about 30,000 miles and ran perfectly. The interior was real nice, electronic windows, locks and mirrors all worked perfectly. About a year into driving the vehicle the panels holding the window and lock switches popped out of the door. I had to essentially glue them back into place. The plastic finish on all the interior panels began to come loose and tear, the driver seat fabric began to rip as well. All of this was with less than 50,000 miles on the vehicle. About a year after I began to have a lot of random issues with the truck. The first thing I had to fix was an airbag sensor in the passenger seat that was causing the vehicle to register an air bag warning. Several months later it developed an exhaust leak on the manifold. The latest issue to spring up is that power mirrors no longer adjust when using the controls. Over all I'd give this vehicle a 3 out of 5 since these are all relatively minor problems, but I did expect more out of Dodge.

My Dodge Dakota 1999 was my first vehicle, and I love it. As a petite female, it made an excellent car-- I could sit up high in it and see everything. I inherited it from my dad when he bought himself a new car, so it had always been well-taken care of, even though it's on the older side. It's had its issues, but still runs very smoothly.