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By Sam Moses
New pickup is a Dodge Dakota with smoother styling.
Introduction
The 2006 Mitsubishi Raider is an all-new midsize pickup truck, although all new in this case must be qualified because it uses the chassis and engine of the Dodge Dakota and comes off the Dakota assembly line in Detroit. However, its sheet metal is totally unlike the Dakota's, and its interior is a unique design as well.
The Raider is available as either an Extended Cab with small access doors, or as a Double Cab four-door, with either a V6 or V8 engine. The Raider uses a welded ladder frame chassis, with hydroformed components, and follows Daimler-Chrysler's recent direction of producing trucks that are notably smooth and silent running. The rack-and-pinion steering makes the Raider quite nimble in tight situations, and the V8 offers the most torque in the class, with no significant loss in fuel mileage when compared to the V6. The gentle suspension sweetens the road ride, but limits off-road use.
The Raider was rushed to market, although because the powertrain is proven, reliability won't suffer. It mostly means that the Raider's individuality will grow as Mitsubishi begins to introduce options to distinguish it under the skin from the Dakota. If you need off-road capability, Mitsubishi makes it available with the DuroCross 4WD model, which is as macho as a Dakota, with better looks to boot.
With the exception of the aging Ford Ranger, the entire field of mid-size pickups is new. The Dodge Dakota was redesigned for 2005. The Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier were redesigned for 2005 and the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon were launched as 2004 models. The Ranger is the last of the small compact pickups that used to make up the class.
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