Any Newbie Interest??

Dakotas much lighter than Dusters and aspen/volares? Dunno about that, if anything they are about the same weight if not slightly heavier.

A 96 single cab shortbox dakota with a 2.5L 4 cyl weighs approx. 3042 lbs
An 01 is even heavier at about 3300+ lbs with the same 2.5L motor.

As for my vote, I go for Old school.

No sir, you misunderstood me. I was saying the Dakota would be much lighter than my full size Ram 2500. If I do few tricks and what-nots, the results would only be amplified in a lighter vehicle (Dakota). I made the correction in my original post. Thanks for point it out.