No matter the price of gasoline, some folks still need to tow a boat and haul the people riding in the boat. Some folks still need to carry firewood or horse feed or camping gear.

So some folks will still be buying pickup trucks like the redesigned Dodge Dakota, a midsize truck with full-size power.

Dodge (ENLARGE)

The Dakota can tow up to 7,000 pounds. Its engine power, however, costs in gas mileage, but an incentive program, good through July 7, caps the price at $2.99 a gallon for the next three years.

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The standard Dakota engine is a 3.7-liter V-6 producing 210 horsepower and 235 pounds-feet of torque. New this year is the availability of a 302-horsepower 4.7-liter V-8 paired with a five-speed automatic transmission.

The Dakota can tow up to 7,000 pounds.

The bigger engine provides strong acceleration but also sucks gas. We got just over 15 mpg in a weeklong test drive that included typical commuter driving and a few trips to Home Depot to haul home pine straw.

The list of standard equipment on the Dakota, however, includes a time machine that takes you back a couple of years to when gasoline was less than $3 a gallon. A gas card incentive program caps your fuel cost at $2.99 for the next three years. The incentive is good through July 7.

The Dakota is a flex fuel vehicle that runs on gasoline or E-85, a blend of gasoline and ethanol. Using E-85 may lower your cost per mile in the future as the price of oil climbs. There are now about a dozen E-85 stations across metro Atlanta.

The Dakota crew cab is comfortable for four and filled with gadgets like a 276-watt sound system with satellite radio.

But you won't find the luxury often seen in pickup trucks these days.

The materials used in the interior just don't measure up to those found in competing trucks.

The starting MSRP of the Dakota is $29,475.

The V-8 test vehicle had a sticker price of $35,805.