Fuel milage

[HBarlow]

Delta fuel milage betwen 3. 73 and 4. 10 gears will not be sufficient to notice. Wind, load, terrain, and road speed (wind drag) make the big differences in fuel mileage, not differential gears.

 

[champspa]

the way they're printing money 4 dollar fuel is going to be cheap . I'll bet 5 and approaching 6 in the next 4 yrs . the arabs tie fuel to the value of the dollar

 

[Wiredawg]

Friends,

I'm posting to generate discussion, not to argue. We bought my wife a new 2003 2500 4X4 SB w/ HO Cummins. We never tow with it... it's her daily driver to work, 72 miles round trip every day. We traded a '96 1500 5. 9 Magnum Gasser. We got 15 mpg with the gasser... got 18 mpg with new truck. We chose the Cummins because of durability and low maintenance. I realize there is a different comparrison now with Hemi HD gassers and Cummins HD, but I'm confident we would follow the same decision if my wife were buying a truck now.

FYI: A couple of years ago, I tried to talk he into getting a Jetta TDI... her answer: If I like it, I can get it. She wants steel around her and to sit up higher. Her truck is basically safer.

I'm sure there are are other factors to make the decision to purchase on, but for us it's diesel Cummins.

Take care all,

Ron

 

[EricBu12]

WTG Wiredawg. . The 35 mile trip to work especially if it is freeway will be good for the emission system. . Should work good



Oops noticed it was a 2003. . then it should be a solid truck forever.

 

[ramduk]

Just took my first trip in my new rig. Had 6OO miles on it when I left. Drove 148 miles in South Central Texas (flat) pulling a 12,000 lb. travel trailer against a moderate head wind. 9 MPG. Did not drive over 65 mph. Trip home with no trailer and max speed limit. Mostly 70-75. No wind factor. 18. 1 Mpg. This is per the evic.



It did a short regen on the trip down but no regen on the way back.



Very comparable to my 2003 Duramax.

 

[NIsaacs]

I just made a round trip to Montana (2530 miles) with my son and his '12 Mega dually, max tow w/3. 73's. I could not find anything about the truck that I didn't like and I am a manual transmission guy. Average fuel milage for the trip was 14. 02, worst tank was 13. 04 and best tank was 15. 11 the evic showed 13. 8 for the trip, so it is real close. The truck is heavy with two large tool boxes that fill the short bed. The truck had 3150 miles on it with several regen's but none on the trip. He changed the oil before we left.



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

I just made a round trip to Montana (2530 miles) with my son and his '12 Mega dually, max tow w/3. 73's. I could not find anything about the truck that I didn't like and I am a manual transmission guy. Average fuel milage for the trip was 14. 02, worst tank was 13. 04 and best tank was 15. 11 the evic showed 13. 8 for the trip, so it is real close. The truck is heavy with two large tool boxes that fill the short bed. The truck had 3150 miles on it with several regen's but none on the trip. He changed the oil before we left.

Nick

Nick,

Regeneration occurred a number of times, you just weren't aware of it.

 

[EGroeneveld]

I just made a round trip to Montana (2530 miles) with my son and his '12 Mega dually, max tow w/3. 73's. I could not find anything about the truck that I didn't like and I am a manual transmission guy. Average fuel milage for the trip was 14. 02, worst tank was 13. 04 and best tank was 15. 11 the evic showed 13. 8 for the trip, so it is real close. The truck is heavy with two large tool boxes that fill the short bed. The truck had 3150 miles on it with several regen's but none on the trip. He changed the oil before we left.



Nick

Sounds about right, mine is slightly worse as I have 4. 10 gears. I ran empty (and not towing) up to Olympia, WA, sticking to pretty much the speed limit (55 and 65 in OR and 70 WA) and got 13. 6 on the trip. With maybe 10 miles of off the HWY travel on the tank. I am just shy of 40k miles on the truck. Still cheaper for me to run the truck then to buy a more efficient car as most of my out of town travel is for camping and/or ATV/RZR riding which is the purpose of the truck. And my wife does have a Hybrid Camry she sometimes lets me do these runs in.....

 

[ramduk]

Had to run to town this am. Just after I left the truck went into regen and my mileage average dropped from 18. 1 to 17. 6 mpg. I have a Edge Insight display that shows when regen starts and ends. It also shows the DOC temp which goes up to just above 1100 during regen for a short time.

 

[NIsaacs]

Nick,



Regeneration occurred a number of times, you just weren't aware of it.

You are probably right. I was just going by what my son said, that every time it goes into regen it shows that on the evic.



Nick

 

[CUMMINZ]

I'll chime in here. Three days ago I bought a 2500 HEMI 4wd. When I first drive the truck I was really impressed with the power, and I just got rid of my 2005 with Edge box. SO, I bought the hipe of the HEMI. I towed with it once (6000lbs) and took it back today to trade in on a HO Cummins. I could not get better than 10. 4 mpg towing no matter how conservative I was. Even worse, I had to put in premium fuel to keep it from pinging on the hills, which negates the cost of fuel!! Even in town, it sucked fuel. After owning Cummins for the last 15 years I should have known better, but was trying to save a few $$$.

But you owned a "HEMI"

 

[RonD]

It doesn't show on the EVIC, in 20,000 miles I could tel maybe twice, the exhaust had a burning smell when I was parking a couple times, mine is 99% towing so maybe I am missing something, also why would one really care anyway when it is taking place, there isn't anything you can do anyway.

You are probably right. I was just going by what my son said, that every time it goes into regen it shows that on the evic.

Nick

 

[JLeake]

I have been able to tell when mine regens the DPF, the mileage drops significantly (as in over 50%). Has not been near as noticeable after the last software update. As I understand it the EVIC will only show regen when the DPF is over 80% plugged, not a good situation to be in.

 

[erik72]

I've been contemplating the same thing. I've had only 3/4 ton trucks now for nearly 13 years. I prefer having a 3/4t so considering a 1/2t is on the fringe. But if you were only considering mileage, then the 1/2t truck wins hands down. I work for a company that buys Dodges for work trucks. One superintendent has a '12 2500HD with the Hemi. It gets 12mpg... period. He hasn't towed with it but I wouldn't suspect it would do any better that some of the results I've read in this thread. Below are some numbers I'm considering while deciding what to do. Basically I anticipate driving nearly 120,000 miles over three years (Construction). These are today's fuel prices but in general, gas has been about $0. 55 per gallon cheaper than diesel. (at least here in Georgia). 15 mpg has been my experience with a 2010 2500 mega-cab 4x4 (which is listed for sale by the way in the classified section). The bottom number with a total cost of $36k includes the cost of the diesel engine (ammortized over 5yrs for 3yrs). In my case I certainly don't need a 3/4t diesel but I like having it. Though $13k over 3 years just might convince me to buy a 1/2t this time.

 

[RonD]

If you don't tow, or carry heavy loads just buy the 1/2 ton and save the money, if I didn't tow the last think I would own is a Diesel truck

 

[RVTRKN]

4:10 over the 3:73 does save in MPG when towing heavy, because its easier on the engine. 3:73 will seem like its always pulling up a grade compared to towing with the 4:10. But empty will vary depending on the terrain, your foot into the throttle heavy. I have not hand calculated mine since I got it new in 07, I posted the overhead results, as well as the hand calculated results, on a trip to Kansas with an empty (no bed) and the B&W bed on the return trip. When all was said and done it was so close between the two I just rely on the overhead now. At #9500 GVW running 70MPH its about 16-17. I had a 2500 2X2 with the 5. 9 Magnum gasser, and like posted earlier while climbing grades at 12K GCVW you could see the gas gauge move. Gassers are a good choice if your biggest RV or Boat stays within 12-15 GCVW, but it will be toast after 100K. My brother had a Hemi gasser manual 5spd and hated it, thats why he bought my 2500 CTD. BTW he had 120K on it and was worried about the dependability.

 

[DiamondDiver]

I just finished a short trip with the 5er to a campsite near my house. Towing with the 6. 7L Cummins 2500 with 4. 10 gears was really smooth. With the exhaust brake and tow/haul mode the rig stops as easy as it pulls. Mileage was about 11 MPG taking secondary roads at about 50 mph with frequent (every) red lights.



With a big trip out west planned for this spring, I'm really happy I pulled the trigger on the new Ram. The added dependability as well as a valid warranty and roadside assistance was the deal clincher for me. I have 2000 miles on the odometer now and mileage seems to be improving as the engine breaks in. A friend of mine with a 2010 said his 6. 7L Ram didn't really finish breaking in until he had 30K on the odometer.



I'm getting about 17 MPG empty and I can live with 11-12 MPG towing a 39 ft. 5er. Next trip I'm headed past a weigh station, I'll get combined weight and work out some real numbers. I'm still curious as to what kind of mileage I'll get on the interstate with the 5er in tow.

 

[NIsaacs]

It doesn't show on the EVIC, also why would one really care anyway when it is taking place, there isn't anything you can do anyway.

My son said his does, I have no reason to doubt him. His has a build date of May, 2012 if that matters. It's not that I care or want to do something about the regen, I am just curious thats all, I have never been in or driven a 6. 7 before, so I want to learn about them.



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Ram trucks cost a few thousand dollars more to buy new with a Cummins engine but they retain much of that upfront cost in resale value. They also offer a service life about two or three times longer than a gasoline half ton. When the entire cost of purchase and operation for 200k or 300k miles minus resale value I'm not convinced a gas 1/2 ton is cheaper.

Each to his own.

 

[jgillott]

For what it's worth, I filled up our 1/2 ton (Crew Cab 4x4, 4. 7L auto and 3. 92 gears) yesterday. Just over 325 miles of mixed driving, no towing and no load. 13. 75 mpg.