Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
I ordered a Ram 1500 Ecodiesel a couple weeks ago. Truck is still in a "Production Scheduled" status. Being an American boy, the wait is hard.
A lot of 1/2ton pickup owners wonder what the charm is for a truck that gets a little better mileage, but wants more expensive fuel, not to mention the urea stuff. 3/4ton owners laugh at the cargo capacity. I think I'm in the sweetspot for the Ram Ecodiesel tho. It will be 50% daily driver and once/month it will tow a 7000lb enclosed trailer 7-16hrs round trip. Right now that role is filled by a 2000 F-250 7.3l diesel. I get 12.5mpg both towing and in daily driver mode. I've poured over the web reading every scrap of info I could find re. the Ecodiesel and I'm thinking I'm likely to get 15ish towing and >25mpg as a daily driver. That's such a huge difference in mpg that it will cover a nice chunk of the payments.
Sure, gasser trucks can get decent mileage, but gassers struggle towing. I could get something with a big V8, get decent daily driver mpg, but then get 7mpg towing and that would truly kick my ***. The gasser fans point to the high cost of diesel, but since this is primarily a diesel forum, you guys know that if you shop a little for diesel the price isn't that much more than mid-grade gas. Towing a heavy load with 87 would be just wrong.
Sure, the 1500 is a bit limited in cargo capacity and that's a bummer. The payload of my unseen Ram Big Horn is apparently 1400lbs, which ain't a helova lot. But I'm running 800lbs of tongue weight so as long as I don't have a bunch of crap in the bed I should have enough spare capacity to keep the lawyers at bay. I did figure on putting some airbags inside the rear coil springs tho. Otherwise folks might laugh at me as I cruise down the freeway pulling the trailer with the truck's rear end on the bumpstops.
I'm in Savannah, GA. a cute little tourist town on the coast. Former Marine and Army. Now a computer geek married to a lawyer-chick with 3 boys in grade school. Obsessed with racing an 80's BMW and triathlon. And beer. Am often a wise-***. I'm pretty handy around old BMWs, but I don't know a darn thing about Rams nor pretty much any other modern car/truck. I had a '99 Dodge Ram 5.7l once. It is not remembered fondly.
A lot of 1/2ton pickup owners wonder what the charm is for a truck that gets a little better mileage, but wants more expensive fuel, not to mention the urea stuff. 3/4ton owners laugh at the cargo capacity. I think I'm in the sweetspot for the Ram Ecodiesel tho. It will be 50% daily driver and once/month it will tow a 7000lb enclosed trailer 7-16hrs round trip. Right now that role is filled by a 2000 F-250 7.3l diesel. I get 12.5mpg both towing and in daily driver mode. I've poured over the web reading every scrap of info I could find re. the Ecodiesel and I'm thinking I'm likely to get 15ish towing and >25mpg as a daily driver. That's such a huge difference in mpg that it will cover a nice chunk of the payments.
Sure, gasser trucks can get decent mileage, but gassers struggle towing. I could get something with a big V8, get decent daily driver mpg, but then get 7mpg towing and that would truly kick my ***. The gasser fans point to the high cost of diesel, but since this is primarily a diesel forum, you guys know that if you shop a little for diesel the price isn't that much more than mid-grade gas. Towing a heavy load with 87 would be just wrong.
Sure, the 1500 is a bit limited in cargo capacity and that's a bummer. The payload of my unseen Ram Big Horn is apparently 1400lbs, which ain't a helova lot. But I'm running 800lbs of tongue weight so as long as I don't have a bunch of crap in the bed I should have enough spare capacity to keep the lawyers at bay. I did figure on putting some airbags inside the rear coil springs tho. Otherwise folks might laugh at me as I cruise down the freeway pulling the trailer with the truck's rear end on the bumpstops.
I'm in Savannah, GA. a cute little tourist town on the coast. Former Marine and Army. Now a computer geek married to a lawyer-chick with 3 boys in grade school. Obsessed with racing an 80's BMW and triathlon. And beer. Am often a wise-***. I'm pretty handy around old BMWs, but I don't know a darn thing about Rams nor pretty much any other modern car/truck. I had a '99 Dodge Ram 5.7l once. It is not remembered fondly.
