ScottG wrote:
The "niche" market is fuel efficiency and not the nonsense you spewed - something it does better than the the Ford. The people that buy them are after low operating costs and don't care about racing up hills.
Actually he does have a point in that the Ram with a Pentastar or the 2.7L would give you A LOT less operating costs that the Ecodiesel would if you only occasionally tow light loads around 6,000 lbs.
According to Fuelly.com, the average combined mpg people are getting in the Ecodiesel is 22.7 mpg. If you take the average diesel price of $2.78 then that would come out to a cost of 12.2 cents per mile. The Ram Pentastar averaged 19.2 mpg combined for 2013 and 2014. Applying the current US average of $2.48, then that would bring it to a cost of 12.9 cents per mile. This is with the difference of the two fuels at only $.30, but the difference will easily get to $.60-$1.00 in the winter months due to diesel also being used as heating fuel. In some areas of the country the cost difference is currently much more making the Ecodiesel have NO fuel cost benefit.
Okay, so if you took those cost per miles of each engines average combined fuel mileage, and applied them to an annual 15,000 miles per year then the yearly fuel bill for the Ecodiesel would be $1,837.00 and the Pentastar would be at $1,937.00. This would make the Ecodiesel about $100.00 cheaper each year in fuel. Now lets add DEF into the mix. In 15,000 miles, the Ecodiesel will go through about 7.5 gallons of DEF. If you use the DEF 2.5 gallon bottles, then you would more than likely pay about $12.00 per bottle which would be $36.00 annually. That $36 minus the $100 lead of the Ecodiesel fuel cost shrinks it down to a $64.00 savings.
But.... not so fast. There is the oil change and fuel filter too. The oil filter and fuel filter alone for the Ecodiesel cost about $30.00 to $40.00 EACH depending on where you get them. Unlike the diesels in the 3/4 and 1 tons where their PM schedules are much longer that the gas engines, the Ecodiesel and Pentastar are both at 10,000 miles. With the Pentastar you are looking at a $50.00 oil change at the most, but with the Ecodiesel you are looking at a $120.00 oil change plus another $30 for the fuel filter. That is a difference of $100 in the Pentastar favor.
Take that $64.00 from earlier that the Ecodiesel saved you in fuel(+DEF), and apply the $100 the Pentastar saves you on a PM. Then you are looking at the Ecodiesel costing you more per year all for a slower all around truck, not much more pulling capability, a lot less payload capability, and a huge difference in cost up front(like you guys always complain about). If you didn't tow that much per year or even towed heavy then you would have saved a lot more money with the Pentastar.
