First drive Ram 1500 diesel

"Whether the diesel will save money in the long run is another question. Ram is charging a $4,500 price premium for the diesel engine over the gasoline V6. If our guesstimates about fuel economy are correct, with the diesel delivering 4 MPG better than the gas V6, it would take over two decades for the diesel to pay for itself. The comparison against the 5.7 liter HEMI V8 is a bit more favorable: The diesel is priced $2,850 higher and with a projected improvement of 7 MPG, the payoff would come in just under 5 years. (Our figures are based on national average fuel prices of $3.62/gallon for gasoline and $3.97 for diesel.)"

And this thread will re-hash the diesel debate and go on for many pages :)

They always neglect to mention how much of the $2850 difference is left at the end of 5 years?
I always consider the resale residual of any option,leather,nav, engine , 4X4 , etc etc.

It will be interesting to see the towing MPG results. We are averaging 27.5 in mixed driving with our Touareg 3.0 diesel, but only 14.5 towing our 4,500 lb trailer. If the Ram is averaging 24 in mixed driving, I'm thinking 13-14 towing. I hope I'm wrong because the market has been waiting for a truck with a smaller diesel for a long time, but the economics seem to favor daily driving rather than towing given the price difference.

sky_free wrote:
It will be interesting to see the towing MPG results. We are averaging 27.5 in mixed driving with our Touareg 3.0 diesel, but only 14.5 towing our 4,500 lb trailer. If the Ram is averaging 24 in mixed driving, I'm thinking 13-14 towing. I hope I'm wrong because the market has been waiting for a truck with a smaller diesel for a long time, but the economics seem to favor daily driving rather than towing given the price difference.

I don't see any problem with 12 - 13 towing mpg, and don't expect to see anything on the market exceed those numbers anytime soon. Your experience is probably about as good as it gets. I tow a similar trailer to yours at about 8 mpg right now. 14 is at the high end of my mixed driving (not towing). I would be all over a pickup with those reported numbers.

sky_free wrote:
It will be interesting to see the towing MPG results. We are averaging 27.5 in mixed driving with our Touareg 3.0 diesel, but only 14.5 towing our 4,500 lb trailer. If the Ram is averaging 24 in mixed driving, I'm thinking 13-14 towing...

Super. I logged onto this forum just to sort this out. Articles about the little-turbo-Ram diesel have been saying: "just under 30 mpg highway", so your 24 mpg "mixed driving" sounds right to me.

Common wisdom is that diesels are best for their high torque. This Ram would have 420 lb.ft per US-News. I foresee just buzzing my way up a mountain pass, even at altitudes in Colorado. Are the diesels exceptional for fuel economy when towing, also? The smaller displacement surely makes sense for fuel economy. An engine that sucks in a lot of air to serve all those cylinders is going to naturally consume more fuel just to hit a proper lean/rich ratio. A truck could get smaller displacement with Ford Ecoboost or Chevrolet V6 with "active fuel management", too.

Good read and also noticed something that I thought was, "curious/funny" in a way..

"Surprisingly, Ram isn't using a Cummins powerplant; its new 3.0-liter "EcoDiesel" V6 is made by VM Motori. Fiat, owner of Ram's parent company Chrysler, also owns half of VM, and that no doubt factored into this decision. (Ironically, General Motors owns the other half.)


GM owns the other half of the VM Motori Italian made diesel....seems they got their choice of which diesel to put in their 1500 GM/Chevy truck....2 diesels to pick from:)

Brassica wrote:

sky_free wrote:
It will be interesting to see the towing MPG results. We are averaging 27.5 in mixed driving with our Touareg 3.0 diesel, but only 14.5 towing our 4,500 lb trailer. If the Ram is averaging 24 in mixed driving, I'm thinking 13-14 towing...

Super. I logged onto this forum just to sort this out. Articles about the little-turbo-Ram diesel have been saying: "just under 30 mpg highway", so your 24 mpg "mixed driving" sounds right to me.

Common wisdom is that diesels are best for their high torque. This Ram would have 420 lb.ft per US-News. I foresee just buzzing my way up a mountain pass, even at altitudes in Colorado. Are the diesels exceptional for fuel economy when towing, also? The smaller displacement surely makes sense for fuel economy. An engine that sucks in a lot of air to serve all those cylinders is going to naturally consume more fuel just to hit a proper lean/rich ratio. A truck could get smaller displacement with Ford Ecoboost or Chevrolet V6 with "active fuel management", too.

You cannot hurt a Diesel engine running it lean.

NC Hauler wrote:
Good read and also noticed something that I thought was, "curious/funny" in a way..

"Surprisingly, Ram isn't using a Cummins powerplant; its new 3.0-liter "EcoDiesel" V6 is made by VM Motori. Fiat, owner of Ram's parent company Chrysler, also owns half of VM, and that no doubt factored into this decision. (Ironically, General Motors owns the other half.)


GM owns the other half of the VM Motori Italian made diesel....seems they got their choice of which diesel to put in their 1500 GM/Chevy truck....2 diesels to pick from:)

The new Chevy Cruze diesel's engine is Germany manufactured. But I believe it was conceived in Italy. Think I read that in Car & Driver.

If the engine design is Italian...have a feeling that VM maybe the company.

Interesting review. Its not a terrible upgrade price for the diesel for signifigantly better fuel mileage. I would have hoped for higher payload and towing numbers, but its obvious that Ram isn't trying to compete with their 3/4 ton market. I wasn't a huge fan of this when I first heard about it, but it really sounds like a winner for Ram. I love competition!

It's all about EPA & CAFE.............and preservation of product to sell in this particular market segment..............