First drive Ram 1500 diesel

We did get a chance to take some shorter loops later in the day with a Laramie 4x4 with the EcoDiesel; when navigating the navigating the wide open city streets on our 12-mile test loop, we averaged 42 mph and 22.7 mpg.

We also got a chance to do a bit of towing. Ram provided us with a small boat and trailer (weighing about 3,000 pounds) for us to drive the urban 12-mile route. We managed to get 15.4 mpg under load in tow mode.

In all fairness, that is city mileage, not open road. I get around 14 unloaded in the city, and towing my trailer with the constant stopping and starting and low speeds I'm sure I get much worse.

I'm not sure what to expect with this engine, but it seems like the mileage is going to be pretty good. My hat is off to Ram, they just raised the bar pretty high with this engine. I like the idea of the Ecoboost, but this seems to have better mileage. Yea, the Ford with max tow and max payload allows for higher pin weights (good thing in my opinion) but Ram doesn't seem to be going after that market. Ram seems to want a standard half ton with much better economy. So far, it sounds like they will get that.