First drive Ram 1500 diesel

Sky Free, we get the same numbers from our MB GL350 as you get with your VW. I think your on target with the Ram.

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

DING DING DING..theres your winner

The only reason they have it.

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

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!

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.

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.

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:)

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.

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.

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.