MPG for new Ram 3500 CTD

our 05 duramax was showing the exact mileage as the math until 2009 when the speedometer decided to go insane. After the repair the numbers were way off from the math numbers so after 2 flashes. Going to Casa Grande from Wa st. 2 years ago the dic read 11.4 and the math was 11.18. Close enough. Like the post above tow and enjoy the trip. The mileage gets less important.

chevman

"Mine gets about 11 towing at 65mph and about 18.5 empty running 77mph. It will get to about 20-21 at 55mph empty on level highways, all by computer info. "

You have the exact same truck as I do, you must have gotten a "SPECIAL" one cuz I get no where that mileage with mine. Would be interesting to fill at the same place and travel solo for a 300 mile trip and fuel to see how much fuel each of us used!

spoon059 wrote:
I've got a 2500 with the 3.42 gears. I average around 18 (hand calculated) with mixed driving, NOT towing. On the highway empty I can get 22 at 70 mph+.

Towing a 9500 lbs travel trailer gets me about 12.5 on average. I'm very please with this truck. Your slightly taller gears will probably give you a little lower mileage... but still very good for a 7700 lbs truck blowing down the highway!

My experience is similar. Mixed use is 17ish for me. Highway at 65 I've seen 23 but more often it's 20-22 depending on wind and temps. 80+ freeway will tank it to 15-18 depending on wind and temps. I deal with higher elevations and way more mountains though. Towing a fifth wheel weighing a little over 10k lbs drops me to 10-12 depending on conditions and how hard I push it.

My EVIC has read a bit higher and a bit lower than hand calculated. I don't really track it too close anymore cause it's one of those things that doesn't really matter much. For how big and heavy it is and how well it performs I think it gets really good fuel economy overall.

rmoparman wrote:
Have a 2017 Ram 3500 CTD with 373 gears. Has about 500 miles on it. Will it get better MPG when broken in. Tripmeter says average 15 Mpg.

Thanks.

PS. IT sure is sweet. All smiles

The short answer is no it won't. (unless you want to split hairs)

The only reason an engine will pick up better mileage over time is because of friction loses. With todays roller cams and CNC diamond honed bores and high tech oils there's not much of that going on.

The reason you hear these stories is because of human nature. Most people that buy a new truck are not going to just putt around. They are going to get out on the road and say; "lets see what this puppy can do!" This uses a lot of fuel. After all the excitement wears off these people start driving their truck more normal and the mileage goes up and they assume that it's because of the engine breaking in.

Most don't figure out that it's because they are breaking in! :B

My Ram Computer,like many others is a notorious lier. With over 100K miles, and every refill hand calculated vs the "Lie-o-meter, We are rarely within 2 mpg difference. The computer "always" reads higher.

Our worst when towing was a week ago running west on I-80 across Nebraska into a hard headwind... 7.4mpg. The best was around 12 mpg....obviously,a tailwind! Our overall towing average is just below 10mpg (hand calculated). Our fuel mileage increased "slightly" after we "tweaked" exhaust and computer. Not too shabby when "dragging" around 20K lbs. memtb

Durb wrote:
Been perplexing me for a while. Why is it no one trusts the digital fuel monitoring but when hand calculating fuel economy they all trust the digital odometer?

I'd have to agree! I don't plan on running my tanks down to empty anytime because I know I have maybe 2.65 gals left because I hand calculated my fuel mileage...lol! I know what mine gets and only really need that info to figure about what a trip is going to cost me fuel wise. Outside of that, if the comp says I getting 18 but hand calculated I'm getting 17.5 or 18.6 I really don't see that it makes a big darn difference. When gauge hits a 1/4 tank its time to fill up. Yes your mileage will increase some as the truck gets broken in. Mine gets about 11 towing at 65mph and about 18.5 empty running 77mph. It will get to about 20-21 at 55mph empty on level highways, all by computer info.

The computer on my 2001 is reliably off by 1 mpg!

I believe they are really close, my last fill up showed 11.0 on the DIC and hand calculated was 10.96, close enough for me. The Chevy I had last was also real close, seems these new trucks monitor things pretty well.

crcr wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Lie-o-meters are notoriously inaccurate. Hand calculate is the only way to know for sure.

^^^ what he said.

Yup. Maybe the newest ones are better but Dodge/Ram LOM's are so infamous that no one trusts them.
Their problem is, they dont, or at least didn't actually measure fuel flow. Just a program running based on what little the puter does know.

donn0128 wrote:
Lie-o-meters are notoriously inaccurate. Hand calculate is the only way to know for sure.

^^^ what he said.