jmtandem wrote:
I do not believe the Ike Gauntlet is a test that that should be reasonably considered for any person that does not tow at elevation. Vehicles today are all tested at the Davis Dam road in Arizona that has some elevation and an equally steep climb. This is used to simulate what more than 90% of towers will experience. The results from these tests are what the manufactures report. Those of you that repeatedly site the ike gauntlet test as a reason to down play the 6.4’s performance only have it as evidence to support your claim. And the manufacture admits to limiting the truck’s performance under those circumstances for longevity of the components. The Eisenhower tunnel is a section of interstate that very few people will ever drive with a very heavy trailer behind. My research and experience can support my opinion that the 6.4 hemi with the 66RFE transmission is capable of towing what it is rated for. And I believe it should be strongly considered for those people that do not want or need a diesel TV.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. There are many folks that tow 12,000 pounds in the west and travel over 7000 foot or higher mountain passes. And for those folks towing up the mountains is something that is routine, unlike your comments regarding the few who actually would travel up to the Eisenhower tunnel (or equivalent mountain passes). You only tow a few times a year, others often tow thousands of miles a year. This supports the fact that you are not well connected with those that like to tow heavy and are located in the west. The Ike tests are fun to watch and maybe offer some good comparisons between trucks and engines. I do recall the Ike test where the 6.4 towing 12,000 pounds got a whopping 2.8 mpg at 37 mph while the Cummins got twice that at over 20 miles an hour faster. You don't live in the mountains, many do. I live in the mountains and almost anywhere I go is a trip over a 7000 foot pass or higher. I have commented that the Ike tests are fun to watch even if they are not statistically valid in all tests.
After sifting through all your rhetorical verbosity, it is quite frankly hard to determine if you are needlessly praising the 6.4's capabilities or putting down those that test trucks and post on You Tube.
You may have misread my review. I specifically said "I don't think the Ike gauntlet test is a test that should be reasonably consider by any person that does not tow at elevation". You on the other hand sir do tow at elevation often so that test would certainly be more important to you.
My reasons for writing this are not to praise the 6.4 or degrade it. I'm simply writing my experiences with it. My background, and how I came to these options.
Too often 1 test is used as as a source of information to encourage or discourage someone from an informed decision when the conditions for that test will not apply to a owner. That test has been used many times to try to discourage potential buyers from this vehicle, even though many owners will never encounter those conditions. It is up to the potential buyer to decide if those conditions are possible to be encountered often.
I still believe the Ike gauntlet test to be a poor reason to discourage someone from this vehicle because the manufacturer admitted to limiting the performance of the vehicle to ensure longevity of the components. In my option what that tells me is this vehicle is very capable in all conditions. But it is limited by manufacturer when conditions are the most severe. Those conditions are something that do not apply to ME and many potential buyers because we are unlikely to ever encounter them. But if I do it will be very very seldom. I am fully aware that a turbo charged engine will perform better at high elevations and I did note that I'm my report as well. My point is not to compare the 6.4 to a diesel, there is no reason to. You are not comparing equal vehicles. My point is not to compare it to anything because I have not owned other makes or engines. I simply reported on my experiences and touched briefly on my reasons for not wanting diesel. For those that tow often at high elevations most of my review will not matter to them because my experiences occurred under much different conditions.
