New 2015 Ram 1500 ECODIESEL HFE
Even more mpg out of the EcoDiesel with the "HFE" or High Fuel Efficiency model. VIDEO
Forum Discussion
The Texan wrote:nevadanick wrote:LOL ... my truck is factory rated for 10.7K towing and I routinely tow 10K when at the ranch or between Idaho and Nevada.
I'm with The Texan except i push it a little farther than he probably does.
Many people seem to forget that it wasn't to many years ago that the "standard" OTR semi engine, was a paltry 175 - 190 HP Cummins or Cat. Those anemic engines did a pretty darn good job of moving 80K pounds down the road, so I would bet my money that these "new" grocery getters will do an AWESOME job towing a 10K trailer or 12K 5er.
Those old trucks had 5.9L to 7.3 liters of displacement in the motor to do the work you speak of, that's a lot of square inches of metal to spread the workload over.
The Eco diesel is a 3 liter motor, half the displacement, and it was designed to go in a Maserati sedan over in Europe, another grocery getter.
On the other hand, VW builds marine turbodiesel motors, built the Touareg on a truck chassis, and all kinds of people all over Europe town their big caravans to the mountains, the Alps, to go camping, with VW/Audi/Porsche TDI motors.
The truck is already starting out 1000 pounds heavier than the Touareg, at 6000 pounds, day in, day out driving. It has the aerodynamics of a brick, compared to the Touareg, which is why the Touareg can consistently get 32 33 MPG on the interstate all day long, and the Ecodiesel RAM in 4WD struggles to get it's rated 27 or 28 MPG's. 6500 to 7700 #'s is the tow capacity. I'd be thinking that 25 feet of travel trailer, loaded, with passengers in the truck, and all the junk in the bed of the truck, is going to put it at the limit of the vehicle, legally.
Europe, in general, has a different philosophy about building cars and trucks, limited life design, and the distances are a lot shorter. They want the car worn out and off the road in 150,000 km, or 8 years. That's the design parameters they shoot for in Germany, and the Netherlands, dead and junked, in 8 years, or they tax the******out of you to keep it on the road longer. The Italians aren't much better, ask anyone that's ever owned a Fiat or a Ferrari, you have to own a towbed truck company to bring your vehicle into the garage when it breaks down. I can tell you all about my father's 1974 Fiat 128 that I had to keep running on the road for him... he kept that car the shortest amount of time of any car he's ever owned, even after buying it brand new. Terrible reliablity. 2 broken clutch cables in 60k miles, distributor jumped timing twice... alignment from the factory was pathetic for camber and tow out, and we don't get much rain or pot holes here in Los Angeles in the SFV.
