New 2015 Ram 1500 ECODIESEL HFE

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:

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.

You do know that VM also manufactures not only Automotive engines but yes marine, industrial and power generation power plants right? :R Your VW is the same displacement as the Ecodiesel isn't it?

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.

And what is your Touareg rated to tow? The same, so whats your point here? The Ram with the Ecodiesel is not meant for towing large RV's and is not marketed as such. BTW with the 3.55 gears the Ram is hitting the 33MPG without issue the 3.92 is getting 30MPG. Highway at 70 I get 26 drop it back to 60 and I'm getting 29/30 now.Ram Still Officially Most-Aerodynamic Fullsize Truck

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.


OMG are you kidding right now 1974? WTF man. You do know that the holy VW was not any better than a FIAT right? They were the turds of the German cars right up to the late 1990's Even the Karmann Ghia was a turd! The Benz is a joke and always has been, rust bucket oil leakers. Funny I have never seen the local VW dealership's service department slow. We got my DD a Volvo S80 the so called flagship of Volvo, that thing spent more time in the shop then even any of my Ford's did. BTW the Volvo dealership sells VW's also so yep I have first had knowledge on how busy the VW side was. I also owned a TDi Jeta, very fun to drive but nothing less than a utility vehicle. I wonder why VW had Chrysler build them a minivan instead of building one themselves? LOL

PDB, you will have folks with an ECO diesel overloading it beyond tow capacity... it's highly unlikely you'll have Touareg or Q7 or Cayenne owners overload the tow capacity of their SUVS, endangering others on public roads and byways or roads used for commerce. THAT'S the big difference.

For reasons unknown to me, people come on the internet with pictures of Herculean towing feats with their truck, grossly overloaded. I can't think of a more idiotic, self incriminating thing to do on the internet than such a bone headed move.

Too many cheap folks out there, using the wrong tool for the wrong job, overloading it, then selling it all messed up, to the next used car buyer at the car auction.

I've pulled off a couple of 37 MPG tankfuls in the Touareg, if I was on country roads and had to keep it at 60- 65. Same 3.0L sized motor, right?

You can look at every fill up here, I can guarantee you an Ecodiesel will not come close to the MPG's a Touareg will. 31-33MPG, all interstate. 16-19 MPG when towing my 21 foot travel trailer.

2012 touareg mpg