Ram 1500 diesel review

wilber1 wrote:

the diesel will be more able to stay in its OD ratios pulling more weight than the hemi.

Yes, the EcoDiesel will be able to pull more weight at lower RPMs, and I've conceded this many times. I'm not sure why you feel the need to keep restating it.

And I'm still not sure why you think that's such a big deal. The Hemi will do at 2000 RPM what the EcoDiesel will do at 1600 RPM. With all those gears, it makes it much more likely that you can select a gear that will put it at 2000 RPM to get that power, when and only when you need it.

wilber1 wrote:

Also, while it can't accelerate as fast as the Hemi, you won't need to rev the snot out of to get the load moving.

That's just revophobia, which is the 1st cousin of downshiftophobia. And besides, you'll only "rev the snot out of it" if and when you want to get the load moving quickly! If you're content with a slower pace, you don't need all that power, so you don't need to rev. I'm not sure why this latter point seems so difficult to grasp.

wilber1 wrote:

It just won't get up the hill as fast as the Hemi.

Thank you! And the reason for this is that the EcoDiesel has less power despite having more peak torque. This is exactly what I've been saying since I got involved in this thread. Go back and re-read my original statement: the article claimed peak engine torque is what gets the work done, and I disagreed. Now you've just reiterated my own arguments back at me, which means we're in agreement, and hopefully we're done with this circle.

wilber1 wrote:

The diesel has the same tow rating as the Hemi for a reason in spite of it being down on peak HP. The beauty of having more gears works for both of them.

The EcoDiesel has the same tow rating because they need to sell them. The average person doesn't understand the concepts being discussed in this thread -- all they see are tow ratings and peak numbers.

You can tell me all day long that the EcoDiesel with 240HP can tow as much as the Hemi with 400HP, but that doesn't make it so. I'll agree the EcoDiesel may be able to cruise down the road at a slightly lower RPM with the same weight, but when it's time to dig deep, the Hemi will eat the EcoDiesel's lunch, and it won't even be close. And what leads people to believe otherwise is all this misinformation about peak engine torque being everything.

That said, one should certainly ask if 400HP is really needed, or is 240HP enough? I would say that for anything towable by a half-ton, 240HP is enough 99% of the time. 240HP is a lot of power. Most folks think they need more because they look at their engine's peak numbers (surprise) and realize there are times when they wish they had more. What they fail to realize is that although their engine can generate 400HP, it rarely does because most of the time it isn't running in its power band.

I think these new transmissions are going to change the way we think about towing. Soon people will start realizing that 240HP is enough, as long as we have a way to get it to the road when we need it. And I think the EcoDiesel will do that very well. But to claim it can do as much as a 400HP engine is just wrong.

-- Rob