Ram 1500 diesel review
First one I've seen, looks like Ram boosted the tq output for bragging rights in the ads....it's now 430 lbs-ft Linky Still not epa rated, but they got 24 mpg in mixed (city and highway) driving...
Forum Discussion
That's what I mean by downshiftaphobia. Downshifting takes zero effort from the driver, so I don't understand how it's any less relaxing. All I do is push the cruise control button and let the truck do the rest. I'll admit that frequent downshifting can be a minor annoyance, though, and in that case, I'd be content to lock out 8th and cruise in 7th. Others may not, and for them, diesels are more appealing.
I would call that dumbshiftaphobia. Put it in D with the cruise on, not knowing what it is doing or why.
Sure cruise in 7th or 6th instead of 8th with a higher noise level and fuel consumption. Put up with frequent shifting and the wear and tear that goes along with it just so you can get up a hill faster. If that's what suits you.
Right. The closer the gears are spaced, the less noticeable the shift will be. With my 5-speed Hemi, dropping from 3rd (1.00:1) to second (1.50:1) resulted in a 50% increase in RPM, which is very noticeable. But a multi-speed transmission might result in only a 20% change. So from 1600 RPM, the next gear down would be around 1900 RPM. Lock that in place, take the 20% increase in power, and go.
Except that automatic kickdown (ie with cruise on) shifts under a towing load are usually much more abrupt than those under light load.
At 1900 RPM the Hemi isn't putting out any more power than the diesel at 1500 RPM. From the graph it looks like slightly less.
