RAM EcoDiesel a Flop for Towing

ShinerBock wrote:


Do the math of the added $4,000 cost of the Ecodiesel over the 2.7L Ecoboost. The added cost of maintenance where both are recomended to change the oil at 10,000 miles but the Ecoboost oil change will cost about $40-50 to where just the oil filter alone for the Ecodiesel cost about that much. Edmunds.com reported that the oil change for their long term test Ecodiesel costs them $154 here..

Not going to dispute the oil change cost, as that's the reality of many european diesels. Best price I could find the oil that the 3.0 calls for is 7 bucks a quart in the open market and the filter is especially heinous in price @ 50 bucks. However, you can't compare the $4k up-charge for the Ecodiesel against any other vehicle except the vehicles in its line (Hemi and Pentastar). I've personally optioned up an F-150 XLT against a RAM Bighorn (2.7 versus 3.0) and found that they nearly matched in price and several other automotive rags made the same observation (Motortrend).
However, maintenance costs for the Ecodiesel at this point will be higher. Still, I wonder how the hell they get away with a $25 fuel filter when the HD diesel guys have to spend roughly $100 for fuel filters... Well, I wonder what the ISV in the Nissan will do as many believe, for RAM, that's the engine that got away.

Then there is the added cost of diesel in the mix. Going by the EPA highway numbers and the most up to date average cost of gasoline versus diesel in the US of unleaded being $2.457 with diesel being $.40 higher, the 28 mpg of the Ecodiesel is equivalent to a gasoline engine getting 24 mpg which is well below the 2.7L Ecoboost EPA numbers so the Ecodiesel would cast more in fuel. If you go by the real world combined numbers that most review sites are getting for both engines(Ecodiesel 23 mpg and 2.7L Ecoboost 20 mpg) then you would still pay more in fuel for the Ecodiesel than the Ecoboost per year. So there's no added fuel cost benefit there either unless you were towing more than 15% of your annual mileage which most don't. There is also the factor that Ram only offers the Ecodiesel with a 27 gallon tank while the Ecoboost can be optioned with a 37 gallon tank giving you a longer or equal range for the most part even when towing.

Again, this depends on where you live and where you do the majority of driving. Diesel in the PNW has flipped flopped with Unleaded for the past few weeks and unleaded is only about a dime cheaper than Diesel as I type this. Where as in the northeast, Diesel is way more expensive than gas. Then for realistic fuel economy, I like to look at the fuel economy curve for the manufacturers. Ford 2.7's fuel economy really can't be determined because there isn't enough samples yet. But the sample base is building and in 6 months, we should get a clear picture of where the average is. As it stands, the distribution is from 16 to 21mpg with no curve to speak of. As for the Ecodiesel, it seems to have a great number of users posting between 21 and 26 mpg average (I'm ignoring the outliers on the high and low sides). That's a 5 mpg difference from lowest to lowest and highest to highest when comparing curve to curve (although the 2.7 will need more samples before we can firm-up an analysis between the two). But as it is, that's 25% fuel economy difference from Ecoboost to Ecodiesel.

So basically, this is what you get with the Ecodiesel over the 2.7L Ecoboost. You have to pay about $4,000 more for it up front. You have to pay over 3 times as much for maintenance. You have to pay more in fuel for most of the time unless you tow more than 15% of your annual mileage. All this for something that has less pulling power, less payload, and struggles to even keep within 10 mph of the speed limit going up hills. So where is the benefit in it?

I think people are being blinded by only looking at the MPG number and the fact that it is diesel, but neglect to look at the big picture and do the math. I can see paying more for the Ecodiesel if it had better towing performance and more capability along with its fuel mileage which is why I went with the Cummins over the 6.4L Hemi in my 2500. However, I can't see paying more all the way around and getting less performance and less capability. It just doesn't make sense.

Again, that's some broad generalization. Some people, the math works out, others it doesn't. Some people merely want the ability to carry bulky, but light items along with their family and many never hook a hitch up to a half ton truck. The Ecodiesel works well in that regard and those that occasionally tow something small. I'm not in that boat, and many on here are not in that boat.