My New Ram 2500 6.4 MPG Update

[akronharry]

Posting this because people ask about the mileage:

First 300 miles: 12.2 mpg mixed driving. 2 days were in below zero weather and gas had 10% alcohol mixture.

[zogg]

I did look at a diesel, but the $8500 difference and the $.60 per gallon extra fuel cost sent me directly to the hemi trucks on the dealers lot. Mt hemi mpg is almost as good as the cummins,.and better than any powerstroke I have seen....

Now, if I towed really heavy or towed a.lot, the cummins is.the hands down winner.

[zogg]

Just for comparison purposes,.my 2013 5.7 hemi gets up to 19 mpg straight hiway and around 15.5 average. I live in the country so.I really do not do too much city stop and go driving. It pulls my 8000 pound campus very well, and a hellofalot better than my previous 6.00 GMC gasser....it was awful. I get 9 - 10.5 towing overall, though mostly on flat terrain.

I had no idea that a 6.4 hemi was going to be available in the 2014 or I would have waited a few months. But the 5.7 is serving me well, and I am very happy with it as a daily driver. Im sure the.bigger motor would tow a bit better and is probably a kick to drive light to light!!! Enjoy

[ib516]

My 5.9L Cummins will get 20 - 21 mpg @ 65 mph hwy pretty regularly in summer. Winter is more like 18 mpg. I have gotten as high as 24 mpg under ideal conditions (mild temps, no wind, no A/C needed, flat terrain, etc). I expect the 6.4L Hemi to do about 30% less in all conditions.

[RamTC]

wintersun wrote:

jmtandem wrote:

Posting this because people ask about the mileage:

First 300 miles: 12.2 mpg mixed driving. 2 days were in below zero weather and gas had 10% alcohol mixture.

My Ram/Cummins gets 20-21 mpg not towing. It gets 12 or slightly better towing.

You obviously did not purchase the truck for mileage. 12.2 mpg not towing???

Need to factor in that the diesel fuel costs 30-35% more per gallon at the pump. 12.2 MPG with gas has the same fuel cost as 16.2 MPG with diesel.

With my diesel truck I get 20-21 MPG on the open highway with no hills and no wind but that is the exception. Around town it averages 14.5 MPG so my fuel expense is more than that of the OP with his gas engine.

The OP paid $9,000 less for his truck and is paying half as much for maintenance so MPG is one factor but hardly the primary one in determining the total cost to own and drive a truck.

Diesel is <15% more in my area (and I thought that was high!), and why would it be $9K less for the OPs 2500 truck?

[ib516]

Thanks for the update!

[wintersun]

jmtandem wrote:

Posting this because people ask about the mileage:

First 300 miles: 12.2 mpg mixed driving. 2 days were in below zero weather and gas had 10% alcohol mixture.

My Ram/Cummins gets 20-21 mpg not towing. It gets 12 or slightly better towing.

You obviously did not purchase the truck for mileage. 12.2 mpg not towing???

Need to factor in that the diesel fuel costs 30-35% more per gallon at the pump. 12.2 MPG with gas has the same fuel cost as 16.2 MPG with diesel.

With my diesel truck I get 20-21 MPG on the open highway with no hills and no wind but that is the exception. Around town it averages 14.5 MPG so my fuel expense is more than that of the OP with his gas engine.

The OP paid $9,000 less for his truck and is paying half as much for maintenance so MPG is one factor but hardly the primary one in determining the total cost to own and drive a truck.

[mowin]

Thanks for the update. Im getting about the same mpg's with my 6.4.

[akronharry]

ORIGINAL POSTER HERE: UPDATE :It's been 7-8 weeks (Jan 27th)since I bought my truck and happy to say that at 1400 miles I am getting 14.2 mpg highway and city (mostly highway). No issues at all and I love driving this truck. In my lifetime I have had a 3/4 ton Chevy, two F150's, two Ford Rangers and an F250 diesel trucks. None were bought new. This is my first new truck and it has given me more than I expected. SO far I am glad I chose something different.

[akronharry]

I am the OP and just reading the unexpected 4 pages of additional comments. I take absolutely no offense to anyone writng their comments that had nothing to do what I posted. I've been on here since 2008 and know that any topic posted rarely remains on-topic. My post was just reporting what mpg I had on the new truck. If I get a couple more miles per gallon once it gets broken in....great. If not, I will live! I do not ever expect to get gas mileage as high as some have posted.
As mentioned earlier, my last truck was a diesel and mileage was never more than 15-16 mpg. The diesel was expensive to maintain and I hated to have to depend on a diesel mechanic to solve issues. I bought gas instead because I may be able to identify 1-2 items on the engine and work on it myself 🙂

[akronharry]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

campingken wrote:
20- 21 mpg with an HO Dodge dually?? Wow I really need a new calculator. Our 2003 non HO SRW 5.9 will hit sometimes hit 20 mpg if it's flat and the cruise control is set at 60 mph.

Man you are not going to like this then. My HO with 2WD and 3:77 rear gears hits 26 all day long at 60 MPH, the best it's ever done was 30 running behind a big truck from Perrysburg to Dayton Ohio. Note I said tucked in behind a big truck. And yes I ask him if he was good with it via the CB.

As far as the 6.4 only getting 12.5 it's not even broke in yet. My bet is it is going to top out at 16 to 17 MPG. Not bad for a big block Hemi IMO.

Don

I used the dash meter. I shouldn't have posted mpg this early on, but I received 4 pm's asking about it so I posted this topic for everyone. There is a lot of interest. I love the truck and had it on muddy/snowy back roads just yesterday and it performed flawlessly.

[FishOnOne]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

campingken wrote:
20- 21 mpg with an HO Dodge dually?? Wow I really need a new calculator. Our 2003 non HO SRW 5.9 will hit sometimes hit 20 mpg if it's flat and the cruise control is set at 60 mph.

Man you are not going to like this then. My HO with 2WD and 3:77 rear gears hits 26 all day long at 60 MPH, the best it's ever done was 30 running behind a big truck from Perrysburg to Dayton Ohio. Note I said tucked in behind a big truck. And yes I ask him if he was good with it via the CB.

As far as the 6.4 only getting 12.5 it's not even broke in yet. My bet is it is going to top out at 16 to 17 MPG. Not bad for a big block Hemi IMO.

Are you sure about the 6.4 being a big block! :R

Perhaps big bore would be more accurate. :W
Don

Are you sure? I do not think the 6.4 is the same block as the 5.7. There is a 6.1 super charged Hime coming soon and it uses the same block as the 6.4.

Don

Don,
I can't say whether or not 5.7 and 6.4 hemi blocks come from the same mold, but in terms of physical size I couldn't see a difference.

[ib516]

A 6.4L Hemi powered RAM will likely be my next truck.

[Hannibal]

Interesting read on the 6.4L Hemi Ram. Same warranty as the Cummins. 70% shared parts with the 5.7L Hemi that I know from my own experience is rock solid. I may be back in a Ram one of these days.

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/09/2014-ram-hd-2500-3500-first-drive.html

[Taco]

No pickup comes with a big block engine anymore. But the new small block trucks have more power than any of the old big blocks offered anyways.

The line between big block and small block can get sorta blurred anyways if all you want to look at is cubic inches. there are "small blocks" with displacements over 454 cubic inches. The difference between "small block" and "big block" really is mostly in bore spacing.