Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Real world gas mileage with Ram 1500 4x4 Hemi

Yup,

Had an 02 4X4 with the 4.7. Gutless wonder that used fuel like crazy. Traded it for the '03 Cummins and never looked back.....

Just got back from a trip from Phoenix to Laramie WY. I drove my 2012 Ram Laramie 2500 HD 4X4 extended cab short bed with the 6 speed tranny and 5.7 motor and 3.73 gears. I installed a free spin hub kit a few weeks before we left. I drove 2500 miles at either 20 mph or 80-85 mph The best mpg I saw was 17.7 and the worst was 16. I was very happy with the mpg's on this trip. It did drive better with the new hubs. YMMV

I ordered the Ram 1500 on Thursday.
Reg.cab, Hemi, 8spd auto, 3.92 Anti Spin,
Should be here before Christmas.
I will report on the mileage.
Thanks for all the help.

Coach

Laffin'! So true.

I hear enough of the wonder mileage reports and nearly convince my self I need one, then realize that 1: I don't tow enough to justify it and 2: most people are full of chit.

Great trucks for hauling!

Is the RAM 1/2 diesel out yet?

yup. Gets 28 mpg.... ;-)

I'm another that had an 03 Ram with the 4.7, gutless is spot on and my gas mileage was ok on long highway trips with no load, 16-17 mpg. It would tow ok but gas mileage went down by quite a bit.

My next truck will be a 2500 with the Hemi.

This thread is not going to make me go out and buy a new truck in the hopes of getting one with better fuel mileage.

On my recent trip to Utah my 1998 Chevy 1/2T ext cab 4x4 with the 5.0L got 19.1 mpg from Fort Collins to Grand Junction ... up and over the Rockies (11,200 ft).

I have to admit that's about peak fuel economy. It doesn't do near as good around town or when towing.

Kinda like black bears around here. Every time someone sees one dart across a road, it "weighed about 350lbs".

400lbs, if it was at night.

Wednesday I picked up the one I ordered. Same thing except I got the 6 spd. trans. Also the 8' box. All my driving is on hills and rarely above 55, so the 3.92 is real nice.

With the prices of the new trucks my old 69 Ford F-100 is looking better all the time.

I like old trucks as much as the next guy, and have two myself. But comparing new to old trucks is like apples to bouncy balls.

i gotta wonder how people are calculating gas mileage on some of these trucks. that little computer readout don't mean sheeit most of the time. divide miles by gallons used for 3 or 4 fillups in a row will tell the real mileage.

Mine was within 0.2 hand calc'd.

The truck is affected by wind more than any other I've had though.

I've got a '12 crew cab. My longest trip was about 1400 miles. I got 21.1 mpg on that trip. Most of the time I get 15-16 around town and 18-19 on the highway. If I put my foot in it, that goes down quickly. But it's FUN!

I drive a 2013 Silverado 58 miles roundtrip each day, about 80% on the highway and the rest in town. I average 17.5 to 18.2 per tank, hand calculated each time. FYI. I have the 5.3 liter motor.

400+ mile round trip to camp and back with the new (2014) Silverado ext. cab 1500, 5.3L 4x4. 19.8 MPG combined highway/back roads for the trip.

Meant to set the other trip odo (it has two trip odos) when I got out on the fourlane on the way home to see what it did just for highway mileage, forgot to.

Several folks I know with 2014 1500 4x4 Rams and Silverados are getting 20 to 22 MPG highway. Helluva lot better than the paltry 18 MPG highway my 2010 Silverado occasionally did.

Brand new 2014 RAM Crew Cab 5.7 Hemi...

900 miles on the ODO, no tonau cover yet...
18.5 commuting to work..50-50 hiway, stop-go...22 on
the freeway locked on 70.

I need to replace my 2005 F150 after the Triton 5.4 nuked on me two weeks ago. Like need a new motor nuked.

That is an entire story unto itself...

Drive the new F150's including the Ecoboost (eco BS).

No comparison...RAM beats it hands down on enonomy.

Tony

I have a 2011 Ram Outdoorsman 1/2 ton, 4wd, 5.7 Hemi, crew cab short-box with 3.78 gears, it does have the variable valve-timing system that drops down to a 6 or 4 cylinder when the power is not needed. I keep a book on my vehicles and every gallon of gas that goes in it is hand-calculated, I have found that the computer estimation is about a mile per gallon on the high-side, if it says 18 I really get 17 or so.

But to the subject - I have 44,000 on it and in-town (which it rarely is) I get around 15-16. On the highway I have gotten as high as 22 mpg but for an average it is more in line with 17-19 and recently it has been closer to 19, perhaps the motor is getting more broken in and working easier.

Now the bad news - I had to replace the factory Goodyear Wrangler 6-plys that came as original equipment on the truck and found that they are not available over the counter. I put on Toyo AT's which I have on a couple of my other vehicles and it looks like I have lost about 1 to 1-1/2 mpg but the Toyo is a 10 ply and a more aggressive tread so I am not too surprised by that.

My 2 prior vehicles were a 99 and 2003 Chevrolet 1/2 ton extended cab, 4wd, anytime I got 16 on them I was smiling. The Dodge is hands down better than the Chevrolets - better ride comfort, a ton more power, but it is also 8 years newer in technology.

drover

I've always calculated mileage by hand, based on a full tank to start, how much to refill it again. Been "close enough" over the past 50+ years that I've been driving and worrying about such schit.

But here's the thing: That worked fairly well with trucks that had short fill tubes, but it's still a guess as to how much gas yo put in to refill it, etc. On my old Chevys with the tank behind the seat, no sweat on knowing the tank was full again, for example.

Clicking the nozzle a few more times in the belief that you've now put enough gas in for a good calculation, still leaves one guessing as to the actual amount of fuel used, based on refilling the tank.

The fuel use technology on newer trucks so-equipped, is measuring the actual fuel use to calculate the MPG "as you go".

So if there's a small discrepancy between the fuel use readout and your "hand calculation" method, who's to say one is better than the other?