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Ram 2500 Cummins fuel economy.
- Thread starter Jbett
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kobra
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Start here...
https://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/2500
I have a new 2020 3500 HO, and not broke in at all yet, so hard for me to tell so far. (My 2016 2500 averaged 17-18mpg with mixed city/hwy). The gearing has gone from 3.42 to 3.73 so I will also be curious to hear what others are seeing from this gen of truck.
And, of course, literally, YMMV ;-)
B
https://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/2500
I have a new 2020 3500 HO, and not broke in at all yet, so hard for me to tell so far. (My 2016 2500 averaged 17-18mpg with mixed city/hwy). The gearing has gone from 3.42 to 3.73 so I will also be curious to hear what others are seeing from this gen of truck.
And, of course, literally, YMMV ;-)
B
I think people need to be very specific about their normal driving a lot more than just speeds. Unloaded (meaning no trailer) I've gotten as high as 24mpg on the highway. But that was in really flat areas. When driving on highways around home which are far more hilly, it's really 14-16 if I'm doing 75-80. It's REALLY going to be dependent on: Rear axle, loaded versus unloaded, terrain, and speed.
I'm perfectly cool with my fuel economy. I'm less thrilled with my DEF consumption. About 1700 miles, and I've put 5 gallons in it so far, and am down about 1/3 again.
I'm perfectly cool with my fuel economy. I'm less thrilled with my DEF consumption. About 1700 miles, and I've put 5 gallons in it so far, and am down about 1/3 again.
Mine is very inline with the Fuelly link. 2019 2500 CCSB 4x4 Laramie
My app is showing 14.8 avg.
5 tanks of towing the Jeep on the flatbed about 10.5
5 tanks at 17-17.6
Most at 15, some at 12-13
Since I haven't commuted to the office at all this year, it's a more balanced combo of city and highway. Rarely exceed 80. The tanks around 17 are probably the full highway roadtrips from Phx to southern UT we've taken this year.
DEF has royally frustrated me. I've lost count of how many jugs I've poured in (and near) this thing in 9k miles. Will be the biggest factor in my going back to a 6.4, gaining less than 2 mpg compared to my 16 PW on 37s isn't worth it. And we just sold the camper anyway.
My app is showing 14.8 avg.
5 tanks of towing the Jeep on the flatbed about 10.5
5 tanks at 17-17.6
Most at 15, some at 12-13
Since I haven't commuted to the office at all this year, it's a more balanced combo of city and highway. Rarely exceed 80. The tanks around 17 are probably the full highway roadtrips from Phx to southern UT we've taken this year.
DEF has royally frustrated me. I've lost count of how many jugs I've poured in (and near) this thing in 9k miles. Will be the biggest factor in my going back to a 6.4, gaining less than 2 mpg compared to my 16 PW on 37s isn't worth it. And we just sold the camper anyway.
elephantrider
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14 or so in the city. 18-ish hwy. I touched 21 in flat west texas, but thats certainly not the norm. I read the other day a "report" of 16 with a fully loaded wedge hauler, which is ridiculous, so take some of the mpg #'s you see with a grain of salt.
Diesels have VERY narrow RPM bands to operate in, so speed matters significantly. At 80 MPH your mileage won't be anywhere remotely close to what it'll be at 65 MPH. HD trucks don't have to be rated for MPG but when they do EPA testing on half ton trucks I think the "highway" portion is at average speeds of 55 MPH.
kobra
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I agree that "reports" can be way off. Part of it is making sure the tank is topped off the same each time, and I'm not sure that a single tank fill-up will be consistent enough.
For example, there was an interesting article on TFL trucks comparing the new Jeep Gladiator diesel to the new F150 hybrid. They did their 66 mile loop, and each truck went one round empty, then filled up and went one more round towing the same trailer, then filled up again. I like the methodology; same day, same loop, driven side by side at the same speed, etc. Several of the fill-ups were close to what the EVIC said, and what might be expected. The last fillup of the F150 driving empty, the EVIC showed about 23mpg. But when the hose clicked off, and they calculated the mpg it was over 29mpg! First thing I thought of is there is no way on a 66 mile loop and putting in 2-3 gallons total, that you could count on the fuel pump clicking off at precisely the same level of fill each time. But, their whole fuel mileage analysis depended entirely on when the pump clicked off.
If TFL doesn't get it right, how many others also don't get it right? And, not saying they are being disingenuous, just that the methods are suspect if calculated on a single fillup, especially a partial one, based on when the pump clicks off.
Now, if someone reported their mileage over several fill-ups on a 1000 mile trip or so, that report would be inherently much more accurate.
I kept a pretty good log on my old truck on Gasbuddy, and will do so on my new truck also. But, I'm working from home now, so have put only a couple hundred kms on the new truck in 2 weeks. Will take awhile to figure out anything at this rate ;-)
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For example, there was an interesting article on TFL trucks comparing the new Jeep Gladiator diesel to the new F150 hybrid. They did their 66 mile loop, and each truck went one round empty, then filled up and went one more round towing the same trailer, then filled up again. I like the methodology; same day, same loop, driven side by side at the same speed, etc. Several of the fill-ups were close to what the EVIC said, and what might be expected. The last fillup of the F150 driving empty, the EVIC showed about 23mpg. But when the hose clicked off, and they calculated the mpg it was over 29mpg! First thing I thought of is there is no way on a 66 mile loop and putting in 2-3 gallons total, that you could count on the fuel pump clicking off at precisely the same level of fill each time. But, their whole fuel mileage analysis depended entirely on when the pump clicked off.
If TFL doesn't get it right, how many others also don't get it right? And, not saying they are being disingenuous, just that the methods are suspect if calculated on a single fillup, especially a partial one, based on when the pump clicks off.
Now, if someone reported their mileage over several fill-ups on a 1000 mile trip or so, that report would be inherently much more accurate.
I kept a pretty good log on my old truck on Gasbuddy, and will do so on my new truck also. But, I'm working from home now, so have put only a couple hundred kms on the new truck in 2 weeks. Will take awhile to figure out anything at this rate ;-)
B
Exactly. And that's why Fuelly is so nice. You get to see hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of miles from real owners in the real world hand calculating their MPG and it all gets averaged out. I find that the best possible way to get a true idea of what MPG you can expect to see when you're shopping trucks.
Fuelly currently shows 22 MPG average for the Gen 3 EcoDiesel trucks like mine, after over 300,000 combined miles being logged by owners. My average has been in the 21-22 ballpark since I got the truck last winter. The window sticker would lead you to believe this is a 24 MPG truck combined, but Fuelly shows a much lower average and the Fuelly results match what I've actually seen myself.
Well, if you add in the 35's and the 3" lift, your economy has already gone down in addition to the hemi. OTOH any trailer you can safely pull with the 1500 gasser would hardly register when pulling with the 6.7. If you would plan to lift a diesel HD and add bigger tires, then your numbers won't match what you're seeing here either. They will suffer. And again, it will help if you mention what kind of trailer, and what kind of terrain. The 6.7 factually, with a larger and heavier load, literally got twice the mileage for me on the exact same route, at higher speeds, than did the 2500 6.4 Hemi as an example. I'm not exaggerating. It was almost twice the fuel consumption with the 2500 6.4 Hemi. BTW, I mean that by measured gallons, not what the truck electronics said. But the needle on full, and then the number of gallons to replace to get it back to full.
What were the loads and route types in your example?
I'll even provide the general starting point, destination and return. Starting was in the vicinity of zip code 15330. Destination was zip code 16239. If you use mapquest you'll be able to see the likely routes and get a better view of the terrain. Using Interstate 79 and Interstate 80 for quite a bit of the drive, but certainly not flat at all. The 2500 6.4 was a 2018 so it had the 6spd auto. Both were crew cab, 2500 short bed. The 6.7 was pulling a gooseneck 3 horse slant trailer with small living quarters, full gear, etc, and two horses. The 6.4 was pulling a smaller bumper pull V-nosed trailer with almost no gear, but the same two horses. I would estimate the gross trailer and equipment weight for the 6.7 combination to be around 10000lbs. I would estimate the gross trailer and equipment weight for the 6.4 combination to be around 6000lbs. Both rigs drove the EXACT same route within a week of each other. Weather was essentially about the same -ambient temps, no rain, etc. Even same time of day. The 6.7 rig (gooseneck) is much taller, and completely square front. The 6.4 rig is V-nosed. With the gasser, I was not able to maintain the same speeds whatsoever. I could not maintain 65mph across the Interstate 80 portion, or most of the Interstate 79 portion. The 6.7 had zero problem whatsoever.
I'll also mention that I also pulled the same exact route and loads as I did with the 6.7 with my '04 5.9 NV5600 truck. I got about 4 mpg less than with the 6.7, which I attribute to the 4.10 rear end making me run at higher RPMs. This however was not within just days - it was probably within a couple weeks, but similar outside conditions.
I have around 2700 miles on my stock 2020 3500 68RFE and have been getting around 16.5, that includes a 1000 mile each way trip to Texas from Wisconsin going 80-85 the entire way. I have been noticing the fuel mileage get incrementally better and there was a stint in Arkansas where I saw a constant 30 MPG on the EVIC.
Thanks for the info. I wish I could see that much difference with what has been a similar combo of vehicles.
From new, 2016 Ram Power Wagon w/ CCSB 6.4, 6sp, stock 4.10s and 37" tires. Then re-geared to 5.13 a few years later. Then replaced with 2019 2500 CCSB 6.7 SO this April.
I've seen 10-15% difference in mpgs whether highway, towing the buggy hauler or a limited run with the 22' camper that's been sold due to limited use. And I've put a jug of DEF in less than 1000 miles per. Now a little over 9k on the odometer.
It downshifts less and is quieter, but I regret and miss the old truck.
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I guess I don't understand. If you're getting 10-15 more mpg, it's quieter, shifts less (and would obviously have more pulling power even without the 5.13 rear end) even with a jug of DEF at 1000 miles, why in the world would you miss the old truck? I absolutely prefer driving the 6.7 (or frankly the 5.9) in every respect (except for shifting the '04 NV5600 in traffic). There was nothing whatsoever about the 6.4 that I liked better than the 6.7 except for the lower purchase price.
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Pulling the same toy hauler, at 65 mph, my '15 6.4 hovered in the 7.5-8.5 mpg range, and my '19 HO will barely squeak 10 mpg. Both with 4.10 gears.
Crap, I forgot a word/symbol in there. 10-15% more mpgs (so 1-2 mpg).
Basically I am not getting the benefit out of this diesel that was hoped for, and I thought I was realistic with my hopes going from a built PW to a stockish Diesel. Plus my first experiences with DEF haven't be pleasant.
Gotcha - I understand. To be honest, I truly think it is highly dependent on a lot of factors. The HO is going to eat more fuel - that's just normal. Meaning compared to the SO.
My '04 broke down so I had to borrow the '18 6.4. We decided it was time to buy a new truck during that haul, and frankly I was using it as a "test drive" to see if I could save money and buy a 6.4 rather than paying the extra for the Cummins. I knew VERY quickly that I wouldn't be happy at all. But even then, I was terribly surprised when I was forced to fill an empty tank before I even got to the destination in the 6.4 - and then again on the return trip. Same size fuel tanks and the 5.9 and the 6.7 not only "could" but quite literally "did" haul heavier, faster, and did the compete trip with half the fuel. I was amazed. And bought another Cummins.
I am also not happy with the DEF consumption and am looking into it. With only 1700 or so miles on the truck so far, I'm hoping it's going to taper off. If not, I'll be talking to the dealer and FCA pretty soon. I'm averaging 350 mpg of DEF.
That DEF use is about what I am seeing. 400 MPG at best.