First 500 mile impressions, LaneSense(less)?

[Wilder]

So I picked up my 2500 Laramie night edition last Thursday and have since driven it 500 mi.

Wanted to give some first impressions and talk about the "quirks and features." Overall I love the truck, what a massive upgrade, but there are a couple things I can't quite figure out.

1. Comfort, fit and finish. It's amazing. The truck is so quiet. Materials so nice.

2. Lane sense. I can't get this to work well. I noticed sometimes it will somewhat violently correct the steering and other times it will let you just drift right out of the lane. I see it has settings under the settings menu, but they don't seem to make a difference. I also see that it claims that it has a lane departure warning, whatever the warning is I have noticed it. I had a system like this on a 2014 TDI that I had and it worked so much better. Maybe I'm not used to this? Maybe it isn't set up right?

3. ACC cruise control. Even the closest setting is extremely far away from the car in front of you, and people will cut you off without fail while using the system. I guess this is to be expected.

4. Video review mirror. Every vehicle should have this, this is awesome.

5. Fuel economy. So far hasn't been as good as the Ram 2500s I've recently rented from Enterprise. Towing my dump trailer this weekend I was getting ~13.5 mpg, last time I towed it with a rental truck (ram 2500 diesel) I got nearly 16, very similar load. I've been getting 17 - 18 unloaded on the highway, whereas the enterprise rentals were getting more like 20 - 22. These numbers are read off of the instrument cluster. Unknown how they translate to real world, but you would think all ram 2500s would have the same inaccuracy. I know they say diesels need to break in to achieve their best fuel economy, I hope that's true and I don't have a bad one!

6. Tires- we already had some snow, And these stock transforce tires are about as bad as it gets, this information is all over the forums and I expected it. Also if you're getting a new HD truck, for the love of god let some air out the tires. Presumably you don't need to run 85 PSI unless you're towing extremely heavy.

7. Wireless Car play/ Android Auto. Amazing feature. My old truck used to drop connection all the time over wired, This is a massive improvement.

8. Uconnect 5 app screen? What is the purpose of this? Is there supposed to be an app store where you can go and get more apps? It just seems like a bunch of shortcuts to other menus.

 

[Wilder]

For the pics or it didnt happen crowd

 

[Linked4door]

Love that color on these trucks. Glad you are having a mostly positive experience with with your truck.


Ram is still in its infancy when it comes to ADAS, they systems are not mature enough yet. One of the biggest things they have compared to some of the other manufactures is the self learning/calibrating in the sensors. Give it a few years for them to work out some of the kinks. From the systems I have used at work Toyota has some of the best ADAS systems around. VW (amoung a few other mfg) has had some major improvements starting 2020 (depending on model) from the priSaturday. I hope the 2022 ACC is better then my 2019, since it sucked in that truck. If it is, I may hook it up to the wiTech and try to recalibrate it at work.

As far as fuel mileage get some more mileage and it will get better. My 2019 noticed a multiple MPG gain starting around 9k miles and kept getting better until I sold it at 11k miles. Some have reported gains as early as 5k miles. To get any remotely accurate mpg you will need to hand calculate it, the lie-o-meter can't be trusted.

Don't know about the UC5, as I don't pick up the 2022 till saturday.

 

[DontSlamMyRam]

I would imagine the ACC has a greater following distance than a TDI because it takes a few football fields to stop these beasts.

 

[Robtheelder]

I have a similar lane departure warning and cruise with built in distance keeping in my Tacoma. I turn them off as they are just a pain in the ass with no upside.

 

[Will_T]

2. Lane sense. I can't get this to work well. I noticed sometimes it will somewhat violently correct the steering and other times it will let you just drift right out of the lane. I see it has settings under the settings menu, but they don't seem to make a difference. I also see that it claims that it has a lane departure warning, whatever the warning is I have noticed it. I had a system like this on a 2014 TDI that I had and it worked so much better. Maybe I'm not used to this? Maybe it isn't set up right?

I finally just stopped using this and other reasons. I really wanted it because the one in my wife's Subaru works well and we like it. But I don't actually miss it at all on the truck.

 

[Wilder]

I would imagine the ACC has a greater following distance than a TDI because it takes a few football fields to stop these beasts.

Thats what I figured. But I do think the brakes on this truck are amazing compared to my previous GMC.

 

[Wilder]

I finally just stopped using this and other reasons. I really wanted it because the one in my wife's Subaru works well and we like it. But I don't actually miss it at all on the truck.

I wish I would have been able to test drive and try out this feature before buying, probably wouldn't have paid for it but oh well

 

[Dave88LX]

Agreed that the tires are trash.
I am in love with the digital rearview as well. I hate getting into my other vehicles without it now!

 

[Wilder]

1500 Mile update:

Lane sense seems to be getting better, but still isn't stellar. Perhaps it continues to learn and adapt to real world driving?

Next week will be installing my carli/thuren combo kit that I put together based on part availability, can't wait to see how it drives. Slightly concerned about it being too slow once it's on 37" tires. Passing on 2 lane roads on stock tires has been a little less confidence inspiring that I was hoping (definitely not as fast as a GM 6.2L 1/2 ton, but I know this is a heavy diesel truck haha) and if it gets too much slower, I might want to research mild tunes. We'll see. I am hoping big tires doesn't hurt the acceleration as much on a diesel engine as it does on a gas.

 

[Dave88LX]

I've heard good things about Banks Pedal Monster from a responsiveness standpoint. Hopefully have one here shortly. I'll be putting my 37s on this week.

 

[sstoner911]

I've heard good things about Banks Pedal Monster from a responsiveness standpoint. Hopefully have one here shortly. I'll be putting my 37s on this week.

I have used the Banks Pedal Monster in all the trucks I have owned....best $300 I ever spent. Also the easiest MOD to remove when you trade your truck in !

 

[DeepH20Driller]

The Banks Pedal Monster makes a world of difference. I currently have one on a CTD. The Cummins won’t even flinch w/ the 37’s.


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[Wilder]

Pedal Monster changes the ramp up on the throttle so you achieve higher throttle openings sooner? Not sure if that would fix what I am feeling, It's not really the responsiveness I am trying to fix. I work around the turbo lag by just getting on the throttle earlier. I was most concerned with the raw full throttle 55-80MPH time, which you use when trying to pass slow traffic on a 2 lane road. (you spend more time in the lane of the oncoming traffic) If the 37s don't affect this too much, probably won't bother with tuning at this point.

 

[matemike]

Glad you like the digital rear view mirror. One thing I opted for.
Is yours a 12” screen or 8.4”?

I ordered a limited due to it being available in night edition when I ordered, but not too excited about the 12”. I want the 8.4 so I can have buttons for seat heat/vent controls and dials for ac degrees and fan speeds. 12” is the only screen available in limited. I am looking forward to the wood grain steering wheel and improved led headlights over the laramies though.

I could get the Laramie now with NE and get the 8.4, but give up the wood grain and head lights. Decisions decisions. Either truck is going to be heads above my 2011 GMC 1500 with 6.2L