Lt CHEG
Platinum Member
I am still somewhat tossing around the idea of upgrading to a 3/4 ton crew cab to replace my 1/2 ton crew cab. I bought my trailer in May and have used it a little. Frankly I've had enough work to pay for the $2500 I spent on the trailer but haven't had any more since so I'm not so sure that upgrading would be even wise not to mention unnecessary. That never stopped me from being curious though. I had a little time after work last week thanks to an early morning search warrant. I happened to be driving by a Dodge dealership and saw a beautiful Ram 2500 heavy duty, crew cab 4x4 with the off road package and Cummins turbo diesel. I have no complaints from any of the GM products I've owned and still like the looks of my truck just fine, but darn if that Dodge 2500 isn't the best looking truck on the road. I've really got to give it to Dodge, that truck is dead bang sexy.
So today I said to myself, what the heck let's take one for a test drive. So I test drove a Mega Cab 2500 Cummins 4x4. It was very nice, huge cab which was a big plus. It rode much much better than my Uncle's 2000 Ram CTD. Actually it still doesn't ride nearly as nice as my 1500 Silverado Z71, but the ride quality is nice, nice enough in fact that I think I could get my wife to at least ride in a 3/4 ton. The engine and tranny combo was very nice and I was heartily impressed with the engine's performance and manners.
With all that said, there is no way that I'll be buying one of these any time soon. I reset the fuel economy computer before I began my test drive. I drove it for about 15 minutes on a mix of city streets and highway. The average economy was 12.3 mpg. It was only 8.9 mpg in the city but improved to 12.3 overall on the highway keeping the speed to 65. That level of fuel economy is just unacceptable for my purposes. My uncle gets an honest 19 mpg unloaded with his truck, at least on the highway with the ulsd, he got better before that though. I got 8.5 mpg towing my tractor and trailer 150 miles from home loaded 400 pounds beyond the weight rating of the truck with a 5.3 V8 which did all that I needed to do. I can't imagine the Dodge doing that much better towing at least not enough to justify a new truck. This emission control junk is killing these new diesels. I really liked this truck but there's no way that I could ever justify buying it.
I can't even find a 2010 GM diesel within 100 miles of where I live so I haven't been able to test drive a Duramax. I'm still waiting for the local Ford dealer to give me a call when they get in a 2011 Crew Cab Diesel 4x4 that isn't already sold so that I can give it a test drive. If all the magazines' claims are correct about the great fuel economy with the urea injection system then maybe that is the way to go. Maybe that's the solution to getting good fuel economy out of a diesel that still has all the emissions junk on it, at least I'm hoping so. But as of now it looks like I'll be investing in a stronger hitch for my truck so that I don't have to use weight distribution to be within its weight ratings, and some air bags and/or load helper springs to get my truck to be a more capable puller when I need to tow my tractor. As of now it looks like if you're only towing 10,000 pounds that there is no advantage to owning a diesel at least in my experience. Heck I'd even consider an upgrade to a 3/4 ton without the diesel if I could get the 5.3 V8 in it. I wouldn't have the sag when I tow and the 5.3 will do a fine job pulling the load, just like it has for me already. I've driven the 6.0 liter V8 and it just doesn't offer enough extra, and what little extra it does deliver, it provides at a substantial fuel economy penalty. I will say this though, that 2010 Ram 2500 is one GREAT looking truck.
So today I said to myself, what the heck let's take one for a test drive. So I test drove a Mega Cab 2500 Cummins 4x4. It was very nice, huge cab which was a big plus. It rode much much better than my Uncle's 2000 Ram CTD. Actually it still doesn't ride nearly as nice as my 1500 Silverado Z71, but the ride quality is nice, nice enough in fact that I think I could get my wife to at least ride in a 3/4 ton. The engine and tranny combo was very nice and I was heartily impressed with the engine's performance and manners.
With all that said, there is no way that I'll be buying one of these any time soon. I reset the fuel economy computer before I began my test drive. I drove it for about 15 minutes on a mix of city streets and highway. The average economy was 12.3 mpg. It was only 8.9 mpg in the city but improved to 12.3 overall on the highway keeping the speed to 65. That level of fuel economy is just unacceptable for my purposes. My uncle gets an honest 19 mpg unloaded with his truck, at least on the highway with the ulsd, he got better before that though. I got 8.5 mpg towing my tractor and trailer 150 miles from home loaded 400 pounds beyond the weight rating of the truck with a 5.3 V8 which did all that I needed to do. I can't imagine the Dodge doing that much better towing at least not enough to justify a new truck. This emission control junk is killing these new diesels. I really liked this truck but there's no way that I could ever justify buying it.
I can't even find a 2010 GM diesel within 100 miles of where I live so I haven't been able to test drive a Duramax. I'm still waiting for the local Ford dealer to give me a call when they get in a 2011 Crew Cab Diesel 4x4 that isn't already sold so that I can give it a test drive. If all the magazines' claims are correct about the great fuel economy with the urea injection system then maybe that is the way to go. Maybe that's the solution to getting good fuel economy out of a diesel that still has all the emissions junk on it, at least I'm hoping so. But as of now it looks like I'll be investing in a stronger hitch for my truck so that I don't have to use weight distribution to be within its weight ratings, and some air bags and/or load helper springs to get my truck to be a more capable puller when I need to tow my tractor. As of now it looks like if you're only towing 10,000 pounds that there is no advantage to owning a diesel at least in my experience. Heck I'd even consider an upgrade to a 3/4 ton without the diesel if I could get the 5.3 V8 in it. I wouldn't have the sag when I tow and the 5.3 will do a fine job pulling the load, just like it has for me already. I've driven the 6.0 liter V8 and it just doesn't offer enough extra, and what little extra it does deliver, it provides at a substantial fuel economy penalty. I will say this though, that 2010 Ram 2500 is one GREAT looking truck.