What fuel mileage do you get in your 3/4 or 1 ton diesel? Which brand is best?

[jack707]

Soldier, those are good numbers. Better than I expected actually.

Road Hunter, the nearest CNG to me is about an hour away. I had looked at that option on the build your own, and it was a very expensive upfront cost as well. If I lived in a metropolis, though, it would be worth considering. I'd expect it to take a few years or more to break even, but the way I keep vehicles, that would be more up my alley.

Steve, I had thought about the Titans, and they are nice too, but I'm thinking this time to buy for the future. Brother and I may go in a new larger tractor and at some point, I may also want to buy a big camper, so I'm trying to plan for future needs.

Jack, not sure what you mean by Mog. What is your bad experience with a Dodge? Did you mean mpg? Are they not good?

That's what had me start this thread, since Fed law doesn't require them to publish real world MPG data, nobody does. I'm curious about the Ram manual transmission if it is a good bit better or not. I found it fun to drive. It surprised me that it has a rev limiter. I hit it twice during the test drive and it backed itself off redline basically forcing me to shift a little earlier than I would have thought, but hey, it's a 6 speed and I've only ever driven 5 speeds, and it's been quite a while since I even drove one of them.

I have to read my words before I hit send! MPGs dodges are not known for MPGs with a gas engine. When I had a old dodge 1500 with the 5.9 gas I got 12mpg! That the reason I sold it. I doubt it's any better today. Diesels would be your best bet but all the junk of the Epa is dragging diesel MPGs down.

 

[coobie]

I have to read my words before I hit send! MPGs dodges are not known for MPGs with a gas engine. When I had a old dodge 1500 with the 5.9 gas I got 12mpg! That the reason I sold it. I doubt it's any better today. Diesels would be your best bet but all the junk of the Epa is dragging diesel MPGs down.

My 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 4X4 crew cab(6.4 hemi engine) averages about 15.7-16.2 mpgs driving 75 MPH.If I stay 58-63 MPH I get 17.4-17.6 MPG.About what I expected.

 

[jack707]

My 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 4X4 crew cab(6.4 hemi engine) averages about 15.7-16.2 mpgs driving 75 MPH.If I stay 58-63 MPH I get 17.4-17.6 MPG.About what I expected.

The hemi is a gas hog I don't think that good MPGs it could be better

 

[Soldier415]

Soldier, those are good numbers. Better than I expected actually.

Road Hunter, the nearest CNG to me is about an hour away. I had looked at that option on the build your own, and it was a very expensive upfront cost as well. If I lived in a metropolis, though, it would be worth considering. I'd expect it to take a few years or more to break even, but the way I keep vehicles, that would be more up my alley.

Steve, I had thought about the Titans, and they are nice too, but I'm thinking this time to buy for the future. Brother and I may go in a new larger tractor and at some point, I may also want to buy a big camper, so I'm trying to plan for future needs.

Jack, not sure what you mean by Mog. What is your bad experience with a Dodge? Did you mean mpg? Are they not good?

That's what had me start this thread, since Fed law doesn't require them to publish real world MPG data, nobody does. I'm curious about the Ram manual transmission if it is a good bit better or not. I found it fun to drive. It surprised me that it has a rev limiter. I hit it twice during the test drive and it backed itself off redline basically forcing me to shift a little earlier than I would have thought, but hey, it's a 6 speed and I've only ever driven 5 speeds, and it's been quite a while since I even drove one of them.

One more big plus for the GM 3/4 ton is the exhaust brake that works with the cruise control system. I had to haul my tractor and all attachments on a 20' trailer from up near the canadian border 2 hours down to my place when I bought it. Halfway to pick up, lost the trailer brakes due to an electrical issue.

roughly 8,000 lb load through the mountains back to the house, the exhaust brake combined with the engine brake in tow/haul mode handled everything fine and I really only had to use truck brakes when coming to a complete stop for traffic lights.

Unless I am mistaken Chevy/GMC is the only 3/4 ton with an exhaust brake included.

 

[om21braz]

A 2011 Chevrolet 3500 4x4 crew w/ Duramax here. Truck gets approx. 18.5mpg empty on highway, have not keep a close enough eye on towing mileage. It is a strong puller and as others have mentioned, between the exhaust brake and transmission - stopping is no problem. I expect the Dodge or Ford would as well. All have there pros & cons. As for size, I didn't need a 3500 but it was the best value I could find at the time that had what I wanted.

 

[tractorshopper]

Soldier, thanks for the info on the braking. Very good to know. My initial bias has had me leaning toward the GMC 2500 based on stuff I've read and from talking to a few folks (and I love that garnet color they have and the way they look). I hear the ride on the GM is the most comfortable, but want to know from others who have these trucks and from test driving them myself a couple times each. I haven't driven a GM yet. I'm still open to all feedback because I'm really trying to be as open minded as possible because it's a big $ decision and one that I don't make often. I haven't really looked at trucks since I bought my current one 11 years ago.

I wonder why Ram is the only one that offers a stick. I'm not hung up on this, but really curious. Does it get better mileage or is it simply for a cheaper price point? Does it allow for more torque when taking off with a load or have the others just gone away from it because most people like automatic. I can only think of cons in my mind that backing up a trailer could be a little more of a pain and/or, I'd get tired of it. I would imagine there would be pros as well, like maybe fuel mileage and longer life of the tranny, but again, would like other's expertise for points to consider.

 

[Diamondpilot]

1st off, Ram is the only one with a stick.

2nd off, all get about the same, 20 highway, 15 around town, 11 loaded. The did better in the early 2000's but the EPA screwed that.

 

[Farmer495]

Also, what advantages/disadvantages are there to the standard transmission vs automatic.

For a 3/4 or 1 ton made in the last 5 or 6 years, RAM is the only with manual trans option, and diesel engine only with that manual. I looked into a 6-speed manual RAM in the spring. You get a detuned 6.7 compared to the automatic, so less power since they use the G56 that was behind the "HO" trucks like 10 years ago. You also get a deeper OD (two) with the 6-speed automatic, versus on OD with the manual, so auto truck turns less RPMS in high gear. The manual was perhaps $2500 cheaper than the automatic. I'd say only buy the manual if you are a die hard manual guy. Resale with likely be very poor unless you want to wait for the few guys that will pay a premium for a manual truck.

I have a 7.3 6-speed Ford, love the combination. Hope it goes for a few more years yet, but when it's done I'll have a hard time finding another manual truck.

 

[ovrszd]

I have a 7.3 6-speed Ford, love the combination. Hope it goes for a few more years yet, but when it's done I'll have a hard time finding another manual truck.

I have a 7.3 auto, love the combination. Also hope it goes for enough years that the current offerings are cheap enough that I can buy one.

My overhead says 17.8 over the past 120K miles. I've manually checked it empty, 15.5. I've manually checked it loaded, 24K, 10.7.

 

[coobie]

The hemi is a gas hog I don't think that good MPGs it could be better

Did not buy the truck to get 40 mpg,s. Its better than 12 mpg you were getting with the 5.9 motor.Thank god 87 octane gas is only $2.24 gallon.Laffin..