Diesel Pickup Truck Gas Mileage

[rich_ncal]

I am considering if I ever need to replace my current gas powered Chevy 4x4 truck to get a used diesel pickup.

What is the typical gas mileage for recent years Chevy, Dodge and Ford diesels, pulling loads and empty?

 

[Nat]

I have a 2004 dodge 3500,Diesel, auto, 4x4 and get 18/19 around home. pulling a 11,000# RV I get 12. This is the 4th dodge deisel I've had. HTH, later, Nat

 

[themichelob]

Mine is a 2002 Ford F250 Super Duty, also auto and 4x4, and I get 19-20 mpg although I don't do much city driving--mostly country roads. When I tow my fairly small (17 foot) boat it drops off a couple mpg. Mileage actually improved after the first couple years, and it also loves hot weather. Now if the price of fuel would get back where it should be.....
Regards, Mike

 

[jcmseven]

My modified 7.3L PS FWD 2002 model gets 21 on highway, driving pretty fast, 16.0-17.0 in town (I live in the mountains) and about 14-15 towing an 8000 pound load. When stock, the truck got about 3 mpg less across the board. The 6.0L ON AVERAGE seems to get about 1-2 mpg less than the 7.3L although that is highly variable. The Chevy Duramax owners I know, most of whom have modified their trucks in some way, get 14-15 in our area locally driving, and 18-19 on highway. On average the Cummins in the Dodge would do the best on fuel, especially when towing, although the folks I know who have them cannot equal my mileage although they do come close. I had a V10 250 before my diesel and it would get 11-12 in similar driving locally, 15 on highway and 8-10 pulling the same weight load. My opinion is those are big differences, but unless one drives A LOT it would take a long time to make a diesel work out on fuel economy alone. I personally could not justify buying one based on this fact, but to me there are several other reasons to buy a diesel.

John M

 

[thatguy]

I have a 2002 Dodge 2500 4x4 Quad Cab w/ Cummins.. Around town mileage is about 16.5 to 17.5... On extended trips (non towing) it will be around 20 to almost 21.. Pulling I get around 15 to 16ish

I dont drive a lot of miles a year and that extra $4600 for the diesel would certainly buy A LOT of gasoline these days.. But I do love the diesel and would buy another one.. I like knowing I have more than enough truck to pull anything I need..

good luck with your decision

Brian

 

[tommu56]

i just drove back from my cabin ~ 200 miles and the mpg gauge was hovering around 16.2 to 16.5 2006 dodge maxi cab 4x4 with cummings turbo only 3700 miles so far though.

tom

 

[QueBota]

2001 Dodge 2500 4x4 Quad Cab 6 speed. Currently at around 112K miles. Average fuel mileage for all miles to date is right around 19mpg. I have an Edge EZ installed and slightly larger injectors as well as a flow through exhaust and low restriction air filter, synthetic fluids throughout. It puts out about 350 hp to the rear wheels and around 850 ft lbs or torque.

Dave

 

[dmccarty]

Nat,

I have a 2002 F350 SRW 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed with a six speed manual that is stock. My summer mpg which is my highest because of the route I get to take runs 20.5 maybe squeezed up to 20.6 mpg. This is mainly rural road driving at 55mph. This has been consistent for years and is hand calcualted. The trucks computer calculated mpg is usually off by .5 to 1 mpg OVER what is really happening.

Last week I filled up and got 21.3 mpg. That is .7 OVER what I normally get but it was exactly the truck's calculated mpg. I think TheMichaelob may be right about hot weather. The tank of fuel I used was during a few weeks of high 90 degree weather. I do run Shell 5wx40 semi synthetic in the truck which did help increase the mpg a couple of tenths.

I don't drive the truck hard unless I have a reason. Mustly just put put around to get where I'm going. The way the lights are timed as well as the traffic flow, speeding just burns up your fuel and brakes.

My father just got a 2006 Chevy 2500 Duramax with a Crew Cab and short bed. I can't remember if he got 4x4 or not. He gets 21-22 mpg on the highway running 70+. My Ford running a bit over 2000 RPMs about 70 mph, get 17.6ish.

I noticed diesel was 2.99 today. Regular gas was 3.07 and premium was 3.22. In the winter diesel will generally go up in price towards the premium gas price depending how much cold weather the northern states are getting. Cold weather up North and high diesel prices. If its warm up there the prices are low.

Later,
Dan

 

[jcmseven]

There have been some good points made here. To me, at this time buying a good used diesel and maybe modifying it a little would be a better option than buying new. I would go on record as saying I am not that big on modifying things, but really, aside from mild electronics changes, many of these engines are not changed that much, especially the Cummins. The 7.3L Power Stroke is another great engine and is quite popular. I even had my dealer call me to buy back mine and get me into a new one. The reason my salesman said was that the 7.3L is so popular that they bring top dollar for sales. If you could find a 1999-2002 Ford or a similar era Dodge without a huge number of miles, you would be in great shape. Both are bulletproof and would serve you well--almost forever.

John

 

[Dargo]

Gees, I only get about 15 mpg empty on the highway and, on my last tank, pulling 13k at 75 mph I only got 9.4. There again, I have 'played' with my Cummins quite a bit. According to the $50 dyno run I did late last year I had just under 430 hp and just over 1000 ft. lbs of torque. My truck is a 4X4 dually with an automatic. You can get an incredible amount of power out of the Cummins (holds the U.S. record in all 5 diesel classes in diesel drags), but you pay with the fuel economy.