Test drove a Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Today

[timswi]

Thos on board fuel mileage guages are pretty much useless. They are little more than electronic vacuum guages in most cases.

See what happens when you go down hill with your foot off the gas, you'll get 70mpg for a short time.

If you live in the flatlands, this may not be the case.

I've seen this in other Dodge Pickups. Not speaking for all brands though.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Salesman let you put 100 miles on a test drive ?

I commonly get vehicles for 2 days when I am looking to buy. Pick it up one evening or even had them brought to my home then take them back the next evening. Its worked in the dealers favor because 9 out of 10 times I buy.

Some vehicles I never test drive. I have bought 4 or 5 new ones, last was my 06 F-350. When it came in they said you want to take it for a quick test drive. I said no, its what I want.

Chris

 

[dstig1]

As for the dash readings I have found them to be fairly accurate in all the vehicles I have owned from GM, Ford, Nissan, and Dodge. When I say accurate I mean +/-.5 mpg but usually within .2 mpg. Close enough for me.

Chris

I have to say I have been shocked by the accuracy of the mileage meter on my SD. Everyone calls them the "lie-o-meter" as they are supposedly always wrong, but mine has been no more than 0.1 mpg off from my manual calculations in the 2 years I have owned it. And I calculate mileage in my head at every fill up to make sure nothing seems wonky.

 

[Dargo]

I have to say I have been shocked by the accuracy of the mileage meter on my SD. Everyone calls them the "lie-o-meter" as they are supposedly always wrong, but mine has been no more than 0.1 mpg off from my manual calculations in the 2 years I have owned it. And I calculate mileage in my head at every fill up to make sure nothing seems wonky.

I've had one or two vehicles where the on board computer was way off (showing better mpg than actual), but most are actually pretty close. One way off is my Chevy Impala. It is most certainly a 'lie-o-meter'. Hand calculated, I get 5 to 7 mpg less than what it reports. In my other vehicles I'm only off a couple of tenths.

 

[groundcover]

Mileage should get better after a few thousand miles especially on a diesel. Ford has a few videos out, one a mileage test with the big three, the 2011 is pretty impressive ! I drove one and it is quite a truck . I thought I was done with diesels but after that test drive I'm not so sure . I won't be the first to bring one home, let someone else find the problems but now I think I might be sticking with the oil burners!

 

[om21braz]

The 2005 Dodge 2500 ctd I had previously was almost exactly 1 mpg higher on the display than hand calculated in any conditions.

 

[Willl]

Was fuel mileage really that much of a concern when you all went shopping for a full size truck ?

 

[timswi]

Was fuel mileage really that much of a concern when you all went shopping for a full size truck ?

Actually for me...Yes. My 04 GMC 4x4 gets around 17mpg with me driving it to work every day..70 miles round trip. 75-80 mph on the interstate...Not too bad in my opinion. Have almost 90K on it with no problems. The last 2 GMC's have gone 200k under the same conditions. No issues with them either.

If it got 6 mpg like my '83 K-5 Blazer did, I'd have issues with that.

 

[Hawghauler]

I used to have a 2004 Duramax 1 ton with all the bells and whistles. Test drove the 2010 Dodge 1 ton Cummins and inside and out I was very impressed. Loved the back floor storage. Gobs of power. It out rode and out drove the Ford effortlessly. More comfortable too. The Duramax is very nice, but I think the cummins is better. I just wish the Dodge used Allison trannys, then it would be unbeatable. Dodge uses American Axle not Dana, heard they are reliable.

 

[Dmace]

I just wish the Dodge used Allison trannys, then it would be unbeatable.

They have a very good big-rig type transmission like the Allison, theirs is built by Aisin. Only problem is they only put it in the cab-chassis trucks, for now...