Looks like the 12 to 16 mpg range is winning the vote, not to impressive.

 

I just went through my first tank full and was disappointed to only bet getting 12.85mpg (by hand) 75% Hwy/25% City, driving like an absolute grandpa. I only have about 350 miles on the truck so I hope that it's true about the milage getting better after it's thoroughly broken in. I used the "better mileage of the diesel" rationale to justify this purchase and replace my '99 1500 that got 13Mpg... If it doesn't get better, the wife is not going to be happy

 

My 04.5 2500 SWB QC 4x4 auto has almost 4,000 miles on it. I just calculated overall average mileage and it is 15.0 mpg. That includes 5% towing (2-horse trailer), 10% freeway 70 mph, 20% gravel road 4WD in the hills, 15% city driving and 50% often curvy rural highway. I hope it gets better, but I can't complain too much. That is about the same overall mileage as my previous Ford F-150 gasser, but SOOOO much more power!

 

Thanks to everyone who participated and voted in this poll. I started this vote to learn a little more about the 600 and what you all were experiencing as I was right at the edge of buying factory order.

After seeing the MPG results and hearing about other problems with the 600, vibration from more than 1 source, frame wrinkle, injectors, picky about fuel quality, parts missing, etc. I am officially unstuck. I also took a 2500 and a 3500 for a test drive and felt the vibes (2500 was really bad) and SOP 3500 felt smoother. I think it is a krap shoot right now on whether you get a good one or not.

I am staying with my 01 HO for another year or so.
Thanks
Aaron

 

My '04 2500 has been fine (mostly). Fule mileage on a recent 240 mile roundtrip @ 68mp/h (110km/h) was 22 mpg (US Gal) on a flat highway without much wind. I noticed a significant drop in fuel mileage when I increased speed to 120km/h (75 mp/h). I think the mileage is pretty good for a truck. On this trip the truck was not loaded with any weight.

Overall I though range was pretty good. Idid the 240 mile roundtrip empty, and then towed my horse trailer 2 hours round trip, plus some city driving. Total distance to empty was 700km (420 miles).

 

kayjh, are you describing 04.5 with Cummins 600 or 04 with 305-555?
Thanks Jack.

 

Just seen a poll/vote on the 600 MPG on TDR and the results look nearly identical to this one.

 

My first tank was 13.4
Second was 16.1
Third was 16.5
I'm not complaining, hope it keeps going...........

 

I picked up my new 2004.5 ST 325/600 2500 4x4 QC LWB with 6 speed tranny. It had about 140 miles on it. First tank was a combo of city and very little highway. I got just about 18mpg. I was hoping for a little better, but it still beats the hell out of my GMC 8.1L (12mpg).

I voted 16-18

 

Yesterday I got on the freeway, reset the overhead, and locked in the cruise @ 65. From Huntington Beach to Glendale = 42 miles.
Outside temp up to 102 degrees and the AC running the whole way. There was a little bit of stop & go mixed in as well.

19.5 mpg (per overhead) . . . truck has somewhat under 3k miles.

Seems to just keep getting better with time and miles.

 

I can't vote yet because I don't pick up my truck until this afternoon. Yesterday I took a 9 mile test drive before I signed the papers and on the short highway run watched the overhead reading steadly climb. It reached 15.1 about the time I turned around to go back to the dealers so I am hoping for some decent mileage on the highway.

 

I traded in my 2002 2wd diesel which consistently got about 17 mpg mixed city & hwy mileage on this one. I wanted 4wd since I got stuck twice pulling my dad's tractor on trailer around the farm. had to off-load tractor and pull myself out! For the same usage pattern, on my 2004.5 HO 4x4, I'm getting 14.3 mpg. The engine build date on the engine tag is 2/9/04. The truck build date was 2/18/04. I looked at the TSB's on the http://dodgeram.info/tsb/ site, but didn't see anything related to my truck. Anyboby have some recommendations?

 

Just took my first long trip. around town i'm getting about 14.5 to 15. This trip was from Ft. Walton Beach FL to Gadsden AL. Back roads until Montgomery then interstate, so half and half. I averaged about 18. never ran over 75 and had the cruise on 70 most of the way and with 3.73 rear the tach was about 1900 rpm. it may not be 20+ mpg but it's better than the 12 i was getting with my 1500 5.2L. I was not loaded down. had one more person and about 250 pounds of stuff loaded in the back of the cab. BTW fuel mileage was all hand calculated.

 

I broke in my truck this past weekend. Pulled an '89 Chevy (can I say that here??) S-10 4x4 with a small block on a U-Haul transport trailer up to the Adirondack mountains. The truck weighs 4416 and the trailer around 2k - total around 6400 lbs. I can NOT believe the pulling power the cummins has. We pulled up one of the hills just north of Lake George villeage with no problem at 70mph. I usually have a hard time with my Suburban empty never mind pulling 6k+ lbs. The cummins didn't even break a sweet!!! Had a grin from ear to ear!

Anyway, mileage for the trip going up was just over 13mpg (calc over 328 miles). Pretty awesome considering all the huppala about 600's getting poor mileage.

On my ride to work this morning, the computer said high 19. Usually it shows 17 to 18 so on average it seems it went up. I'll do a hand calc on my next fill up.

Very happy 600 owner!!!