cajun4x4

It is amazing that someone would be so ****** at there Dodge when there is no documentation showing what the fuel economy should be at the time of purchase. IMHO getting rid of a truck because of fuel economy concerns doesn't warrent bad mouthing Dodge's. I for one would not be caught dead in a FORD. So my only option would be a Chevy.

PS
I have about 4k miles and get 15-16mpg with mixed driving. Not until I pulled something did the numbers start to rise.

DanTana

Here we go again. Call me a liar but here it is. I received my 2004.5 CTD in April. My milage started out around 14-15mpg. I made a trip from middle NC to coast of SC pulling a small aluminum boat couple weeks ago. I got 20mpg going down and 17mpg coming home. My milage has done nothing but get better with each tank. During this time I have added better exhaust, 315 tires, a "Tornado" this week. A better high flow air filter. I got a little reemed this week about posting high milage the other day. I made a trip of 40 miles 4 times this week at 80% interstate driving. I was careful to top tank each time and drove 127.3 miles on 6.066 gallons. That is 20.98mpg. I still think the 4.10 gear is the best gear for this truck. Please go easy on me...

My truck at http://www.gorowan.com/2004ram

DanTana

I never go by my overhead. I also had my speedo recalibrated when I placed the tires.

tdupuis

With my truck the way it is I have found the following numbers:

14.9 mpg going 80-90 mph on an 1100 mile trip with 500-1600 miles on it (started at 500, ended at 1600 ). Around town if feathering it (1700 miles) 15.7 mpg. Around town having some fun, 14.7 mpg. Rural driving, 16.8 mpg.

I drive fast, I tow fast, I don't expect good mileage. So far, this does 1 mpg worse on the highway than my old 6.5 did and about 1-2 mpg better around town, and the motor is nowhere near broken in yet. When I go on my first big towing expedition with this (expected to be in November, but possibly sooner) we'll see how that changes things. Those who are getting 13-15 mpg on the highway while babying it need to have your trucks checked out, something is wrong. From what I can tell, most people are doing better. But don't expect these things to be getting 25 mpg empty or 20 mpg towing, at least not stock. It's a BIG HEAVY TRUCK and you may as well be trying to move a brick wall down the highway, because that's about what these things have the aerodynamics of. I feel I definitely made a smart decision by buying a Dodge, especially considering all the problems that the PSD and DMax have been having. I'd rather have bad mileage than a bad engine...

DanTana

Ted,
I think you are exactly right. I have 7400 on mine now and the motor is sounding more loose. I don't drive mine normally hard but I don't play around. Have you tried to run yours flat out with the 3.73's to see really what your top speed and rpm is? The other day I ran out to the interstate and it ran flat out at 107-108 and rpms was 3000. It also seems when I push it a little I get better milage. I had heard on another board that Dodge programmed the computer to run a different hotter program once the motor had 5000 miles. And you are right it is a large piece of performance muscle.

tdupuis

DanTana,

Yeah, my motor still sounds new and tight with a whopping 1800 miles on it. Driving a lot less this year than I did last year. Then again, I haven't even had it for 2 weeks yet.

On my drive back from Texas somewhere in Missouri (Misery?) I caught myself going about 105 at one point while passing a line of slow guys (bad Ted! No biscuit!) and the revs were a bit over 3000, but I wasn't paying enough attention to the gauges to note for sure. Next time I get an empty stretch of highway I'll have a go at it. It seems that the 315s with the 4.10s put you pretty close to my factory tires with 3.73s. Also not sure how the gear ratios on the 48RE compare to the NV5600.

If the thing gets faster after 5000 miles I will be happy. Lots of manufacturers do that these days to keep you from breaking the engine rather than breaking it in, my mom's Infiniti had that. Right now this thing rips for what it is. I find that 5th and 6th gears are the most impressive for acceleration, really. That's where you're going fast enough for the intercooler to really get those IATs down to close to ambient. Passing on the highway I love just watching the speedo needle climb from 70 to 95 as fast as I can say "70 75 80 85 90 95"

Anyone who said that diesel trucks are loud and slow never drove a Cummins!

falcondan9570

The reason I bought this Dodge is towing capacity first...Second, is the "past history" of the mpg these trucks got... 18 to 24 mpg!!! Now, I am at 15 if I am "nice to it"... Hope it gets better...

RobG

I'd like to point out that I'm not expecting high teens or 20 out of my truck. I'd be VERY happy to simply get the 15-ish around town and 15-17 on the highway (unloaded), and 12 towing. But that isn't even close to happening.

My truck has spent easily 2/3 of its nearly 17000 miles towing either my Haulmark enclosed snowmobile trailer, hauling my Lance camper, or both. So it has seen a fair amount of load.

I'm not convinced that the trucks with low mileage, such as the 6sp getting 7 mpg in this thread, are necessarily having a motor problem. Maybe that's part of it, maybe it isn't. Maybe there's something going on somewhere else... a tight differential... sticking brakes... tranmission issues (more likely on my auto than a 6sp).

I just know I'm fed up with it and I can't even get the dealer to acknowledge that there's a problem. Hell I can't even get them to replace the driver's seat track that's loose and shifts fore/aft when I brake and accelerate. Their response to that is, "that's normal." Baloney.

Rob

tdupuis

Hey DanTana!

Got on the interstate today. Mine pulled right up to 108 mph @ 3200 rpms and held there like there was a brick wall not letting it go any faster. Sure pulled hard up until that point, though.

Now I REALLY want the 315s so I can drop my revs a bit more and increase my top speed... too bad that they'd probably rub on mine since I have a 4x2.

MusicMan

I've had my truck two weeks short of a year, and just crossed 30k miles. I enter every fill-up into a spreadsheet. My overall mileage is 18.96. I'm broke, so I don't drive fast, usually keep it under 65. Worst mileage was going 75 mph towing a light trailer all day through a windy Nevada, got 13.94. Out of 61 fill-ups, 13 have been over 20 mpg, including three of the last four. Someday, after the warranty has expired, I'd like to put in an overdrive, and I'll think about taller tires when the originals are bald. I'm glad I have the 4.10's when I'm backing up a trailer on pavement and can't use the 4L, otherwise I'd be constantly feathering the clutch. But it would be nice to have another gear for high speeds.

bigsam

MPG will get better. Back and forth to work in stop and go rush hour and around town on weekends I get 16 - 16.5. average over the whole tank, I now have 8500 mi on rig.

When I first bought it, under same conditions, I usually got around 14 - 15. Did a long trip on Interstate 5 and finally got 18 mpg hand calculated on a 250 mile trip at 65 to 70 mph. I was thrilled. I actually was starting to have doubts, but the mileage is starting to climb.

Seems crazy, but my mileage seems to have gone up after my first oil and fuel filter change at 7500 mi.

BTW, my over head computer if left untouched for the whole tank is always almost exactly 1 mpg less than hand calc.

bkrukow

I have just short of 11,000 miles on mine now and my fuel milage has bounced all over the place. Sometimes the overhead is dead on and sometimes its not even close. When the truck had 500 miles on it I took it on a 325 mile round trip and got a hand calculated milage of 18.2. Now 6 months later with 10500 miles on it I repeted the exact same trip and got 20.7. On both of the trips I drove 62-64 mph. Running around localy I get abought 15-17mpg. I guess I cant complain abought milage to much compared to others claims. I do very little freeway driveing so 60-65 is normal for me on black tops. If I go anything over 65 it starts to drop fast and at 70+ it drops like a rock.

suntiet

We only have 4700 miles on ours and are getting 8.5 mpg. dodge told us it was the way the woman drives so I'm gonna drive it for a week and see. They told me the 2004.5 are quieter but get worse gas milage. I said you f*&@@rs sold me this to get better miolage than the hemi we had and now we are getting worse. Any ideas?