I'm looking at purchasing a RAM 3500 but I don't know what year but I do know it will b a Drw,2wd,automatic. My plans are too haul cars with the truck but I would like to know the average mpg's.

 

Anywhere between 10 and 20 mpg.

Seriously.

A LOT depends on your speed, gearing, mods, load and wind resistance.

 

My .02:

That will depend on a whole lot of things. How you drive it and how you maintain it will be 1 and 2. Next will be where you drive it and then what your hauling. Then what gear ratio. 4:10 will pull better but will get a few less mpg's. With my 04, stock, average empty driving, slight lift, I get about 17-19 mpg. When the wife drives it, she gets about 15-16, and she takes off hard and stops fast. Pulling my rv, I get about 12-15, depending on where I go and how fast I want to get there.

Obviously, if you take off fast and stop quick, you'll get less mpg's. if you don't maintain it, ex: tires inflated, filters changed, you'll get less. If you try to pull 32,000 pounds up a 20% grade, your gonna get way less mpg. If you lift it way up in the air, you'll get less mpg's. If you roll alot of coal (black smoke).......

Myself, I prefer the 3rd gen, specifically the 04.0. The 03's to me seemed to have a few issues as they were new to common rail. Yea, it came with 10 or 15 less hp than the 4.5 but I don't think anyone can really notice this. The 04.5, mfg after July 1, required a cat converter. And as you get newer and added more gov required junk, it's just more headache and less mpg. The Gen 2's were great, but has the VP injector pump that fails alot and is way expensive to replace, and they had the 53 blocks, that had weak water jackets that would crack, although my 99 never did any of this. The Gen 1's with the 12 valves are the most reliable, as they are all mechanical. Fuel, air, and a battery to crank them and they are gonna go and go and go. And with some mods, you can make some big power. But at the age some of them are at, the bodies are worn out around them.

 

I will probably have cruise set at 65-68, no mods, 3 small or mid sizes cars. The wind I cant really judge but honestly the wind is not that bad on the east coast.

 

Well Im here on the east coast and I will be driving on flat land %95 of the time. This will be how I feed my family so I dont think I will be lifting it or do anything that will take away from my bottom line which is fuel.

 

3 cars is 10,000 pounds. Plus a trailer and you are over 13,000 pounds. Add the truck and you are grossing at 20K - 21K.

I'd plan on 12 mpg highway and 10 mpg if you have a lot of city driving.

 

The money is in hauling hay right now. Here in Texas we've had such a bad drought that there is no grass for the livestock. All the ranchers are having to supplement almost 100% hay. No one could grow their own hay this year, so it's all coming from out of state. There is a consent roll of trucks with trailers driving long distances on our interstates right now. Almost all of them are Dodge cummins with 14-16 round bails stacked behind them.

If you've got the truck and trailer, there are many ranchers down here buying.

 

my 03 3500 is a srw truck and 4x4 and ive got my programmer turned all the way up and i get around 19 mpgs driving 65 to 70 mph back and forth to work. which about 2/3 is interstate the other is back roads. I have a 4.10 gear and auto tranny. ive seen as high as 21 with driving at 55 as much as possible. i tried the programmer on fuel econ setting and didnt notice a difference between that and turned all the way up. as long as ur easy on it while ur driving u get good mpgs and lots of power