My wifes new 04.5 is and has been getting 17.0 to 17.5 since we got it, only has 2300 miles so far. havent towed with it yet but would like to so we could start the breakin process, she has a hard toneau cover on it and I think that helps for less wind drag, looks great too.

Cheers, Kevin

 

good luck with the breakin towing whitmore,,,suppose to keep it at 50 per hour for 500 miles,,which i found to be very scary,,that"s 10hrs of semis trying to get around ya ,,it"s not something i would like to re-live!
5000 miles on my baby,,mileage has increased about 2 mpg since new,,but i understand it takes aleast 10,000 miles for these trucks to break in.
wind drag is everything! need to put a cap on mine, from what i read in these threads, caps increase drag,,but i need one .
ur 01 sounds like a rocket whitmore,,,what do u get for mileage with it?

 

I now have 3800 miles on my truck. At about 3000 miles the fuel mileage increased. I am now getting 15 - 16 in town, still havent taken a long trip but on short ones I am getting 19 - 20 depending on speed.

 

Since I put the 19.5's on it my ratio changed considerably, at 65 mph I run 1600rpm, so I run the truck at 75 mph and get 19-to 20 consistently, when towing I use 5th gear at 65 mph is 2100 rpm, perfect for the hills and dont have to down shift on 7% grades.

Cheers, Kevin

 

I was disappointed in the MPG like everyone else. My Ford PS 7.3 made 17 MPH from the first tank.
If I was very careful, after it was broken in, I could get 20. But most of the time I didn't drive carefully and got 17 MPG. The Dodge has now gotten 18 MPG after 4,500 miles. This is on a 400 mile trip that included 30 miles of 2nd and 3rd gears going over a very rough dirt road at 10 to 20 miles/hr. The rest of the trip was all highway at 65 to 70 miles/hr. This is a long way from where it started.
I didn't think there was any way it was ever going to get this mileage. Everything has smothed out, it shifts better, makes better power, and today I would say it's a better truck than my Ford PS. It does get better.

 

I just filled up yesterday and got the best mileage yet, 17.6. I have almost 6000 mile on it and my build date is 1-04.

 

well..my truck currently has 550 miles on it and is getting 12.1 (overhead)...my 99 gets 18(overhead) in the city and 20+ on the hiway....so things better get better from here...otherwise i am very

 

I was also fairly dissapointed with the mileage I was getting at first, I typically get about 15 mpg, give or take 1 mpg, around town, stop and go driving. Today I drove down to Colorado Springs and back, I averaged about 19.5 mpg the entire trip (my overhead read out has consistently been 1 mpg under hand calculations); this was cruising at speeds from 60 to 75 mph. The best reading I got all day was 20.8 mpg on the overhead, thus it would be more like 21.8 mpg, this was with the cruise set at 66-67 mph. I'm pretty happy with these numbers, unfortunately most of my driving is done around town; my rig still only has 2900 miles on the odometer so it has long way to go before it's broken in.

 

My truck rolled over 3600 miles this morning on the odometer.
The overhead has been consistently 1.5 to 2 MPG low, it is currently indicating 15.3 MPG. The last tank hand calculated to 15.9 MPG with the overhead showing 14.3 MPG. I have approx. 100 miles of towing my 5K travel trailer, it did seem to help mileage after towing, was averaging 14.5 MPG before.

Ted

 

Ok, I keep reading these threads about the 04.5 MPG issue. Of course, we are all always looking for more economy, but can anyone tell me what numbers we should be seeing? What should be considered normal?

 

Your fuel consumption is more based per driver. I can get 18+ empty, or average 12 MPG, depends on my testosterone level per tank.

Its just nice to be able to afford these high dollar option engines, remember, there are others that have to drive gassers .

 

Just wondering, what is the competition getting for mileage???



______________________________

04.5 4x4 Dodge Ram 600 Laramie

 

Just talked to a guy today with a new (1800 miles on it) Powerstroke (crew cab, SRW, auto, special Harley-Davidson trim). The two numbers that stuck in my head were "51" - thousand that is, and "11.5" - mpg on his first or second tank.

OTOH, he is running one of those chips/computers in it and doesn't appear to baby it.

LRoy

 

Just filled-up after a 480 mile trip about 75% cruse set at 78-80. The rest in mild city conditions (no gridlock) I got 17.5 MPG 1900k miles on her and last tank did 200+ miles of 7K towing. Previous best hwy/city MPG 15.4. I am VERY happy with 17 MPG on a heavy 4X4 truck driving at 75 - 80, if it gets better as she breaks in I will be thrilled! My past bigblock gas trucks (also crew cab 4X4s) would do a best of 11-12 mpg on hwy and not have as much power. Towing the same trailer, they would get 6.5 mpg and not be able to hold 75 -80. My 1st towing tank also included launching a few boats and 20 min of high idle time to charge a friends boat battery and I still got 9.8 mpg.

Good Stuff!
Allen

P.S. Still thinking of a box, but want low end (1700 - 2300 RPM) power, better MPG, and reliability. Any ideas?????