First I'll start by saying that, Anyone considering buying a new truck for long distance driving in comfort or towing on a regular basis, The Dodge is your truck. Now that the Dodge commercial is over let me give my opinion why.

There's been some recent debate on fuel mileage from the newer trucks. I've stated my opinion on some other posts that it's possible for the newer (600 and newer motors) to still pull down decent mileage. The problem is that I don't ever drive on the highway so it's hard for me to offer much proof. So tonight I got out of the house for a couple hours just to see what my truck could do. The last time I drove my truck over 20 miles at one time was probably over a thousand miles ago so I needed to ring her out a little anyway. I know it's sad but I've been stuck in a close radius to home lately

I filled up 2 miles from the on-ramp for I-94 headed north to Milawaukee. I filled the truck up to the lip of the fill tube (I have the fuel tank vent kit). I drove up to the Milwaukee Airport, turned around and came back. I was stopped at four stoplights on my trip and the rest of the time was spent with the cruise set on 65mph the whole way. After 74.4 miles I was back to the same station and the same pump. The overhead read 24MPG. It took 3.402 gallons to fill her back up to the lip of the filler neck. I don't think I could have fit another tablespoonful in. At 2.529 a gallon my little joyride cost me $8.60. The mileage worked out to 21.869 mpg.

The mileage on my truck is 23480, it's a 4X4 auto, I have a Leer cap, straight thru muffler, straight thru resonator in place of the cat, 295's, I have the silencer ring removed, a torque tube, a drilled airbox and an AFE drop in Air filter. I've had the White smoke/mileage TSB, and the speedo corrected for the tire size. I don't have GPS but I feel that my speedo is very close and when I used mile markers it was off on the slow side by 1/10th of a mile after ten miles. My tire pressure was at about 50 in the front and 45 in the rear about 1 month ago when I checked it. I had wanted to raise the pressures to 75 PSI before my test but I never did it at my shop today. When I fueled up I wanted to add air but the Station wanted .50 cents just to turn their stupid little air pump on. I didn't feel like spending 4 bucks to air up my tires so I left them alone. I have a quad race box, which was disconnected and I have the tone-ring as far advanced as possible, I guess about 5-6 degrees. Tempature was 36 degrees and very damp out. There was no wind as far as I can tell, and my trip encompassed gently rolling hills the whole way.

I know people will say that my test means nothing becuase it was soo short, but I contend that my truck will run like that for ever. If I had gone 200 miles tonight I think my mileage could have been a couple of tenths better but not worse. It was just starting to get really warmed up when I got back

I feel that I may have lost 1 Mpg due to the tire pressure and winter blend fuel. Another 20 k miles on the clock, synthetic oil, more air pressure and an 80 degree day, I feel I could get close to 24 mpg at 65 mph.

I'm not trying to put down guys that can't get that kind of mileage with their trucks, because I do feel lucky to have mine. I'm also not saying that there aren't trucks out there that have a fuel consumption problems. I just see a lot of posts about poor fuel mileage and not many about good mileage. I know some people may not go as far as I have to try to get their truck to run better than stock but I'm happy with almost 22mpg out of a 7000+LB's truck.

I guess my whole piont is, Don't be afraid of the Cummins powered Dodge because of mileage numbers you see when a truck is brand new. It'll get better. I ran the same exact test last year with about 7 k on the clock, the cat still on and no tone-ring advance and got 18.5 MPG with 75 psi in the tires.

 

I think the key to the good mileage report is that your truck is probably good and broke-in now....or almost broke-in...........and that you kept your speed at 65. (therefore keeping your tach under 2000 rpms)

My truck seems to get similar mileage when I slow down to that speed. I just find it so difficult to drive that slow and I pay for it at the pump.

 

I agree, I've started a couple of road trips towing our car hualer. We've not been in any hurry, so I'd start out at 65mph, next thing you know after an hour or so, we're going 75-80 like everyone else.

Last night I had nowhere to go so it was easy. I knew I'd be back home in a little over an hour anyway.

My last tank of fuel was 11mpg with lots of idle time and many short trips. I don't care though, I'd never trade this truck for an economy car .