had my 03 in the shop and had some loads to deliver, shop had a card from a rental place that rented 1 tons. it was a 06 3500 4x4 daully crew cab with the duramax. I thought i would give it a chance glad i did because that is the crappiest motor i have ever driven that is supposed to be so great. It had a hard time pulling hills, the mileage was terrible. Loaded it got 6.3 at 65 to 70 when it could do it, mine gets 6.5 and will do 70. empty trailer at 75 to 80 it got 8.4 and running 70 to 65 it got around 9.5, mine gets no less then 10.5 pulling an empty trailer. with out a trailer it got a whopping 13.6 compared to 16. The only thing it had going for it was the tranny it was nice for an auto but that was about it. it had 11k on when i picked it up and now has 13.8k now my 03 has 141k and pulls a lot better. cant see how those duramax guys can drive them without it being chipped so they can get somewhere.

 

I would hate to drive a dodge then, being that the lbz handled the cummins without any problems in magazine comparisons.

 

Towing and drag racing is a whole different ball game.

 

Magazine tests and the real world are often different.

 

some of these guys please correct me if im wrong, but if thats your attitude, then you might be on the wrong site. this site seems to have a majority of dodge owners and as the name here goes "your dodge ram and cummins turbo diesel source" im sure your stance in unappreciated. and i have nothing but good things to say about my 5.9 and it pulls better in the real world (thank xlr8r for pointing that out) than alot of d-maxs out there while making better milage.

thanks

brett

 

Don't flame him-he's entitled to have his opinion, as long as he expresses it respectfully. So far as what he's saying, I don't take what magazines write as the gospel, and I'd highly suggest he not do that either if he wants to be taken seriously here. Waving some magazine article around in the face of lots of real world experience will get you thoroughly ridiculed, and rightfully so. Same thing ought to happen to me if I go to a duramax forum and start citing some article as the basis for why duramaxes suck.

 

In every tow-off I've ever seen they always test from a standing start, and use automatics. The Dodge will loose every time in that situation because of the 4 speed automatic transmission. It is at a disadvantage to the 5 speed because of the first 3 gears spacing. Low and second gears in the 5 speeds are much lower than low and second in a 4 speed. This allows them to get the load up and moving faster and easier, and to use a tighter converter doing it. A tighter converter gets more power to the ground.

 

I'm just having some fun. I love diesels, dodge and gm especially. for a year or two the gm guys get to give a few jabs to the dodge side. dodge will level the field with a real tranny and new engine. There are guys on every site that take this stuff way to serious. You guys are one of the better sites.

Kelly

 

Bart Timothy i agree, id like to see a test on the manual trucks, and see how they compar!

 

well a manual vs manual would be a nice heads up for sure. and i have to say that i have drove a d-max from oklahoma to wyoming and back, so i kinda have a feel for those trucks too. it wasnt all that bad. no cummins, but would pull 80 w/ about 8k pretty easy and made a steady 12 mpg on cruise control. if i hadnt gotten a cummins, i would have definately gotten a d-max. and summit889. thanks for clearifying that ur playing around. just kinda caught me off gaurd because i wouldnt go to a d-max or psd site and talk smack about those guys trucks...just my .02

brett

 

i drove an '05 dmax..i thought it was fine...it simply doesnt feel like a diesel..what i mean is...the dodge lets u know that ur in a truck and the way the cummins revs it kinda feels heavy and big...with the duramax its almost hard to tell whether ur in a diesel or that gm 6 liter gasser...but it sure accelerates quick and the tranny shifted fine...the cummins just behaves and feels more like a big rig ...all depends on what u like...i wanna feel like im driving a truck...i don't care much for all the smoothness and luxury

 

I agree - they make nice white collar trucks, but give me a blue collar Dodge!

 

Hmmmm. The Dmax has tiny 215/85/16s vs the Dodge's bigger 235/80/17. That along gives the Dmax a .13 ratio advantage compared to the Dodge. Wonder if the Dodge will do better with the 4.10 or if the Dmax has larger 235/85/17 tires to even out the comparison?

MikeyB

 

The Duramax I had came with 245/75/16 tires, and my Ram came with 265/75/17 tires.

 

And the article was advertised by????

All the points are valid here with the difference in transmissions, ratios and the ability to get up and go. Without the Allison, the Dmax is just another V8 and sorry to say... I have yet to see a good comparo on the diesels in a magazine, but thats just another topic.

If you are used to gas engines, then the 6.6 or the 6.0 will feel like home. Big revs, lots of shifting.. If you come from old school Diesel, well.. You know the obvious choice.. V8's are on the drag track, I-6s tow the trailer to get them there...