Originally Posted by rjohnson

I think your best mileage would be had with a 2002, manual tranny, 3.55 rear end, 2x4, Long bed....with over 40,000 miles on it. With some add on's you should see over 20 mpg on hwy!

RJ

Originally Posted by Zig

I am back again; I slept on everyone’s responses. I believe I tend to lean with Doomgaze. I think I should get rid of it and not look back! My closest town is 60 miles away and the closest major city is Billings Montana and it is 150 miles from us. We love where we live so we have to watch the money we spend if we want to live here. We have always had an economy car for the kids to go back and forth to school each day. It is 120 miles round trip for them. I still have one child at home and I bought her a Dodge Neon to go to school in that gets 32 miles a gallon. I am looking at buying my wife a new Volkswagen Jetta diesel that supposedly gets 48 miles per gallon. I hope I am not being lied to about that. I am paying almost $8,000.00 more for the Jetta to hopefully get an extra 10 to 16 miles per gallon. I would also hope that the diesel engine in the Jetta would outlast the gas engines. I have driven an old 2wd 84 ford one ton 6.9 liter diesel since it was new. It got me 21 miles to the gallon the day I drove it home. It was the best truck I ever owned. I should have never traded it off but my wife and kids would laugh at me running around in my old clunker and it would embarrass them to be seen in it. I know, I should have traded off my wife and kids.
It is not just the fact of loosing $12,000.00 on this truck. I didn’t get what I wanted! I could have bought another ford but I heard that they were only getting around 15 mpg, the same with a Chevy. The reason I went with dodge was because of the fuel mileage.
Now, every time I pull up to a pump it reminds me how I was lied to. Fuel mileage is very important to me and I want to like the vehicle I am driving if I am going to spend a lot of time in it as we do. My new dodge would have had a lot more miles on it had it gotten better fuel mileage. I didn’t buy it to just look at.
I have taken it back to the dealer 3 times for this fuel problem and they always tell me the same thing, it is getting the best it can get. I did get a “reflash” of the ECM and the next tank of fuel I got 8.5 miles per gallon. I took it in again and they reflashed it and it went back to where it was before. Like I said, they said their computer says my truck is averaging 11 miles to the gallon since new.
I know that I am taking it in the shorts by getting rid of it now but everyone that buys a new truck like this looses 10 grand when they drive it off the lot. The first year you take the biggest beating.
Do I spend a couple more grand to get a new exhaust system and a new air filter that will allow more airflow and a new chip for the computer? How much will it add to my 11 miles per gal? I noticed my right rear quarter panel and bumper gets black smoke on it. I pointed it out to my dealer and they said it was normal. I haven’t noticed it on other new trucks, which makes me think it is running rich. They also blame that the winter blend will cause bad fuel mileage, I’ve talked to others that say it only effects them maybe 1 to 2 miles per gal.
I live 80 miles from the dealership, add it up, at $3.00 per gallon getting 11 mpg it cost me almost $48.00 to take it to them round trip to see why I am getting poor fuel mileage. If it were getting what they told me it would get I would only be paying $24.00. I have already turned it back to them but we are both waiting on me to decide what I want to do with it. They also own a ford franchise and they said that I could trade it on a new ford. I don’t want a new ford if it’s only going to get 15 mpg. I want 20 like so many people brag about and like I once got with my 6.5. Maybe I should wait until they get a good used 01,02 or 03 in and trade down. The truck I purchased is a 4x4 and I really don’t need a 4x4 so maybe I should go back to a 2x4 if it gets better mileage. I originally wanted a 2x4 but they didn’t have one on the lot and they told me I wouldn’t save that much in mileage. They also convinced me that I wouldn’t save much weather I went with an automatic over a stick. I believe I should look for exactly what I wanted in the first place, that is a 2x4 with a stick and highway gears.
Am I thinking wrong? It cost me almost $100.00 to fill my truck, I look at that and I think, had I purchased the right truck it would have cost me half this much to go this far!
I know I sound confused, that is why I am hear.