Dodge Ram fuel efficiency

[LaVoi]

Hi everybody, I am looking at buying either a 98' or 99' Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab 4x4. If you own a Dodge like this or any Dodge pickup for that matter, I would be very interested to hear what you guys average for gas mileage. Thanks

[BDR]

I have an 01' with 125,000. I seem to get around 12 no matter what the load.

[kevfish]

I have a 98 with 80,000 miles on it. I get 12 in the summer on the highway. 10 in the winter time and about 8 mpg pulling a fish house that weighs 3,000 lbs. I get 11 pulling my lund pro v. I would recomend a chevy or ford for a little better milelage. I have also had tranny problems

[John Mickish]

Ive got a 94 half ton with a 318/auto with 171,000 miles. Original motor and trans. I have gotten as low 8mpg pulling a tandem axle inclosed trailer with air into a 20 mph headwind @65mph in drive to around 14 empty @70 in OD.

[FEZ HUNT]

I have a 98 with the 318. 165,000 miles. 12 on avg.

About 8 plowing snow. Have had no problems with it though.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Wow! 12mpg?

I hate to brag but I get 13 in the city in the winter with my 4 door Tundra, 17 on the freeway in the winter. I'm interested to see what the summer numbers will be especially towing the boat.

[Valv]

I had a '99 with 360 and had around 13mpg/14mpg, now I have a diesel and get 16mpg but can tow a house.

You are not going to get any better with other brands, maybe 1 mpg more but not much.

[Finns]

'99 Ram 1500 w/360 is 12 mpg in overdrive, 10 not in od pulling 16' Lowe. Go w/318 if you can.

Finns.

[castindad]

airjer what is a 10hp johnson 1970 worth motor runs but was run in weeds and prop wont turn castindad

[LaVoi]

Very helpful replies everybody. I drive a Ranger right now and average about 17. I think sacrificing a few mpg would be worth it for all that extra room. I should add that the truck I am looking at is a 5.9L. Will this differ much from say a 5.2L in gas mileage?

[Greg T]

My last truck was an F-150 ext cab 4x4 w/ a 302. It got 10 mpg, didn't matter if it was idling or going 70 in 3rd pulling atv trailer, always the same. I would pay for 10 mpg if it had some power, but was a gutless wonder, could barely get out of it's own way. In my experience I would get the bigger V8 if the option was available because you're probably not going to get the best mileage in either case, so might as well have power to show for it.

[dukhntr]

I have an '02 Ram 1500 Quad cab with the 4.7 motor. It has just over 112,000 miles. No problems with either engine or trans. I pull a 3 place sled trailer (tandem axle) and an 8' tent trailer and get around 12 mpg, if no wind etc. Without a load, in town, I get around 13, and on the highway I get high 16's to low 17's. Best ever was coming back from Sask duck hunting with a load in the bed and towing the tent trailer with a duck boat on top of the trailer and going with about a 30 mph tailwind, and got nearly 20 mpg! No complaints here!

Hope this helps.

Dukhntr

[eyechaser99]

No matter which truck you get I would get K&N Filters and system and Tornado to add to it to get alot better gas mileage. Also consider getting Flowmaster or another brand of Dual Exaust. These will add alot more power to your truck and increase gas mileage and more power. Also consider the Dodge Dakota V-8 trucks. Ive gotten over 20 mph with this system and low of 16 pulling a boat or driving in town alot. Some have the long box in back and its about the same as the Ram.

[MnIceman]

I have a 98 Dodge with 5.2. I really like the truck except for the gas mileage. I just got back from up north towing a couple of sleds. 10.3 on the way up and 10.0 on the way back. Best I ever got was 15.3 empty when it was new. Towing a big tandem axel enclosed trailer or a 4 place snowmobile trailer loaded I get 8-9. From people I've talked with, the 5.9 has more power and gets the same mileage. I've tried tried the K&N thing , seems to have more power in the summer with no gain in mileage. In the winter the K&N gave me 8 all the time and the mileage did not come back until I put in a stock filter. The concept of more air makes the computer think more fuel because the oxygen sensors say its lean . I have 88,000 on it and have not tried a different exhaust because this one is still good.

I have on friend who has a 99 GMC with a 4.8 and he does way better. Towing 2 sleds he averaged 15 going to Red last winter and got 18 towing his boat to Red on atrip in the fall. I've also been told of a 5.3 Chev doing that well. Another friend has an 04 Durango with a 4.7 and he does real good . 18 towing my Lund , and 20 steady on trips not towing.

[hondavxr]

The 4.7 motor in the Dodge Rams are actually the same motor that Mercedes uses in thier SUV's. Buy a K&N, but please don't buy a Tornado. Tornado actually doesn't do anything, in fact it actually restricts air flow. New motors of this age does not need a swirl of air to go in the intake. There are so many factors like the shape of the intake duct, throttle butterfly, intake manfold design, and many others that I haven't listed that will change the turbulence of air flow to a motor. The Tornado will just be a restriction for the air path. No matter what kind of truck you pick you will be stuck with bad gas mileage. Averrage mpg's for most gas V8 trucks are around 12-16. Good luck, and in the end make sure you pick one that you love.

[kunk]

2001 Ram with the 5.9 ltr. I have gotten 15 on the highway with just a medium load in the box. The problem is I very rarely drive it like that. I get 10.5-12 most of the time. I get that on the highway pulling the boat on trips, and I get that with a mixture of highway and city. If I'm on the highway without the boat, I usually have the car. Love the truck, very few problems. If you can afford new, I would look at the Hemi. I shuts down 4 cylinders on the road and is supposed to get pretty decent mileage, although I would ask around to verify that.

[Big Dave2]

I have a 2004 Ram with the Hemi, but not one that shuts down 2 cyl on the hwy. I get about 13.5 mpg most of the time but I can get almost 19 when going on long trips with the cruise set and not towing anything.

Don't buy a truck for the gas milage, you will only be disappointed. If you want better gas milage but still want the towing/hauling power get a cummins and pray for the deisel prices to go down.

[ScottND]

Got the Cummins and I'm prayin!

By the looks of it I'm not going to complain about the 12 I get towing in the winter. Especially because I idle it to much and plow. Winter, running 75 including city I get 16 empty. And I'm definitly not going to complain about the torque! A long summer road trip will be interesting to see what I get but I can't see running it empty because I bought it for towing. I got a Suzuki Vitara for running empty and that gets 22 all the time.

[Tuffy Boat Guy]

I have a 03 Hemi. I get 13.4 to 14 driving in rush hour traffic. On a long trip with cruise, I can get a little over 15. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

[Valv]

ScottND if you have a 3:55 rearend you should see approx 19mpg/20mpg empty + 16mpg/17mpg towing. 12mpg seems a little too much. I have a 2000 3500 dually with 205,000miles and 4:10 rearend I get 12 when I pull a 10,000lbs trailer load, otherwise I always get approx 14mpg/15mpg empty

Which year is yours ? If it's the new 600 common rail it will take few months to break in and run good, unless you keep on stepping on that throttle because it's too much fun.

My wife has a BMW 525i and the other day I beat her on take off....... she was soooo mad (and smoked black too)

[viking605]

I have a 05 with 5.7 Hemi and get average 14 and the best 16

[LaVoi]

Ok, just to change things up for you guys with the compact trucks, what can you expect for mileage. To be honest 10-12mpg scares the crap out of me for how much running around I do. Again, thanks for all the great responses.

[John Mickish]

Someone said it before, if your looking for a pickup and are really concerned about MPGs you will never be happy. If you really need to save on gas buy a small car and pickup. You will not be happy if you skimp and get a 4cyl small pickup and expect to pull an enclosed tandem axle trailer. What is it you need to pull/haul? I used to have a 2000 Jimmy with the 4.3L and would get 20mpg empty and 14 pulling a heavy/wide lund boat. The problem I ran into was this SUV had more than enough power to pull it it just didn't have the brakes to stop it. That is what you will get with a smaller vehicle, smaller brakes. I would go thru a set of rotors every 18 months or so. It is turning out to be cheaper to get the crappy mileage than pay to get new brakes all the time.

[LaVoi]

Well, I definately don't need much towing power. All it needs to pull is a 14 1/2 ft. boat. The number one reason I would like a full size for is extra room. Especially box space for hauling a 4x8 collapsible fish house. That is the main reason I posted this topic. I know I don't need the power but if I could average mid teens as far as mileage compared to the 17 or 18 I get now with my 91' Ranger then why not go with the full size. However if it is gonna be almost 10 mpg difference then for my needs I should probably go with a compact.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I had a tacoma that I pulled an older 18ft lund with. 19mpg on the freeway (summer), 23 to 24 mpg empty. The worst mileage I had was 16mpg. I was towing the largest single axle enclosed u-haul trailer loaded to the gills, the box loaded, driving into a headwind.

I'll second the Tornado as being the best automotive scam of the new millenium!!

[Big Dave2]

It seems that most any gas powered full sized truck you buy now days is going to average close to 15 mpg. If you get a compact truck with 4wd and at least a 6cyl motor you are probably not going to get more than 18 or 19 mpg. Then you give up all the comfort, the hauling capacity and the towing capacity. To me its not worth it. Get a Dodge Ram with the hemi and quad cab and have the best of all worlds in my opinion. You get good power, ok gas milage, good towing capacity, a 6 foot box and 4 full doors that open the right way.

Why stroke it when you can RAM it!

[jltimm]

Another Toyota Tacoma owner here!3.4 liter V-6 auto tranny.17-18 mpg pulling 1660 Pro V loaded to the gills boat and truck on Canadian fishing adventure.22 mpg with a Eskimo Quickflip 3 and Otter Magnum Lodge and asst. fishing gear last year on a trip to LOW in March.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Big Dave2,

Granted you will lose some hauling capacity will a small pickup but the Tacoma is more than capable of keeping up with the full size domestic trucks (1/2ton)in hauling/towing and IMO has a better ride!

[ScottND]

Quote:

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Granted you will lose some hauling capacity will a small pickup but the Tacoma is more than capable of keeping up with the full size domestic trucks (1/2ton)in hauling/towing and IMO has a better ride!

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I used to believe this too until I used a Ford Ranger 4 popper 2.6 to tow with. I overheated the exaust valves and they decided to start pounding themselves out of shape. Took a while to figure out why the truck kept quitting at stop lights until warm. Now it needs a valve job! To be safe if towing with a truck not rated for it I would definitly burn premium to keep the combustion chamber tempratures down.

I'm not sure what the Toyota is rated for, and I know they are the best in their class, but just make sure you know what class you are in before you smoke one like I did.

[ScottND]

Valv,

Mine is an automatic, '02 2500 short box, camper special, with plowing package, 3.55's. Running 70 on interstate towing an aluminum trailer with a Bombardier Outlander Max and an Otter resort it's no more then 13 mpg. I have to drop it down to about 55 to get 19/20 running empty (on the overhead console)