Chrysler Ram 1500 EcoDiesel hits 28 highway mpg

Feb. 4, 2014, 2:44 p.m. EST

By Christina Rogers

A new target has been reached in the full-size truck industry's fuel-economy wars.
Chrysler Group LLC said Tuesday its Ram 1500 EcoDiesel truck has earned a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-estimated rating of 28 miles a gallon in highway driving, setting a new bar for rivals Chevrolet and Ford to top if they want to lay claim to "best in class" fuel economy.
The new diesel 1500 goes on sale this month.

Chrysler stole the crown last year with the rollout of a new gasoline-powered 1500 that when equipped with the company's eight-speed automatic transmission gets 25 mpg highway.

With the new truck, Ram's pickup sales shot up 21% last year to 355,673 vehicles.
Moving to diesel won't come without a cost, though. The new 1500 EcoDiesel V6 will cost buyers $2,850 more than the gasoline-powered truck, which starts at $24,200. Diesel fuel also is more expensive, currently averaging about 60 cents more a gallon than gasoline.

"To put the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel in context, it gets 6 mpg better fuel economy than the best F-150 EcoBoost," said Reid Bigland, chief executive for the Ram brand in a statement. "Overall, the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel has outstanding pickup truck capability with compact-car-like fuel economy."

The mileage ratings for Ram are significant as the industry's closely watched pickup truck wars heat up this year with Ford Motor Co. planning to introduce a new aluminum-bodied version of its F-150 that its executives have said will get "best-in-class" fuel economy.

While Ford has yet to release the final fuel-economy numbers, the company has spent four years and billions of dollars developing a truck that weighs 700 pounds less than its predecessor and promises to deliver better fuel efficiency, more towing and hauling capability and improved driving dynamics.
"Even customers who choose a base model F-150 are going to get improved efficiency," a Ford spokesman said, referring to the redesigned truck which will go on sale this year. "They don't have to buy a special engine to get best-in-class efficiency or performance."

Last year, General Motors Co. redesigned its full-size trucks, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, but their fuel-economy numbers remain behind those on the Ram 1500.
The 2014 Chevy Silverado, for instance, is rated at an EPA-estimated 24 mpg on the highway when equipped with a similar V6 gasoline engine.

Driving Ram's high fuel-economy numbers is the addition of a new eight-speed transmission to its trucks. With more gears, the transmission allows the vehicle to shift more efficiently, keeping the engine running at a more optimal level for fuel economy.
Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chr...mpg-2014-02-04

 

That's a winner!

 

It's great, but $2850 over the Hemi? That's a lot of gas money. It would be great if Ford gets that 10speed auto out for the 2015 and blows that 28mpg away!

 

That's about 23,000 miles worth of gas in an Ecoboost F150.

Not to mention the higher price of diesel eats up the gas mileage you're saving.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserred38

It's great, but $2850 over the Hemi?

I think that's over the 3.6L V6 Pentastar (gas). Cause that's the engine that gets 25mpg.

***
F150's 3.5L EcoBoost is $2395 over the 3.7L V6.

Diesel fuel is .60/gal higher than 87 in OR at 3.79. So the article is correct as far as diesel fuel.

 

Everything I've seen says $2850 over 5.7 Hemi. It's making great power figures, but factoring that extra cost over a V8, it just doesn't seem worth it. Unless you're towing a LOT. Don't get me wrong, it's still a game changer, but until a light duty diesel = no cost option over the V8 (and in the same vane, make the EcoBoost a no cost option over V8) it just doesn't make financial sense. You can argue that Ford is doing just fine with their V6 models, but at least in my area, for the past few years, if you visited a dealer, you'd fine base 3.7s, EcoBoost 3.5s and Raptors. No 5.0s. The dealers don't order them, most likely because Ford really wants the dealers to push the V6s, so I would bet the dealers get more kickback on those models. So if 60% of Ford trucks were sold with one of the V6s, well no sh*t! Lol, you could hardly find a 5.0! And some of the higher trim levels come standard with the 3.5TT with no option for any other engine - makes sense, as the guys (read: city dwelling ballers( who are going to buy the high end F-Series, most likely would be more open to the V6TT. These are the guys getting rid of their 5-Series BMWs for a "truck" to macho up their appearance, as evidenced by the 22s coming standard on some of the higher trims. Come to think of it, I would bet more than a few of those buyers are NFL/NBA players

 

Diesel in MA is almost always just above 93 octane. So there wouldn't be a difference for me.

 

The mileage is nice, but I'm leary about these 8-9-10 speed gearboxes. You don't need them in a passenger vehicle.