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Improved Fuel Milage

7K views 42 replies 30 participants last post by  roo 
#1 ·
I have had my Ram for 4500 miles now. Around town which is 95% of my driving I was getting 11mpg. I now get 11.2 very disappointed!
 
#2 ·
That seems to be about what I get in town. I have 4475 miles and average about 11 mpg. I have hand calculated and it seems that my EVIC is really, really close, like .1 mpg of what I get.

The best mpg I have recorded is 15.2 when I first bought the truck on an all highway run from Hickory, NC to Douglas, GA. Since that time I have never run a full tank of fuel thru her without the trailer hooked up for a period of time.

I know my truck is a 2500 and a Mega Cab, but that seems to be pretty par for the course on city mileage.
 
#3 ·
As I've stated in other mpg posts I must be lucky. I regularly get 14-15 mpg in town and 18-19 on the highway. I even averaged just over 20 one trip. I've got just under 4k on mine now. These trucks must be really sensitive as to how you drive them, I can really drop my mpg if I'm playing around and driving hard.
 
#5 ·
i just fueled up 1hr ago,14.5 mpg hand calc.evic says 15.2,i have 3:55 rear and only 1188 miles now.went from elko nv.to twinfalls id.avg.was 18 at 75mph hiway and 70mph on hilly 2 lane which was 80% of the trip so im happy.havent pulled my enclosed trailer yet 14x7.my 09 cummins got 13 pulling it home so if i get 10mpg i will be happy.had a new 1978 f-150 w/351 the best it got was 12 empty.so the ole hemi is ok.i probably could get better but every once in awhile i like to hear the rumble,lol anyway i get about the same as hemiblack.
 
#4 ·
Im just a touch better... 4600miles and averaging 13-14 in the city both calculated and on the EVIC but I find on the highway I can get about +- 20... usually empty as my Ram is my daily driver.... I do live on a mountain tho so 1200 foot climb every day probably has some impact... and i am pretty light footed....
 
#6 ·
I pull a 14x7 tandom axle trailer a lot with my rig. If I tow at 75 I get about 8.5 mpg, but if I back it down to 65 I can average very close to 11 mpg. This is out west up and down mountains all the time. I tow the trailer almost everyday to and from work, about 40-60 mile round trips. I average about 9.3-9.6 mpg with the mixed city highway towing. That works out to about 1.5 mpg less than I got towing the same trailer with my 2003 GMC 2500 6.0 work truck. Not bad considering that truck was a single cab stripped work truck. My Dodge has got to weigh 1500 lbs more than that truck, and I will take the comfort, power and looks for 1.5 mpg anyday!!!
 
#7 ·
Before I got rid of my 2010 1500 about a month ago, I was getting 13 city, but it was also cold. Usually I never dropped below 15-16 city. Highway I was getting 18-19 doing between 70 and 80 mph. I also had about 20k miles. But even from the get go, brand new with 7 miles, I was getting about 15.
 
#10 ·
my truck has under 500 miles on it now, my driving is split between highway and local for my trip to work which is only about 15 miles, my first half tank was 11.88 hand calculated and on my second fillup down to half tank trying to not be heavy footed I got 12.5, pretty much what I expected from all I read and was told, not great but since I was driving an s10 zr2 which got crappy mileage too it is only about a gallon or so more a week for my work commute, I can deal with that for a truck that is 2x as big....
 
#11 ·
Some people estimates when they post their fuel mileage makes me wonder. I have 13800 on my 2011 which is almost a year old now. I put regular or mid grade into it. Doesn't seem to make a difference in fuel consumption. I have a AiRaid intake and a Maganaflow muffler, with a Magnaflow y-pipe on it. My trip to work work is 9 miles highway and 12 miles city driving. When I turn on cruise control on the highway at 70 my Evic reads about 14.3 MPH, it gets slightly better when it is warm.

If I drive in the city it drops to about 13. Hand calculated is about the same. Warming up the car will lower your evic calculations since it is not moving. I've never driven the truck more than 40 miles in one trip so I can't say what long term gains are. If I drove constantly in the city, I would be somewhere around 12. Your seems about accurate. Keep in mind elevation, road conditions, wind, temperature, 4 wheel vs 2 wheel, and accessories on the truck will make a slight difference. Those step bars on mine probably don't help.

These things are guzzlers for sure, we will see how Chicago gas prices affect my love for the truck.
 
#18 ·
wonder no more, mine 11 rcsb 4x4, on winter fuel, on far from level roads, mpg i avg around 16,5, on my one 150 mile hwy trip at 70 mph, avg 20.7 mpg on cruise. filled up just before hwy and again when i got off. both are hand calc. remember my truck is lighter than crew cabs. this being said, due to a mva, i sat in extreme stop and go on 2 lane hwy and evic dropped to 7.9 mpg. also, 3.55 rear. now my dayghters mpg when "steals my truck drops the ave mpg to the numbers posted by op.
 
#12 ·
Ok, a quick update...After filling up yesterday I drove 48 miles in town and on the highway. I totally altered my driving style to be efficient, slow starts, coast to the red lights and drive exactly the posted limit. What do you know....15.7 mpg average for the trip. I guess the truck is capable of a lot better mileage than I am. Not a surprise as I have a heavy foot. But good to know the big truck can do it if needed.
 
#14 ·
Mileage is so dependent on driving conditions, its hard to tell someone else what to expect.

I drove my new Ram home from the dealership; 46 miles, almost all highway and a relatively level trip. 22mpg, a figure I would be happy with in my traded-in SUV.

Since then, I've gotten from as little as 13.7 to 16.8; almost all in city driving. The one constant I've noticed is, when I get it up to speed quickly then drive at a consistent speed, it gets better mileage. Yep, gunning it then cruising. I thought the low slow approach would get better mileage, but the truck doesn't seem to like it gas mileage wise. Very odd.
Next weekend, I get to drive it with a trailer for the first time, so I'll post what happens.
 
#19 ·
Yep, I was getting 12 mpg no matter how much highway driving I would do (up to about 50%) the first 3000 miles. Now I get 13-13.5 in town and 15.5 mixed. Not bad, but I'll be driving the Challenger a lot more and the Ram a lot less until
A: gas prices go down
B: I start making more money
C: It snows again

I love my truck and we can afford the gas, but there's just no point unless I need to haul something. Plus, as cool as the Rams are, I still think my Challenger is cooler
 
#20 ·
Yep, I was getting 12 mpg no matter how much highway driving I would do (up to about 50%) the first 3000 miles. Now I get 13-13.5 in town and 15.5 mixed. Not bad, but I'll be driving the Challenger a lot more and the Ram a lot less until
A: gas prices go down
B: I start making more money
C: It snows again

I love my truck and we can afford the gas, but there's just no point unless I need to haul something. Plus, as cool as the Rams are, I still think my Challenger is cooler
I agree!! Its nice to have both.
 
#22 ·
My mileage is up, now at 800 miles on my truck. This tank has 100 miles on it mixed highway and city driving. The evic is reading 16.4 ( I have fround this to be real close on the past fill ups). I drive 60 mph and accelerate gently from a stop. Still winter gas here which effects mileage a great deal. I hope mileage will come up a little more as the miles pile up.

My truck was a dealer trade and was driven about 100 miles from the dealer that had it. The guy that drove it here from the dealer in IA averaged 19.1 the truck had 20 miles on it when it left the dealer in IA.
 
#24 ·
Drove to Columbus,OH from Dayton today on I-70 which is flat. 22.1 MPG on the way over. I never went over 70 mph & spent most of it around 68 with some use of the cruise. On the way back did not do as well as MPG was 20.1. However, I can't be more pleased with the gas milage this truck gets on the Highway. Especially, on winter gas! Now the City milage is not good as it is around 14. Now if I could just get rid of some of the annoying rattles it would be darn near perfect. (For the non believers I did take pictures of the dash on the way over)!
 
#25 ·
At 72 degrees today and with the most recent fill up I was getting up to 16.4 on my trip. Not sure if it was the gasoline or the warm weather. Typically this is the best I am going to get on cruise control. Otherwise I have this crazy foot syndrome.:4-dontknow:
 
#26 · (Edited)
Still in the process of breaking it in.
Looks like I'll be getting just a tic over 16 MPG mixed driving on my first tank (think the dealer filled it with 87 octane). Just working on getting it broken in proerly and learning most efficient mode to operate in (6 sp auto). Typically drive 75 on the highways in 6m and use 3 or 4m in the city depending on traffic flow. I'm optimistic that once broken in and I settle into a more efficient driving style and mode I'll see 17.5-18 mpg combined (2 WD, unloaded) using 89 octane with summer formulation.
 
#28 ·
900 Miles on the truck. On the drive to and from base everday which is maybe 2-3 miles from my house to my office parking lot I get about 10.9-11.2 and I try to drive like a grandma. First week I got it went on a 90 mile trip on the way there I cruised at 72-73 and got 17.2 mpg. On the way back I went 67-68 stayed in eco mode almost the entire time and got 21 on the highway portions of the trip. Live in West Texas so not to many hills to knock you off eco mode if you stay just 2-3mph under the speed limit, Which I usually can't make myself do.
 
#32 ·
As I read through a lot of your post the one thing I didn't notice when you were telling the gas mileage was what size truck your are driving . There will be for sure a difference in gas consumption when driving at 60 as compared to 75 and then a difference if you are driving a 1500 with regular cab 2 wheel drive as compared to a megacab with four wheel drive . We need to compare apples to apples not apples to oranges . I bought 2012 2500 4 wheel drive megcab and have less than 1000 klms on it at present . Just driving it around town if I look at the display on the dash it tells me 8 -10 miles / gallon.
On the highway I never do any faster than 55 mph, not in a rush and up here you have to concern yourself with the moose. When mine has a few more miles on it I will see what my mileage is like then and post it.
But one thing is for sure is it has no trouble hauling a load.
 
G
#33 ·
Just bought mine last week. I was snowed a bit by the salesmen (surprise!!) who told me previous customers came in and were amazed that they got 21mpg. I thought GREAT...well, I've run two tanks thru it so far, and got about 13 mostly city, and 14.5 on the second doing about 20% freeway. I have yet to get to 15. I find that the hemi has a lot of guts off the line and I have to learn to back off. I'm gauging it by the fact that at the stoplights, I look back and see the pack about 500 feet back. I'm going to make every effort to stay with the pack and gauge the results. I come from a Porsche background (can't pull a boat with a Porsche) and have to learn to drive with less of a leadfoot. I know there's a direct correlation there, but I went with the hemi because it did have good performance and impressed me from the get-go. I am also a gauge watcher, and have been watching the gas consumption bar that you can set at the bottom of the instrument cluster....by keeping it in a certain range, I notice the real time mpg improve. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to make the connection between driving habits and mpg.
 
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