[Crazy Pete]

I thought this would be kind of interesting, since I'm a developer/programmer (analyst) by trade my nerdy mind thinks like this. I created a very simple spreadsheet that tracks my mpg usage and cost per fill up. I only have 18 fill ups since I bought the truck at the beginning of June. Except where noted, I drive this truck the same exact commute 4 days a week (about 70 miles round trip per day). On the weekends, the truck normally doesn’t move. My normal commute is about 65% hwy and 35% city driving. Except when I have road rage, I’m pretty light on the pedal. If it’s not obvious, this is all hand calculated data. I‘m going to keep recording this data for as long as I have the Ram. I’m curious to see how my mpg dives in the winter time like all of my other vehicles have.

 

[92896]

I always do this with my cars, It helps me with cost per 100 miles where I have different cars that take different fuel, and get different mpg. My jetta takes premium and the liberty takes regular. I'm looking forward to doing this with my ED.

I just write the miles driven down on the gas slip every time I fill up and save those slips. When I have a dozen or so and I feel like it, I enter the data into the spreadsheet.

 

[LDSSixPointFive]

Looks almost identical to mine in extreme spread and distribution. My trend line is more downward as I quit caring about the EVIC instant MPG display. Your just missing a distribution curve
Are you running 3.21s?

 

[Crazy Pete]

Looks almost identical to mine in extreme spread and distribution. My trend line is more downward as I quit caring about the EVIC instant MPG display. Your just missing a distribution curve
Are you running 3.21s?

lol....I actually had a trend line in there once, but took it out since it didn't really add any value to it.....just over crowded it.

Yeah. I have the 3.21s in. For what I use the truck for (mostly commuting, Lowes/Home Depot runs, and small camper pulling), the 3.21 rear-end wasn't a big deal to me. BUT, I do have a feeling I'm gonna miss the locking differential this winter that my 2013 F-150 had. i guess I'll just have to use the 4-wheel drive (aka all-wheel drive!) more often on the Ram for the snowy Buffalo, NY days

 

[huntergreen]

crazy pete, is the locking rear diff as important with our anti spin breaking thingy ?

 

[h2omelon]

Did you get the no ethanol at Delta Sonic? I didn't see any difference with it either when I tried a tank from there. Go Bills!

 

[Crazy Pete]

crazy pete, is the locking rear diff as important with our anti spin breaking thingy ?

Yeah, the electronic locking differential is. It worked great. That's one thing I do wish my Ram had for sure. I didn't even hardly use 4-wheel drive in the winter.

 

[Crazy Pete]

Did you get the no ethanol at Delta Sonic? I didn't see any difference with it either when I tried a tank from there. Go Bills!

No, I get it at the NOCO station on North French in Getzville. It honestly took about 2 tanks before I noticed a difference. I'm not sure why, but that's what my 2013 F150 truck did too.

 

[LDSSixPointFive]

I assume the "did" is past tense or are you still running the F-150? Curious on the package MPG comparisons as you are obviously detail orientated.

 

[Badunit]

I have tracked my 2500 w/ the 6.4L from the start. I think I am about done tracking now. I had two goals: determine the hand-calculated MPG and determine how far off the EVIC is on my truck.

The tank-to-tank MPG varies by a good bit. The lines are the running average for hand calculated and EVIC. They are calculated as (Total miles since beginning)/(Total gallons since beginning).

I've been getting better MPG lately. I don't know why. It hovers around 13-14 MPG when empty and around 12 when towing light stuff (up to a few thousand pounds).

The EVIC vs actual varies from tank to tank. On average it is about 1.2 MPG different.

 

[oilbelcher]

Love the graph. I'm seeing a similar bias in my marketing mpg meter aka EVIC. Just remember if you capture EVIC at each fill up, that value only represents the most recent ~200 miles of that tank. The hand calf will see a bit of vatlriation at each fill up due to top off pump stop variation, but is irrelevant after multiple adjacent tank measurements.

My EVIC says around 25-26 if I average the EVIC value captured at each tank, but my actually hand calc lifetime avg is 23.9. Never missed a tank measurement over 7000 miles, tracked to three decimals accuracy.

Wish the phone apps tracked a rolling three-tank hand calc measurement, to compare to lifetime hand calc.

 

[RayK]

Just remember if you capture EVIC at each fill up, that value only represents the most recent ~200 miles of that tank. /QUOTE]

Where did you read this? Thanks!

 

[tdMuley]

Great spreadsheet work on here guys!
A wise old gentleman (probably my dad) once told me you gotta listen to what your truck says, it will tell you when it's not right.
Actually if I remember correct it was more like "turn down that &%$# stereo"...or something like that :shy:

I hand calculate too but I recently came across a pretty slick website that has made it darn easy to keep tabs on mileage and fuel costs.
http://www.fuelly.com/
I'm sure lots of folks on here already know about it but I'll add another plug for it.

Of course it has a smart phone app but what I really like is you can just text message your info to the system.
Once you set up an account you just text your M. P. G. (miles price gallons) plus any comments etc...works really well and is simple enough even I can do it.

Anyway, good topic and good luck!

 

[oilbelcher]

Many threads in mpg and EVIC, where its limitations are covered. So don't recent exact thread. But you can prove it to yourself that EVIC is only tracking recent history. Observe a time when your first half tank is mostly city driving, and where your second half if tank is all highway. You will see how fast the lifetime EVIC mpg climbs, after just 30-50 miles. By the end of my trip, my trip meter that is reset at each fill up will reflect only recent highway experience, and "forgot" the first half tank at city mpg. If you never reset a trip meter (I never reset my A in 7000 miles), it will reflect something more than 200 miles but not much more, maybe 500 several of us estimate. EVIC is not designed to track more history than these approximate values. Other brands are similar. We have another thread on the diesel Ran forum that is dedicated to hand calc values only, and no EVIC figures are allowed, because they are useless and misleading. It is a marketing meter.

 

[Crazy Pete]

I assume the "did" is past tense or are you still running the F-150? Curious on the package MPG comparisons as you are obviously detail orientated.

I traded the F150 in on the Ram. I got a really good trade in for it. I had the Ecoboost twin turbo v6 in the F150. The F150 was less than 1 mpg better. I was pretty happy with the 5.7 Hemi gas milage so far. I was expecting worse.

 

[Crazy Pete]

I have tracked my 2500 w/ the 6.4L from the start. I think I am about done tracking now. I had two goals: determine the hand-calculated MPG and determine how far off the EVIC is on my truck.

The tank-to-tank MPG varies by a good bit. The lines are the running average for hand calculated and EVIC. They are calculated as (Total miles since beginning)/(Total gallons since beginning).

I've been getting better MPG lately. I don't know why. It hovers around 13-14 MPG when empty and around 12 when towing light stuff (up to a few thousand pounds).

The EVIC vs actual varies from tank to tank. On average it is about 1.2 MPG different.

Nice work. I'm not keeping track of the difference between the EVIC and hand calculated mpg, but I do take a mental note. My EVIC is about 1 mph high too.

 

[GR8WING]

I'm using the Car Maintenance Reminder app on the phone. Very convenient and shows all kinds of data break down. Can also be used to track and remind of other maintenance items. Might be worth your checking out, I like it.

 

[LDSSixPointFive]

I traded the F150 in on the Ram. I got a really good trade in for it. I had the Ecoboost twin turbo v6 in the F150. The F150 was less than 1 mpg better. I was pretty happy with the 5.7 Hemi gas milage so far. I was expecting worse.

Interesting. I know your just a single example and perhaps I have some justification bias for choosing a Ram. While MPGs was a smaller factor; I tried to gleam as much as I could off the internet and friends/relatives (i know F-150 owners 10:1 to the Ram), I concluded the Ram would be about 1-2MPGs better on average over the Ecoboost. The FX4 was my first selection and I always "knew" that would be what I ended up with even through I researched and looked at Ram, Ford, and GMC.

Curious on if you simply upgrade often or if the F-150's performance prompted a trade.

IMO the Fuelly website is a great idea just horribly executed. Since the model, feature and engine filtering is soooo bad, (alone with application) any user data is useless. Nice to see someone put effort into something to make it worthwhile. Great post.

 

[CaptMurica]

Interesting with your gas mileage with the Hemi. I'm only averaging 18-19 with the 3.6L, and thats with the same drive. 70 miles, mostly freeway and some city. Hopefully it gets better after breaking in.