Ram 1500 Eco Diesel Review

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SunnY S said:
My money would be on the new 2015 aluminum bodied Ford with 2.7 EcoBoost V6.

It's over a 1000 pounds lighter than the Ram, think about that, the RAM is carrying an extra thousand pounds around!! won't rust, it has a cheaper MSRP, better build quality, only gets 1mpg worse than the diesel ram in the city, does 0-60 2.8 seconds faster than the Ram, has a higher payload capacity.

the choice is clear, it's no wonder Ford is killing it in the market....

either that, or you could always go oil undercoat your Ram every year.... :lol:
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If you are towing, the Ram Ecodiesel will use considerably less fuel than the Ford Ecoboost. Even in normal driving, the Ecodiesel appears to do a little better than EPA, the Ecoboost substantially worse.

Ecodiesel with a pretty decent sample size: http://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/1500?engineconfig_id=8453&bodystyleconfig_id=&submodel_id=

It's a bit early to get a good statistical sample on the 2015, but the one currently in the database doesn't match the Ram: http://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/1500?engineconfig_id=8453&bodystyleconfig_id=&submodel_id=

The outgoing model with the 3.5 Ecoboost has a much better sample size, and it's not pretty ... http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/f-150?engineconfig_id=2815&bodystyleconfig_id=&submodel_id=

And ... here's the supporting data for the Ecoboost being not appreciably better in the real world than the plain old 5.0 V8 non turbo: http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/f-150?engineconfig_id=2815&bodystyleconfig_id=&submodel_id=
 
for all the reasons mentioned in my post (thousands cheaper than the ram, alum, faster acceleration by almost 3 seconds!, better build quality, 1000lbs lighter and so on), I'd gladly take a F150 and a slight mpg hit......
 
N3WMAN said:
Eco and Diesel in the same sentence lol

I can never get past the horrible interiors in all Chrysler products to even wonder if the vehicle is any good/bad. I mean come on the Challenger and the Caravan look the same inside.
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I remember laughing when the viper was new. The interior sucked and still does. Same turn signal/multifunction switch as a caravan.... In your hundred plus thousand dollar car. Nice

That said, exterior looks of the ram above the other trucks by far.
 
The ram interior is pretty nice, I like better than my Chevy.

Yay the ecoboob is faster, except were talking about trucks here not sports cars. I'm more worried about being able to tow a trailer while getting decent fuel mielage and stopping the trailer than how fast I can break the speed limit. If there were a 1/2 ton diesel option when I bought my truck I would have got it instead. I'll never tow 20,000lbs but I don't want to tow 6,000lbs with a 1/2 ton. The 1/2 ton diesel is filling a void in the market for people that need more truck than a 1/2 ton but not as much as the 3/4 ton.
 
I tow a 7x22 foot trailer that is about 6000lbs loaded.

I tow it maybe 5000km a year at the most. I don't really care what fuel mileage I get while towing. That being said, my current 05 Sierra gets only slightly worse fuel consumption towing it than my Edge got towing a 5x8. Ha.


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And ... here's the supporting data for the Ecoboost being not appreciably better in the real world than the plain old 5.0 V8 non turbo: http://www.fuelly.com/car/ford/f-150?engineconfig_id=2815&bodystyleconfig_id=&submodel_id=[/QUOTE]

Thanks Brian for the posts. To your last point, my 215,000km+ 5.4L 3V V8 s getting almost 25% better mileage (same conditions more or less) than 3 guys at work that drive the EcoBoost. They're just approaching 100,000m, so we'll see if they still have an intact turbo or intercooler or by 101,000km...

Absolutely love the interior finish of my current F150, so we'll see what happens. A bit better fuel mileage is what I'm after as this is a daily driver with the occasional tow to race weekends, trackdays and the lumber yard. I know, I know Sunny, get a Honda....I don't NEED a truck, I want a truck.
 
Great thing about the Ram, is with all that extra weight it carries along with the lethargic acceleration of the diesel, it will feel like you are towing with it every time you drive it..... :lol:
 
N3WMAN said:
Eco and Diesel in the same sentence lol
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Why would they not go together? The only diesel car I've owned was more efficient than any bike I've owned. The diesel trucks tend to get way better fuel economy than the gas ones.

SunnY S said:
Great thing about the Ram, is with all that extra weight it carries along with the lethargic acceleration of the diesel, it will feel like you are towing with it every time you drive it..... :lol:
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Didn't realize it was so bad. Guy I know that has one is always bragging about all his torque and acceleration.
 
Again, uninformed idiots talking about things they have no clue about. You've obviously never been in a diesel vehicle that's not a rabbit from the 80s.

420ft/lbs at 1500 rpm. Get that through your thick skull. Diesels are incredibly quick off the line and up to 100km/h. They make city driving effortless due to all this torque available across the power band.

Towing my fiancés rsx on a uhaul car dolly felt effortless.

Friends q5 tdi is the same thing. Accelerates without a care.

I get it, you don't like Chrysler, and there you have some correct points, but the second you go on about "lethargic acceleration" people who actually know, roll their eyes at you and giggle at the honda fanboy.




SunnY S said:
Great thing about the Ram, is with all that extra weight it carries along with the lethargic acceleration of the diesel, it will feel like you are towing with it every time you drive it..... :lol:
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Red_Liner740 said:
and there you have some correct points, but the second you go on about "lethargic acceleration" people who actually know, roll their eyes at you and giggle at the honda fanboy.
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instrumented test 0-60 :

F150 2.7ecoboost - 6.5 seconds (faster then most sedans)
RAM - 8.8 seconds


0-60 towing a 7000lbs trailer :

F150 2.7ecoboost - 16.2 seconds
Ram - 23.9 seconds

Obviously the 420lbs ft torque of the ram sounds good on paper, but doesn't make a lick of difference in the real world testing.

oh, btw, want more mind blowing acceleration? move up to the 3.5L EcoBoost and get 0-60 in 5.6 seconds (sports car acceleration).....




who's the uninformed idiot now?
 
SunnY S said:
instrumented test 0-60 :

F150 2.7ecoboost - 6.5 seconds (faster then most sedans)
RAM - 8.8 seconds


0-60 towing a 7000lbs trailer :

F150 2.7ecoboost - 16.2 seconds
Ram - 23.9 seconds

Obviously the 420lbs ft torque of the ram sounds good on paper, but doesn't make a lick of difference in the real world testing.

oh, btw, want more mind blowing acceleration? move up to the 3.5L EcoBoost and get 0-60 in 5.6 seconds (sports car acceleration).....




who's the uninformed idiot now?
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Admittedly, I have the cummins, but lethargic? When I put my foot down, there's not much that keeps up. Eco-boost? Bring it on! And my mileage barely changes, even when I tow my boat(31'loa). I have no experience with the new 1/2 ton diesel, but I know it's hard to beat a cummins.


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Did you read the rest of the test or just the 0-60 times. Did you see that it's barely faster in the 1/4 mile and that the ecoboost had the most off the line turbo lag when towing? Here, just incase people want to actually read the whole test where the dodge beat out the ford even though it's faster 0-60 with an aluminum body. Also notice the extra 40,000mi power train coverage on the dodge.

http://m.motortrend.com/roadtests/trucks/1501_comparison_2015_ford_f_150_vs_ram_1500_chevrolet_silverado/
 
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People buy trucks based on 0-60 times and 1/4 mile times?

What's next? Buying a riding lawn mower based on top speed???


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I did a kitchen for a fellow who is from Switzerland and now lives here- he loves everything euro diesel. He owns a crane and hydraulic custom build and service company, and he services the entire province and drives alot. He sold a Sprinter LWB 3500 with a raised roof that had 600,000 kms, and got a truck and trailer this time instead.
He got the Dodge Eco in the summer and says 1000km+ on the highway isn't hard to do on 100L or less, and mixed driving he only looses about 100km. He says it easily tows his 9000lb loaded double axle work trailer, is silent, and has the nicest ride of any truck he has driven.....something to do with the coil sprung suspension on all 4 corners I suppose.
When towing he says fuel mileage suffers about 25%.
 
But how fast can it pull his trailer to 60mph?!

Who needs a nice ride and excellent fuel economy when your towing a 8,000lb trailer for a 16hr drive.
 
I have another vehicle that would be well suited to a diesel engine, a Ram ProMaster full size van.

I got the gas engine version because (A) the diesel wasn't out yet at the time that I bought, and (B) I will not be putting on high annual mileage, so it wasn't worth the extra cost. But they've started showing up since, and one guy (who hauls his son to WERA roadracing events all around the USA!) traded in his gas ProMaster for a diesel. He IS putting on high annual mileage.

The gas engine model gets 18-ish mpg US normal driving and 21-22 ideal conditions. The diesel is more like 24 normal driving and 30-ish ideal conditions. At current fuel prices there is not a cost incentive to go with the diesel. And, yes, the gas engine model (280 hp) will ultimately out-accelerate the diesel (178 hp IIRC) if you drive pedal to the metal. BUT ...

Cruising down the highway through the Appalachians, the gas engine is constantly shifting between 5th and 6th. The transmission is smooth and it's not really a bother ... but it happens. Gas engines need really tall top gears to get decent fuel mileage and the consequence is that they have to shift all the time.

The diesel engine (by all accounts) gets up to highway speed in 6th gear ... and stays there. It *almost* doesn't matter whether the road goes up or down. It just sits there in 6th gear and eats up the miles.

My Jetta was the same way. On one trip to Barber with two bikes in tow, we noted a steep downhill coming into Nashville, steep enough that it was signed (5% grade next X miles). "Hmmm, let's see how it handles that on the way home ..."

Well, the trip home was done in the dark, so we couldn't see the landscape. As far as we were concerned, there WAS no hill. We never noticed it. That means it did the uphill, with two bikes in tow, at 120 km/h, in top gear, on cruise control.

That is more important to vehicles used for hauling loads, than zero to 60 mph times. The diesels might not accelerate as fast, but they don't slow down as much.
 
Fuel economy in a $60k truck is kinda funny. Buy a $30k truck with a locomotive engine and you'll still come out ahead.
 
Had one of these on order since last Sept. and the truck is due to arrive next month. Looking forward to getting it. Truck will be a company vehicle. Won't tow much, but we will load the bed with some weight from time to time.

I truly could care less about how fast a truck got to 60MPH in some tests. Drove one and liked it over the Ford. AS for the interior of each truck, I personally found the the dodge to be much nicer(Since the recent re-model). Since Dodge made their interior much nicer, Ford has been rushing to get caught back up with them. Switch from Plastics to (P)leathers, etc.

The touch screen interface to me was much easier to deal with in the Dodge.

Not sure how the aluminum frames will do on the new truck. Sure, you are lighter which is always nice. But come winter time and you need some traction when pulling a trailer, will you still get it from the Ford? Just a questions not an argument for the Ford fan boys in this thread.

I've also got two sprinters for the company. First one has just shy of 500k and the second is just over 250k. Both work great and are worth while purchases.

But, of course different strokes for different folks.

PM me in a few months and I'll fill you in on how the trucks running. Really want to try it in the snow and see how well it does. Especially in the really cold weather(-30ish). Thank god for heated steering wheels! Am I right!?!
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