I’ll give you my long term report. Aug 2010 I bought a new 2500 ram slt. I drove off the lot all in at $48,000 with a few add ons. Factory it saw 14.5-15 l/100km unloaded on the hwy and closer to 18-20 100/km in the city. Pulling my 14,000 lb fifth wheel it did about 25-28 l/100km.
After the warranty was gone I deleted it and saw 1100/1200 km/ tank hwy/city mixed driving. Towing the trailer I saw 16-18 l/100km.
This was pretty average unloaded and you can see from the trip and dte I haven’t gerrymandered the l/100km by resetting it and getting my picture. That was on winter fuel and more city then hwy but still an honest long term average.
I did all the maintenance myself. On warranty with emissions intact I did 5k km oil changes. I bought either delo or rotella oil on Kijiji in unopened buckets when I could find it for under $50/bucket. My filters were the best on the market for that engine “Donaldson blue” and $16. So an oil change was under $45 all up.
Post delete I ran bypass filtration as well and did oil samples. Oil changes were at 10k intervals even though I could of gone much, much further.
For the life of the truck I knew the fuel system was vulnerable so it had two additional fuel filters installed, a Baldwin water trap and a 2 micron Donaldson. To replace both cost me $29. I never had an issue with the fuel system.
The only two “issues” the truck had was a steering box and O2 sensor. Both were replaced under warranty.
I also put a steering box brace on the truck and it tightened the steering up like a imported SUV instead of the classic dodge wandering feel.
I didn’t have to do any other repairs and the truck drove great when I sold it.
I sold the truck two months ago for $27,000 and didn’t have to negotiate or deal with any chit kickers.
Through ownership the power and torque made towing a dream, getting up hills I didn’t have to worry about losing speed but I worried about the transmission. I always drove it like I owned it and respected the fact I could of damaged the transmission if I mistreated it. Comparing a diesel to a gas jobber isn’t logical if your towing. I don’t even like driving petrol when I’m not towing, I personally hate higher revving engines that I need to push at all to get performance from. I’ll take the deep, lazy torque curve of a diesel every day.
Just from mentioning the transmission it reminded me of this. I saw it in noosa the other day just before we went paddle boarding on the river.
Real World Diesel Mileage?
Hybrid Mode
