2020 laramie longhorn 3.0 ecodiesel 1st impressions

[myles]

Truck Details in Signature (green text)
So I just picked up my ecodiesel that I ordered in October.
I live in Southern California and ordered it from Lake Forest CJDR in Minnesota because they offer lifetime powertrain warranty
Overall awesome truck, put 100 miles on it today and I'll be taking it on a road trip on the 27th to Hearst castle which will be about 900 miles round trip with stops.

1st thing, holy crap these longhorns are nice, like nicer than most luxury cars I have been in, the attention to detail is amazing.

going to keep this short and sweet

power - no complaints
It feels like a diesel, drives a lot like our cummins ram 5500 that we have at work, doesn't snap you back in the seat but it will just keep pulling
takes a second for the turbo to spool up then it gets going
overall no complaints, but I also wasn't expecting it to put you in the seat like a gasoline motor when it down shifts

MPGs: - Love It
city: 21-23 driving on side streets with lots of lights and 45-50 mph speed limits
highway: 31.4 @ 65mph. on the 91 freeway with light traffic, only went down to 20mph in one small section, trip was about 40 miles
28ish @ 70mph
26ish @ 75mph
23ish @ 80mph
**these were all less than 40 mile drives between san bernardino and lake elsinore, so mostly flat freeways, while using Adaptive Cruise Control**
highest mpg was 34.9 @ 65mph for 12 miles between lake elsinore and corona

Advanced Safety Group: i would get it just for the ACC, overall reccomended
Adaptive Cruise Control on medium sensitivity: this is honestly amazing, literally a set it and forget it, brakes when people pull in front of you, which happens a lot in socal, almost human braking and acceleration.
Lake keep assist on medium sensitivity: pretty seat, haven't experienced any of the jerking people talk about, again almost human like in that it just nudges you if you start to ride the line. BUT it does have some issues with dotted lines that it doesnt always sense them
Auto emergency braking: never tripped up and slammed on the brakes when people full on cut me off which was my concern, only happened once, and ACC just braked a bit to maintain safe following distance
parking: no issues never slammed on the brakes for me. does beep though when you start to get close
360* camera, pretty neat in parking lots, don't recommend keeping it on, makes me a bit dizzy, but is a neat feature for people who are new to trucks and aren't used to parking them.

12" Uconnect: good
works as advertised, apple carplay is very good, Siri voice commands are very natural and accurate

19 speaker HK Sound: awesome
sounds awesome, turned the sub up to +5 and it sounds amazing, even just plain vocals and piano sound great.

towing: have not towed anything yet

Will be able to get more accurate highway MPG after the road trip this weekend.

 

[PorBoy]

Merry Christmas and you know the routine lol. You can’t just tell us about it, you have to post photos and make our day.

 

[Willwork4truck]

What he said.

So seriously, that was a good 1st impressions. Hope that none of the issues with software that the gasser owners have reported will be affecting you. ( I don't use my u connect enough to know/recognize them, other than nav and basic on off functionality.)
Like that 65 mph fuel mileage yet kinda thought 70-75 would be higher however you are nowhere near beginning to break in.
Whats your gearing, 3.92? There seems to be a slight question about if every 2020 ecodiesel has only that one set of gears.
That lifetime powertrain warranty being so far from you, is that a dealer specific 3rd party thing? If so, whats then relative value to you in socal?
Otherwise, thanks for the report, we do want some pics though!

 

[HotHareSpey]

That’s pretty great! Keep us updated please. Congrats on the new rig

 

[Heli-Pilot]

Nice write up, thanks for sharing! Congrats on your new truck and Merry Christmas!

 

[myles]

360* camera, pretty neat in parking lots, don't recommend keeping it on, makes me a bit dizzy, but is a neat feature for people who are new to trucks and aren't used to parking them.

don't recommend keeping it on, makes me a bit dizzy, but is a neat feature for people who are new to trucks and aren't used to parking them.

What he said.

So seriously, that was a good 1st impressions. Hope that none of the issues with software that the gasser owners have reported will be affecting you. ( I don't use my u connect enough to know/recognize them, other than nav and basic on off functionality.)
Like that 65 mph fuel mileage yet kinda thought 70-75 would be higher however you are nowhere near beginning to break in.
Whats your gearing, 3.92? There seems to be a slight question about if every 2020 ecodiesel has only that one set of gears.
That lifetime powertrain warranty being so far from you, is that a dealer specific 3rd party thing? If so, whats then relative value to you in socal?
Otherwise, thanks for the report, we do want some pics though!

What he said.

So seriously, that was a good 1st impressions. Hope that none of the issues with software that the gasser owners have reported will be affecting you. ( I don't use my u connect enough to know/recognize them, other than nav and basic on off functionality.)
Like that 65 mph fuel mileage yet kinda thought 70-75 would be higher however you are nowhere near beginning to break in.
Whats your gearing, 3.92? There seems to be a slight question about if every 2020 ecodiesel has only that one set of gears.
That lifetime powertrain warranty being so far from you, is that a dealer specific 3rd party thing? If so, whats then relative value to you in socal?
Otherwise, thanks for the report, we do want some pics though!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I have the 3.92 gears
And the lifetime power train warranty is good at my local dealer as well. Plus they were offering employee pricing in October a not to exceed price of $64,800 out the door even when I placed the order on my truck.

And here’s the pics of my red sleigh!

 

[iamtheav8r]

It's interesting that some think the lane departure system works great and others not so much. My Honda was like auto-drive. Worked flawlessly. This Ram acts there is a drunk 18 yr old driving it when I turn that system on. No matter what the sensitivity, it's terrible. Might be my perspective, coming from the Honda, but this system isn't really usable for me in its current form.

 

[d19r93]

It's interesting that some think the lane departure system works great and others not so much. My Honda was like auto-drive. Worked flawlessly. This Ram acts there is a drunk 18 yr old driving it when I turn that system on. No matter what the sensitivity, it's terrible. Might be my perspective, coming from the Honda, but this system isn't really usable for me in its current form.

I agree with you on the fact that the Honda's seem to have a good system for the ACC. My wife's 2018 Accord has the HondaSense and I love it. My RAM does not have anything like that, but I know I am thankful for hers to have it. I had a loaner nissan, and the system on it sucked. It never detected anything that would come in the path of travel.

 

[PorBoy]

I have it on my 2018 Accord Touring and that thing is great to put it simply.

 

[tyresmoker]

If you are relying on lane departure to get your Ram down the road, maybe it is time to reconsider what you are driving?

 

[xspeedy]

If you are relying on lane departure to get your Ram down the road, maybe it is time to reconsider what you are driving?

I don’t think LKA is meant to operate like Autopilot. It is just there in case you happen to drift into the adjacent lane. At least that is the sense I get.

 

[iamtheav8r]

I don’t think LKA is meant to operate like Autopilot. It is just there in case you happen to drift into the adjacent lane. At least that is the sense I get.

Right, and I don't think anyone has suggested otherwise. Just a point on how other manufacturer's systems work so much better than FCA. I really don't see how it's at all helpful, at least on my truck. It allows the truck to enter the other lanes well beyond what would be effective at avoiding a collision.

 

[myles]

Right, and I don't think anyone has suggested otherwise. Just a point on how other manufacturer's systems work so much better than FCA. I really don't see how it's at all helpful, at least on my truck. It allows the truck to enter the other lanes well beyond what would be effective at avoiding a collision.

I think its mainly meant for accidental lane drifting, such as grabbing something from the back seat

It won't continuously keep you in the middle of your lane, but once I hit the line it or get darn close to it, it nudges me back into the middle of the lane

It's not at honda's level and definitely not at tesla's. Maybe 6th gen rams will get automated driving, they are getting close, and the tech is starting to become more mainstream.

side note: i have also changed the setting the high on LKA and it is still very gentle.
maybe try taking it to the dealer for an update if it jerks you.

 

[iamtheav8r]

I think its mainly meant for accidental lane drifting, such as grabbing something from the back seat

It won't continuously keep you in the middle of your lane, but once I hit the line it or get darn close to it, it nudges me back into the middle of the lane

It's not at honda's level and definitely not at tesla's. Maybe 6th gen rams will get automated driving, they are getting close, and the tech is starting to become more mainstream.

side note: i have also changed the setting the high on LKA and it is still very gentle.
maybe try taking it to the dealer for an update if it jerks you.

I only ever used it on the Honda when I'd had a few IPAs too many. It was annoying the rest of the time. It'll stay off on this truck also. Not ready for prime time fo sho.

 

[Danny_TheHouseCook]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I have the 3.92 gears
And the lifetime power train warranty is good at my local dealer as well. Plus they were offering employee pricing in October a not to exceed price of $64,800 out the door even when I placed the order on my truck.

And here’s the pics of my red sleigh!

Lifetime powertrain warranty is honored nationwide at any RAM dealer, or at least that's what my dealership advertises on TV.