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Bad fuel mileage 5.7 hemi

hammer722

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Have a 19' Rebel 12 and I'm actually pretty happy with the numbers I'm getting considering its taller and beefy tires. Trip from Chicago to Nashville at around 75mph I was getting 17.5 mpg. From Nashville to Chicago I was closer to 19mpg. You guys must have a pretty heavy foot. haha
 

Jtr

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Have a 19' Rebel 12 and I'm actually pretty happy with the numbers I'm getting considering its taller and beefy tires. Trip from Chicago to Nashville at around 75mph I was getting 17.5 mpg. From Nashville to Chicago I was closer to 19mpg. You guys must have a pretty heavy foot. haha

Not bad numbers at all. I'd imagine that Indiana portion had to be a pretty flat road?
 

klail

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I have definitely seen improvement over time. It is probably a combination of the engine break in along with a slight change in the way I drive (more coasting). My last few fill-ups: 15.7, 16, 16.5, 15.1, 15.2, 14.3, 14.8, 15.6. Nothing magnificent but it's improvement from past fill-ups.
 

hammer722

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Not bad numbers at all. I'd imagine that Indiana portion had to be a pretty flat road?

Yeah it was which defiantly helped. Lost about 1mpg once i hit kentucky. some pretty big hills there
 
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SD Rebel

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Thanks to all of you for making me feel a ton better about my truck! Not that I felt bad at all about it...it is a truck after all so that is good. I was just watching the MPG and noticing that I am getting about 14.9 MPG on the first tank of gas since buying my 4x4 Rebel. It would appear that is pretty good since all I do is city driving in South Houston. I would find it strange that there is such a variance in the reported MPG on these vehicles, but after seeing the MPG that my wife can get out of a vehicle nothing really surprises me any longer. Seriously, she used to have a commute that was 18 miles each way, 12 of which was freeway (60mph), rarely any traffic, 2007 Honda Civic LX ( I could get it to return nearly 40mpg) she had it sitting right at a tidy 13.5 mpg...so while there is certainly some difference between the different builds and configurations of the vehicles, there is no way to account for the piece of equipment that is placed between the steering wheel and the seat at the time of delivery.

A lot of the variance is simply how much of "city" or "highway" we all do. Also, some city traffic is similar to highway traffic while some is pure stop light grid lock.
What do you mean by getting the transmission to shift? You mean from like 7th to 8th gear? My truck is in 8th gear at 30mph. Yet on my Pacifica you have to be almost 50mph to reach 8th gear. Heck, in my Charger, it wouldn't go into 8th gear until I hit nearly 60mph. So while I was thinking that maybe it's good that the truck is reaching 8th gear so quickly it would help save me fuel. But now that I think about it, maybe that isn't right? Maybe it's shifting too quickly to 8th gear and trying too hard which is causing the engine to feel like it's hesitating and jerking me back and forth, and may account for the dismal 8.6 mpg I'm getting. I mean, I don't accelerate quickly, and I even try to take my foot off the brake and coast as much as possible. And I don't brake hard. But no matter how gently I try to coax the truck, the mileage has never shown above 10 mpg and currently sits at 8.6. So what is the verdict? At what speed should the transmission shift into 8th gear while driving? Oh, and by the way, if there is an ECO mode, I've NEVER seen the ECO light go on in my truck, so I have no idea if that's a bad thing either.

You can use the -+ selector on the steering wheel to set a ceiling on the highest gear available it also allows you to see what gear you truck is currently in.

For the Eco light, you need to set it for dash mode in the Uconnect. If defaults to light off dash. Once you set it, you will see it come on at low to moderate throttle. Also, it won't turn on if you use the -+ button. If fact, some people don't like the MDS to activate, so they set their -+ to 8th gear, which gives you full function of your transmission but prevents MDS from activating.
 

ZonaRam44

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I have about 800 miles on my Laramie so far. First take was about 11 mpg, lots of idling and I bet the dealer filled it with 87. Second tank I filled with 89 and I got 13.7 hand calculated, my dash said 14.9. I put 91 in this third tank, but I think I'll stick with 89, dont see much of a difference so far. I also live in AZ and it's like 110 degrees so I'm thinking that might hurt too. When has everyone started to see the mpgs go up?
 

egnarp

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I was getting pretty nervous about the MPG when I first got my truck in January, but I'm happy to report that the MPG did show a nice improvement once I rolled up to 6,000 to 8,000 miles. Just feels like my drivetrain took that long to loosen up.

On my way to work each morning there is a long gradual incline and with my cruise control on, my truck would always shift down into 7th gear about half way up the incline. Over the past month or so, I notice that the tranny now maintains the same speed while staying in 8th gear.

I'm getting around 17 to 18 mpg with about 70% highway driving in each tank.
 

Cueva del Osos

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I just filled up for the first time since the tank provided by the dealer. I’ve been following the manual break-in recommendation and keeping speed at or below 55 and odometer is at 430 (probably 330 highway / 100 city mileage). Based on computer and manual calc, I got 18.3 mpg on the first tank. After filling with 89 octane today, the computer immediately showed 21 mpg (makes me think the dealer filled with 87). We’re in northern NM and our typical daily drive starts at 7800 elevation down to 6000 and back to 7800. I’m looking forward to seeing what a tank of 87 does for me. Monday I’ll pass 500 miles and will start pushing the speed up to 75-80, then Friday we’re taking the rv out on our first tow. I’ll again be following the manual recommendation and keeping the tow speed at 50 for the first 500 miles hitched. I haven’t done my signature yet, so for reference, limited CC, 5.7 etorque, 3.92 tow, no pano, BUG, 20” wheels (max steel / indigo-frost...not that that impacts mileage)
 

ColoradoCub

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I read a lot of mixed threads on here before buying my Ram and saw a lot of people complaining about fuel mileage but also an equal # of positive reports on fuel mileage. It almost made me go with 3.21’s over the 3.92’s and I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve only filled my tank twice but in completely mixed driving (mostly stop and go around town) I’m averaging 15.7-16.5 , that’s pretty damn good IMO. It’ll be interesting the first time I get out of town on the highway to see what I get.
 

Gman

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I fueled up with Top Tier Sinclair Mid-grade on Wed. evening. I headed out from the Denver metro to Moab, UT Thursday morning with 2 passengers and a bunch of gear. From I-70 we took 128 and followed the Colorado River into Moab. Got 23.1 mpg on the trip out. Drove a bunch of dirt roads in 4WD/Offroad 1 since we were staying at a cabin at about 7400 feet in elevation. It was a trek back and forth to town at about 4,000 ft. and we also did some exploring up to Warner Lake Campground at around 9400 ft. We tooled through Arches National Park at 106 degrees, idled the truck for about 2 hours with the AC running, drove out to Dead Horse Point to watch the sunset Saturday night, and drove back Sunday. Topped off with Shell Mid-grade in Moab. Spent 30 minutes crawling up I-70 to the Eisenhower Tunnel (metered lanes to slow traffic). Stop and go for a chunk of the drive from there back to Denver. Averaged 21.9 mpg for the entire 4-day vacation and still have 1/2 tank left after the drive home.

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I'm so impressed with this truck. I'm at about 6500 miles on it and it just keeps getting better. The best I could get out of our Mercedes GL 450 3.0l bi-turbo on the highway was 21 mpg.
 

SirLavidor

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I keep mine in 4-auto and get almost 19 mpg on the freeway and about 15 city. I like having the confidence that AWD offers when cornering and you hit that unexpected patch of loose gravel or wet pavement. The one thing I hated about my wrangler is that I could not use it in AWD for regular driving since it only comes with 4 hi or 4 low. I'll have to see what mileage I get in 2WD though. It's not like it's going to rain anytime soon in central California.
 

‘19ramlveryeha

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I fueled up with Top Tier Sinclair Mid-grade on Wed. evening. I headed out from the Denver metro to Moab, UT Thursday morning with 2 passengers and a bunch of gear. From I-70 we took 128 and followed the Colorado River into Moab. Got 23.1 mpg on the trip out. Drove a bunch of dirt roads in 4WD/Offroad 1 since we were staying at a cabin at about 7400 feet in elevation. It was a trek back and forth to town at about 4,000 ft. and we also did some exploring up to Warner Lake Campground at around 9400 ft. We tooled through Arches National Park at 106 degrees, idled the truck for about 2 hours with the AC running, drove out to Dead Horse Point to watch the sunset Saturday night, and drove back Sunday. Topped off with Shell Mid-grade in Moab. Spent 30 minutes crawling up I-70 to the Eisenhower Tunnel (metered lanes to slow traffic). Stop and go for a chunk of the drive from there back to Denver. Averaged 21.9 mpg for the entire 4-day vacation and still have 1/2 tank left after the drive home.

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I'm so impressed with this truck. I'm at about 6500 miles on it and it just keeps getting better. The best I could get out of our Mercedes GL 450 3.0l bi-turbo on the highway was 21 mpg.

Long drives it does spectacular. Short in city it is horrible but it is expected. Nice run.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

PT1911

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Dang....lots of guys getting decent mileage. I’m not one of them!

If I set the cruise at 60, I get 16.5-17, if I set the cruise at 73, I get 16.5-17.
 

SD Rebel

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Dang....lots of guys getting decent mileage. I’m not one of them!

If I set the cruise at 60, I get 16.5-17, if I set the cruise at 73, I get 16.5-17.

What is the spec on your truck, wheel/tire size and rear axle are key.
 

CaptainCJ35

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We just came home from a vacation in Maine, traveling about 425 miles in total. My Rebel eclipsed 2K miles on the trip, and we encountered highway speeds of 70-80 MPH, a lot of stop and go traffic (getting thru Boston, accidents, and leading up to tolls on I-95) and drives down country roads. The full gamut of driving conditions. I tend to have a heavy foot. The trip computer calculated our average MPG to be 16.9, which is right at the 17 Combined from the EPA, and I have no reason to suspect the computer was off measurably.

A few more observations... the truck loves back roads/secondary roads between 40 and 55 where I routinely see 22MPG+ the entire stretch and "ECO" mode is always on. As you'd expect idling and traffic kill the trucks numbers... I can see how e-Torque could pay big dividends there. Speeds over 70 drag down the trucks MPG numbers too... as you approach and exceed 2000 RPM my Rebel's efficiency suffers proportionally.

Lastly, it seems as though cruise control has a heavy foot as well, using more throttle input than it needs. Not sure if there's a way to test this "scientifically", but I felt as though I could keep the truck at 75 with much less throttle input, and therefore better fuel economy, than cruise would. I'm not talking about "hyper-miling". It is what it is... I use cruise a lot and still will... but it's something I noticed. Anyone else see this?
 

silver billet

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Dang....lots of guys getting decent mileage. I’m not one of them!

If I set the cruise at 60, I get 16.5-17, if I set the cruise at 73, I get 16.5-17.

Cruise does not give you the absolute highest MPG, unless you have trouble controlling your right foot. Cruise will attempt to keep your speed constant, but that is not the same thing as maximizing MPG. If you have any sort of hills on the road then you get better MPG by keeping your foot constant and letting the truck "coast" up the hill, vs having the cruise control use more fuel up the hill just to maintain speed.

Same thing with driving on the freeway in traffic without ACC; quite often I can see the traffic up ahead starting to slow, and I can let off and coast, then slowly regain speed as needed; the standard CC is rather blind and simplistic and just says "must keep my speed constant at all costs".
 

CaptainCJ35

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Cruise does not give you the absolute highest MPG, unless you have trouble controlling your right foot. Cruise will attempt to keep your speed constant, but that is not the same thing as maximizing MPG.
Of course... I get all that. My impression was cruise was more aggressive than it needed to be, over and above keeping the same speed regardless of elevation change, etc. Like maybe the throttle input programming is the same for v-6 and v-8 engines. I guess I need more coffee this morning to explain more clearly. And, my perception could be wrong too!
 

Gman

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We can anticipate what we're going to need in throttle based on the coming terrain. All the CC knows is what's happening right now...now...now? I've seen speeds can be as much as +2 or - 3 mph due to this. The cruise control is convenient but isn't as good as a human.

I was finally able to find a use for my Adaptive CC on my recent trip. I was following my brother-in-law who was towing his Jeep. He would slow for turns where I normally maintain my speed. The road surface would make his Jeep squirrely and he would slow down. ACC was a convenience since we were traveling together on a family trip. I'd normally just have passed him and maintained the speed I wanted.
 

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