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Diesel V6 vs Standard V6

Skyflyer

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I am torn between purchasing a diesel or a standard V6 1500. My towing needs are modest so that's not a major factor. I want to get the best mileage that I can but I don't want t break the bank doing so or create more problems for myself. What do you believe are the pros and cons of both engines?
 

silver billet

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If you drive a lot the ED becomes more attractive. If you mainly city drive or drive < 20,000 miles a year you'll probably never get your money back on the ED.

v6 = best MPG for city or low mileage driving, lowest cost, lowest fun, not great for towing > 3000/4000 pounds, cheapest all around to own and drive and maintain. Extremely reliable, very refined, excellent NVH. Can feel a little sluggish at times, requiring more downshifts, especially when climbing hills under load or on the freeway

ED = best MPG for driving a lot, especially highway driving; not good as a city commuter, tows well, can feel more powerful than the v6 due to having gobs of low end torque, generally you need to rack up the mileage over a few years before breaking even or saving money over other 2 engines. More expensive to maintain, out of warranty repairs can be very costly. It's a smooth/powerful engine and may just be the preferred engine to drive even though it costs more, so it's like buying leather over cloth. You may not get your money back, but you may just want it because it drives well. Historically the gen 2 ED (2014 to 2018) has not been reliable, the new gen's (2020+) don't have enough history to say yet one way or the other.

Hemi = worst MPG everywhere, best for towing, best for fun/performance. Cheaper to maintain/own than the ED especially if you don't drive much. Not as reliable as the V6, but most people do very well with them. By far the most popular engine in our trucks.
 
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Rollint

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Look at the cost of diesel in your area...I wish I would have gone diesel over hemi because hemi asks for medium grade which is usy more expensive than diesel here and I'm in California so fuel is more expensive here overall meaning the ecodiesel premium is paid off much faster
 

Finn5033

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I’ve had them all. Granted my Pentastar was in a 2014 so it didn’t have the torque like the new has but I honestly thought it was a great engine in the truck. I’ve also had 3 different Rams with the Hemi and now have a 2020 ecodiesel. I got the ecodiesel because I put on a lot of miles and tow a camper quite a bit so it makes sense for me and so far after 7 months and 16k miles I am very happy with it.

If you don’t drive a lot and don’t need to tow then the ecodiesel isn’t going to be any benefit to you cost wise. As much as I liked the pentastar I would never get one in my truck again because the Hemi was far more of a pleasure to drive and I didn’t care about the mpg difference.
Best thing to do is test drive all three, and get the one you like the most
 

AdamChandler

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I chose an EcoDiesel for my order but note, I picked a Limited trim where the ED was $3200 option. I currently have 4 vehicles and I'm selling 3 of them and getting the RAM as it will replace all 3 of them, it won't replace my heavily modified Golf R which is now a Sunday weekend driver when it's nice out or I'm going to a track day.

Between my 3 vehicles, I drive about 20,000 miles a year and put an additional 16-20K miles on my motorcycles. I'll be takin about 2-4K a year from my touring motorcycle and instead my Wife and I will load our lighter dirt bikes on the truck and drive to where we'll ride. The two trips planned are NC & Nova Scotia so it's safe to say at least 22K miles a year on the RAM 1500. I also don't live in a city (Northern New Hampshire with more moose than people) so it takes a bit of time to get to the good grocery store and the theatre is an hour away if we want to see a movie.

In my world, I'm paying $2.79 a gallon for 87 octane fuel and averaging 30 MPG on my 3 vehicles.Diesel is running $3 a gallon and I expect to get 22MPG with the eco-diesel.

So no, it won't be cheaper than my current cars BUT between the V8 w/ E-Torque (14-18 MPG) and the ED (20-28 MPG), I'll be coming out very close with the added benefit to me personally is by going from 3 cars to 1, I'll be saving myself about $800 a year in insurance & registration and I'll be gaining a truck that can haul our bikes which cuts down on wear & tear on the bikes.

One thing people don't think about when they have a wife or partner that rides their own bike is that even though my 1200CC touring bike gets 40 MPG and her 850CC gets 48MPG, our combined MPG is equivalent to taking one of our cars because we're using double the fuel since we're riding separately. It's nice to ride with your wife but you're burning 2X the fuel on 2 bikes :p

So that's my reason for the Eco-Diesel, long high ways, hauling bikes, generally affordable diesel and hopefully, diesel will remain more affordable than gas over time (yet to be seen).

Here's some quick math.

1. 20,000 miles @ 14 MPG (Hemi-V8) at $3 a gallon (for mid-grade)
2. 20000 miles @ 22 MPG (Diesel) at $3 a gallon

1428 gallons which would cost $4284 in fuel
909 Gallons costing $2727 in fuel

And that's per year. I'd like to think I can get slightly better than 22MPG.

Here is Diesel:
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v8 Hemi:
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V6 Penta-star:
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So depending on price per gallon of mid-grade & Diesel where you live paired with miles per year, you can basically take it as 23MPG for ED, 16 MPG for Hemi and 19/20 for V6 and do the math and see how long it would take to re-coup the money.
 

habu987

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I'll be trading my '19 in for a '22 this fall and will be going with an EcoD. Being a loaded Longhorn (as will the '22), this truck is a porker and the Pentastar isn't really up for the task. I drive with a very light right foot and I've been disappointed in the mpg, along with downshifts galore while driving through the rolling hills in my area, and general feeling of the engine having to work more than I expected. If I were in a lightly optioned Big Horn, it'd likely be a substantially different matter, but the Pentastar isn't a great fit for my particular truck.
 

wiskyram

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I went with the diesel because of the mileage. I had the Pentastar in a 2016 and it was fine for me. I don't tow much, but I do haul quite a bit in the bed of my truck at least a couple times a month. But I drive a lot for work (gonna be close to 35,000 miles per year) so the diesel option made a lot of sense for me.
 

Royalist_Ram

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I've owned both. Used to own a 2019 1500 Laramie 3.6L Pentastar V6 and currently own a 2021 1500 Limited 3.0L EcoDiesel V6. The Gas V6 was really nice, the power was good but it wasn't nearly as powerful or smooth as the 5.7L Hemi V8. It was a very good base engine tho, and avg mpg was like 21-23 mpg. That being said, the EcoDiesel I absolutely love. Only got 2k miles on it so far and my maintenance is covered for free from Stellantis so I don't have to worry about very expensive oil changes. As far as reliability, not worried either, I know the 3rd gen will be way more reliable than the 2nd gen; but I'm not expecting it to be perfect. As far as avg mpg's, getting 24 currently, best highway was 26.1 so far. See my signature for info that can affect those mpg's, good or bad. Also, the ED is $3,200 on the Limited for 2021, verses $4,995 for other trims for 2021 and all trims for 2020, as a note. My point is, drive both; ED has best torque in its class and 480 is a lot, but the HP is low; but that's ok, I have no issues and really love the engine a lot.
 

RAM4RUNNER

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First off, new member here. I did the diesel/pentastar research for a year when considering purchase of a Gladiator. I was even researching GEN 1 and 2 when it took them years to bring those out. Reviews, pros/cons, etc... I drive a ton 50K/year and I would be able to make the ROI of the extra cost of diesel in about 3 years. For me, reliability is #1 and as of 2 week ago I've had 2 mechanics (one a diesel mechanic and another was a mechanic that works at a Jeep/Ram dealer) both told me to stay away from the diesel. It'll seem great for a short time but then you'll start getting all sorts of issues.

Since comparing the Gladiator to the RAM my heart still says Gladiator but my brain tells me to go with the RAM. The comfort and extras you get with the RAM for the same $ as a Rubicon is swaying me.

Any of you have thoughts on the Gladiator?
 

TNRamGuy

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First off, new member here. I did the diesel/pentastar research for a year when considering purchase of a Gladiator. I was even researching GEN 1 and 2 when it took them years to bring those out. Reviews, pros/cons, etc... I drive a ton 50K/year and I would be able to make the ROI of the extra cost of diesel in about 3 years. For me, reliability is #1 and as of 2 week ago I've had 2 mechanics (one a diesel mechanic and another was a mechanic that works at a Jeep/Ram dealer) both told me to stay away from the diesel. It'll seem great for a short time but then you'll start getting all sorts of issues.

Since comparing the Gladiator to the RAM my heart still says Gladiator but my brain tells me to go with the RAM. The comfort and extras you get with the RAM for the same $ as a Rubicon is swaying me.

Any of you have thoughts on the Gladiator?
I can't believe driving 50k/yr this is even a question, that many miles in a jeep? 10k miles/kidney!
 

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