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Gas Mileage after first 1160 miles of driving truck... Sucks!

Caulk Boss said:
Well towed my 6x10 enclosed trailer today to job site and back.. 75 miles round trip.. never went over 72mph...................

10.3 mpg😱😱😱
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That sounds right on the money when towing. I suspect your low mileage when not towing, and for others who report the same thing, is driving style. It is very easy to get 13-15 mpg in these trucks but it takes patience and a very conservative driving style to get 18-20. With the 3.92 gears around town though I doubt you'll ever hit 18mpg no matter how you drive. With the 3.21 you might but again you need to drive very conservatively. I read some posters saying they shift at 4000 rpm's and I rarely accelerate the truck to that unless I am merging into heavy traffic and need to get out of the way. That spirited driving will get you in the sub 15 mpg range with ease. it takes a lot of fuel to get these behemoths moving. But hey it's fun so why worry about a few mpg! Enjoy the truck!

I recently did a 700 mile trip from NY to Lower NC and going down traffic was light and I actually hit 20 mpg in the 55 and 60 MPH stretches of HWY. Loved that 33-gallon tank and seeing over 650 miles of range at that mileage when filling up. In the 70-75 MPH stretches it was about 18-18.5. Coming back hit large traffic delays before and after Washington and never exceeded 18.5 MPG the trip back and it was mostly in the 17 mpg range. That 10-15MPH stop-and-go traffic kills mileage. Also, if there is a headwind or tailwind it can make a big difference. Towing last year in my previous truck on one windy day with a strong tailwind I actually hit slightly over 12 MPG while towing my 5000 lb camper on a flat stretch through Kansas. I was also watching my shifts, accelerating slowly, and trying to keep the truck in 8th gear by turning tow mode off (this truck had the 3.21 gears whereas my current one has 3.92). I managed to get that good mileage doing all this but it was too much work and I just started driving normally again the rest of the trip and averaged 9-10 mpg towing over the month-long 8000-mile trip.

I do think if you drove conservatively, tried to keep shifts around the 2000 rpm range and don't let the truck idle for long periods of time you would see a big increase in mileage. Of course, if this is not your driving style it may be detrimental to your mental health :) My girlfriend for example drives in sport mode in her car and she DRIVES it! If she had to drive like me she would rather walk lol.
 
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redneck said:
yeah i try to keep my shifts at 4k some times over these things have no low end tq.
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theblet said:
I accelerate at about half throttle, and have the trans shift between 3 and 4K rpm. Once at speed, I set the cruise and let mds do its thing if possible. Also, the mpg is pretty lousy until the engine gets to operating temperature.
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Well, there's your explanation for poor fuel mileage
These trucks have plenty of low end, drive a non VVT HEMI and you'll see. It's not as good as the GM 6.2 but its enough. I'd like more but I also realize this truck will never be a high performance vehicle no matter what you do
 
Its the driving style, change it.
I towed a 2200lb 6x12 u haul utility trailer a month ago loaded with 2900lbs of landscaping stone and averaged almost 17 on the highway
I didn't use tow/haul because I didn't like how long it, unnecessarily IMO, held each gear when accelerating.

1620231815107.png
 
I can tell you my gas mileage reflects how I drive and I don't care. I didn't buy a truck because I wanted great gas mileage. Heck, I didn't even look at the sticker for the report gas mileage.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque
 
vincentw56 said:
I can tell you my gas mileage reflects how I drive and I don't care. I didn't buy a truck because I wanted great gas mileage. Heck, I didn't even look at the sticker for the report gas mileage.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque
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I'm not expecting Prius mileage but I do want the very best I can get out of the truck
 
BowDown said:
Its the driving style, change it.
I towed a 2200lb 6x12 u haul utility trailer a month ago loaded with 2900lbs of landscaping stone and averaged almost 17 on the highway
I didn't use tow/haul because I didn't like how long it, unnecessarily IMO, held each gear when accelerating.

View attachment 92458
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"Change it"

I think not. I'll buy the fuel.
 
BowDown said:
Well, there's your explanation for poor fuel mileage
These trucks have plenty of low end, drive a non VVT HEMI and you'll see. It's not as good as the GM 6.2 but its enough. I'd like more but I also realize this truck will never be a high performance vehicle no matter what you do
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Sorry I forgot to mention, I’m satisfied with my fuel mileage. I believe this method give me to best opportunity. I normally average about 18 to 20 mixed driving, no towing, on 87 octane. Plenty of torque as well.

I find it’s better to accelerate making 2 mpg for a few seconds, than to accelerate slowly making 4 mpg for 30 seconds to a minute.
 
I consistently average 17-18mpg. Truck is still stock so itll drop to 16-17 probably once I level it and add tires. All in all still decent mileage. Especially coming from a durango that got 12mpg no matter what.
 
Caulk Boss said:
Well towed my 6x10 enclosed trailer today to job site and back.. 75 miles round trip.. never went over 72mph...................

10.3 mpg😱😱😱
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Geezus, I get 11.5 mpg hauling my 29' holiday trailer.....10.5mpg seems pretty low. When I'm not hauling, I'm around 18 or 19mpg around the city. I would say I only drive it hard when I need to, and try to drive it with the ECO light on. I try to run 92 octane in it....I will burn 94 when I'm towing. Man I hope things get better for you.
PS: I saw your other thread on your warranty issues with your Canadian truck. I had no idea about all of that myself. Living in Canada, the last few trucks I've sold the dealer always talks about 'buyers from the States' paying top dollar for used trucks. I hope you have some legal recourse. Wish you the best with that too man.
 
theblet said:
I wonder if the people getting crap mpg are using fuel that has more ethanol than advertised.
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Clearly its driving style, driving in a manner that causes shifts to occur at 3-4000rpm is going to consume fuel at a high rate
 
It's definitely driving style related. When I drive it like I want (spirited), I'm usually seeing around 13-14 mpgs. Now that I have been driving daily with the family, it's about 16 mpgs. This is with 34" E-rated tires and 3.92 gearing (mostly in town driving).

When I tow my 29' travel trailer at 65 MPH, I see about 8-9 mpgs...so you're seeing about what I'd expect.
 
BowDown said:
Clearly its driving style, driving in a manner that causes shifts to occur at 3-4000rpm is going to consume fuel at a high rate
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That’s how I’ve been driving and it yields 18 to 20 mpg. Accelerating at a slow rate shows me 3 to 4 mpg for a 60 seconds, which consumes more fuel then 2 mpg for 2 to 5 seconds. Then set the cruise and let the ecu control things
 
theblet said:
I wonder if the people getting crap mpg are using fuel that has more ethanol than advertised.
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Running full E85 is a 15-27% hit to MPG - while E85 can vary wildly based on the station and region since it's really intended for Flex Fuel vehicles that can adapt, E10 and E15 are much more tightly regulated. Even if someone really screwed up and put E15 in the wrong pump, you'd proportionally (assuming 85% ethanol = 27% hit) take a 4.75% hit in MPG. Compared to my typical 17mpg, that's a whopping 0.81 MPG drop.. I wouldn't suddenly get 10 MPG.

Folks like to hate on ethanol.. but they also forget that E85 is about 103 octane. There's a lot of benefits to ethanol ;)
 
For sure. Great for the drag strip. But not for my daily driver IMO. I’ve only run e10 so far and it’s been good to me.
 
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