Poor gas mileage

[Trooper4]

I don't get 18mpg on the highway with 3.92s.
I think etorque helps to kill my mpg in the city.

I can't see where E-Torque, if you are using or not, could hurt city mpg.

 

[6of36]

Those 3.21s tho. Also the Durangos are heavy if I recall, just as much as the RAM which doesn't help it.

The "problem" I have with eTorque is that is creates a ton of drag, and since I don't use start or stop I create drag on the engine to slow it down whenever I take my foot off the break to charge a battery I mostly don't use, where I would normally coast and gain mpgs I slow down and then and are forced to accelerate again for a net loss of MPG with eTorque.
Unless you are grid locked I can't see eTorque saying any mpgs.

Not sure why my mpg is terrible on the highway except for 3.92s, eTorque is not suppose to be active at highway speeds.

It's a little lighter, not much, but I have the tow package so I think it's a 3.7 as I recall.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Apples and oranges. The two have completely different drive trains (transmission/motors, tires, etc.), weights and rolling resistances.

Agreed. My wife has a Traverse. That thing, even with cruise set, picks up speed down hills where the RAM will maintain speed. And defyneed to use the brakes more when slowing down than with my Ram, and I don't have e-torque

 

[Trooper4]

2019 Ram 1500 eTorque: Unnoticeable, and That’s the Whole Point

LEXINGTON, Kentucky – Sales of the redesigned 2019 Ram 1500 are well under way, and although the first batch of vehicles that arrived in Canadian dealerships was equipped with FCA’s 5.7-litre HEMI V8, the new eTorque powertrains are now trickling in as well. What is eTorque, you ask? The short …

www.guideautoweb.com

Admittedly every truck will be different in performance and mph numbers. Some will like the E-Torque more than others. Some will turn it off and complain no matter what. And some could care less either way. I happen to like it and can find no issues with mine, but, that is my truck.
With the origin and quality, and number of parts and technology in these newer vehicles, it is a wonder that they work as well as they do. Remember, most of it comes from countries that hate us. So, don't compare yours to mine or anyone else's, its apples and oranges, and same name does not mean same truck.

 

[Darksteel165]

I can't see where E-Torque, if you are using or not, could hurt city mpg.

Regen breaking, and I don't use start-stop. So it's regen breaking with no up-side.

Agreed. My wife has a Traverse. That thing, even with cruise set, picks up speed down hills where the RAM will maintain speed. And defyneed to use the brakes more when slowing down than with my Ram, and I don't have e-torque

This is true, but my old Silverado was the same way as the Acadia. It could coast for ages.
At least the Ram sounds as good as the Silverado did (I had ATAKs on both of em) since I need to keep my foot on the gas.

Downhill I don't notice a difference, but on flat ground coasting is much reduced compared to other cars\trucks I have owned and driven. Even my 97 Expedition the boat it was could coast like a beast (and only manage to get around 12mpg)

 

[BowDown]

Strange to hear your experience. I feel no such 'drag' with eTorque. In fact, I sometimes wish the truck would slow down a bit more when I let off the gas in heavy traffic; I find myself having to hit the brakes in stop-and-go a little too often. Most of the time, I'll let the truck deal with it (adaptive cruise), but it gets annoying if we encounter full gridlock.

My truck is heavy and has 3.92s, so my mileage isn't anything special (see signature). It's crept up a little bit over its 40K miles. I can record 18+ mpg for a tank if I spend 90% of it cruising on two-lane highways (55-63 mph). Interestingly, the truck also has a sweet spot at around 75-78 mph where MDS will kick in with the slightest downhill or tailwind and hold for quite a while. But if I mix in some city driving, that'll tank the economy and I'll end up in the 14s or 15s.

Nor do I, my truck coasts down like a normal truck until under about 20 mph then I can feel the etorque MGU pulling it down which is fine for me because I'm usually in a neighborhood driving when that occurs. The only other time I feel etorque is during braking

 

[BowDown]

I drove 2 eTorque trucks and I thought the regenerative braking was very noticeable. If you're a dirt bike rider, it's similar to the difference in engine braking between a four stroke and two stroke. Four strokes are very annoying, just like eTorque.

Well it should feel like engine braking because that's what it in essence is. The MGU goes into regen mode in some braking instances which puts resistance on the MGU which in turn puts resistance on the engine via the crank shaft. The etorque MGU is doing engine braking

 

[BowDown]

If you don't feel drag with eTorque you are just used to it.
At very low speeds you don't feel it like during stop and go traffic. Going 30mph or so on a flat road and take your foot off the gas and there is significant drag.
I can coast on flat ground with my wifes Acadia in spots where I need to keep my foot on the gas in my truck, and her Acadia weights 6700 lbs so it's not like it's lighter then my Ram (6100 lbs)

No, my etorque doesn't doesn't drag the engine down every time I take my foot off the gas and etorque engagement is very noticeable. I can coast down from 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 mph like a normal car and get no sensation of engine braking or parasitic drag

 

[BowDown]

I can't see where E-Torque, if you are using or not, could hurt city mpg.

It doesn't. I have etorque and I'm sitting at 17.1 mpg now with zero highway mileage on this tank. I've tracked my fuel mileage in this truck since mile 1 one and in 62K miles, I've never had a mixed driving tank get less than 17mpg and usually get 17.8-18 mpg in mixed driving 70/30 city/highway.

Now, on another note, I had the latest AC/HVAC TSB preformed 3 weeks ago, yes AC is by far noticeably colder), what that TSB also did was change the HVAC controller which has some interoperability with etorque auto start/stop.
Pre TSB, my truck would engage as/s anytime regardless of how how the cabin was with AC on, only in max AC did AS/S not engage. It wasn't a big deal, I'd bump the brake (not break) pedal (not petal either) and the truck would restart and continue cooling.

Post TSB, with the AC on or just the fan on, AS/S has not engaged one time in 3 weeks; it still works because I turned the AC one day when we had that cold front and it was only 90° outside, truck shut off like normal and restarted like normal when the light changed. They changed something in the AS/S system relative to the AC/Fan running. I have seen about a 1/2 mpg drop in city driving consistently over the last 3 weeks. I normally get 420- 430 miles from 23 gallons, now I get about 415 miles a tank which comes out to about 18mpg vs a previous 18.25-18.5mpg

 

[BowDown]

Agreed. My wife has a Traverse. That thing, even with cruise set, picks up speed down hills where the RAM will maintain speed. And defyneed to use the brakes more when slowing down than with my Ram, and I don't have e-torque

This is my only complaint about the Ram, its cruise control needs a reprogram. Wayyyy too aggressive on maintaining speed downhill or returning to the set speed

 

[SpeedyV]

If you don't feel drag with eTorque you are just used to it.
At very low speeds you don't feel it like during stop and go traffic. Going 30mph or so on a flat road and take your foot off the gas and there is significant drag.
I can coast on flat ground with my wifes Acadia in spots where I need to keep my foot on the gas in my truck, and her Acadia weights 6700 lbs so it's not like it's lighter then my Ram (6100 lbs)

Your assumption about me is incorrect but understandable, as you don't know anything about my experiences with machines of all shapes and sizes.

You might not know that after driving several non-eTorque trucks, I conducted the first-ever publicized road test of eTorque (as published here on 5thGenRams in July 2018). See item (4) in that review for my comments on braking impacts of eTorque; I indicated that they were observable in a positive way, but only in a low-speed situation when hot.

Again - In some lightweight configurations (e.g., Lonestar/Big Horn), I've observed regenerative braking effects (as noted in the review above). These are not present in my loaded Longhorn. I attribute that to the 700+ lb of additional weight, with air suspension and ORG being contributing factors.

But that doesn't explain what you experience in your (equally heavy) Limited. It may be attributable to the change in eTorque programming that was implemented in the 2022+ models.

 

[BowDown]

Your assumption about me is incorrect but understandable, as you don't know anything about my experiences with machines of all shapes and sizes.

You might not know that after driving several non-eTorque trucks, I conducted the first-ever publicized road test of eTorque (as published here on 5thGenRams in July 2018). See item (4) in that review for my comments on braking impacts of eTorque; I indicated that they were observable in a positive way, but only in a low-speed situation when hot.

Again - In some lightweight configurations (e.g., Lonestar/Big Horn), I've observed regenerative braking effects (as noted in the review above). These are not present in my loaded Longhorn. I attribute that to the 700+ lb of additional weight, with air suspension and ORG being contributing factors.

But that doesn't explain what you experience in your (equally heavy) Limited. It may be attributable to the change in eTorque programming that was implemented in the 2022+ models.

This has been exactly my experience. They may have changed something in 21/22 but mine doesn't at all operate the way he describes

 

[Darksteel165]

Your assumption about me is incorrect but understandable, as you don't know anything about my experiences with machines of all shapes and sizes.

You might not know that after driving several non-eTorque trucks, I conducted the first-ever publicized road test of eTorque (as published here on 5thGenRams in July 2018). See item (4) in that review for my comments on braking impacts of eTorque; I indicated that they were observable in a positive way, but only in a low-speed situation when hot.

Again - In some lightweight configurations (e.g., Lonestar/Big Horn), I've observed regenerative braking effects (as noted in the review above). These are not present in my loaded Longhorn. I attribute that to the 700+ lb of additional weight, with air suspension and ORG being contributing factors.

But that doesn't explain what you experience in your (equally heavy) Limited. It may be attributable to the change in eTorque programming that was implemented in the 2022+ models.

2022s do have a newer version of eTorque from what I read, not sure why though since it's same generation.

The eTorque was updated (software) after I purchased it too in mid 2022. I forget what exactly it claimed to do but i know it affected start-stop behavior and removed the surging I had (when foot off the break and engine starts back up the truck would thrust forward and then coast like I hit the gas then stopped [LOL I know]) Z49 Hybrid Control processor update via a customer satisfaction notice.

My drag is mostly in speeds 20-40mph, on the highway I don't notice it (just good old 3.92s so my engine is always dancing) and at parking lot speeds I don't feel it.
In stop and go traffic it is too busy searching for gears for me to notice the drag so I manually shift it and it seems to coast fine like that.

It's not as bad as downshifting would be, but pretty close. If I just gently hit the gas not enough to do anything it coasts, like it's telling the regen to back off.

I'm not saying eTorque is terrible, or regen is bad. I'm just saying in my use case when I don't use start-stop that eTorque should in theory produce less mpg for me as it preforms regen but I don't allow it to use what regen it generates. Even if I did I bet I wouldn't save mpg, but i'm not going to have\start that argument. I don't think it's a bad system but even Teslas have options on how much drag\regen, would be nice for me to turn it off or set it to the lowest setting possible to just keep the 48V battery charged (which I don't think you need regen to do as the generator should make WAY more then enough to charge it without using start-stop).

 

[CalvinC]

her Acadia weights 6700 lbs

Wow, what in the world does your wife strap to the Acadia to make it weigh more than an Lincoln Navigator XL or Cadillac Escalade ESV?

 

[HSKR R/T]

This is my only complaint about the Ram, its cruise control needs a reprogram. Wayyyy too aggressive on maintaining speed downhill or returning to the set speed

I love that it downshifts to hold speed. I'd rather it do that than speed up 5-10mph going down hills. My wife's Traverse does that, or more depending on hill, and trying to explain to the police officer that the cars cruise control caused you to speed probably won't fly very far.

And her Traverse is also.kkre aggressive in acceleration when you hit resume in cruise contril

 

[Darksteel165]

I love that it downshifts to hold speed. I'd rather it do that than speed up 5-10mph going down hills. My wife's Traverse does that, or more depending on hill, and trying to explain to the police officer that the cars cruise control caused you to speed probably won't fly very far.

And her Traverse is also.kkre aggressive in acceleration when you hit resume in cruise contril

I forget where I saw it but I believe there is something about "distance to slow down". So if you just passed a speed limit sign that was lower then what it was before and you are speeding you can claim you were decelerating. Doesn't work everywhere but i have some co-workers who had to use that excuse in some small towns they were driving through (and it worked)

 

[HSKR R/T]

I forget where I saw it but I believe there is something about "distance to slow down". So if you just passed a speed limit sign that was lower then what it was before and you are speeding you can claim you were decelerating. Doesn't work everywhere but i have some co-workers who had to use that excuse in some small towns they were driving through (and it worked)

Everything i have ever seen about that is the speed limit starts at the sign. There are usually "warning" signs to say a speed change is coming. Just like you aren't supposed start speeding up until you get to the higher speed limit sign.

 

[Darksteel165]

Everything i have ever seen about that is the speed limit starts at the sign. There are usually "warning" signs to say a speed change is coming. Just like you aren't supposed start speeding up until you get to the higher speed limit sign.

The speed limit definitely changes where the sign stands. I just know a couple people who got out of tickets with some odd grey area. If the speed is 45mph and you get to a sign that says 20, you need to decrease your speed from 45-20 at the sign. Going 25 under the limit in a 45 will get you ticketed.

I assumed there is a grace period measurable by distance to adjust speed but I can't find it anymore so I wonder if they just got lucky, the cops like to sit DIRECTLY after the speed limit sign that goes way down in a spot that is 45mph to 30mpg then right back to 45mpg (no lights or stop signs)

 

[HSKR R/T]

The speed limit definitely changes where the sign stands. I just know a couple people who got out of tickets with some odd grey area. If the speed is 45mph and you get to a sign that says 20, you need to decrease your speed from 45-20 at the sign. Going 25 under the limit in a 45 will get you ticketed.

I assumed there is a grace period measurable by distance to adjust speed but I can't find it anymore so I wonder if they just got lucky, the cops like to sit DIRECTLY after the speed limit sign that goes way down in a spot that is 45mph to 30mpg then right back to 45mpg (no lights or stop signs)

Going from 45 to 25, should have enough time from seeing the sign to slow down before you get to it. That is, if you are paying attention to the road and signs

 

[BowDown]

I love that it downshifts to hold speed. I'd rather it do that than speed up 5-10mph going down hills. My wife's Traverse does that, or more depending on hill, and trying to explain to the police officer that the cars cruise control caused you to speed probably won't fly very far.

And her Traverse is also.kkre aggressive in acceleration when you hit resume in cruise contril

I'd rather it coast down hill but I can see both sides of this. As for explaining to the police officer, stopping's for chumps. I'm a sovereign speeder