I was almost that first time truck buyer. Was on the fence between a Laramie trim with Off Road package vs the Rebel and finally settled on the Rebel, the truck just appealed to me more. Then after placing my order I read more threads on here about real world MPG on the Rebel with the 5.7 Hemi and had a general "Dang, what have i just signed up for?" feeling ! This is before I even got the truck. Then it arrived with some damage at the dealer and I had the option of re-ordering, so I did, and I ordered exact same build but switched to the EcoDiesel.
So far I'm happy with my decision. I do lose the "fun" aspect of the Hemi ( I did test drive one and it was amazing ), but I do really enjoy the sound and feel of the diesel engine.
Here's my spreadsheet calculations of my MPG's so far with the truck ( I got it with a full tank from the dealer )
View attachment 145107
I'm getting killed with the cost of diesel of course. The average so far is 22.1mpg and $0.25 / mile.
Over the same period the average price of regular gas where I live is $4.93 ( I keep a similar spreadsheet for the wife's Toyota Highlander ).
Taking a middle-of-the-range estimate of 15mpg for the gas Rebel from the posts here in this thread, that comes out to $0.33/mile approx.
So I've saved ~ $0.08 / mile so far. Not earth-shattering but it'll add up. I'll eat up some of that in the more expensive oil changes for the diesel and a little bit in DEF which isn't that expensive really. Anyway, I feel a bit better in the short term looking at the MPG's