What is the real world MPG difference between a V8 Dakota and a V6 Dakota?

I'm kinda thinking that with all the weight of a Dakota, the difference will only be slight as long as you drive with some sense (accelerate slowly, drive between 60-65 on the expressway, etc...).

 

I agree on the driving, slow acceleration and common sense,IM not impressed with the so called 20MPG on the 4.7 Magnums.I've tried the fill the tank & drive highway miles for a biut then fill it agin & devide miles to the gallon test.I tried my other test I'll get on the Highway hit the reset button on the over head display cluster & it'll give me the avg MPG & it'll sore to 20-24MPG @ speed's of 65-70 now I gave it an Honest effort. but it seems as though IM still filling up more that I want to admit!
IM not rich & money is money.It seems as though IM at the pump evry other day.WTF!I dunno how the RAM guy's do it!?!

I just bought a 24' tow behind Camper and she weigh's in @ 4,300 clean I towed it home for 60 miles & I had a buch of hill's,bad driver's & Kama kazi bug's which got my Baby all dirty, ; ). it seemed that I was working my Truck harder than I thought i was going too cosidering the trailer was only 4,300lbs. & the tow capasity is 6,800 & change for the 4X4's.which is what I have,Has anybody eles tow a trailer w/ there's and have similar exp?

Im going to get a K&N air filter I know that it'll incress my horse power & give me some minor + MPG.
I will also put in the Cold Air Induction once it's been made.

Anybody ele's wanna share there exp?Or is everything copastedic?

bob

 

Realistically, you probably should expect around 14-15 city and 18-19 highway (depending on if you have a 4x4 or not). That's what I've gathered (and reasoned from my Jeep's mpg which even though it's the straight six it's EPA mpg is eerily similar to a 2wd Dakota- 16/19 in the Jeep and 15/21 in the Dak). I think all these people claiming mpg in the mid 20's are trusting their computer WAAAAAY too much. My real mpg (by dividing miles driven by how much it took to fill up) varies wildly from what the computer says. Sometimes it's only .5 mpg high, sometimes it's a full 2 mpg or more high, sometimes it's even 1 mpg too low.

And 4,300 lbs is still a lot of weight for a smallish displacement V8. Any midsize truck is gonna struggle some with that load, FWIW. I myself would've considered a Hemi Ram if I was going to be towing that much weight in hilly country with any regularity. However, a V8 Dakota is cheaper and can still tow the weight.

 

Yeah thank's for the input fackman.
I didn't know how big our tow behind was going to be we've been looking in the want ad's fro a while and this older one caught our eye.it's in awesome condition the wife spent 3 1/2 hr's cleaning it on Sunday & I've been picking away oin the out side giving it some nice detailing.I'll post some PIC'S when I get her done,IM trying to get it done for it's maidine voyage "Memorial day weekend"! Can't wait!!!

Thank's again.

 

I AGREE ON THE DRIVER'S HABITS ON THE FUEL MILEAGE. THE BIGGER 8 MIGHT NOT HAVE TO WORK AS HARD LUGGING THE WEIGHT AROUND.

 

I have a 06 Raider with the 4.7L (same as Dakota) and I get 14.5 MPG when I drive easy and it's all city driving. On a recent trip I got 18.5 MPG in mostly highway driving.

 

My 05 quad, 4.7 2wd gets 17.8-18 city and 21-21.25 highway. This is with no trailer.
With my trailer I get about 14 mpg city.
I use synthetic motor oil, flowmaster dual exhaust, Airraid intake.

 

The Cold air intake has been out for a while now and unless your just looking to eliminate the paper filter replacement I sugest just getting the cold air intake. The preformance filters that fit the factory intake don't bost preformance by much if any.

I suggest cold air intake, a re-tooled throttle body from the fast man and preformance exsaust from the Cat on back (cat-back-exsaust). If your interested get ported heads too.

My econ highway is 20-23 avg with the 3.7.

 

Well guys here is my comment on this issue.....

I have an 06 Raider (read 06 Dakota with 5yr 60,000 mile warranty) Quad cab with the 3.7V6 and it has gotten terrible mileage since the day I purchased it back in January.

Bone Stock it got 12.5 MPG city driving, after I installed a CAI it bumped up to 13.4. I then installed a Magnaflow XL 33" muffler and mileage went up to about 14.5 - 14.7MPG. That is the best it has been. I recently purchased the JET stage 1 chip and that brought mileage back down to 13.5, so I pulled it back out. ( I need mileage more then I need horsepower).

That is where I am today. 14.5 - 14.7 MPG city with a V6 Raider ( Dakota). Strange thing is I have had to take several highway trips and the mileage does not change from city to highway. I have never gotten over 14.7 MPG. This is however in the desert with the A/C running. (It's currently 116 outside with 50% humidity...yuk)

 

I live in Wisconsin, humidity is normally high durring the summer. I recently put in a airhog filter and for curious reasons I added Octain treatment to 87 fuel but no mods installed yet. I've been tring to monitor my milage for the last few days, grated it is highway milage but I have been getting 23 mpg avg. Humitity was in excess of 90% and the A/C was on high and I was doing the 60-65 mph range. The dry desert air must be killer!