So.... I'm thinking about trading in my 2013 Hemi Crew for a 2016 Citadel. When we bought the 13 we decided the V6/5speed was too slow and would not be enough power in the mountains where we live. 7700 ft with 11000 ft passes to get to Denver. I've read that the new V6/8spd puts down more torque to the wheels in first gear than the old V8/6spd.

We do not want the R/T due to the lower ground clearance so for 2016 we are stuck with a v6.

We love our 2013 and its great here in the mountains with the V8 but it gets 12 mpg in town and less than 20 on the highway. We never use 4lo and the wife wants a sunroof and heated steering wheel with ACC cruise control.

Does anybody here have direct experience with the V8/6spd vs the V6/8spd. Power, mpg, etc.

Thanks

 

When I had my Lincoln LS in for service I was given a 2015 Chrysler 200 as a rental. It had the inline 4 cyl with a 9 spd trans (rotary selector). In urban/suburban traffic (avg 40 mph with light traffic) that trans didn't know what gear it wanted to be in - constantly shifting up and down - very annoying. So, I have my reservations about an 8 or 9 spd trans in city driving. I can see where it should be OK if one does highway driving at constant speed, but when speeds are variable, that constant shifting I found it annoying. Maybe FCA was still tweaking the software, but , in my case, I didn't like the experience. Hopefully someone that has already purchased a later model Durango with the V6/8spd combo, and drives where there are hills and mountains, can tell you what is their experience.

 

I have read the same thing that the 9 speed is kind of a clunky mess in town. My dad rented one last summer and drove it out from CA to CO and he loved it.

My brother in law has a 2015 altitude GC with V6 and 8spd. It seems to drive nice but i only got to drive it during the last huge snowstorm in Denver so it wasnt a great road test.

 

Take test drive of each. Find a moderate hill with a long stretch of road. Settle in on the speed limit and hold really really steady on that speed. Watch the rpms. If there is a big diff, like the v6 is turning more than the v8, there's your answer. I expect that is what you will see. The tranny for the 6 will drop into a lower gear to keep the torque up. So you'll essentially get the same mpg as the 8 while hill climbing. On the flat the 6 will have better mpg.

 

Huh? Engine RPM alone can't be used to estimate fuel efficiency between to such dissimilar powertrains.

Two cars of equal (or nearly equal) mass will need a given amount of torque (HP really) to maintain a set speed on a hill (torque is needed for acceleration - V8 wins). To achieve that power, the V8 will need to feed two more cylinders, plus inherent built-in inefficiencies like extra drag from increased bearing surfaces (longer crankshaft, more piston rod journals, more cam journals, etc.). This is THE reason why the EPA numbers are different. If what you are saying is true then two Ds running the same test would get the same mileage.

 

I think you made my point in your last sentence. 2 D's, one a 6 and the other an 8, will get the same mileage on the hills. The bad part is the 6's mileage will drop down to the 8's. I know a few people who had 6 cyl pickups and the gas mileage plummeted any time the engine was put under load for any length of time. I stand by my prediction.

 

I'm sorry, but that makes NO sense at all. I mean, if you're talking about rock-crawling up the side of a mountain maybe, but then that's not exactly typical use.

I rented a 2015 D Limited V6 last year. Had it for a week taking five adults and kid (we are, ehem, large) to see the sights around here. I was hauling around 1,300 pounds of people for week in city driving and got an average of 17. And that was with an AWD version, in stop and go, 95F hot, traffic. Idling for a hour or two a day. I call B/S. The only way a V6 D would get 8mph is hauling a trailer through the Rockies.

Show us where you are getting this from and I'll believe you. Otherwise you're just blowing numbers without any basis just to "prove" your argument.

 

If you're looking at the Instantaneous MPG readout, yeah, you're gonna see low numbers. Like I saw 4 mpg, 2 mpg, 0 mpg. Of course, I was sitting in stop and go traffic. Instantaneous MPG numbers presented like this is very misleading and doesn't mean a thing. Mileage is all about averages over some distance for a given engine. Anything else is misleading.

 

Thanks for all the in-fighting about worthless anecdotes.

Has anybody driven the V8 with the old transmission and the V6 with the new transmission to compare their day to day performance and efficiency?

 

Yes. I did. The V6 did great and hauled around a full load of heavy people like it was empty.

Not exactly the same but I recently rented a Ram 1500 with the Hemi/8-speed and drove it about 1,200 miles over a weekend hauling a sectional sofa up and empty back. It averaged about 19 mpg almost exclusively highway. I liked the growl of the V8 but after just a little while the novelty wore off.

In both applications, shifting was so smooth and seamless that without engine noise or a tach I would not have known it shifted. Both seem to shift about the same amount and I certainly didn't find t annoying.

It's very clear to me that the V6/8-speed is EXTREMELY capable and that if you don't need to haul a travel camper up a mountain every weekend or care about a very slightly slower full-throttle acceleration, the V6 will be fine.