Think I finally narrowed down my choice to the 2014 Big Horn Crew Cab 4x4 6 cyl. I am curious if anyone out there owns one and if they regret not getting the Hemi. I don't tow or haul, and have an 80 mile day commute so a few extra miles would be great. Thanks

 

In my experience, the hemi gets better miliage than the old 4.7 I had. I would look at your commute, if it has a good deal of highway (not bumper to bumper) the hemi may be more economical for moving this rig along.

 

Hemi has 16 spark plugs, Not sure if the v/6 has one plug per cylinder, so thiers savings all ready in spark plugs.

If it were me, I would down grade to a slt hemi with the 8 speed auto, Rear end ratios, tire size, drving style, effect mpg more so than engine displacement.

 

Just curious, since I am don't fully understand all of the mechanics behind an engine, but what would or how would the number of spark plugs affect the MPG. I know 1 or 2 miles per gallon may not seem like a lot but over a tank of gas thats another morning or evening commute for me I could get out of a tank full. I am about 90% highway on my commute. This is my biggest hurdle right now is the HEMI vs. 6 cyl. and its killing me. I need to find some more info on the HEMI and 8 speed auto. I just naturally assumed 6 cyl 8 speed would be best. More confusion for me. haha.

 

Chris,
that new V6 makes a ton of power, not to mention, equipped with an 8-SPEED transmission. If more HEMI owners jumped into a V6 ram with that 8-speed, i bet they`d be thinkin more on buying it over the hemi. (unless you really need a tow vehicle) Better mpg`s, cheaper service intervals (less spark plugs), why wouldnt you buy the V6. I own a couple hemi trucks, love`m, BUT, they are daily drivers. I drive 2hrs a day just to get back an forth to work, i would much rather be feeding a V6 with an 8-speed, trust me. I dont use any of my vehicles for tow or hauling rigs either, so i might be looking into the V6 with the 8 speed next time around.

As for the hemi with 16 spark plugs... if i remember correctly, i believe they use 8 of them to burn off any excess fuel left in the cylinders after combustion to get cleaner emissions. Having 16 spark plugs dosent always meen you`re going to get better fuel economy, if thats what you`re thinking.

 

I have the Hemi, but if you are using your truck for a daily commute the 6 cyl Pentastar is a very good engine coupled with the 3.21 rear end for that task. Even if you did decide to tow it has a plenty of ability. The 3.55 rear can now tow to just over 7k lbs and the 3.21 rear if I remember correctly is over 5k lbs, very respectable.

I did test drive a Ram Pentastar 6 and was pretty impressed with its ability.

It is nice to have the growl of the Hemi, but go with your needs.

 

The 2014 V6 Ram 1500 8spd is just great gas mileage. I'm talking 21 mpg combined vs 16 mpg combined for the Hemi. Just do the math. The tow rating is 7450 lbs on the V6 which was a bump up after they used a more robust parking gear in the transmission for parking a trailer on a hill.

I got a Durango with the Pentastar /5-speed. I don't regret skipping the HEMI after 40k miles of driving as I've got plenty of power and still get great mileage. When towing (did not speed over 55 mph) I had to floor it on some steep hills with a +4000 lbs trailer. After 800 miles of that I got on 3 fill-ups 16.6 mpg, 13.8 mpg (hills), and 15.6 mpg. Without towing my gas mileage is 20.0 mpg combined (tracked 30K of miles). The 8-speed according to ZF technical research (they engineered/designed the 8-speed) show a 10-15% increase in fuel economy over the SAME 5-speed. Seeing logged fuel ups of 21 combined for the Ram 1500 8-spd V6, I believe it.

BTW ZF also made the 8 -speed so that it could become a hybrid in the future. Interesting to see if that ever happens.