The 3.0s are available... My 04 5.7 is getting old, was ready to upgrade... but between the $4500 additional outlay for the 3.0 and the additional $1/gal for diesel... I can't imagine anyone paying for that new combo.

 

Macro vs. Micro

VM Motori & Fiat Power Train Technologies bringing the European experience, Nissan contracting it (Cummins), Volkswagon ahead of the game with TDI. Evidently these makers think we as consumers will get there, just a matter of when. Interesting, Jigs woke me up. K.

I plan on watching Cummins Inc on NYSE ( CMI ).

 

In CA and other western states the diff between gas and diesel is closer to 50 cents. Another thing is that I doubt a hemi can average 17 MPG combined, it's more like 14-15. Where you really get the advantage is in towing. The average towing MPGs is about 10 with gas and real world reports of the diesel are in the high teens. I've crunched the numbers also and it is tempting to get the diesel.

Another thing, the $4500 up charge is against the 3.6 gas engine, it's $2800 versus the hemi.

 

Someone must not have informed Ram customers.

"Between the afternoon of February 7th and the morning of February 10th, Ram Truck received more than 8,000 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel orders, which quickly filled the initial allocation for the exclusive powertrain"

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...246143751.html

 

Those fuel prices/info are bogus. The diesel is too high and Gas prices too low. I guess if you put in the low grade, not reccomended but OK to use fuel, you might be able to get $3.64 gas. Still only a $0.55 difference for the Diesel prices I would be paying.

You have to factor in that it gets MUCH better MPG's not to mention it's worth more on trade or resale than a Hemi. You'll prob get half the value back on resale/trade.

Side by side comparison for 4wd Rams:
Diesel gets 22mpg average and is $4.19 by me.
8spd Auto Hemi gets 17mpg on average and is $3.90 for Midgrade as recommended by manuf.
The 6Spd Auto hemi gets 15mpg average

OK, so for every 10,000 miles traveled under above prices/circumstances.
Diesel cost: $1909
8spd Hemi costs $2294
6spd Hemi costs $2600
Difference of $385 for every 10kmi driven. This means AT the 100kmi mark, you have fully paid back the cost of the diesel. So, anything additonal driven is profit. The extra resale/trade value is profit. This is at average mpg's for 4wd Rams as quoted by: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymod...0_Pickup.shtml
At the 57kmi mark, the 6spd Trans hemi will get surpassed by the diesel....

I would say at the 50kmi is the tipping point of realistic savings to begin 8spd-8spd comparison. Otherwise your just financing your gas money if you chose the Hemi instead.

I bet the Diesel gets better towing mileage than the Hemi, so that means you would gain much sooner than the 50kmi mark.

if i was buying a new truck, i'd opt for the Diesel. Dont forget its a beefier trans as well.

If your buying brand new, stay away from the 6spd Hemi, only buy the 8spd ZF equip Hemi. The 6Spd will cost you $600/yr more to operate if driven 20kmi per year. Luckily I dont drive mine much at all so the cost does not effect me much.

 

gas and diesel prices are upside down in CA right now. I don't know why, but diesel is cheaper than premium gas in CA. Just checked my gas station and diesel costs as much as mid grade gas. In CA when we go to summer gas, the price of gas goes up but not the diesel. I too have been thinking about the 3.0 diesel but need to find one to drive. The wife already got tired of me bitching about not having 4WD (first time in a long time) and told me to go buy one. Maybe later in the year I'll go see a salesman.

Gas prices in CA

http://www.californiagasprices.com/index.aspx?fuel=D

 

here in Canada Gas is way higher then diesel. 130 per liter of gas (regular) mid grades will run 140 here, Diesel is 119and pretty much stays there. Doesn't fluctuate at all compared to Gas. I took this truck for a test drive today. Very impressive..It was odd having 4 gear shifts before the 50 k speed limit. Quiet and very smooth. Had a look under the hood and was impressed.. the entire engine sits back behind the end of the frame rails.
Im a little confuses as to MPG when I test drove it i switched from Canadian to us to get mpg. on the highway at 80 mph it was getting 38 mpg consistently am I missing something here?

 

I've been lurking on another forum and the American average seems to be around 26-28 MPGs so I would say that the 38 you saw is not the American gallon average. One thing that bothers me is that the prices for the trucks are very high and dealers are not going down much below the MSRP, that coupled with the higher price for the diesel and the incentives for the hemi, puts the price of the 3.0 around $8-$10k higher than the hemi. That buys a lot of fuel, so I think I'll pass at this time.

Another thing going on seems to be lots of quality control problems with loose HW and other irritating issues. Most important though, is that there seems to be some implementation problems with the vehicles throwing CEL left and right and the dealers not able to fix them. They had a poll on this other site of the owners who've had CELs vs those that hadn't and surprisingly right now about 26% have thrown CELs.

Not badmouthing the 3.0, but what I've been reading is that people love them but they are slow. Once going, they are fine. I read somewhere that the 0-60 time is about the same as my wife's Prius.

 

In Canada there are rebates for current Dodge owners of 10K so that put the price right at 45K all in.
2 questions, whats HW? Also whats CEL? I hate asking but I am seriously considering this truck..Need all the info I can get

 

HW, means hardware, and CEL is Check Engine Light. Also, you better check about the rebate, you won't get it on Ecodiesel.