My bad, thought I posted 1500. I had just changed my sig yesterday, sorry for any confusion.

 

Topgun, is the mileage that you are reporting in American or Imperial gallons? If it is American, then I definitely am not doing well.

 

I get 10-13 in the city hand calculated, and on the highway long flat road I hit a max of ~20. Hand calculated. Now with winter gas in I'm lucky to be hitting 16 on highway drives.

 

It is american gallons.

 

If I read the owner's literature correctly, I believe you can switch the MDS off, which means the vehicle will never go in to the 4 cylinder mode. The ECO indicator should be coming on and off.

My '03 Dakota 4.7 took a while to breakin. I don't think I started to get average mileage in to the high teens until I had accumulated 8 or 10K on the motor and it kept getting better through its entire life. The 4.7 is a very tight engine. By the time I got to 151,000 miles I was averaging 18 MPG weekly on 87 octane.

Now Hemi guys had told me the same thing, but my first five tanks were 10.39, 17.60, 17.86, 16.86, 18.39. At 8291 miles I recorded 21.57 MPG, and the best so far was 24.43 at 38883 miles (all hand calulated). I'm easy on the gas (normally) and I've found that I pay a lot of attention to the MDS indicator on the EVIC. On country roads, unloaded, 40-55 MPH, I typically see 19-21 MPG readouts on 89 octane.

Driving style and technique have a lot to do with gas mileage. My 5.7 suffers the most from start ups and stop-and-go driving. Cold weather has an impact, too. I can't conclusively prove this, but so far I've seemed to drop 1.6 MPG in the winter, although that's not compared to the same kind of driving.

Regards,
Dusty

2010 Ram Big Horn 1500 Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 545RFE, 3.92 LSD, dual exhaust.

 

I now have have 1300 miles on my Ram and average is 16.5 by hand and showing around 17 to 17.2 on EVIC! Lot of 70, 75, and 80 on interstate! 5.7 with 392 gears!

 

Thanks to all that posted. I think I should get the truck in and checked. It seems that most of you with the same engine and rear gear ratio are doing much better than I. I now have a little over 3000 miles with basically all of them highway miles. My mileage is averaging (hand calculated) 13.3 mpg (US), 16 mpg (Imp) or 17.7 (L/100km), and that sucks. I travel at 110 km/h or about 70 mi/h.

 

I have a '10 1500 4x4 quad cab with the 5.7 and 3.92 gears. My mileage is 15mpg around town and about 19.5-21 on the highway, both hand calculated. I have however, proven to myself that I can get between 9-10 around town if I drive like a dumbass. On the highway I usually drive with the cruise set just above the speed limit and the MDS is usually on.
Jay

 

I'm not trying to discourage you from having your truck checked, but I will guess that your service manager will tell you that you'll need some more miles on the truck before they can make a rational appraisal.

However, you must understand that there are a number of factors determining fuel consumption (discounting mechanical issues). Climate, terrain, wind, speed, the amount of stop-and-go, lenght of trips, tire inflation, and last with the most impact, driver style.

On flat, level ground, summer dry roads, no stops, highway, at 55 MPH, you should be able to maintain a steady speed and keep the ECO indicator on. The EVIC should indicate between 17 - 21MPG. If you find that the ECO indicator is off most the time, your using all eight cylinders and you probably have a heavier than necessary foot.

There's a certain point at almost any speed where the 5.7 will keep vehicle momentum with very little throttle pressure (high manifold vacuum). When you're at that point the ECO is almost always on. I have found that even at speeds well above 55 I can do it.

If you're not use to having a device like the MDS system with the ECO indicator, you probably have...like most us...adopted a behavior of always having some additional throttle pressure that's more than necessary to maintain neutral momentum. That's because most drivers have become psychologically conditioned to demand some feeling of acceleration as a way of validating they are not loosing speed.

Have you ever owned a vehicle before this that had any sort of economy indicator on it? Have you tested the vehicle at highway speeds using the cruise control for and lenght of distance?

Best regards,
Dusty

 

Interesting information about the 'neutral position'. I bought the truck new in October. I live in Canada, so the temperatures have been low recently. And no, I have not owned a truck with the eco system before. I am just comparing the mileage from my 2001 GMC to my current truck. I do try to use the cruise control whenever road conditions permit. Most trips are to my cabin, which is highway driving about 100 miles each direction. I usually cruise at about 70 mph, which is down from my 75 with the GMC. Love the truck, just expecting better mileage.