I am going to buy a used four door, 4x4, 2500 with the cummins diesel engine soon. I would like some advice before I purchase one. I was wondering if there are any certain year models that perform better than others. Ihave heard that these trucks gethave good fuel economy. What is the typicalmpg I should expect? eg. city, highway, pulling. I would appreciate the input.

Thanks,
Rob

 

Don't buy one expecting good fuel economy. I think they do better than a similar sized gas truck, but they still suck down the fuel. My 06 started out pretty impressive with 15 city and 19-20 hwy. Now with this ULSD fuel and maybe some sort of winter-blend I am getting about 13 city, 17-18 hwy. I say that is still decent for a truck of this size and an enormous amount of power in stock trim. Certainly does better than my half-ton Chevy ever did and better than my 04 V-6 Tacoma. Man was that a gutless, underpowered, gas sucking machine. That thing maybe got 15 city and flat out fell on it's face at the first sign of an incline. Go for it, this cummins engine is a dream. I love the truck, but realize that it is certainly no fuel-efficient machine. Folks that claim 22, and 24 mpg with these trucks boggle my mind. I frankly have a hard time believing it. With that said, I don't think I will ever go back to a gasser. My first diesel has really impressed me to date.....

Brent

 

Brent13,

My MPG were about the same as yours at first. After putting a programmer on my truck is when I gained the extra MPG. It made a world of change to my MPG. I would think most the claims you have seen are people with programmer's. I have no problem getting 20.8-21.3 MPG at 75 MPH on the hwy. It was better than that until I cut my muffler off. This is hand calculated.

Rob,

As Brent said. The Cummins is awesome. When you do your pulling you will say man what I have been missing. I also had a 1/2 ton Chev. with the Vortec 326 cid. I got 18.3 MPG on the hwy. Know I have a truck that weights over2 times as much getting better MPG and torque out the azz. You can not go wrong.The CTD is a work horse.........

 

1995 12 valve.

 

20 to 21 mpg !! I know a lot of people wil diesels and have done a lot of reading on many different forums and you're the first I've even seen or heard of with that kind of mileage. I got about 18 when I first bought my truck home. Now, with a programmer I'm lucky to get 15. You must be REALLY light on the pedal

 

He got a 2 wheel drive , it would get better mileage, less weight, most of us have 4x4's and we areturning the front axel's all the time

 

Whoops... I didn't notice that [&:]. That sure would make a difference.

 

You also gotta remember that you are 6" higher in the air and turning big rubber. That KILLS fuel mileage. You get all the extra wind resistance of everything under your truck, the resistance of the tires and the extra strain that causes the engine.

Day to day, I'm getting16 - 18, depending on the traffic and how many lights I catch.On the highway, if I'm running empty and keep it under 72 MPH or 2000 RPM's, I can easily push 21 MPG. That's hand calc.....the lie-o-meter is up in the 23 - 24 range.

 

You guys say 16-18 and whatnot like it aint so good. My wrangler with the 4 banger gets that mileage. so for me getting 16-18 wit 350 hp and 610 lb ft of torque aint so shabby. I can't wait for mine to come in. dealer said he has no idea how long the order will take till my truck is here but i'm ok with waiting.

 

I get 19-21 hand calculated highway keeping the rpm's under 2000. Over 2k and the milage plumitts.