I sure hope DC knows what they are doing. I recently bought my 04 HEMI (about 5 months ago) and have been having second thoughts about it. Dont get me wrong I love this truck but it eats up so much gas, and in California it's expensive. The new 6.1L Hemi I assume will have even worse MPG... And with gas prices reaching an ALL TIME HIGH I think DC will be dumb to produce a 6.1L gas guzzler. I know, you all are going to say, "It's a big truck, you can't have power and good gas milage". What do you all think about the new HEMI? Smart move? Also, is the 6.1L going to completely replace the 5.7L and if so, why? DC just came out with the 5.7L a few years ago.

 

sorry to double post...It just seems odd that car makers are producing bigger engines that drink more gas during times of High gas prices. Only thing I know is that if gas does get any higher, some say it'll be 3.00 plus for gas this summer in Cali, then I will be forced to get rid of my Hemi. It's OPEC, those greedy bastards keep production at 20% so that gas prices will remain high.

 

The 6.1L, if it gets produced, will NOT replace the 5.7L HEMI. The 6.1L will be the base motor in the heavy duty models, you won't see it in the half ton. Should they build it? Hell Yes. People that are in the market for a heavy duty truck are not usually that concerned about mileage.

 

Maybe I bought a ringer, but with my 04 Ram 1500 QC, I have my cake and can eat it, too. In town I'm avg. 14 (and that's in a lot of stop and go in Atlanta) which is what it's rated, but if I keep it at 65-70 on the highway, it get's 22.5-23 mpg. It drops to 19 mpg at 75 mph and 17 at 80.

I know for you guys in CA this won't seem like a much, but gas just hit the $2 mark in Atlanta. First time ever. We're used to cheap gas around here. I'm now beginning to understand your pain of putting $50 + a week into the tank for regular. It cost $35 to fill it with midgrade in Jan. when I first bought it.

 

Hah.. I hear this all the time here, in Canada, people always ask about gas mileage.. to me, i dont care one bit. Ive owen cars that averaged 5-8mpg and drove them on freeway trips for hours.. My last truck was a 89 Ford 302 5sp, with 4.56 gears and 35" mudders, and on the trip home with the Hemi, the old truck was $5 more every fill up than the Dodge.

Im doign some math now, you say 50+ or so a week.. US, so around 70 CDN .. thats alot more then were paying, right now, I just filled up on Premuim, @ 1.06/L for my 34g tank, $145 or so.. CDN, @ $105 US.. so, were pretty close, with exchange rate and gas price's.

I dunno.. here, with our 600ppl.. we dont have alot of options, closte town is a 3-4hr drive, Ive always looked at gas as.. a need, right up there with food and rent. I buy it, i refill it..

No that i read up.. not sure why is started this ramble.. heh.. ill put this up to my .02 cents worth..

 

first of all alot of companies are making economic vehicles honda, toyota, etc. etc. but dodge is not concerned with such cry baby issues. They are making heavy powerful trucks and I love it and am very happy to have my dodge. I am getting just as much mpg as most of you fellas and that is just fine although when my friends offer to drive im real quick to say good idea!

 

Ya you know what, I'm from Chicago, gas hit something like 201 last time I checked in the middle of the week, maybe it was more, but ya I have a 5.9L, damn that thing sucks gas, but hell what you gonna do you got a big truck, my friends all have little jap crap imports that pump 29 mpg and they are complaining about high gas. I personally don't care, they ask me how I pull of with 13-14 mpg I say hell, I don't redline, I drive normal, don't have to always go into high rpms every time I have to accelerate between stop signs, and you know what I need the damn power, I wouldn't give up the big block for anything, I just like almost all of you am a V8 owner and no one from those high gas price extremists to some stupid eco-freaks are going to tell me that I shouldn't have a big engine, because its my right to have what I want, its not just your damn environment that you can tell people not to drive big cars, hell I'm sure I don't do have as bad as some of their beaters that burn oil, but ya in my opinion, build that 6.1L just puts dodge ahead of the gang, gives power for those that want it, and trust me if you are worried about gas, then you don't buy trucks.

Thats my 02 cents.
Mike.

 

Well, Id be happy to pay under 2.00 a gallon,
Here in BC Canada we are looking at $0.96 a liter
conver that to a US Gallon and its $3.84 a gallon........ (Canadian Dollar)

so Yes I drive a Dodge, and Yes it cost me approx $70 to fill up yesterday. But if you need a full size truck, why not drive the best!!!!

later

 

I'm not trying to say that DC needs to produce a smaller more fuel efficent engine, what I am saying is that when gas prices do reach 3 dollars a gallon MOST people wont be able to afford the gas. Gas is expensive and if someone wants to spend their hard earned money on that gas for their big truck more power to them. I don't care how other people want to spend their money. I'm just saying that DC would be stupid to ignore the future, hybrid cars/trucks are going to be the way of the future and if anyone says it's not is obviously blind or living in a cave somewhere. Should DC produce the 6.1L HEMI? Sure, I don't care. But we should all "live it up now". For anyone out there that isn't familiar with history I would like to bring to your attention the 1973 Oil Crisis. Only 30 years ago we had so little gas that we had to ration our reserves, the governent even tried to enforce a 55 MPH speed limit on the freeway in an effort to make people use less gas. The only point I am trying to make is that Americans as a whole need to realize where our gas comes from, 53% of all our oil is imported. We heavily rely on this oil and OPEC sets the price. I just dont want to see another Oil crisis and all those big trucks on the side of the road sitting there because they don't have any gas to put in their tanks. The Japanese automakers made their plunge into the US market during this Crisis, making fuel efficent Civics and such. Taking much of the car market away from domestic producers, which never got it back. I don't want to start any sort of fight on this forum and absolutly LOVE my HEMI, but if gas prices do get any higher I will be getting rid or it because I have to, not that I want to. Just my 2 cents into what I think is the near future with big engines. For all of you too young to remember 1973...ask your dad.

 

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones as my Hemi gets decent gas mileage. I usually average from 15 to 16 mpg. just hoping around on short trips around town.

On my last trip to the coast where I experience about one half of the trip on interstates and the other half divided rather equally between four lane and 2 lane driving, I averaged 19.5 mpg. I do not push the truck as some do, driving mostly around 75 on the interstate and 60 to 65 on the other roads. It's not an economy vehicle by any stretch, but it's not that bad for what it is. Gets better gas mileage than my 5.9 Dakota did.

According to what I have read, the next thing you will see, starting as early as this summer is the Hemi with the Multi Displacement System. I understand that the Hemi was designed from the ground up with this in mind. It will feature cylinder deactivation, from 8 cylinders when power is needed to 4 cylinders when extra power is not required. They say that this engine will be assigned first to the Chrysler 300C and the Dodge Magnum RT. I can't imagine that it would not find it's way into a truck before it was over with. Fuel savings are supposed to be in the neighborhood of 10% or better. Unlike the old Cadillac 4-6-8 system, this one is actually supposed to work extremely well.