ok as some of you know I am a former dodge owner, I drove dodges for 15 years and owned each generation of truck with various engine features through the years. the mechanical cummins dodges were some of the most if not the most fuel efficient diesel engines ever put into a pickup. over the years I have owned a '93 single cab 2wd, '95 super cab 2wd, '02 super cab 4wd, 06 crew cab 4wd, and spent time with my dads 2000 and 2004 dodges. so when it comes to dodge diesel trucks I think its fair to say I have been there and done that. BTW all but the '06 were excellent trucks.

the best fuel mileage truck out of all of them was the '93 single cab 2wd with 5 speed manual. this truck according to my research weighed less than #5000's and as a result would pull an honest 20 mpg combined city and highway on summer fuel. in some cases I got 23 mpg on the highway mostly driving from salt lake to farmington NM, every time going or coming I would pull 23 mpg, but in no other situation, 20mpg was what it got in almost all cases.

anyways fast forward 11 years later to my 2011 crew cab long bed 4wd ford. does it beat the ole '93 cummins???? no but it comes close to matching it I am seeing 18.5 in the same situations the old dodge would pull 20 mpg, however keep in mind the ford is 3 THOUSAND #'s heavier!!!!! that is 60% heavier, plus the ford has to move the related 4wd components, higher ride height and did I mention 3k more pounds. so with that said the 2011 6.7 is the most fuel efficient diesel engine I have ever driven, more efficient than a non emission mechanical straight 6 diesel, to me thats is saying something, imagine if you dropped the 6.7 in that old dodge with an end weight of 5000 #'s with no 4 WD ???

will my 6.7 trump the magical 20 mpg, I am sure it will but doing so would mean me driving it in special circumstances to do it, I am talking real world here, just as the old dodge would probably pull 25 mpg if I kept the speed at 55 mph the whole way.

at the end of the day I am noticing I don't fuel up as often as with my '06 dodge in that case I am seeing 22-25% better mileage bobtail and 10% better while towing, again the 06 didn't have a ton of emissions controls guys that are coming from DPF trucks 07-10 models beit dodge, ford, or chevy. I could easily see a guy saving $200 a month in fuel over these trucks. so if you have a truck you could bail out on the savings in buying an '11 ford might just be worth it, with fuel at $4/gal I am saving $100 a month over what that '06 dodge was getting.

so there you go the final fuel mileage word. my 2011 ford has 10k miles on it now. BTW I always hand calculate.

 

Great post! Nice to have your years of perspective.

 

Going from an 07 Cummins 5.9 I can say the same thing. This is one heavy truck but the added comfort features, room etc make it well worth it. Not taking much of a hit for fuel either although I wish Ford would have put a bigger stick fuel tank in her. Mid 30's would have been nice.

 

They did.........in the long beds.

I got 22.1 MPG on a trip from Buffalo, MO to Kansas City empty the other day. I was tickled pink!

I am averaging about 18 mixed (city/hwy, empty) and about 15 pulling a loaded covered utility trailer.

My 6 cyl. 4L Sport-Trac got about 15 so thats pretty darn good for TWICE the vehicle.

And now that diesel has fallen to only $.10 more than regular unleaded I am dancing in the streets!

 

I got 20.6 mpg in a 150 mile trip this week, interstate driving up I-95 from Richmond to Washington D.C. I was doing 75-80 mph and not "babying" it. Also, I only have 500 miles on the truck, so it's not "broke in" yet.

 

Hey Cowboy, what was so bad about the 06 Dodge? Just curious. I had a 2003 Ram 3500 with the cummins, DRW 4x4 crew cab (not a trued crew cab) that I bought brand new. I loved that truck for the 3 years I had it. I sold it with 28K miles due to divorce. I saw the guy I sold it to a couple months ago and he said it's been a great truck with 160K miles now no major repairs other than some sensor. He was very happy.

 

My 08 6.4 is getting the same highway mileage as our equinox, about 18 MPG.

On some days the ford gets worse, the equinox does a little better, but on average the ford 350 cc is about 10-20% harder on fuel, which is pathetic for the equinox.

 

believe it or not but I think the '03 was the best model of those vintage of trucks the engines were better because they didn't have the 3 rd injection event like my 06 did, which put a small amount of extra fuel into the cat to keep it hot, the 03's didn't have a cat. this was changed mid model year '04, any truck that was rated at 305 hp has the non 3rd injection event and thus I feel gets about 10% better mileage, than the later build trucks.

also with the 03's and 4's I think the suppliers for ball joints and u joints and other componets weren't as sloppy as they were in 06, the 06 was a hunk of junk that cost me 7 grand in out of pocket repairs to get to 95k miles. every suspension componet I replaced, ball joints u joints you name it, and when I needed to sell the truck the ball joints were BAD AGAIN!!!!! park pin in the tranny went bad making it hard to get into gear, and right before I sold it the AC compressor went out, another 1k gone. the sheet metal seemed really thin compared to my new ford and also look at the tail gates on the 03-10 dodges if the truck has seem much use you will find dents in the tailgate that look like they came from the inside, along each side of the tailgate near the edge about mid way down, its some sort of design flaw because I would say at least half the trucks driving around town have the dents in the same exact spots.

 

That does seem like a complete waste of fuel especially since my 2003 Dodge wasn't that economical. That's too bad that Dodge went down on their quality to prob just save a few bucks

 

puts things in perspective doesn't it.

If I had the factory front bumper and hwy tires I could probably get that as well. I can average 17 on the hwy now in my 6.4.

My guess is maybe you will get another 1-1.5 as the motor gets a few more miles on it maybe.

 

Great post. A very nice comparison and history.

 

I loved my 07 5.9. The only downfall was the stock 48RE auto tranny. If I drove 70 it would sound like the engine was over working due to the gearing and on long trips it became an annoyance (4 speed auto). I should have bought the 6 speed manual at the time.

 

I've tried lots of times to talk dodge guys into a ford.

"Give up my 27 MPG for the 16 that thing gets? " , they'd say.

I've never owned a cummins dodge, for some reasons people remember the good things about the cummins, and the bad things about the powerstroke.

 

Even if the mileage doesn't quite match, don't forget the extra power you get with the new 6.7 PSD and you are right about the weight. Like you said these trucks are bigger and have to face emissions. I wonder how different these trucks would be if the automakers didn't have start to dealing with the strict emissions standards the EPA started enacting almost ten years ago. I'm tempted to believe that the fuel efficiency would be much greater today and they would not even have the same engines. Emissions is a huge influence on how these trucks are built.

 

I think without emissions regulations, there would still be a war over HP, and there would still be economy concerns.

Most likely they would be similar, possibly simpler parts.

I think common rail would have prevailed,

No EGR or DPF,

Maybe a touch cheaper.

As a side note, I think fords ecoboost also would have done much better without emission regs.

I bet some neat programmers come out for that.