2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel officially rated at 7.3 L/100 km highway

2020 Ram 1500 EcoDieselDerek McNaughton / Driving Rams 2020 1500 EcoDiesel 44 offers highway fuel economy on par with the best diesel 44 full-size pickups, the truckmaker claims, with an officially rated return of 8.0 L/100 km (35 mpg) highway and 11.1 L/100 km (25 mpg) city.When the turbocharged 3.0-litre V-6 EcoDiesel is backed up with a 42 drivetrain, those numbers get even better: 7.3 L/100 km (39 mpg) highway and 10.5 L/100 km (27 mpg) city.The truckmaker said early October that the all-new engine also boasts best-in-class torque for half-ton diesels, at 480 lb.-ft.; and best diesel towing capability, at 5,697 kg (12,560 lbs).When optioned with the 125-litre fuel tank, the trucks best-in-segment driving range exceeds 1,600 km. Moving up to the EcoDiesel will add a premium of $5,800 in Canada if youre equipping it instead of the standard 3.6-litre Pentastar V-6 on the Tradesman and Big Horn trims; and costs $3,900 over the 5.7-litre HEMI V-8 standard in the rest of the Ram 1500 range.Yes, that means you can get the EcoDiesel in every trim in the 1500 line including the Rebel. The most affordable option, the Tradesman Quad Cab 2WD, starts at $49,395
Origin: 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel officially rated at 7.3 L/100 km highway

Hemi V8 or Ecodiesel? Which Ram 1500 engine should you choose?

2019 Laramie Longhorn 4×4 Crew CabDerek McNaughton Many parents before me, and many parents to come, will make the trip the one where mom and dad pack up son or daughter and ferry him or her off to university, setting the kid up in an overpriced student hovel where, the hope is, these young adults become self sufficient enough to soar on their own. And for a lot of parents, that journey involves a long drive.Last year, we made this very trip from Ottawa to Halifax in an F-150 diesel, discovering the joys of great fuel economy that underlined the value of a diesel underhood, even if it does initially cost more to option a pickup with diesel. This year, having just driven Ram’s new EcoDiesel in the 2020 Ram 1500, it seemed obvious to compare Rams diesel with Fords on our same (and final) odyssey from Ottawa to Halifax and back this year, a distance of roughly 3,000 kilometres to drop the young lad at school.But because the new EcoDiesel is only now coming to market, the diesel was not yet available, so instead we chose to see how much different a long trip like this would be with a gasoline engine designed around fuel efficiency. With Ram promising a 10 per-cent improvement on its 5.7-litre Hemi, and bragging it has the most efficient gasoline V8 in the segment, could a gasoline engine equipped with eTorque, aero mode and cylinder deactivation come remotely close to its EcoDiesel alternative? If so, which engine would be the better choice when buying a new Ram, the EcoDiesel or the Hemi? The truck that FCA supplied was no regular Ram 1500. This was a 2019 Laramie Longhorn 44 Crew Cab equipped with air suspension, 12-inch uconnect system, drivers assistance package, 22-inch wheels, Ramboxes, panoramic roof along, 124-litre tank and a bunch of other options to sticker at $86,500 before fees. In other words, about as loaded as they come, and, yes, expensive, but in line with the many other expensive trucks from Ford and GM. And to be sure, the truck was stunning to look at, positively gorgeous inside, an utterly pleasing and rewarding truck to drive in so many ways (the glitchy navigation system notwithstanding.)So how thirsty was the eTorque gas engine? From full, the range to empty on the big tank (a $445 option) showed 956 km to empty pretty close to the roughly 1,000 km usually afforded by a diesel. On the trip out to Halifax from Ottawa, with a payload of about 400 kilograms consisting of my sons life possessions, including a big, fold-out couch, and with a constant speed ranging from 120 km/h to 125 km/h through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where the speed limit is a more sensible 110 km/h, we averaged 10.9 to 12.9 L/100 km over 1,459 kilometres that took 13.5 hours to complete. On the way back, without a payload and one less person, we scored 11.6 over the 12 hours and 54 minutes it took to travel 1,451 kilometres. The onboard computer for the entire 3,023-kilometre trip registered 11.5.The diesel certainly costs more up front, but it brings more torque. Last year, in Fords F-150 diesel, we averaged 9.9 L/100 kilometres over the course of that same long, east coast trip to Dalhousie. Rams new EcoDiesel is not yet rated, but promises to be better than the last generation engine that averaged 8.8 L/100 km highway and 10.8 overall.That, therefore, makes the 5.7-litre Hemi only 1.6 L/100 km worse in fuel consumption over the Ford diesel, and 2.7 L/100 km poorer over the old Ram EcoDiesel, but likely to be 3.0 L worse off when the rating becomes official for the new EcoDiesel engine with 480 pound-feet of torque.Thats a fuel margin far closer than we thought possible in a gasoline V8 with 395 horsepower and 410 lb.-ft. of torque. Had we stuck closer to 100 km/h, the results would have been even better, closer to the diesel. Score one for the Hemi. Both there and back, we only stopped once for fuel, with a final fuel bill from full-on-departure to full-on-return totalling $478. Gasoline ranged from $1.11 to $1.20 / litre (but diesel was about 10 cents a litre more in Ontario, and on par in Halifax). In the diesel last year, we spent $450 (with diesel ranging from $1.21 to $1.39 per litre back then.) The Hemis Eco mode, which shuts down four cylinders when all eight are not required, definitely helped to make some of the gains, with Eco able to maintain operation even at 110-120 km/h, as long as the road was flat. The trucks aero mode also helped, lowering the truck slightly via the air suspension to improve aerodynamics. Eco mode does give off a strange exhaust note when the engine is forced to run on half of its cylinders, however, and makes the 5.7 Hemi feel far less smooth when its operating, partly because in normal mode, the 5.7 is fabulously silky. Noise cancelling features have been added to eliminate the gruffness of the four-cylinder Eco mode, but some coarseness is still detectable when the switch occurs, especially so when windows are open. Eco can, however, be
Origin: Hemi V8 or Ecodiesel? Which Ram 1500 engine should you choose?

First Drive: 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

2020 Ram 1500 EcoDieselDerek McNaughton / Driving DULUTH, Minn. The market for diesel engines in this country went entirely limp in 2015, when it became clear certain automakers had been gaming the emissions systems on their vehicles to produce cleaner results than those vehicles actually produced. For all of diesels promise and capability, any hope for the technology vanished in the ensuing hysteria over the egregious emissions cheating that took place. The same dark cloud didnt choke the appetite for half-ton diesel pickups to the same degree. While Ram has a had a small-displacement diesel in its 1500 pickup since 2014 interrupted by an EPA investigation in 2016 FCA says demand has remained relatively constant, with a take rate hovering around 18 per cent for its 44 trucks.Near the tail end of the dieselgate scandal last year, Ford released a 3.0-litre diesel in its ubiquitous F-150 with 440 lb.-ft. of torque. GM has now launched its diesel too, a 3.0L straight-six in the Silverado and Sierra with 460 lb.-ft., and its keeping the 2.8L diesel in the midsize Canyon and Colorado. While Nissan is putting the brakes on the brilliant Cummins diesel as it gears up for a new Titan, the Big Three continue to rightly embrace diesel.Thats because automakers and truck owners alike have realized diesel has true merit in a pickup, the efficiency and torque offering an unsurpassed solution to the problem of quickly moving such a large and not-terribly-aerodynamic mass down the road. Producing levels of power that would be impossible to replicate without tons of gasoline or electricity, small diesels in light duty trucks simply make a lot of common sense, especially so if the particulates and NOx coming out the tailpipe can be tightly controlled.And so Ram is soldiering on with a new EcoDiesel in the Ram 1500, trumpeting the engines best-in-class torque, towing and efficiency. Indeed, rated at 260 horsepower and 480 lb.-ft. of torque, Rams third-generation EcoDiesel is now the most powerful diesel half ton pickup, able to tow a maximum 12,560 pounds in 2WD versions and about 12,100 for 4WD trucks. For the first time, the diesel will also be an option on all Ram models in the line up, including the off-roadish Rebel and street-wise Sport. And what a sweetheart an engine this is. Light the oil-burning V6 via the push-button start and the muted growl under the bulged hood sounds not much different than a small gasoline V8. The uninitiated would not know the difference, the typical racket of the diesel significantly quelled. While the previous engine was respectfully quiet, too, the new one lowers the noise even more, shaving 3 decibels off what was already a cricket-like ride.Of course theres some diesel clatter under acceleration, as there should be. But in steady state highway cruising, its easy to forget theres a diesel up front, the noise lowered in part by pistons that reduce piston slap by offsetting the crank-pin-hole ever so slightly. This, in a truck that for 2019 was made significantly quieter, in addition to receiving a number of welcome design features along with the absolute best interior of any truck on the market. The 60-40 split folding tailgate is pure genius, too.There is also no coarseness whatsoever to this new engine, just a fountain of torque that trails off as speed builds up. While horsepower climbs to 260 at 3,600 rpm, peak torque arrives earlier, now at 1,600 rpm, making towing and offloading that much easier. The only thing to detract from all the pleasure is a delayed throttle response a slow tip in held back by a need to avoid dumping too much fuel into the engine in order to control emissions, as well as some time for the turbo to spool and the eight-speed TorqueFlite transmission to find the right gear. Some drivers might not even notice the delay, but others will. The transmission is quick at finding the right gear, and the rotary shift is easy to operate, but I still want an easier way to shift gears on occasion.Out on the highway is where the true gold of this diesel reveals itself. FCA has not released official fuel economy figures yet, but it wasnt difficult to achieve 8.2 L/100 kilometres at 120 km/h, a figure that dropped to 7.9 on occasion in steady 100 km/h driving. Most Hyundai Elantras and Honda Civics do not average so little overall, so for a big boxy truck, those numbers are why people who regularly drive long distances so love their diesels. And Ram engineers say this new engine is more efficient than the last; we averaged 8.4 highway on a long-term test and 9.3 overall. A $5,800 option over the standard 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 eTorque engine on Tradesman and Big Horn, and a $3,900 option over the standard 5.7-litre HEMI V8 on the Sport, Rebel, Laramie, Longhorn, and Limited trucks, the new EcoDiesel is not, however, all about economics. Quite simply, its for people who regularly tow or drive long distances. We pulled a 6,000-pound boat
Origin: First Drive: 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

Ram’s next-gen EcoDiesel boasts class-leading torque

Ram has kicked off the month in a big, torquey way by announcing its next-generation EcoDiesel bound for its 2020 half-ton pickups. Rated at a heady 260 horsepower and 480 lb.-ft. of torque, FCA can make the claim it has the torquiest diesel half-ton on the market, as it bests the former champ, General Motors’ Silverado/Sierra, by 20 lb.-ft. All that torque is available at a barely-off-idle 1,600 rpm, by the way, meaning this thing should provide a good kick in the pants from rest. It’ll certainly haul the mail—12,560 pounds of it. That’s its new towing capacity when properly equipped, vastly outstripping the old EcoDiesel, which maxed out at 9,290 lbs of hauling. “The all-new EcoDiesel engine and our eTorque mild-hybrid powertrain technologies deliver the highest available fuel efficiency for our Ram 1500 customers,” said Reid Bigland, head of Ram Brand. That statement is interesting, given this new EcoDiesel – informally called the Gen 3 – hasn’t yet been rated for mileage. The old version of the EcoDiesel, which we’ll call the Gen 2, had a fuel economy rating of 8.71 L/100 km on the highway cycle. The 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel is available in all models and configurations, including a first-time offering in the Ram Rebel. This is great news for off-road gearheads like your author, who know the value of low-end grunt out on the trail. Diesels aren’t great for high-rpm situations like blasting through a sand wash, but provide many advantages in other forms of off-roading. Offering it on the Rebel trim makes a whole lotta sense. 2019 Ram 1500 Limited Pricing wasn’t announced today, nor were official fuel economy ratings. Note well: the Ram 1500 Classic is also available with an EcoDiesel, but it is of the so-called Gen 2 variety. The 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel will go on sale in the fourth quarter of
Origin: Ram’s next-gen EcoDiesel boasts class-leading torque