If you’re into cars, then you should be aware of the benefits of diesel engines, especially on commercial vehicles and trucks in general, where fuel economy and torque matter the most. American automakers are slowly catching up and adopting the use of diesel powertrains in their bestselling models, which are none other than pickup trucks.
We knew that the Chrysler Group’s new diesel-powered Ram 1500 would excel in fuel economy and now, EPA has proved us right with the rear-wheel drive version of the truck earning ratings of 28mpg (8.4l/100km) highway, 20mpg (11.8l/100km) city and 23mpg (10.2l/100km) combined.
When fitted with AWD, the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel returns 27mpg highway, 19mpg city and 22mpg combined.
These figures not only improve upon the 1500 with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 gasoline engine that earned 25 mpg highway, but also place the diesel in front of the full-size pickup truck group, and even beat Toyota’s mid-size Tacoma 2WD on the highway (25mpg), while matching it in combined economy (23mpg) and losing in the city (21mpg).
“The new Ram 1500 EcoDiesel is truly in a class of its own with 28 MPG and the ability to tow 9200 pounds,” said Ram CEO, Reid Bigland. “To put the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel in context, it gets 6 mpg better fuel economy than the best F150 Eco-Boost. Overall, the Ram 1500 Eco-Diesel has outstanding pick-up truck capability with compact-car-like fuel economy.”
The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel employs the use of a 3.0-liter V6 turbo diesel that twists out 240hp and 420 lb.-ft. of torque connected to an 8-speed automatic transmission – the same unit can be found in the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Ordering for the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel begins this week on February 7, with prices starting at $24,200 plus $1,195 destination, which Rams says is “$2,850 greater than a similarly equipped Ram 1500 with a 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 with TorqueFlite 8-speed transmission”.
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