Who has owned a Pentastar and a Hemi Ram 1500?

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KWG88ss

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If my memory is right the sticker mpg difference between 3.6/5.7 is about 10%. You get good mpg with both motors so 10% seems logical. The Fuelly site shows about a 15% gap. My guess is the 5.7 drivers like to floor board it more than the 3.6 drivers.

Did they change anything in the 20s? MPG for both motors fell off a cliff when I was looking the other day.


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Radioactive Ram

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So my first truck ever was a 2015 Ram 1500 Big Horn 5.7l Hemi crew cab. Loved it! Loved the color (Blue Streak), loved the chrome, loved the V8 power. I had it for a little over 2 years and never had any issues. At that time, my commute was about 4 miles each way to/from work, so the 17ish MPG was never an issue. I didn’t make too many mods other than a few cosmetic ones (chrome mirror caps) and upgraded the speakers (the stock ones were terribly flat). Got a job in DC and made a huge life changes. I needed something more fuel efficient for my 30-mile-each-way commute and trips into congested DC. So my dad bought the truck from me and I got a Kia Soul.
A few months ago, we bought a camper and decided we wanted a truck to tow it, instead of using our minivan. My brother-in-law was able to get us a great deal on a 2019 Ram 1500 Warlock 3.6l quad cab. At first, I was quite worried about the quad cab for a family of 5 and I wasn’t in love with the idea of the V6 since I loved my Hemi. But the deal was too good to pass up, so we took the plunge!
So far I have been impressed with the V6! We took it on a 6,000-mile road trip across the country towing our camper. I definitely noticed the difference in power, but, man, that Pentastar is quite impressive still. Even towing across the Appalachians and the Rockies, there was ample - albeit not pin-you-to-the-seat - power to get us all our crap through the hills. The gas mileage was very impressive: towing everything including the camper MPG ranged from 14-19; we averaged closer to 19 for most of the trip. My dad, towing he and my stepmom and their camper with my old 1500 in flat Georgia, gets about 10 MPG! Of course, their camper is a 30’ travel trailer and ours is a medium size Pop-up, so the aerodynamics and weight are quite different. Nonetheless, I really am happy with the MPG with the V6, almost to the point that I prefer it over the Hemi. Almost...still loved that V8 power and sound!
Other than the umph and the sound, there is very little difference between by Hemi Big Horn and my Warlock Pentastar. Even the quad cab I have now is fine for the family. We really needed the extra foot in the bed for our big cross-country trip more than we needed the leg room for the kids, which surprised me.
Hope this anecdotal information helps!
 

Marine Les

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Did they change anything in the 20s? MPG for both motors fell off a cliff when I was looking the other day.


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Are you talking Fuelly or sticker mpg fell?
 

maxiderm

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So far I have been impressed with the V6! We took it on a 6,000-mile road trip across the country towing our camper. I definitely noticed the difference in power, but, man, that Pentastar is quite impressive still. Even towing across the Appalachians and the Rockies, there was ample - albeit not pin-you-to-the-seat - power to get us all our crap through the hills. The gas mileage was very impressive: towing everything including the camper MPG ranged from 14-19; we averaged closer to 19 for most of the trip. My dad, towing he and my stepmom and their camper with my old 1500 in flat Georgia, gets about 10 MPG! Of course, their camper is a 30’ travel trailer and ours is a medium size Pop-up, so the aerodynamics and weight are quite different. Nonetheless, I really am happy with the MPG with the V6, almost to the point that I prefer it over the Hemi. Almost...still loved that V8 power and sound!

Do you happen to know what your camper weighs? I have the same engine so I'm just wondering how much it will comfortably tow...
 

El Huapo

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Autonomous vehicles will be a hit if you guys are putzing around for miles per gallon. Exhilarating commutes I imagine.

Just wait until all cars use the gps to know where you are and what the speed limit is there and holds you to it. I'll go back to 1960's vehicles. Autonomous ones will probably be the first to do it. "Exhilarating" is right!
 

Radioactive Ram

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Do you happen to know what your camper weighs? I have the same engine so I'm just wondering how much it will comfortably tow...

2600 lb dry weight. With the family, all our gear in the bed and the camper loaded with more stuff, I’d guess we were pushing 4K lbs. Maybe even over slightly. The only thing that would improve the towing experience would be some rear air bags to level the rear end.
 

Marine Les

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Fuelly. Might just be limited miles, but 2020’s been out a while now.


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Not very many listed for 2020. I do not think the mpg has fell off.
 

TheEnder

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For those who have owned both with 8spds, I'm curious to see what your take is on them in terms of differences and similarities?

I owned a 2017 Ram 1500 express QC 4x4, pentastar for just under 3yrs and ~57K miles and recently replaced it with a 2019 Ram 1500 classic SLT CC 4x4 Hemi w/ ~14K miles on it. Both had 3.21 gears.

Right out of the gate I noticed the seemingly constant busyness of the powertrain on the hemi Ram. The programming of the ZF8 seems to be to get it into 8th as soon as possible. Couple that with MDS kicking in/out to varying degrees and it seems like something is ALWAYS happening there. Being a car enthusiast and noticing every noise, movement, feel, etc. It's a lot to get used to. I've only driven it 400-500 miles at this point, so maybe the adaptive shifting will change? I dunno. It's nothing I can't adjust to and I know how to disable MDS by toggling into manual shift mode. Just tap the - on the -/+ so the dash reads "8".

By contrast, my pentastar powered Ram wasn't nearly as busy. I would mostly drive it in tow/haul mode to lock out 8th, but for the most part, it would stay in 7th unless you were on flat ground and super steady on the go pedal, then it would advance to 8th. I guess my point is, I believe there's less herky-jerkiness and vibrations with the Ram 1500 Pentastar given no MDS and different 8spd programming.

With the Hemi, even with Tow/Haul mode on, it will go into 8th as soon as it can. The only difference between tow/haul on/off I can feel with the hemi is you will feel the downshifting with tow/haul on. Other than that, upshifting and gear changes in general feel the same.

The acceleration and sound of the hemi is really something. I'll be 50 in a matter of weeks and this is my first V8. It really is awesome. The pentastar isn't a bad sounding engine, but it's more of an appliance sound than a powerhouse sound. The pentastar IMO has remarkable pin you into the seat acceleration as well, but not quite as much as the hemi as you'd expect.

Here's a similarity that I did NOT expect. Granted I might be a bit early on it, but I'm nearly done with my first (whole) tank of fuel on the Hemi and the dash seems to level out at 22.8mpg average with my usage. My pentastar would be at about 24mpg this time of year. That is remarkable V8 fuel economy IMO.

Sorry for the long winded-ness. Hoping to hear of other's experiences as well and I'll add more to this thread as they come up.

Thanks!

The constant un-busyness of the Pentastar drive train isn’t just for the trucks either, i’ve noticed it with the Chrysler 300 too. I test drove a Chrysler 300 Hemi and it felt like it was practically gonna destroy the trans it was trying so hard to get to 8th, but my 2 V6 300s only go into 8th on a flat surface or when you let off the gas pedal.


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PoMansRam

PoMansRam

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Just a follow up on this. I've had my new to me 2019 classic, hemi about 7 weeks and 4000 miles at this point. I'm still averaging ~21mpg fill-up to fill-up hand calc'd. The 8spd shifting has adapted similarly to what my 2017 Ram pentastar had, but the hemi does get into and stay in 8th longer as you'd expect.

The vibrations and jerkiness associated with MDS under certain conditions are annoying, but one press of the +/- makes it go away if your driving conditions make it unbearable. I'll keep it for the MPGs.

I still believe one of the factors that makes my particular hemi get the MPGs it does is the factory 17" Goodyear wranglers and I keep them aired up to ~41psig. These really are passenger car, highway mileage tires. It seems like Rams with the 20" wheels don't do quite as well MPG wise for what ever reason.

I'm also running supertech synthetic 5w30 as opposed to the recommended 5w20 for this engine. You'd think this would harm MPGs by a fraction, but maybe not. I'm also running LiquiMoly moS2 in with the oil for this batch. Next oil change I'll rotate to LubeGuard BioTech. These adds are likely unnecessary. I'm just doing it for the cam and lifters. I've currently got a Napa gold oil filter on it. Next change will be a <$3 Champ PF48 E-core filter. I bought a case of 12 of them for $32 shipped being the huge spender than I am. LOL.
 

KWG88ss

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Why did you buy a hemi to worry about gas?


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KWG88ss

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Because a prius can't pull a trailer?

Kind of my point.

If you’re pulling a trailer because you have a boat, a 5mpg diff across an average year is like $3-400 bucks.

Don’t own a truck is your budget is that tight [emoji2373]


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KeithStone76

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Kind of my point.

If you’re pulling a trailer because you have a boat, a 5mpg diff across an average year is like $3-400 bucks.

Don’t own a truck is your budget is that tight [emoji2373]


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But most aren't pulling a boat or something else everyday.

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PoMansRam

PoMansRam

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Why did you buy a hemi to worry about gas?

I never intended on buying a hemi. I wanted a crew cab to replace my quad cab. Crew cabs are about impossible to find with a pentastar, especially in the price range I wanted to spend.

I had a feeling I'd do pretty well MPG wise with a hemi given my useage and I was pleasantly surprised at how good they are. ~10weeks and 5500 miles later, I've still yet to get less than ~21.5 mpg tank to tank average. It's often just under 22. This is hand calc'd. The dash readout is very close. W/in 0.5mpg.
 

ramffml

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Kind of my point.

If you’re pulling a trailer because you have a boat, a 5mpg diff across an average year is like $3-400 bucks.

Don’t own a truck is your budget is that tight [emoji2373]


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A 5 mpg difference is like 25% difference. Over the lifetime of the truck thats thousands of dollars. I didn't get to where I am in life by throwing that kind of money away, but hey, you do you and uh "don't worry about it".

It's beyond me why people think owning a truck and cost of said truck should suddenly not matter. If you got money to throw away I'm sure there are some worthy charities that could use a boost.
 

KWG88ss

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A 5 mpg difference is like 25% difference. Over the lifetime of the truck thats thousands of dollars. I didn't get to where I am in life by throwing that kind of money away, but hey, you do you and uh "don't worry about it".

It's beyond me why people think owning a truck and cost of said truck should suddenly not matter. If you got money to throw away I'm sure there are some worthy charities that could use a boost.

That’s entirely subjective. If you lease it’s not “thousands of dollars.” It’s dependent on many factors. If you drive the truck less than 10k miles per year, it matters even less. It’s a range for the driver, not an absolute for the driver.

I never said TCO doesn’t matter, it’s specifically why I bought a v6. I never tow, so, why spend on what I won’t use?

I basically said, if someone is greatly concerned with MPG, a v8 isn’t probably the first choice I would make. But, as he said, he can’t find crew/penta combos where he lives.


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KWG88ss

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I never intended on buying a hemi. I wanted a crew cab to replace my quad cab. Crew cabs are about impossible to find with a pentastar, especially in the price range I wanted to spend.

I had a feeling I'd do pretty well MPG wise with a hemi given my useage and I was pleasantly surprised at how good they are. ~10weeks and 5500 miles later, I've still yet to get less than ~21.5 mpg tank to tank average. It's often just under 22. This is hand calc'd. The dash readout is very close. W/in 0.5mpg.

Checkout Jeff D’Ambrosio in southeastern PA next time you’re looking. They have more RAMS on a lot than I’ve ever seen. I had probably 15-20 configuration choices and this was on leftover 18s.


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PoMansRam

PoMansRam

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Checkout Jeff D’Ambrosio in southeastern PA next time you’re looking. They have more RAMS on a lot than I’ve ever seen. I had probably 15-20 configuration choices and this was on leftover 18s.

Thanks, will do. I typically buy used, 1-2yrs old. With the absolutely INSANE pricing on trucks these days, I'm planning on keeping my 2019 for a while. I paid about $4-5K less in July than the prices I see today.
 
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