2020 1500 eTorque with terrible MPG

[Jeff A]

So I just bought a new 2020 1500 Limited eTorque and I'm really having some issues with my MPG.

I've been through 4 tanks of gas so far, and here's what I'm getting:
1st tank - 13.02 MPG (in town) - 275 miles, 21.128 gallons
2nd tank - 12.17 MPG (in town) - 272 miles, 22.354 gallons
3rd tank - 16.96 MPG (all highway) - 377 miles, 22.226 gallons
4th tank - 16.21 MPG (all highway) - 328 miles, 20.229 gallons. For this tank I used the cruise control for ~80% of the time, left at 73 mph.

According to my window sticker I should be getting 17 MPG in the city and 22 MPG on the highway. So I'm running about 25% lower MPG than advertised in the city and the highway. I took it to the dealership to ask them to look at it, but before I even dropped it off the service adviser told me it's all in how you drive it, and to try a different gas station. I told them that I let my wife drive it for one of the tanks, and all 4 fill ups were at different stations. Low and behold, they didn't find anything wrong with it.

What do you guys think about this? Anyone else seeing this kind of mileage? I have 2 family members with 2015 Ram 1500's that routinely get about 15/20 MPG. If I'm at 12/16 that's a huge disappointment for such an expensive truck.

I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give me on working with a service department who's actually interested in seeing if there's a problem, or anything I can do to help refine this on my own.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[KeithP]

So I just bought a new 2020 1500 Limited eTorque and I'm really having some issues with my MPG.

I've been through 4 tanks of gas so far, and here's what I'm getting:
1st tank - 13.02 MPG (in town) - 275 miles, 21.128 gallons
2nd tank - 12.17 MPG (in town) - 272 miles, 22.354 gallons
3rd tank - 16.96 MPG (all highway) - 377 miles, 22.226 gallons
4th tank - 16.21 MPG (all highway) - 328 miles, 20.229 gallons. For this tank I used the cruise control for ~80% of the time, left at 73 mph.

According to my window sticker I should be getting 17 MPG in the city and 22 MPG on the highway. So I'm running about 25% lower MPG than advertised in the city and the highway. I took it to the dealership to ask them to look at it, but before I even dropped it off the service adviser told me it's all in how you drive it, and to try a different gas station. I told them that I let my wife drive it for one of the tanks, and all 4 fill ups were at different stations. Low and behold, they didn't find anything wrong with it.

What do you guys think about this? Anyone else seeing this kind of mileage? I have 2 family members with 2015 Ram 1500's that routinely get about 15/20 MPG. If I'm at 12/16 that's a huge disappointment for such an expensive truck.

I'd really appreciate any advice anyone can give me on working with a service department who's actually interested in seeing if there's a problem, or anything I can do to help refine this on my own.

Thanks,

Jeff

If my math is right, your still under 1300 miles on the odo as of this post. Your not close to being truly broke in yet. The truck is still trying to “learn” how you drive, the terrain you drive on and your average payload. I’m a few miles short of 3K on mine as of today. I’m not even going to start seriously looking at mileage until I’m at 5K. After that, I’ll track it for the next 2500 or so before becoming concerned if it’s not where I’m willing to accept it. Then for me, I’m going to be happy if I’m averaging somewhere in the low teens in the city and high teens on the highway b/c I know I’m a little aggressive with speed. Your personal driving habits make a huge difference in these Hemis. In my 17, cruise set at 73 I’d get 21-22. Bump the cruise to 77, I’d drop to 17-18. 80 I’d get 15-16. 4 people and luggage drop another 1-2 mpg.

 

[DILLIGAF]

I wish I was getting 15mpg

 

[Jeff A]

I pretty meticulously track my mileage on all vehicles and I've personally never seen my mileage improve after the first few thousand miles on any vehicle I've owned in the last 10 years. I've also never seen one as far off as this Ram, and it's my 3rd Ram truck.

I will continue to track the mileage, but I'm not optimistic that it's going to improve. My biggest complaint is that I bought this truck to improve my range between fill ups. There's no convenient gas station to/from work for me. With the way things are now, the truck start yelling for gas after about 240 miles which is 40 miles earlier than my last truck which I traded in or exactly that reason. Now I'm in an even worse spot, which was unexpected based on the EPA stuff. I was realistically expecting 15 MPG in town, not expecting to be in the 12-13 MPG range.

 

[Bmart97]

I drive about 50 miles a day split almost evenly between city (some stop & go, mostly 35-50) & highway (some 65, mostly 75 to 82 mph w/ adaptive cruise). Through my first three tanks, I’m averaging 15.5-16.5...very close to my 2015 Suburban and had hoped to improve that 1-2 mpg based on the sticker, so I’m slightly disappointed.

 

[JoeCo]

I know this is hindsight but having the bigger (admittedly hard to find) 33 gallon tank would certainly extend your range. I'm not sure what the cost of upgrading to one would be but it's a potential option.

It seems like most people with etorque get at least the same mileage as people without it, if not a little better, although there's so many variables it's hard to really tell. Either way it does seem like you should be getting better than what you are, so hopefully with some more miles it will perform better.

 

[hotrod45]

What ratio rear end is in it? I have a 3.92 for the first time and it provides better gas mileage than the 3.21 and I've had several. Another issue is weather. Here in New England, they change the gas when the colder weather rolls in and I noticed a 2 mpg drop in gas mileage when they did that. It won't come back until Spring.

 

[KeithP]

I pretty meticulously track my mileage on all vehicles and I've personally never seen my mileage improve after the first few thousand miles on any vehicle I've owned in the last 10 years. I've also never seen one as far off as this Ram, and it's my 3rd Ram truck.

I will continue to track the mileage, but I'm not optimistic that it's going to improve. My biggest complaint is that I bought this truck to improve my range between fill ups. There's no convenient gas station to/from work for me. With the way things are now, the truck start yelling for gas after about 240 miles which is 40 miles earlier than my last truck which I traded in or exactly that reason. Now I'm in an even worse spot, which was unexpected based on the EPA stuff. I was realistically expecting 15 MPG in town, not expecting to be in the 12-13 MPG range.

I am not now nor have I ever been meticulous about tracking my mileage, but I do occasionally check it. I’m on my 3rd Ram and can tell you I’ve seen big differences from the 1st 1000 miles to a point after I reach 5,000 in the first two. This third one seems to be following the same pattern. Big difference as in +/-9mpg to 14mpg city vs highway to start and escalating up as I rack up the miles and it breaks in. It’s probably largely contributed to my personal driving habits. I don’t baby them when they’re new. I don’t abuse them, I just drive like I drive from day 1 mile 1. I bought this one 250 miles from home. Pulled out from the dealer, hit the highway, set the cruise at 75 and rolled home. I’ve had the cruise set at 85+ for extended miles on a 1,600 mile Christmas trip and I’m still under 3,000 total miles. This is my normal.

I hope yours begins to perform to your expectations. I’m perfectly content with mine.

 

[flyingron]

I've got a 2020 Ram 1500 Limited (5.7 w/etorque). I'm getting way better. It's averaging right around 18. It goes way up on the highway.

 

[1morepart]

I have a 2020 cc Hemi with 3.92 gears and that big a$& 33 gallon tank. I just passed 500 miles(plenty for a good break in) and average 15 city and 19 ish highway. The Hemi does not get good mpg. Plain and simple. This learning curve is minutely accurate. The break in over 500 miles is almost laughable. I race my 19 gt and followed the 500 mile break in. That’s enough time to properly seat the piston rings. Changing how you drive is the only thing that will increase or decrease mpg. JB

 

[Ridgerunner665]

My 2018 with the 5.7 is right around 500 miles now (bought still new on the lot a couple weeks ago)...3.92 gears, 4x4, crew cab, Big Horn package.

With me driving it gets 17.5 mpg driving mostly rural country roads, with my wife driving the same roads it gets 18.3 mpg.

That is better gas mileage than the 2017 Nissan Frontier Pro 4X I traded in on the Ram.... the Nissan was a 4.0 V6 and ther Ram still beats it by 1 mpg.

Best part was the really nice Ram cost less than that Nissan.... it was marked way down.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[JohnnyMac]

So I just bought a new 2020 1500 Limited eTorque and I'm really having some issues with my MPG.

Is it a 4x4? If so, are you running in 2wd or 4-auto?

 

[crash68]

I wish I was getting 15mpg

If I'm only getting 15 mpg, I usually have a large trailer behind me.. :-D

 

[Tach_tech]

The window sticker doesn’t represent real world numbers. It actually states on the sticker that those are just estimates, real world numbers will vary. How you drive it is the biggest factor in mileage, there’s also several other factors that can vary actual mileage.

I would do some research on what other owners are getting with a similar truck to yours

 

[yakalong]

My first tanks were probably my worst mpg. After about 5000 miles it started getting around 19-20. So give it some time, it should increase.

 

[LarryA]

You could switch you display to instant MPG, and then see if you can vary your driving style. I know if I am in a good consistent flow on the freeway with CC set ~65 I can get nearly 19 MPG. 5.7, 3.92 4x4 Laramie. If traffic speeds change frequently (50-65-50-65etc) it drops to 15

also drops 1.5 MPGs with winter gas

 

[Jim M]

You could switch you display to instant MPG, and then see if you can vary your driving style. I know if I am in a good consistent flow on the freeway with CC set ~65 I can get nearly 19 MPG. 5.7, 3.92 4x4 Laramie. If traffic speeds change frequently (50-65-50-65etc) it drops to 15

also drops 1.5 MPGs with winter gas

Instant MPG was a little scary on my first trip with my 26' Minnie Plus trailer. Cruising at 57mph showed 7 to 11 mpg depending on wind and road surface. Touch the accelerator or encounter a small hill and mpg would drop by 2 to 4. Climbing 7% grades at 4200 rpm would drop mpg to 3. But overall, I got just over 10 mpg. No complaints. And the 8-speed transmission was tremendous, both up and down grades!

 

[BigA]

On my 2019 etorque I started off getting 15 MPG and it went up to 17 MPG after about 5K and it is about 1 mpg lower in winter. I too never saw any difference on past vehicles after break in but this one seems to have improved.

 

[ticat928]

my past tundra could average over 16 mpg, but i had to keep in mind it was a barn door into a head wind and drank gas to accelerate the weight in town.

here is what i had to do to get over 14 mpg in town

gentle from stop lights , if was light enough on accelerator it would shift to next higher gear at 1200 to 1300 rpm once in 6th and locked up i did everything possible to keep it from downshifting

i eased off the gas up small hills, let diesel like torque at 1200 rpm hold top gear, then let it gain speed down hill, thus having momentum up the next hill in order to keep converter locked up.

one time managed 19 mpg across town with mostly green lights, hard work but necessary in order to get gas mileage in a truck.

 

[MiamiMike]

2020 Laramie, 4x4, e-torque, 3.21...

Getting about 15-16 mpg combined right now...also disappointed but there's enough folks talking positively about the break in period that I'm going to wait until I hit 1500 miles or so.

fwiw...I'm driving like a grandma to see how high I can get the mpg. Cruise Control @ speed limit at all times.