Pickup Mileage Question

[WhutupDawg]

Hey Guys,

Now that I'm out here and doing more fishing, I'm thinking of getting a new pickup.

Here's why...

I have a 2000 Dodge Dakota 4.7L Auto 4x4. I love the pickup, but it only gets about 13 MPG in town. I have once got 19 MPG but that was flat freeway. I plan on towing a boat, and I have heard they only get about 11-12 when towing.

So I'm thinking what's the benefit of having a mid sized pickup if there is no benefit in mileage?

Does anyone either:

A-know of a way to squeeze out better mileage out of the dakota (chip, etc)
B-know TRUE gas mileage for some 1/2 ton pickups that are doing good in mileage?

Thanks in advance!

[jvp]

2001 5.7L f150 4 dr.
18 freeway
15 town
8 w/25 ft. trailer

no diff. from above w/small boats or loads

[WhutupDawg]

That's not bad....

would a 18' or 20' aluminum boat be considered small with that pickup?

Also, is that an auto, or a 5 spd? Gear ratio?

Thanks!

[Cosmic Lazy Susan]

True mileage

2003 Dodge 1500 RAM QUAD CAB 4x4 4.7L auto

Highway - best 17.3mpg
Towing ski boat 4700lbs 10-11mpg
Towing Smokercraft 1000lbs 15mpg

Short distance stop and go city driving 10-12mpg

Dale

[ampersat]

I've got a '97 5.2L Dakota 4x4 with 98k miles. During the summer, I can get over 18mpg in it, slightly less on winter gas. If you're doing a ton of in-town stop and go driving, I could see the 13mpg you're getting but if any of those miles are highway miles, there's something wrong with your truck.

As for being able to improve the mileage, aside from the usual suspects (freer flowing intake and exhaust, possibly synthetic fluids) there's one device out there that will "rechip" your computer (it actually plugs into the diagnostic port and fools some of the sensor readings) you can get maybe 2-3mpg additional out of it. Question is, how far do you have to drive to make up the ROI on it and what side effects does it have for the engine?

Here's the deal though: you'll have a hard time selling your Dakota as most people are thinking what you're thinking regarding full sized pickups. A Dak gets slightly better mileage than a full sized truck, but only by a point or two.

[WhutupDawg]

That's EXACTLY what I'm getting with 4.7! Ampersat is your Dak a 5 spd. or Auto?

[bcanini]

Dawg,

Get a full size :grin: you'll like it better (more room etc..) and I think the gas mileage is really negligible(sp?)

You always give something up somewhere, smaller=less room etc. better mileage
Bigger= more room, comfort etc worse mileage.
I got a big gas guzzling hog but it works well for my family and I and I can just about tow anything.

Brian :blush:

[Norm]

2002 Dodge CTD, Auto, Dually, 4x4, 3.55 gears.

14 in town
17-20 HWY(usually ~19 to the coast and back, 17 on I-5 at 70MPH)
15 towing boat to coast and back.
14 with 10' 3500LB camper installed.

I'll bet a SRW CTD would be better by at least 1MPG.

[Day Late]

2000 Chev Z71 4wd 1/2-ton w/ 5.3 V8, 3.73 rear end...purchased new:

Highway empty at 65: 17+
All around: 14+
Pulling 24' travel trailer: 10.5 (based on one round-trip to Alaska and another round-trip trip through NW states). Don't know another truck/gas engine combo that can match this.

Good luck! :smile:

Day Late

[foxer]

2005 Tundra 4x4..v8 18 hwy/15 town..Im guessing 10-11 while towing 4000 lbs of boat and trailer. I wouldnt upgrade unless you were getting a new ride anyway.

[freespool]

Does anyone either:

A-know of a way to squeeze out better mileage out of the dakota (chip, etc)
B-know TRUE gas mileage for some 1/2 ton pickups that are doing good in mileage?

Here's what I did. Move closer to where you fish the most.
Like where I live, 3 miles to Sellwood, 10 to Oregon City and 15 to Chinook Landing.



salmon hugger

[Joe Schwab]

Just bought a Chev. Colorado 5 cyl. 4wd auto, crew cab. 21 MPG overall. 25-26 on the road. I pull a 17 foot Alumaweld, 17 MPG to Tillamook and back. 3,000 miles and love it all the way. Rated at 4,000 lb towing capacity.

[slabhunter]

Okay, I'm getting 10 MPG, and 9.5 towing the 22' boat.
The '99 F350 has the chip, intake and exhaust upgrades.
My thing is avoid accidents. The stopping ability of a full size truck could save your life (or the one of the idiot rushing out into traffic).

[BARCHASER]

Ditto what foxer said, 2000 Tundra, 18/15 and 12-13 towing an 18' NR.

[TundraIII]

2004 F350 CC diesel stock shortbed = 13.6 mpg regardless of conditions towing or not I know others with the same truck getting 2-3 mpg more than mine. I'll get a better fix on the mpg during my 4500 mile trip at the end of the month.

[WhutupDawg]

This is all great info guys, keep it coming!

I agree that those chevy's are getting unreal MPG.....

[FishiinShawn]

15/19 on my new ford f-150. If you want good mileage you have to step up to a diesel. They seem to get about the same towing or not.

[WaterDog]

2000 diesel f-350 CC dually 4x4 with 4.10 gears, slightly mod’ed. 12 in town empty, 12 towing 5K lb boat or hauling 4K lb camper, 16 to 17 empty on highway.

Just remember you can never have too much truck when towing anything over 2K lbs.

[bassin]

2000 diesel Ram 2500,
17 around town and mixed hiway, Towing 22 Northriver or the equal weight wise, 20' Ranger Bass boat 14-16. If I keep my foot out of it.
Running 70-75 hiway with boats 14 MPG

[MattPark]

1994 Dodge Cummins 5 speed standard cab 4x4 with 35" tires and 3.54s. 331K on the truck. Mileage is corrected for the tires and the speedo that was off from the factory.

Towing 8000lb trailer to Tillamook - 13mpg.
Towing 5000lb boat to Astoria - 15 mpg.
Empty around town driving like a grandma - 19 mpg.
70mph on I-5 - 17

This is all driving like a normal person. On occasion I do get the urge to rip up all the passing lanes with a trailer in tow to get around everyone who feels that 5 under is just the right speed, and that doesn't help mileage at all, but I enjoy it.

[WhutupDawg]

DAng!

[Hanapa'a Time]

2002 Chevy CC/LB Duramax/Allison, Edge Juice/Attitude.

19mpg hwy, if I keep it below 75mph
14mpg around town
13mpg towing 5k boat
11mpg w/ boat and camper, about 17k GCW

I'm sure some of these #'s could improve a little if I didn't enjoy using the hp and tq :grin:

[MetalHead]

99.5 F250 CrewCab 7.3 Power Stroke. 19 - 17 empty, 16 - 14 Pulling the 8000# travel trailer. 17 Pulling the 20' sled. I got a heavy foot is the reason for the low end if I keep it under 2100 rpm's I get the high end.

[5 for Fighting]

I have a 2005 F-150 5.4 and the 3.73 rearend. I also have 20" rims with 33" tires and I get 10-11mpg are town, going to the office and such. And it tops out at 13mpg when driving to Seattle or Bend. I have a 20' open sled and it doesn't seem to really affect the milage. This is the first time I've have tires that size, is that the reason my mpg is so low. I have seen some posts on Ford Truck message board that some of the 5.4s were not set right and need to broght in. Anyone have any more info on this?

Thanks

[jimh]

If you up the tire pressure (approx 40-45), add a K&N and change your exhaust to some more free flowing, your mileage will improve.

I think the top in town pickup is the Chevy/GMC hybrid.

I get about 8-10 in town with my 6.0L Chevy 2500 Crew Cab, but I only drive about 6 miles a day! I've got as much as 16 mpg on the highway and usually get 10-11 pulling my 20 ft Custom Weld Inboard jet.

[Two Fister]

5 for Fighting,
Check your odometer against the mile markers on the highway. Larger tires will throw off your odometer if it hasn't been recalibrated. I had slightly larger tires on my old GMC and it threw the odometer off by -8%. With tires as large are you are running it could be a lot more than that.

Dawg,
Let me start by saying that I don't have a lead foot as I have received one too many tickets and the local police department would love nothing better than to staple my license on their wall for a bit.

I've got an '01 GMC crew cab Duramax. I get 20 MPG on the highway and 14-15 around town. It's got the 4 speed Allison transmission. The Allision is worth the price of admission by itself. The motor is awesome as well and it carries a 100,000 mile whole engine warranty and a 200,000 mile injector warranty. The '01s had injector problems and I just had mine done under the warranty. Didn't cost me a penny and they restarted the clock on the 200,000 mile warranty. The diesel is definitely overkill for what I use it for, but they sure are sweet engines. The torque on that thing will pin you in your seat.

I used to own a '03 GMC crew cab duramax and (according to the onboard computer)it averaged 22-23 mpg on the highway. It was a 5 speed Allison transmission so the overdrive probably made up that MPG difference. On several occassions I towed an old, very heavy, dual axle camp trailer and had the truck loaded with tons (literally) of old army tents, fuel, firewood, saws, water, etc. during elk season. According to the computer I averaged 17 MPG while towing that load up and over several mountain passes.

The full size trucks are kind of a pain to drive around town but you get used to it pretty quickly!
TF

[FWW]

I have the 2002 2500HD, 6.0, 4x4 with 80,000 miles seems like i only get 10 - 12 mpg towing 14 ft boat and 8ft camper good power though. Not much different in town.

[Angler of Repose]

I have the same setup as Day Late. I once had 20mph on backroads doing a steady 50. I get 17+ all the time unless I get it to that flowmaster sound mode.

[Moley Molson]

2005 Chevy 1500 4x4 crew cab, auto, 6.0 V8

Empty
Freeway 19
City 17

Towing 15ft Smokercraft
Freeway 17
Not sure about city mileage as I don't tow the boat around town much.

[driftin buy]

2005 Chevy 2500 cc with dmax engine. I have about 10k on the truck now. on the highway, empty I get 21mpg.The average tankful gets me an average of 17mpg. When diesel was over $3 I learned how to drive only using half of my right foot and it makes a huge difference. The whole foot easily takes 2 to 3 mpg away, maybe more. In the summer I put a 10' camper in the back and got about 15mpg on average.

[WhutupDawg]

Awesome thread guys, keep it up!

Inquiring Dawgs want to know!

[Herring Problem]

2005 Dodge Diesel with Auto- 18mpg around Central Oregon
-23 open highway.

Pulling 2052 Tropy 17 to 19 from Bend to Newport.