New vehicle bug bit me again

Originally Posted by maximus
How much did you save compared to a new one? I've been looking at trucks, but I just can't get behind buying a new one. They're soo bloody expensive, even with incentives.


Original window sticker was $45k. I'm figuring you could probably have gotten this model new for around $34-35k. So I saved around $7-8k buying it 9months old with 15k rental miles on it.
 
I cannot understand why so many are down on the Pentastar. Its a fantastic engine that has been refined through the years. My 2019 RAM Classic has the 3.55 rear gearing. The Pentastar is more than enough.
 
The other tech on my crew has a decked out 4X4 Ford pickup he bought new some years ago. He absolutely loves the ecoboost except for the MPG. Ford was claiming in the 20's as far as MPG. He has never gotten beyond 16 mpg. He thought he had a lemon until he started asking around and found out he wasn't alone. The Pentastar will get into the 20's in a 1/2 ton pickup with 4X4 with ease driven normally.
 
Originally Posted by gfh77665
I cannot understand why so many are down on the Pentastar. Its a fantastic engine that has been refined through the years. My 2019 RAM Classic has the 3.55 rear gearing. The Pentastar is more than enough.


I, personally, have no issue with the Pentastar. I feel that the trucks so-equipped are more than capable, especially with the 8-speed. In fact, I enjoy the 3.6 in everything it's installed in, from the 200 to the Grand Caravan to the Grand Cherokee and so on. That being said, a Hemi equipped truck is just that much more pleasant to drive. The extra torque without the accompanying engine speed is really nice when you're towing or climbing grades.

No, the Hemi won't put up the MPG's that the Pentastar will, but it will at least match (if not beat) a comparable 3.5 Ecoboost. That's a win in my book.
 
Originally Posted by 14Accent
Originally Posted by glock19
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Congrats on going V8.
Once you do, you'll never want to go back to a V6


Unless you go from a 5.3L Ecotec to a 3.5L Ecoboost.


Respectfully disagree. With equal weight trucks, I'd much prefer a 5.3 to a 3.5. I'm not arguing that the Ecoboost can't hold it's own, it certainly can. However, I think a more fair comparison is the 5.3 to the 5.0. Completely different engine architectures, but both strong choices. I'd actually go 5.0 over 5.3, if it was me.


Thank you!
 
Originally Posted by Greggy_D
How is the gas mileage on the V8s?

In my HEMI Jeep I got 18-19 on road trips at 75mphish, and around town 16mpg or so. This is assuming I took it easy. If I beat on it, 12-14mpg, lol! HEMI was totally the best part of my JGC.
 
Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by 14Accent
There's maybe a little less room under the hood to work, but those engine bay's are so huge it doesn't really matter.



It's funny you mention that.

I didn't realize it until like yesterday, but the reason the pentastar looks so crazy small in the engine bay of a Ram 1500 and there's so much room between the engine and radiator is because of the E-fan and no massive fan shroud like the hemi has.

If you look at a youtube video of replacing the engine driven fan on a hemi w/ the pentastar E-Fan, once you remove the hemi's big ol fan shroud, there's a ton of room in front of them too.


Our '19 has an e-fan and there's a massive amount of room between it and the engine. I'm actually surprised at how small the engine looks in the bay TBH. It's so much smaller than the 5.4L modular in our old Expedition
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by Greggy_D
How is the gas mileage on the V8s?

In my HEMI Jeep I got 18-19 on road trips at 75mphish, and around town 16mpg or so. This is assuming I took it easy. If I beat on it, 12-14mpg, lol! HEMI was totally the best part of my JGC.


That's where the 8spd shines. My SRT's have been able to do low 20's (EPA is 19) if you were able to keep the MDS engaged. On lower speed trips to the cottage, where the average was ~60mph, I've seen 24 really babying it, but of course that's not fun
lol.gif
In town is absolutely awful however, as you noted unless you drive like there's an egg on the pedal.

The MDS on the trucks seems to be much more aggressive, so despite the higher curb weight, my wife's RAM gets better mileage all around by quite a bit. It's currently averaging 15.5mpg (15.2L/100km) 100% in-town, which is just above EPA (which is 15) and it's easily able to get into the 20's on the highway driving it normally.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
That's where the 8spd shines. My SRT's have been able to do low 20's (EPA is 19) if you were able to keep the MDS engaged. On lower speed trips to the cottage, where the average was ~60mph, I've seen 24 really babying it, but of course that's not fun
lol.gif
In town is absolutely awful however, as you noted unless you drive like there's an egg on the pedal.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever gotten anything higher than 15 MPG from a tank of gas in mine. It's fun though.
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
That's where the 8spd shines. My SRT's have been able to do low 20's (EPA is 19) if you were able to keep the MDS engaged. On lower speed trips to the cottage, where the average was ~60mph, I've seen 24 really babying it, but of course that's not fun
lol.gif
In town is absolutely awful however, as you noted unless you drive like there's an egg on the pedal.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever gotten anything higher than 15 MPG from a tank of gas in mine. It's fun though.



Yup. I've done "experiments" to see how good I could get it, but driving in town, my average was around 380Km/tank, whilst my wife's truck, which has roughly the same size tank, gets around 530.
 
I owned a '16 Ram Hemi Sport and now own a '19 Classic With the pentastar and 4x4( a rare switch). I can say honestly I have no issues with the Pentastar. The hemi was more fun no doubt but the V6/8 spd works! Apples to apples I get 4-5mpg better with the 6. My best tank with the hemi was 21 which I was happy with and I've done almost 27 with the new one.

Hemis do sound good though!
 
Picked the new to me Ram up on my way to work yesterday afternoon. Again, pleasantly surprised at how super quick and easy the process was with Enterprise car sales.

Had something funny happen on my way to work. I noticed a thud every now and then in one of the storage compartments. The one that would be an ashtray on the lower dash. I opened it up and there was a full roll of quarters and somebody's used ear buds in there. LOL! Went through every nook and cranny I could think of when I had time during my night shift. All good. I do want to change the oil though. There's a sticker on the w/s from FIrestone that says the oil was changed in Dec 2020 @ 7500mi. I'm not sure if it was changed again or not. Of course they reset the oil life monitor to 100%. I drove it like a total wuss to and from work. About 70 miles total and achieved 23.1mpg per the dash. I gotta say that hemi burble at idle is intoxicating.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
 
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When I got the new vehicle bug I went ahead and purchased some like new wheels from a new generation of my vehicle. Fit/specs were perfect and the Updated two tone look of the modern wheels REALLY helped the overall look of the truck.

All for $350 total (not including the new tires I needed anyway).
 
Originally Posted by BLND1
When I got the new vehicle bug I went ahead and purchased some like new wheels from a new generation of my vehicle. Fit/specs were perfect and the Updated two tone look of the modern wheels REALLY helped the overall look of the truck.

All for $350 total (not including the new tires I needed anyway).



That's one of the sweet things about Ram pickups. Probably any OEM pickup for that matter. Can almost always find deals on factory wheels. I have a set of OEM steelies, with the OEM goodyears and TPMS sensors that came off a 2015 Ram tradesman. I use them as my winter wheels. Got them a few years ago basically brand-new for $400. This style FCA TPMS sensors sync right up with no intervention required with each wheel swap. Gotta stick with OEM sensors though as the AM ones need programming.
 
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Nice, I like the Rams and its been decades since I had a Blue like that, been trying but still not in the cards as you know in the resale market, you hold out for color but take the best condition vehicle first. Anyway, awesome truck, great color, good luck.

Ps. We have bought a number of almost new cars from a Hertz dealer (not all dealers are the same) never a bad experience and saved a boatload of money over a place like Car Max or Carvana or dealer.

Love Dodge V-8s though I had a 08 Durango with the 4.7, I was shocked how reliable the vehicle was, I never expected to NEVER have an engine issue on that 4.7 for 145,000 miles and still no issue when I traded it for a 2017 Chevy.
Im ashamed to admit, for many years I also had a work provided vehicle and worked crazy hours, so except for regular, actually before regular oil changes on the Durango, I always did them around 5000 miles, I didnt even change any of the 16 spark plugs for the entire time of 145,000 miles. Top bank was supposed to be done at 30,000 and bottom at 100,000.
I always take great care of my vehicles this was the exception, a time of my life for 6 or so years that was stressful being as busy as I was at work.
 
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Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Congrats on going V8.
Once you do, you'll never want to go back to a V6


The Car Pro tells folks to test drive a vehicle with the smaller motor first … if you like it, buy it and don't drive the more powerful unit because you'll buy it for more and operate for more …
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy


Ps. We have bought a number of almost new cars from a Hertz dealer (not all dealers are the same) never a bad experience and saved a boatload of money over a place like Car Max or Carvana or dealer.


What pleasantly surprised me the most with enterprise car sales was their trade-in process. They told me over the phone that they go by KBB. I've been down that road before and that's rarely the case based on what I've experienced.

KBBs "good" condition trade-in value was about $16-17K for my truck. Top end of "good" was about $17400. My front bumper was pretty badly damaged by a deer strike 2yrs ago, which also crinkled the front edge of the front right fender causing a little rust spot. I had plenty of touched up scratches and the tires needed to be replaced. I had just put ~$150 worth of eBay pads and rotors all the way around which was the only "high dollar" maintenance item I did to the vehicle. I was fully expecting a $15K offer with the usual song and dance..

My sales gal spent about 30sec evaluating my trade. Didn't even walk around it. Hopped in. Started it, shut it off, came back and printed out the KBB report. $17700 was their offer and she said if it wasn't for the ~56K miles on it, she would have been able to use KBBs "excellent" value. Regardless, I asked if they could round it to $18K it was a done deal. Done. No going to see a manager, no games. I'm sure I could have haggled more. I really was thrown off my game and honestly.. was all good as is.

I had a just under $14K payoff on the 2017 and got the new one for just over $27K +TTL. Put a little cash down to pay TTL and got 1.9% for 60m thru my work CU.

FWIW, ~30 months ago I paid $22700 for the 2017 a year old, with 12K miles on it from a little Buick/GMC/Caddy dealer. It was on the lot a while and they kept lowering the price. This is what got me into Ram world in the first place.
 
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Originally Posted by Greggy_D
How is the gas mileage on the V8s?


Right after I got my 2019, I topped up the tank and reset all the trip and fuel economy numbers.

All I've done is drive it two and from work twice, which is 80mi round trip (160mi total), almost entirely highway speeds.

I drove it grampa style like I normally would. Avg fuel economy indicates 23.1mpg. My 2017 Pentastar powered Ram would be about 24.2mpg summer mileage.

Really surprised so far.

The few times I've romped on the new hemi, The sound is awesome. The shifting of the ZF8 is just perfect to me, but per my old butt dino, the Pentastar felt pretty darn similar. Of course the pentastar would be screaming, where the hemi is just being itself.
 
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My 2008 Dodge Durango with the 4.7 V-8 seems to have gotten the same MPG as our new to us 2017 Chevy Traverse with the V-6.

I was a little surprised as the Dodge was more heavy with the V8 compared to the Traverse V6.

Anyway, I loved the drive train and rear wheel drive on the Dodge, it was a true truck solid feeling, Traverse FWD is still good but more domesticated for sure and I wonder if it will last and be as trouble free as the Dodge drivetrain.
I tow a light boat 3000 lbs or slightly less boat locally, easy towing on the vehicles. Previous was a 4000 pound years ago. Both Vehicles had/have the Factory Tow Package, I wouldn't settle without it.

ANYWAY, no replacement for displacement. I dont care what anyone says, for me, larger engines rule and really not much difference between a larger v6 and a small v8 when MPG comes into play IF that is something you care about. The smaller engine has to work harder.
 
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