Big luxurious diesel sips its fuel
Past the Jeddore Oyster HALIFAX Ponds, across the Salmon River Bridge and through the windwhipped forests of Three Fathom Harbour, the 2015 Ram 1500 Eco Diesel whispers.
To the south unfolds the vast greyness of the North Atlantic, but behind us is about 700 kilometres of the finest scenery Canada has to offer. We’re here on the East Coast of Canada on a two-day journey that began at the steps of the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel in Fredericton, N.B., and will conclude in downtown Halifax — 766 kilometres through three provinces — all of it covered on a single tank of fuel.
Even when this half-ton truck finished the long haul through one of the friendliest parts of our nation, there remained some 380 km of range in its 98-litre tank, still enough juice for another halfday drive. Had we hyper-miled or driven like my mother-in-law, we could have made it north to Saint John, N.B., on this very same tank. With that kind of frugality, it might be possible to drive clear across Canada on six tanks, maybe even five.
This, of course, is the magic of diesel. And yet the petroleumbased gold still gets mistakenly viewed by some as dirty and stinky or inferior to turbocharging and electric hybrids.
But not everyone sees it that way. According to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), one in four buyers of a Ram pickup are choosing the diesel option, and doing so because they want to save fuel. In the higher trim levels of the Ram 1500 family, where the thick leather of the Laramie smells like a saddle shop, the percentage of buyers selecting diesel rises to 50 per cent.
Clearly, those who choose diesel, most of them in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, are profiting from their choice, even if the option costs $4,700 and the trucks themselves are expensive. Returns as good as 7.7 L/100 km, and an average of 8.6 on our three-province trip, underscore the efficiency of the Ram Eco Diesel engine, a Fiatsourced 3.0L V6 built by VM Motori.
Available in all Ram models except Sport and Rebel, the diesel engine powered all four of the trucks we drove — a $71,760 Laramie Limited, $66,645 Big Horn, $57,615 Outdoorsman and $60,700 SLT — and all were paired to an eightspeed automatic.
Over the two days of driving, which snaked northeast through New Brunswick, over the Confederation Bridge and into Charlottetown, then down to the breathtaking south coast of Nova Scotia, along Highway 374 to Sheet Harbour, the highest consumption came from the Outdoorsman. It didn’t benefit from the Ram’s airride suspension, which automatically lowers the truck at highway speeds into an “aero” mode. The Outdoorsman registered 9.3 L/100 km overall, while the SLT scored 8.6, the Big Horn 8.7 and the Limited 8.8. The Limited number is higher because we went off course in New Brunswick and were forced to make up time.
That type of economy is normally seen in cars like a Honda Civic, never mind a truck weighting 2,330 to 2,810 kilograms with the aerodynamic efficiency of a lobster boat. As with many modern diesels, the absence of diesel smell or smoke is achieved by using a complex ureainjection and selective catalytic-reduction system that requires the addition of DEF, or diesel exhaust fluid. Ram trucks have a gauge to indicate the level. Under normal driving conditions, the DEF will last anywhere from 8,000 to 16,000 km — about every oil change. The fuel filler on the trucks will also accept large and small pump nozzles, too.
For FCA, installing a smalldisplacement diesel in a half-ton truck has been a brilliant strategy. It says half of Eco Diesel customers are “conquest,” meaning these buyers were once married to another automaker. For a brand that sold 86,000 trucks in 2014 and is on track to sell more than 90,000 this year, that’s a lot of lost love for GM and Ford. And turning a Forever Ford Faithful into Recent Ram Recruit is a little like switching a Leafs nut into a Senators fan; it’s a startling shift in allegiance, because truck owners tend to be deeply loyal to a brand. But the diesel has proven to be a big draw, and Ram is currently the only truck maker putting a diesel in a half-ton (although Nissan will soon have something close with its Titan XD, powered by a 5.0-L V8 Cummins) and the river of potential buyers isn’t about to dry up.
Not surprisingly, the allure of this diesel truck, aside from its economy, is its performance. Only at the upper end, above 140 km/h, does the thrust begin to taper. But at lower speeds, up to 420 poundfeet of torque translates into impressive response and strong towing (9,200 pounds max for 2WD regular cabs, 7,590 for the Crew Cab 4x4 with a 6-foot-4 box).
More than that, the Eco Diesel simply feels and sounds excellent, pulling strongly up hills with only the slightest hint of turbo lag and smoothly across the rpm band and hushed enough that ordering a double-double at the drive-thru won’t elicit a “pardon?” And while the Eco Diesel is definitely whisper quiet while touring, it keeps just enough clatter to make it feel and sound tough — just like a diesel should.