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To make it short I drive a 2004 Hemi Quad cab ram 4x4. Currently I average between 8-9mph during city driving and 16-17 on the highway. I understand most of the hypermiling principles and was wondering if anyone has any numbers that have achieved in this type of truck. I need the truck for towing purposes and recently got 8.8 during a 300 mile highway trip with my 21ft cuddy cabin. It is also my daily driver so I was wondering if anyone had certain tips to help me out. I know you do not condone drafting of anytype but with some safe distance drafting I have gotten up to 22.5mpg.
Thank you

Well I wish you luck. It is considered pretty good to get 25% over EPA ratings, and very very good to get more than 50% over, so keep in mind that you may only be able to grab a few MPG. Unfortunately that vehicle has almost everything going against you: big engine, heavy, 4x4, probably wide tires?, not so aerodynamic, etc.

Check out the "Mileage Logs" page and see if anyone has a similar truck, too.

I would guess that the biggest things will be DWB and keeping your speed down, especially while towing. Your wind resistance must be terrible. DWL may help, but your engine is so large that I doubt you can load it very well when you are not towing.

Good luck!

To make it short I drive a 2004 Hemi Quad cab ram 4x4. Currently I average between 8-9mph during city driving and 16-17 on the highway. I understand most of the hypermiling principles and was wondering if anyone has any numbers that have achieved in this type of truck. I need the truck for towing purposes and recently got 8.8 during a 300 mile highway trip with my 21ft cuddy cabin. It is also my daily driver so I was wondering if anyone had certain tips to help me out. I know you do not condone drafting of anytype but with some safe distance drafting I have gotten up to 22.5mpg.
Thank you
Welcome to CleanMPG. You are very correct about us not condoning drafting at close distances. What many people who harp on the dangers of drafting don't realize is, even if you are in the right lane and going the speed limit and getting passed, you are benefiting by one of several forms of drafting. At a safe distance of ~3 seconds there will be benefits. I don't have any experience with a vehicle of your type but I did drive a Durango for awhile until about 2002 or 2003 and was able to get as high as 22+ mpg on the highway. I would suggest reading the article Beating the EPA... (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510) and asking lots of questions. There are many references to hybrid vehicles but most of the techniques can be adapted to any vehicle. Again, welcome.

Another thing to consider is that if you do not need the truck for your daily work, with the price of fuel spiraling upward, it might save you money to buy a more FE vehicle for commuting and use the truck only when needed.

Could you get a set of lower weight and rolling resistance wheels/tires for when you don't need the towing capacity?

I am sort of in the same boat, I have a 2005 F150 and am happy when I do over 14mpg. I see in the eGarage all the super FE vehicles and envy you, but like you, Slampig, I tow and can't justify the cost for another vehicle (upkeep and insurance), so I am new to this and am going to give it a safe whirl.

No drafting for me!

I am studying light patterns which sounds silly, but tells me whether I can coast for a few blocks cos the light is no where near changing.

Good luck Slampig!

I am studying light patterns which sounds silly, but tells me whether I can coast for a few blocks cos the light is no where near changing.

This isn't silly. It is a great technique and can make a big difference.
Getting your truck rolling takes a great deal of effort. Keeping momentum is crucial. Any time you can avoid starting from a dead stop you gas mileage will increase.

these are all really good tips. Budget is kind of tight right now and I cannot afford another vehicle or lower rolling resistance tires. I think skinnier tires might even be a safety concern in a 5,000lb truck. What I have been doing is when away at college I bought a $70 wal-mart bicycle to ride to class instead of driving. Saved a bunch of money that way. Keep the tips rolling.

these are all really good tips. Budget is kind of tight right now and I cannot afford another vehicle or lower rolling resistance tires. I think skinnier tires might even be a safety concern in a 5,000lb truck. What I have been doing is when away at college I bought a $70 wal-mart bicycle to ride to class instead of driving. Saved a bunch of money that way. Keep the tips rolling.

Welcome to CleanMPG, and I hope you have a good time here.

With gas prices hitting the roof, it may well be worth finding out how much you'd save if you used an older Civic, Escort, or other fuel-efficient vehicle as your daily driver and seeing if rising fuel costs would offset the payments and insurance. Especially if you put a lot of miles on your truck for something other than towing, that could well be money down the drain at $4/gallon and rising!

For example if you put 1000 miles a month on an older daily driver at say 40 MPG rather than your truck at 15 MPG, you'd save about $267 a month in fuel alone at $4/gallon!

But as others have mentioned you can improve the mileage of any vehicle. Press up those tires and slow down on the highway, and you'll see those numbers rise in no time :)

Could you get a set of lower weight and rolling resistance wheels/tires for when you don't need the towing capacity?


Tires might be a great step. My wifes Xterra is due for tires. They are currently mud and snows, very wide. Im going more to a Ford Explorer type street tire. They have to be better rolling resistance...being a few inches narrower.

If you haven't yet, switch over to fully synthetic oil. When I got my car (06 Grand Prix) the onboard instant fuel economy averaged about 21 MPG with a variety of in town and highway driving. After I switched to Mobil 1 my gas milage average increased to 23.4. Saved me about 80 gallons last year. The benefits of synthetic oil far outweigh the initial cost which is about $8-$12 more than conventional oil.

Make sure your tires are guaged at their correct pressure.

I am currently running full synthetic Mobil 1. I did some tests today with pretty good results. I increased PSI by about 7lbs in each tire. Used some P&G principles along with some ICE off at stoplights and when comming to a light. City MPG went from about 9 to 14.7 over a 3 miles suburban distance. Than I hit the highway with some of the same principles and holding the same throttle input on hill and was rewarded with 21.8mpg on the highway from about 17....sounds good to me..any other ideas.