2016 Ram Trucks 2500 Cummins 6.7 turbo diesel from North America
Summary:
All truck. Tried and true. Refined to its best
Faults:
Nothing has gone wrong. No initial defects.
General Comments:
First, I'll mention, I did overnight test drives of all 3 "3/4 ton" trucks. I have no brand loyalty. The Ram easily won. Interior on the Ford was junk (improved for 2017) and the GM trucks I found ugly and the powertrain, though good, wasn't as strong or efficient as the Ram. And aesthetically, I didn't like the body.
The model is getting old, but refined. The current 2500 model started in about 2009. It's a completely different animal now. FCA has refined the interior to a level far beyond what "Dodge" could do. The interior is amazing.
The Cummins diesel 6.7 suffered with some emissions problems in the first generation. Now they're good. Try searching the internet for someone having problems with their 2013+ Cummins. They don't exist. It's like they stopped making them. No one needing help fixing or complaining about them at all. It chugs along like a train. So much grunt. The inline 6 revs low and slow. It's quiet. Sounds much nicer than the V8 trucks.
The ride over bumpy pavement is quite noticeably smoother in the coil sprung Ram vs its leaf sprung competitors. Put a few pounds in the back (cap for instance) and it's as nice as any 1500 truck.
I get about 18 MPG living in a suburb of DC. Lots of city and stop and go. The couple of over the road trips I've taken were around 22 MPG. The engine isn't near broken in yet. The efficiency is supposed to go up given some hard use. My current trailer doesn't provide that. But, it also doesn't lower economy pulling a 12 foot trailer. We'll see what efficiency is like with a 28ft.
It's a 4x4 and still drives like a solid axle truck. Hit some very bad pavement and the front can skitter. No worse than my Wrangler or any other solid axle vehicle. With that skitter comes knowledge that it's as strong as it can be.
Transfer case is electronic and shifts quickly. Must be in neutral to go into lo.
The bad... The high end stereo infotainment system. It's awesome. For the first year. Then all those features cost money. XM radio has shoe horned themselves into every car. But Uconnect (owned by FCA) charges to use the apps. This is a charge just to register your apps. They use your own data source for data. So to click on Pandora on the Uconnect, you have to pay a monthly fee. Otherwise you just stream from your smart phone. Ridiculous. Comes with decent apps... But they want $15 a month for them. Then add in XM service for the few XM related apps. You're talking $40-50 a month to use your stereo. I already paid $60+k. They have to keep coming at my pockets? This is more than Xbox Live just for a basic app to phone connection.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 7th October, 2016
23rd Oct 2016, 01:30
Original poster... Have 5000 more miles on the truck. No problems. Put a truck cap on the bed. The 200lbs smooths out the ride dramatically. Nothing showing wear yet. I've used about put in 3 gallons of def total, but the tank wasn't completely full at purchase. Estimate I've used 2 gallons. Topped it off, still at 100%, but now it's at 100% not maxed out over the gauge. Tank is significantly larger than the gauge can read.
Passive emissions regenerations aren't noticeable unless you park and let it idle and get out when it's happening. You can hear the injector popping off at regular intervals (1 tick per secondish) and the exhaust is hot. Not easily confused with exhaust cooling ticks. Not like the old days when MPG would drop off dramatically. MPG gauge does tend to read about 1.5 MPG high. Maybe it's the regens.
Fully used to it now. I don't have a problem with blind spots even with the cap. Good visibility all around.
23rd Oct 2016, 01:33
So just the maintenance costs push you to the GM and Ford truck? The Ram does have reasonably high maintenance cost, but probably mostly because they schedule all the maintenance in the manual. GM and Ford don't have as rigorous schedules, but they also have dramatically shorter duty cycles (before rebuild). I wonder if you were to follow a Cummins style maintenance schedule, if the life of those other diesels would average the same life.
10th Dec 2016, 16:30
The Ram has a higher "life cycle" than Ford or GM? Where did you get this information? Was it the FCA website? It's simply not based in reality; look at faults per unit or resale value; the GM or Ford truck greatly outlasts the Ram.
8th Oct 2016, 22:46
I have both XM and Onstar and drive less than 500 miles a year on one vehicle. It's nice to see your mechanical status in your phone. Even tire pressure. It's there if I want it. I am amazed you spend a lot of money and do not have even have a CD anymore. Navigation is a waste too as it's in the cellphone. As far as trucks... We own Ford, GM and Ram 3/4 ton trucks in our company. The best is the Silverado, then Ford, then the Ram. The Ram has the worst ride and the most maintenance expense. Looks the Silverado, then Ford. Like the Ram interior better. And power. But my nod goes to the other full sizes.