Fuel economy and pickup trucks don’t often go hand in hand, but diesel engines work to make up for some of gasoline’s shortcomings in the segment—not to mention, offer oodles of torque in the process.
Pickuptrucks.com recently pitted three-quarter ton pickup trucks for an all-out comparison test but looked at fuel economy separately as well. The ratings were determined by unloaded ratings—that is nothing to fill up a truck’s payload or towing capacity—and loaded with a 10,000-pound trailer.
Unloaded, the Nissan Titan XD was a winner. It returned 19.3 mpg, though, the heavier Ram 2500 HD was a tick behind at 19.2 mpg. When fully loaded with the 10,000-pound trailer, the Ram was a clear winner after returning 13.1 mpg.
The average fuel economy stats put the 2017 Silverado 2500 HD in last place, outdone by 0.1 mpg.
- 2017 Chevrolet 2500 LTZ Midnight Edition (6.6-liter V8 Duramax): 15.1 mpg
- 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty King Ranch (6.7-liter V8 Power Stroke): 15.2 mpg
- 2017 Nissan Titan XD Platinum Reserve (5.0-liter V-8 Cummins): 15.4 mpg
- 2017 Ram 2500 HD Laramie Longhorn (6.7-liter inline-six-cylinder Cummins): 16.2 mpg
The Ram 2500 HD marks a one mpg difference over the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD. Even though the Ram’s Cummins is pretty darn old, it’s still capable of returning respectable numbers.
Comments
I’d like to see the test again w/ out the Midnight Edition’s knobby off-road tires. What kind of tires were on the other competitors? You need an All-Season tread. Chevrolet offers A/S, On/Off-Road, and Midnight Off-Road w/ the most aggressive pattern.
Another interesting fact is the Cummins in the 3/4 ton Ram is de-rated to 800 ft-lbs, and has a lighter duty transmission. The comparisons from TFLtrucks towing over I-70 and I-25 in Colorado showed the Ford with the worst mpg, and the Duramax as neck and neck with the Cummins. With the emissions systems, any regent cycle will give you a significant change in mpg.
Hey, but wait, it’s the fastest (not to mention won the tow-off) according to Pickuptrucks also, did you not see that article while you were there?
They also didn’t say which version of the Cummins was in their test truck. The hi-output (though still down 55-60 HP to the other two) or one of the other two lower HP diesel’s!
Biased?
Well I really doubt getting 1 mpg worse will stop someone who wants a GM pickup from buying one and going with the Dodge.
None of these numbers would mean anything to me if I was going to buy a truck like this!
I would gladly pay a extra 1 mpg in order to have a chevy over the competition!
Put normal tires on it and watch mileage go up by at least 1 MPG.
My 2019 2500 hd duramax gets 9-10 mpg at 70-80 mph pulling an empty 8×20 cargo trailer. The worst mileage I have ever gotten with anything. Going back to gas.