Laguna Seca Track Day, Part 1 - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Laguna Seca Track Day, Part 1 - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds headed to a two-day car/motorcycle track weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, using its long-term 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel as a tow vehicle.

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bankerdanny

I totally get what you are saying about driving 55. My regular driver for the past couple years has been a 1972 MGB-GT with about 150k miles on it. It handles 70 mph freeway speeds just fine as long as large hills aren't involved, but places where people want to drive 75-80, I just keep to the right and let them fly by.

But off the line it is slow; not the spoiled by horsepower complaining about 8 second 0-60 slow, but 20 seconds 0-60 slow. And you know, after a while it become liberating. Knowing that every Civic and Corolla will walk away from me at a light, I have no need to try and be fast because I just am not. I can just kick back and enjoy the drive.

themthillbilly

After spending quite a while here reading through all of these articles and haveing to navigate into and out of each small little clip, I still don't know what I wanted going into this. I am a small time contractor who uses and loves the ram1500 with 5.7 hemi. I am looking at the eco diesel as a possible next rig. I have read the dodge specs and want to know- How does the power and quickness feel compared to the ram with the 5.7 hemi ? surely some one here at edmunds has driven both recently?

bellyflop

Nothing says U-Haul trailer like mismatched rims and, possibly, tires. Well that and the trailer does have U-Haul painted on the side.

s197gt

i've thought about being a long-haul trucker some day... seeing the country. i figured i could do it for about a year before getting bored with it.

allthingshonda

I like the Ecodiesel and have always thought that trucks were the best way to get Americans to accept diesels but Ford has me thinking differently. Here in the good ole U.S. of A. diesel is more expensive than gas. Add in the additional maintenance costs diesels require vs gas engines and Ford's turbo charged gas engines begin to make sense. The 3.5 twin turbo V6 in the F 150 has the same amount of torque and 125 more horsepower and can tow 1,000 lbs more weight. And because of the turbos max torque is available at a low 2,500 RPMS it performs similar to a diesel. It is not as fuel efficient (not even close) but gas is cheaper and there is no DEF to refill, no fuel filters to change, and no diesel particulate filter clogging to worry about. And, some what surprisingly, Ford's Ecoboost engine has been a tough workhorse.