2011 Ram Laramie Long 5.7l Nav 4x4 With 65,066 Miles We Finance on 2040-cars

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Hypermiling a Ram 1500 EcoDiesel to 38.1 mpg

You never quite know what Wayne Gerdes has up his sleeve. The man who coined the term hypermiling is always looking for adventurous ways to prove that anyone – even you... yes, you – can eke out more miles per gallon just by changing the way you drive. Saying that is easy. Proving it by going on outlandish cross-country drives is hard. But for Gerdes and his team of fuel economy fiends over at CleanMPG, hard is half the fun. Our latest adventure appeared, at first glance, to be nearly impossible. Which is why we always answer the phone when Gerdes calls. He likes to take journalists along on his drives, not only to try teach us how to hypermile but also to prove that we can be taught. The first time I 'helped' him and his team was when we got over 30 miles per gallon in a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT with the EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6. The EPA rated that truck with at just 16 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway. So, we'll count that trip as a success. Next up was a cross-country drive last fall in a trio of Audi TDI vehicles to prove that you don't need to drive extra slow to beat the EPA numbers. In fact, we made it from Los Angeles to New York City in just over 46 hours, cramped but not cranky. We had once again proven that how you drive is hugely important to your fuel usage. Our latest adventure appeared, at first glance, to be nearly impossible. The EPA says that the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel we would be driving gets just 22 combined mpg (19 city and 27 highway). Gerdes' idea was to drive it as far north from Houston, TX towards Detroit, MI as we could go on one tank. The day before we left, our itinerary got an extra stop. Instead of taking one of the official Shell Eco-marathon prototype vehicles to Detroit, it was decided to bring the winning diesel-powered prototype from the just-finished event to The Henry Ford Museum, where it had been arranged the car would be displayed. The winning car was built by a small team (just four students) from Sullivan High School in Sullivan, IN, who managed to beat a number of college teams with a score of 1,899.32 mpg. That target would be a bit out of reach for the Ram, but could we get 1,000 miles from the tank? Since the truck has a 26 gallon tank (officially, anyway), that would mean the EPA says we could only go 702 miles, assuming all highway driving. Could we make up 300 miles with careful driving? That spells both challenge and fun.

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot boards meet to finalize merger

MILAN/PARIS — The boards of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot will meet separately on Tuesday to discuss finalizing an initial agreement for a $50 billion merger to create the world's number four carmaker, sources said. A source close to FCA said the two companies could announce the signing of a binding memorandum early on Wednesday, followed by a conference call to explain further details later in the day. The two mid-sized carmakers announced plans six weeks ago for a tie-up to help them deal with big challenges in the industry, including a global demand downturn and the need to develop costly cleaner cars to meet looming anti-pollution rules. Ahead of the meetings, entities representing the Peugeot family, Etablissements Peugeot Freres (EPF) and FFP, unanimously approved a proposed memorandum of understanding for the planned merger, a source familiar with the situation said. FCA and PSA have said they would seek to finalize a deal by year-end to create a group with 8.7 million in annual vehicle sales. That would put it fourth globally behind Volkswagen, Toyota and the Renault-Nissan alliance. PSA's Carlos Tavares will be chief executive and FCA's John Elkann — the scion of Italy's Agnelli family, which controls FCA through their holding company Exor — chairman of the combined company. The group will include the Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Peugeot, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands, allowing it to serve mass and premium passenger car markets as well as those for trucks and light commercial vehicles. Related Video:       Chrysler Dodge Fiat Jeep RAM Citroen Peugeot

Ram heavy-duty trucks look more conservative than new Ram 1500

We've had a pretty good peek at the 2019 Ram 1500 thanks to spy shots and renderings. (UPDATED January 2018: Here's the full reveal from the Detroit Auto Show.) And from what we've seen of it, it's a major departure from Rams of the past. We haven't seen as much of the Ram heavy-duty line, but these spy shots caught one out on the town, and it appears the Ram 2500 and 3500 will have a less controversial design. The big-rig tall grille is still the truck's focal point, but the design is a familiar one, featuring the same look featured on the current Ram's luxurious range-topping trims like the Ram Laramie Longhorn. We'll have to wait to see if the new heavy-duty trucks will continue to use this grille solely for range-topping trims and if the 1500's new look will venture up to its big brothers, and therefore banish the crosshairs for good. Regardless of the grille design, the headlights still sit fairly low next to it. That emphasizes the semi-truck design since the tops of the fenders are lower than the top of the hood, which cascades to meet said fenders. The headlights also look potentially carry-over. Really, there are so many similarities it leads us to believe the new heavy duty might be more of a refresh than a completely new design. Another interesting thing to note is that this Ram appears to use a similar drivetrain and suspension to the current heavy-duty trucks. Like the vast majority of trucks, it has a solid rear axle, but probably with coil springs as Ram currently does. Up front, though, it seems the solid front axle has also been retained. This should be good news for fans of the off-road-ready Power Wagon. We're probably still a ways away from seeing the heavy-duty Rams. Last year, we learned a rumor that the heavy-duty trucks were delayed for an unspecified amount of time. We wouldn't expect to see anything official about the truck until at least 2019, about a year after we expect to see the 2019 Ram 1500 revealed. Related Video: Featured Gallery Ram Heavy Duty spy shots View 16 Photos Image Credit: KGP Photography Spy Photos RAM Truck