[calbrit1]

I so i bought my 2018 rebel in January of this year. I traded in my 2014 ram 1500 for it. I am having some issues with fuel consumption with it. Basically i am averaging 13.mpg all the time with 80% of my drive being hwy. Some things i noticed on my truck is that it dose not have an ECO mode like my 14 did and some older rebels did and also i cant tell if the MDS is coming on like my 14 where i could actually fell it kick in on the hwy. At 66mph i am getting around 14-15mpg on cruise control. On my 14 i was able to average 18 on the hwy with ease at 65-70mph. I recently just hit 9000 miles and i figured it would get better with time but so far it has not.

The truck is a 2wd with the 3.92 rear end. I cant tell what i am doing wrong or is this the standard MPG on these trucks. I had assumed it would be the same as my old truck with 80k miles on it.

 

[bigdave2212]

I so i bought my 2018 rebel in January of this year. I traded in my 2014 ram 1500 for it. I am having some issues with fuel consumption with it. Basically i am averaging 13.mpg all the time with 80% of my drive being hwy. Some things i noticed on my truck is that it dose not have an ECO mode like my 14 did and some older rebels did and also i cant tell if the MDS is coming on like my 14 where i could actually fell it kick in on the hwy. At 66mph i am getting around 14-15mpg on cruise control. On my 14 i was able to average 18 on the hwy with ease at 65-70mph. I recently just hit 9000 miles and i figured it would get better with time but so far it has not.

The truck is a 2wd with the 3.92 rear end. I cant tell what i am doing wrong or is this the standard MPG on these trucks. I had assumed it would be the same as my old truck with 80k miles on it.

There is a way to turn on and off the green eco letters in the radio. It won't turn on and off the MDS, just it popping up on your dash.

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[calbrit1]

There is a way to turn on and off the green eco letters in the radio. It won't turn on and off the MDS, just it popping up on your dash.

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My truck dosnt have it i believe. I know my old truck had the fuel saver option in the radio but my new one does not have it or atleast in the same spot as my old one with the 8.4 uconnect.

 

[rebel_mike]

I so i bought my 2018 rebel in January of this year. I traded in my 2014 ram 1500 for it. I am having some issues with fuel consumption with it. Basically i am averaging 13.mpg all the time with 80% of my drive being hwy. Some things i noticed on my truck is that it dose not have an ECO mode like my 14 did and some older rebels did and also i cant tell if the MDS is coming on like my 14 where i could actually fell it kick in on the hwy. At 66mph i am getting around 14-15mpg on cruise control. On my 14 i was able to average 18 on the hwy with ease at 65-70mph. I recently just hit 9000 miles and i figured it would get better with time but so far it has not.

The truck is a 2wd with the 3.92 rear end. I cant tell what i am doing wrong or is this the standard MPG on these trucks. I had assumed it would be the same as my old truck with 80k miles on it.

It's my understanding that all later model 4th gen Hemi equipped Ram 1500's have MDS. I asked the dealer if I could order one without and he said it's not available without. If yours isn't coming on I'd take it in and have it looked at. I would love it if mine didn't have MDS. Numerous tests I've done show a difference in fuel economy well below 1 mpg, at least for the commute I have. And that's not worth having to listen to the exhaust when it's in MDS mode. I love the sound of the Hemi, but when MDS is engaged it sounds like total crap to me.

There is a way to turn on and off the green eco letters in the radio. It won't turn on and off the MDS, just it popping up on your dash.

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You can turn off MDS, along with the green ECO light. I have a ritual every time I shift my truck into D...push the down shift button once, then press the up shift button until the dash display shows 8 as the highest gear it will shift into. This will disable both the ECO light and MDS. The only problem is that you have to do this after shifting into D. So if you stop and shift into P or R, then back into D, you'll need to push the button sequence again to disable MDS. It's such a habit for me now that I try doing that when I drive my other vehicles too.

 

[calbrit1]

It's my understanding that all later model 4th gen Hemi equipped Ram 1500's have MDS. I asked the dealer if I could order one without and he said it's not available without. If yours isn't coming on I'd take it in and have it looked at. I would love it if mine didn't have MDS. Numerous tests I've done show a difference in fuel economy well below 1 mpg, at least for the commute I have. And that's not worth having to listen to the exhaust when it's in MDS mode. I love the sound of the Hemi, but when MDS is engaged it sounds like total crap to me.



You can turn off MDS, along with the green ECO light. I have a ritual every time I shift my truck into D...push the down shift button once, then press the up shift button until the dash display shows 8 as the highest gear it will shift into. This will disable both the ECO light and MDS. The only problem is that you have to do this after shifting into D. So if you stop and shift into P or R, then back into D, you'll need to push the button sequence again to disable MDS. It's such a habit for me now that I try doing that when I drive my other vehicles too.

I have a 90 mile round trip commute every day and i need the MPG increase. What are you averaging with your rebel? I am at a constant 13mpg avg no matter what i do and thats mostly hwy. I am spending about 600 a month on gas and its killing me. I was able to get 17-18 avg on my 14 but this 18 rebel is just killing me. I was wondering if others had the same issue?

 

[bigdave2212]

It's my understanding that all later model 4th gen Hemi equipped Ram 1500's have MDS. I asked the dealer if I could order one without and he said it's not available without. If yours isn't coming on I'd take it in and have it looked at. I would love it if mine didn't have MDS. Numerous tests I've done show a difference in fuel economy well below 1 mpg, at least for the commute I have. And that's not worth having to listen to the exhaust when it's in MDS mode. I love the sound of the Hemi, but when MDS is engaged it sounds like total crap to me.



You can turn off MDS, along with the green ECO light. I have a ritual every time I shift my truck into D...push the down shift button once, then press the up shift button until the dash display shows 8 as the highest gear it will shift into. This will disable both the ECO light and MDS. The only problem is that you have to do this after shifting into D. So if you stop and shift into P or R, then back into D, you'll need to push the button sequence again to disable MDS. It's such a habit for me now that I try doing that when I drive my other vehicles too.

Yeah I have the same ritual. It is a pain in the azz......but I think you can turn off the green eco light from popping up on the dash through the uconnect.

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[bigdave2212]

I have a 90 mile round trip commute every day and i need the MPG increase. What are you averaging with your rebel? I am at a constant 13mpg avg no matter what i do and thats mostly hwy. I am spending about 600 a month on gas and its killing me. I was able to get 17-18 avg on my 14 but this 18 rebel is just killing me. I was wondering if others had the same issue?

I have tried to back off the throttle, and tried more coasting to raise my MPG. Nothing I have done has made a difference. I am around 12.8 for the average. I'll reset it and let you know in about a month, cause I did the CAI and the exhaust. Not sure if that will help at all, but seems an expensive fix for just a few MPGs more. I drive 5 miles to work so I don't care too much, plus my 06 was averaging about 10mpg. So almost anything is an improvement!

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[calbrit1]

I have tried to back off the throttle, and tried more coasting to raise my MPG. Nothing I have done has made a difference. I am around 12.8 for the average. I'll reset it and let you know in about a month, cause I did the CAI and the exhaust. Not sure if that will help at all, but seems an expensive fix for just a few MPGs more. I drive 5 miles to work so I don't care too much, plus my 06 was averaging about 10mpg. So almost anything is an improvement!

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**** i wonder what makes these trucks thirstier than the regular trucks. I wonder if its mostly in the toyos it comes with compared to the street tires on the regular trucks.

 

[rebel_mike]

I'm averaging 16.5 mpg last time I calculated it. The computer says it's over 17, but those are almost always overly optimistic on the actual fuel economy. My driving is mostly highway. I'd guess over 80% highway miles.

This is my first Hemi equipped Ram, so I have nothing really to compare it with for my driving style. My girlfriend has a Rebel too, and her trip computer reads about 1mpg less than what I'm getting. She doesn't hand calculate her fuel economy so I'm not sure what her actual fuel economy is. My last Ram was an ecodiesel that averaged over 25mpg. It was nice getting that kind of fuel economy, but it didn't have the power I wanted.

 

[Smashy71]

I came from an ecodiesel too and the towing power was awful. The mpg was great but hated the hesitation the ecodiesel had. I didn’t buy the rebel for good mpg I bought it for its looks powers and comfort. I just finished a long nearly 2000 mile trip towing a 20ft dovetail with a Tahoe loaded up and averaged 9.8mpg. The eco would have averaged around 13mpg.

 

[KennyLives]

I to had the same issue where I was barely getting 15mpg on freeway and 13 on surface streets, but I could feel the MDS kick in. I asked about it when I had the oil change they said it is in break in mode until 7500 miles (I kind believed him since my Challenger had the same thing). Sure enough after hitting 7500miles the next start cycle the fuel economy kicked up to 19 on the freeway. Still no where the advertised MPG should be on the freeway but it was better. At this point I'm just living with it. Best I have gotten so far is 20 when I was traveling to Colorado from Seattle.


Question are you leaving it in drive or are you shifting it manually? If you shift manually then this disabled MDS. If you don't think MDS is kicking in you may have to take it into the dealership.


Good luck!
-Kenny

 

[rebel_mike]

I to had the same issue where I was barely getting 15mpg on freeway and 13 on surface streets, but I could feel the MDS kick in. I asked about it when I had the oil change they said it is in break in mode until 7500 miles (I kind believed him since my Challenger had the same thing). Sure enough after hitting 7500miles the next start cycle the fuel economy kicked up to 19 on the freeway. Still no where the advertised MPG should be on the freeway but it was better. At this point I'm just living with it. Best I have gotten so far is 20 when I was traveling to Colorado from Seattle.


Question are you leaving it in drive or are you shifting it manually? If you shift manually then this disabled MDS. If you don't think MDS is kicking in you may have to take it into the dealership.


Good luck!
-Kenny

Never heard of break in mode. Is that something that started with the '18 models? I didn't see this with my '17. My fuel economy has pretty much been the same since it was new. I have just under 16k miles on it now.

 

[KennyLives]

rebel_mike I have no idea on Rebel, just going off what the Service Manager told me, but it seemed real after I started seeing the MPG go up after I hit the 7500 mark. But now that winters back with more ethanol in the fuel the MPG is going back down. Just turned 20k last night on it and getting 13.5 on in town driving. Like I said at this point it doesnt matter any more I like the truck too much to get rid of it because of the fuel economy. If I wanted fuel efficient I would have gotten a Toyota Prius!

 

[Bigpoppy103]

I am new to this Rebel Forum
I want to give me experience and issues with my purchase of my 2017 Ram Rebel.I just bought the truck in Oct 2018 and it only had 5410 miles on it so its practically like new.The truck was set up exactly the way i wanted it with a Rear bed cap,K&N cold air induction,Flow master cat back muffler.I am having the same issues with terrible MPG even with the cold air filter and the cat back muffler.I actually went from a 2003 Dodge Dakota with the 4.7 V8 and was getting 12 MPG with 175,000 miles and was putting alot of $$$ in the last few years so it was time for a change.I love the truck the Ram Rebel and like most of us did not buy the truck to get great MPG'S.I am getting 14.5 MPG combined and my back and forth to work is about 35 miles both ways with about 50% parkway and 50% local so its a good average point.I even bought a Jet Performance Chip and did not see any change and was lucky to get a full refund from Summit Racing.I like to watch You Tube and look at the truck and car reviews and just seen them review a 2019 Ram Rebel.I was sorry to see that 2019 Rebel only got 16-17 MPG on a true highway test with the 2018 Ford Raptor and a 2019 Chevy Trail boss.The Raptor and the Trail boss got real close to what sticker says and the Rebel was 20 % off from the 19 average 17 city 22 highway.I thought about the tires but i dont think its the tires because they're pretty quiet LT 285 70 17 Toyo Tires that are OEM.

Thanks for taking the time to read my experience so far with my Rebel
Bigpoppy103

 

[Dave Scurrah]

I just drove mine on it’s first long trip , only had 125 on the od, I averaged 18 a gallon on highway at 65-70 mph on normal height mode non etorque motor . 2019 rebel

 

[myflatline]

Best I have gotten in my '17 was 16.9 per the computer on a 3500 mile trip. Not the greatest but like others have said, I didn't but it for fuel economy. The ethanol is the biggest issue I think. WHen I first got my '04 3/4 ton , I was getting 20 on the highway, when I traded for the Rebel, was lucky to get 14.

 

[Tony Liu]

Well, I just took a 280 miles trip yesterday. I was able to get avg 16 mpg. I think is good enough by fighting a strong side wind all time
The MDS wont kick in if rpm goes higher than 1800.
Also I had a winter grill cover like the diesel truck. The outside temp avg -13 f

 

[Arthur Dwyer]

it is the combo of 3.92 gears-33 inch tires-aero of a barn door-go get a prius!-i did not buy it for mpg!

 

[nobby]

I brought mine to the dealer for some maintenance and commented on my DECREASING MPG.
He added that to the work order.

Technician's return comments were: "Try driving the speed limit" LOL.

OK....he got me there.......I'm mostly hwy driving and I usually do about 80 mph.

Now towing my 22 ft travel trailer is a different story all together.......it's shocking how thirsty the truck gets doing that extra work.

I carry a 5 gallon can of gas when towing.....just in case.

 

[lameoliver]

thanks for the all replies confusion cleared now