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Well the third generation of the [INAUDIBLE] EcoDiesel is finally here and it's gonna go into this, the 2020 Ram 1500 Promises more power and torque than ever before.
So I've come up here to beautiful Northern Minnesota to learn about it.
So why don't you get in the truck, ride right seat with me as we discover this new power [UNKNOWN] together?
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So what's the difference between this third generation diesel engine and the second gen?
Actually, a lot.
There's 80% new parts, there's new combustion system, there are new pistons, a new turbo.
There's even a new low pressure exhaust gas recirculation system that doesn't pull power away from that turbo like a high pressure system does.
So All and all I've got 260 horse power and 480 pound feet of torque and Ram tells us that is class leading so that means that you can tow 12,560 or you can throw over 2,000 pounds in the bed.
So lets look at the competition.
Partition.
We've got the four three liter diesel this ram pretty much beats it on every single friend.
But what's really funny is if you look at the diesel that's in the Chevy Chevrolet, that one can only tell 9300 pounds, like this little tiny little baby diesel compared to this big brawny one that's in the RAM.
I don't know.
Just Just makes me laugh.
Ram told us today that you could drive from Duluth Minnesota to Dallas Texas on one tank of gas so you can get a 33 gallon tank and google maps tells me that that's about 1091 miles between those two cities so the power of math tells me about 33 miles per gallon.
So this diesel is gonna be available across all trend lines in the 1500s.
So you're still gonna get all the cool things that you really like about the 1500.
Like the optional air suspension that makes it frankly one of the best writing tracks in the class.
I mean, maybe These crappy northern Minnesota roads notwithstanding.
There's an awesome 12 inch screen in here I've got all the features I could possibly want like full speed adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring that covers the length of the trailer and it's got a cool multifunctional tailgate as well.
And from behind the wheel, I don't really hear any kind of a diesel rattle unless I'm just starting off the line.
Once you get it up into speed, it sounds and behaves exactly like a gas engine.
It's made it to an eight speed automatic transmission that's been calibrated specifically for the diesel.
And what I really like about this transmission is that I never noticed this transmission.
It doesn't upshift too quickly.
It doesn't wait to downshift when I'm trying to pass somebody.
Basically it works with the diesel engine really, really well.
It's just a very well sorted power train.
But of course, I didn't come here and drive around rebel just so I could stay on the pavement.
No, there's an off road course around here somewhere and I'm gonna find
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All right, so do you really wanna diesel for off road?
Well if you wanna go super fast I mean probably not.
But if you know that you're going to go as slow as possible as fast as necessary then yeah, a diesel is great, right because you're gonna get plenty of low and torque So it's really good for rock crawling, it's really good especially if you know you're going to overland.
I've got a spotter here, I'm just gonna look at him, make sure I'm good.
So the Ram Rebel's got an approach angle of 23 degrees, a departure angle of 27, and a breakover angle of 21.
Now this is one of my favorite off road trucks, but man, is this thing big.
But again what's nice is that geometry is pretty good.
Is it Jeep Wrangler good?
Well, no, but it's still pretty awesome.
Got across a range of about 47 or 48 to one so that gives me plenty of low and grant here with this diesel.
Again, all I gotta do is just climb through this rocks and you know what, just let the truck do the work for me So the rebel verse 31 inch Goodyear, Wrangler tires and I gotta tell you, they're not my favorite but still, this is pretty slick right here and this thing is got more than enough traction to get up this super steep hill although I did on my rear axle lock, so maybe I was cheating just a tiny little bit.
So the Rebel is one of my favorite off-road trucks even though it is full size and it's kind of [LAUGH] giant.
But it's helped with pretty good geometry.
Now if you know you're gonna be going downhill there is a hill descend control which is not really very loud and I can set it to go up to five miles an hour.
Right here I'm at 2.5 miles an hour.
Very slow, very controlled all the way down the hill and all I'm doing is the steering.
Well, I've only driven the three liter eco diesel for a few hours, but I gotta say my first impressions are really positive.
I've got plenty of bling power, I've got lots of torque off the line and plus the whole truck just looks really awesome.
Now the diesel is gonna be a $5,000 option over the regular price of the truck.
So a base tradesman that's going to start at just under $37,000.
So when we get the EPA numbers, you'll have to do the math to see if it's going to be worth it for you Regardless, we should see the 2020 Ram 1500 acre diesel in dealerships at the end of 2019.
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