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2018 Ram 3500 takes the truck torque crown

In the neverending war for bragging rights between pickup manufacturers, Ram just picked up a big one. The new 3500 heavy duty has an updated 6.7-liter Cummins straight-six diesel that produces 930 pound-feet of torque. Not only is that a gain of 30 pound-feet of torque over the outgoing model, but it's more than the heavy-duty trucks from Ford and GM. Specifically it makes five more pound-feet than the 925 pound-feet of torque in the most potent Ford Super Duty, and 20 more than the Silverado and Sierra heavy-duty trucks that make a maximum of 910 pound-feet. Ram didn't provide horsepower specs for the new Cummins engine, though. The outgoing engine made 385 horsepower. If Ram and Cummins were able to get such a large boost in torque, odds are that horsepower has also increased. There's also a good chance that even with more power, the updated Cummins may not exceed the horsepower ratings of the Ford and GM trucks. The Ford is currently second place in power with 440 horsepower, and the GM trucks have the most with 445. Final specs on horsepower, as well as pricing will probably appear soon, since the trucks will be arriving at dealerships at the end of August. Related Video: RAM Truck

Here's how I averaged 31.5 mpg in a Ram HFE EcoDiesel

Few things could be more American than a bright red Ram pickup parked in front of Mount Rushmore. To get there and back on a single tank of fuel from the nearest major city, however, requires a collaboration of international proportions. This particular Ram is a 1500 HFE EcoDiesel, festooned with badges indicating the presence of an Italian turbodiesel V6 mated to a German eight-speed automatic. Some Rams are even built in Mexico, but this one only boasted a 27 percent Mexican parts content. A rather global truck, this one. It is the sum of its parts, but those bits and pieces were curated by a team of engineers in Michigan. At the risk of hipstering its history, the Ram HFE (High Fuel Efficiency) package was truly custom-tailored for one purpose: Achieving an EPA-rated 29 mpg on the highway, which is 1 mpg better than a standard Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. It did just that. No, it did better than that, but more on that in a minute. The Ram has stuck with its "son of big rig" styling for nearly 25 years; opting for the EcoDiesel V6 means you can fill up next to Peterbilts. My goal was to bypass truck stops entirely. I left Denver early in the morning and aimed to enjoy lunch with Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln looking over my shoulder before heading home for dinner. Mt. Rushmore is about 370 miles away from the northernmost truck stop within Denver, where I filled the Ram HFE's tank and headed northbound on Interstate 25 toward Wyoming and a series of smaller highways that roughly follow an old stagecoach route from Cheyenne to what is now Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. The Ram was such a fuel miser that I could have driven an extra 50 miles each way and still avoided the pumps. It's beautifully stark country: the kind of desolate place where the FM radio does a lot of seeking; that's all the audio I had on board because the Ram HFE is decidedly lacking in comfort and convenience features. To get to an EPA-estimated 29 mpg highway figure, Ram engineers had to goals: To strip weight and improve aerodynamics. In the wind tunnel, the medium-size 4x2 Quad Cab with 20-inch wheels and the Ram Express trim level's one-piece front bumper proved the most aerodynamic configuration of the many flavors of Ram available. Interestingly, testing revealed that adding full-length tubular side steps and a tri-fold tonneau cover normally offered in the Mopar accessories catalog aid aerodynamics.

Chevy ramping Silverado incentives after Ram beats it in March

General Motors isn't losing the pickup war without a fight. With the Silverado narrowly falling to third place in the truck segment in March, Chevrolet has announced that it is going to continue its Truck Month pricing through the end of April. In addition to those incentives, some Chevy pickups are going to see even deeper discounts, according to Automotive News.
General Motors Sales Reporting spokesperson Jim Cain says the reason for extending the sale is simple. "It worked," he said. The Silverado's sales were up 6.8 percent for March, which is a big win for a truck with sales down 7.6 percent for the year so far. "Last month we handily beat expectations," he said. Cain attributed the success to having "a simple, straightforward message." He also claimed that the pickup was also able to see growth with lower incentives than competitors. With the weather warming and the economy improving, he thinks the Silverado has the momentum to improve further.
The Truck Month incentives knock as much as $7,541 off some Silverado models, and Chevy is planning even more incentives on top of that in April. "Okay - time to take the gloves off and go back and take back what rightfully belongs to every one of you ... Silverado truck sales," said an email sent to dealers from GM's district manager in the Northeast, received by Automotive News, announcing lower lease rates.