Test driving EcoDiesel Rubicon in the morning

[WXman]

This is a load and elevation dependent phenomenon. How often are you comparing V6 gas to V6 diesel towing the same load with the same vehicle at elevation...or even at sea level? I can tell you from personal experience and that of many others that apples to apples, diesel loses less under load most of the time. Believe what you want, but low end torque moves loads and diesel has 15% more energy by volume to start with. FWIW, I’ll have a very direct 3.6 to 3.0 JLUR mpg comparison for you in short order...same roads, same loads.

Yes, TFL is testing at high elevation, but I'm personally at 500-800 ft. elevation when I drive around here and I've seen the exact same results. My diesel Jeeps of the past would average 23-26 MPG unloaded, but throw a trailer on and they'd fall to 14-15 MPG rapidly. On the flip side, my gas engines, whether V6 or V8, would only start out around 15-19 MPG unloaded but would only fall to 12-15 MPG while towing. There is a HUGE loss with diesel, or with any other powertrain that's high efficiency. Even electric vehicles like Teslas consume FAR more energy and lose range exponentially faster when worked hard. That's just how it is.

Large tires are similar to towing...they add load against the powertrain. All I'm saying is, if a guy buys the diesel because he assumes that 37" tires will cause it to lose less MPG, that guy is going to be sorely upset at the results.

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[GARRIGA]

I’m the guy assuming 37s lose less MPG on diesel than gas. BTW, everyone I know that hauls big boats has a diesel because it controls that haul better and gets better mileage than gas. Tractor trailers run diesel. Hummers I recall getting better mileage on diesels. Stock was 37s.

All that aside. I’m guessing that tolling 37s might be doable on 4:11 considering rolling 33s on the Rubicon with 3:73 since all that torque doesn’t require the same amount of multiplier. That equates to bigger teeth and stronger gears. Isn’t that one of the reasons to move to Dana 60s?

 

[Gonzanc]

Isn’t that one of the reasons to move to Dana 60s?[/QUOTE]

One of the many benefits of a 60

 

[JLURD]

Yes, TFL is testing at high elevation, but I'm personally at 500-800 ft. elevation when I drive around here and I've seen the exact same results. My diesel Jeeps of the past would average 23-26 MPG unloaded, but throw a trailer on and they'd fall to 14-15 MPG rapidly. On the flip side, my gas engines, whether V6 or V8, would only start out around 15-19 MPG unloaded but would only fall to 12-15 MPG while towing. There is a HUGE loss with diesel, or with any other powertrain that's high efficiency. Even electric vehicles like Teslas consume FAR more energy and lose range exponentially faster when worked hard. That's just how it is.

Large tires are similar to towing...they add load against the powertrain. All I'm saying is, if a guy buys the diesel because he assumes that 37" tires will cause it to lose less MPG, that guy is going to be sorely upset at the results.

Don’t confuse absolute delta for one rig with the real metric of % improvement of final towing mpg over gas...the diesel JLU will easily maintain its 25-30% mpg advantage while towing...not very hard to add 30% to 12mpg.

 

[Adamoni]

That advantage will make for a better experience. I'll always have max payload and I don't want to feel bogged down going up that hill in Florida.

 

[BRuby]

This is not as much about convincing us that we are wrong for buying diesel as much as. reassuring yourself that you did it right when you bought gasser. I told you you should have waited few months and got a diesel. Now it will live in your head. Just give it up. You are just annoying everyone.

Yeah beaups annoys on other threads as well. Posts to troll.

 

[BRuby]

I plan on driving the Ram1500 with the eco just to get a semi feel for it

Yeah my buddy has one and the eco is fine. From all accounts it should do very nice in the JL.

 

[JLURD]

That advantage will make for a better experience. I'll always have max payload and I don't want to feel bogged down going up that hill in Florida.

“Hill in Florida”...sounds like one of those classic oxymorons like “government efficiency”.

 

[Adamoni]

Truth! It’s so flat in here in Florida if you look hard enough you can see the back of your head.

 

[SolarWizard]

Sure. Waiting for the diesel to come to 2 door with a 6MT. But what am I waiting for? A rig that costs $4k more and gets 25% better MPG with fuel that costs 25% more? And as an added bonus its slower? I just don't get it. But if you're going to mod/tune I totally get it.

On 37s vs a 4.11 3.6 it will straight embarrass it.

 

[GARRIGA]

On 37s vs a 4.11 3.6 it will straight embarrass it.

Thinking the 3.73 will be sufficient to push 37s with all that torque? I’d welcome that

 

[LLANERO]

I stopped by my local dealer a few days ago asking if they had a diesel in stock or on the way to test drive. They said no, but they will call me when they did.
They called today to tell me they just got one. An hour later I was driving it, so here are my impressions:
- You can definately feel all that extra torque.
- Noise didn"t bother me at all.
- It had no rev overhang.
- Steering felt tighter than my 2018 JLU. Haven't driven other 2020 JLs to see if this is particular to 2020 models.
- I drove it hard on the street and highway. Average mpg was 20.

Now, will I get one?
If I hadn't traded my 2014 JK for a 2018 JLU, I would definitely trade it now for a diesel; but since my JLU is less than 2 years old, has 14K miles and lots of $$ in mods, I don't think it's worth losing all that money on depreciation, mods that can't be swapped to the new Jeep (regearing + front LSD) plus all the work that involves bringing it back to stock and reinstalling everything on the new Jeep. I rather enjoy my JLU 2 to 4 more years and then trade it for a diesel, if they are still making them.

If anyone is in the Virginia Beach area and want to go drive it, call Hall Jeep and ask for Anthony.

 

[JLURD]

I stopped by my local dealer a few days ago asking if they had a diesel in stock or on the way to test drive. They said no, but they will call me when they did.
They called today to tell me they just got one. An hour later I was driving it, so here are my impressions:
- You can definately feel all that extra torque.
- Noise didn"t bother me at all.
- It had no rev overhang.
- Steering felt tighter than my 2018 JLU. Haven't driven other 2020 JLs to see if this is particular to 2020 models.
- I drove it hard on the street and highway. Average mpg was 20.

Now, will I get one?
If I hadn't traded my 2014 JK for a 2018 JLU, I would definitely trade it now for a diesel; but since my JLU is less than 2 years old, has 14K miles and lots of $$ in mods, I don't think it's worth losing all that money on depreciation, mods that can't be swapped to the new Jeep (regearing + front LSD) plus all the work that involves bringing it back to stock and reinstalling everything on the new Jeep. I rather enjoy my JLU 2 to 4 more years and then trade it for a diesel, if they are still making them.

If anyone is in the Virginia Beach area and want to go drive it, call Hall Jeep and ask for Anthony.

Did they say if that was dealer stock or a customer sold order that the buyer backed out of? If dealers are getting their lot supplies before the people on here like @toolaide4fit and @Eeshasdon who ordered week one, that would be the deepest cut yet in what has already been an atrocity of a rollout.

 

[LLANERO]

Did they say if that was dealer stock or a customer sold order that the buyer backed out of? If dealers are getting their lot supplies before the people on here like @toolaide4fit and @Eeshasdon who ordered week one, that would be the deepest cut yet in what has already been an atrocity of a rollout.

Actually it was an special order for the Hampton Roads Auto Show from mid January. The salesman didn't know it but I showed him the "This jeep was build for" on the window sticker
Funny thing is that I was at that autoshow and didn't realize they had it there. It's a bikini one and since I'm not fun of that color I didn't get close to it.

 

[JLURD]

Actually it was an special order for the Hampton Roads Auto Show from mid January. The salesman didn't know it but I showed him the "This jeep was build for" on the window sticker
Funny thing is that I was at that autoshow and didn't realize they had it there. It's a bikini one and since I'm not fun of that color I didn't get close to it.

Don’t tell @Frostbit .....

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