Frankly, I have never associated anything "Eco" with trucks. Kind of an oxymoron really.

All the branding nomenclature can get confusing. Everyone knows giant trucks are not economical in any way, shape or form but that does not stop the automakers from trying to market them that way.

The Edmunds report is a good read. I believe they present things in an unbiased manner. Obviously you take everything with a grain of salt but if they really did go about their testing in a relatively scientific fashion, averaging 18mpg while TOWING is pretty remarkable. I am definitely liking the Ecodiesel more and more.

The GCWR of a Crew Cab Ram ED with a 5'7" bed and either 2 or 4wd is almost 15,000 lbs with a 3.92 gear. The Hemi can tow a larger trailer in the same configuration but gets WAY less mileage doing so. I figure a 3.55 gear would be sufficient with the 8 speed trans. The Hemi usually gets an RFE trans but has the 8 speed option with the towing package.

The Ecodiesel does add several grand to the initial price of the truck though which is unfortunate. So it boils down to this; pay more for the Ecodiesel and get a little less towing capacity than a similarly equipped Hemi but get more mileage or get the Hemi and tow anything you want but get way less mileage.

See how things get a little fuzzy? Go beyond the numbers and factor in the actual driving characteristics of the truck and how much time I spend on the road and the choice becomes less clear...