[Joeaksa]

$15k is 3-4k too much for a 2002, and far too high for a 2001. Look around on CraigsList or Ebay and you will find the price is closer to $11k unless its a low mileage version.

First thing your friend needs to get is a fuel pressure gauge, either do a one time check or most of us install them in the cockpit so we can watch it while driving.

The fuel injection pump on the Cummins engine is VERY dependent on the Lift Pump (that's the pump takes the fuel from the tank to the injector pump) having a MINIMUM of 10 psi all of the time. It uses fuel pressure to lubricate the high pressure injection pump. Low pressure, no lube and pump eats itself to death. If he is really getting 22-23 mpg on the road then my guess is that his lift pump is going out and has pressure lower than 10 psi. At that point the VP-44 Injector pump starts to eat itself alive internally. Costs about $1500 to have the injector pump replaced, so keeping good Lift Pump pressure is well worth it.

Long story short, when the mileage is low like this (I get 27 on the road at 70 mph and 23 in town) it usually means that the injector pump is going bad and this will strand you on the road.

Agree with the above comment on the 6 speed manual, especially if you are doing any towing. Auto boxes get hot while towing and the manual box does wonders to fuel mileage.

Have had mine 6 months and love the truck. I have a "Edge with Attitude" controller on mine that shows all sorts of data (fuel and boost pressure, along with water temp, Turbo inlet temp and volts are set up on mine right now) and can be used to dial in more power. I do not need the power but needed the information display so love the unit.

Personally I do not like the short bed but got a long bed and extended cabin, not the four door model. Do not need the 4 doors but love the extra space behind the seats. Once you put a tool box (I have the 50 gallon/tool box combo on mine) in there with a short bed you would have no space to carry things.

A Cummins is good for 500,000 miles if you take care of them. They are not really broken until around 100,000-150,000 miles. Excellent engines and the truck is a good one. You hear people bash the Ram 2500/3500 but its usually Ford drivers who do not like anything but a Ford. Try to find one of the 2000-2002 versions as the newer versions do not get as good a fuel mileage as these models. Mine has 115,000 miles on it and still like new.

Also do you really need a 4X4? Mine is a 2 wd version and does fine for 90% of the places I go. The last 10% I do not need to be there, just playing around and thats what a friend with a jeep is for. Having the 4X4 eats up a LOT of fuel mileage in your regular day to day driving so if its not really needed look for a standard version.

Joe A