Nail-on-the-head-thread

Add to this the fact that Ford is coming out with the V10 in the F650/750.

All the utility companies and other large businesses use V10's in F450/550 chassis-cab configurations around here. I mean, almost 100% of them. The only exceptions are the small businesses that for some reasons still think "diesel" and are probably getting snookered by the dealers.

I'll give a perfect example of the continuing shift to gas: My brother-in-law owns a small marine wholesale parts business. He used to run a 14' box truck built on an Isuzu NPR platform (mechanical turbo diesel). It could handle, maybe, 6000 lbs total before it was overloaded.

The engine was great, sort of. Two of these trucks he owned in succession, over 10 years. They needed turbos every 100K miles or even less. The first truck was a manual, it needed a clutch every 50K miles or so. The second was an auto, it needed tranny work every 60-80K miles. Plus, he could only afford one truck at a time, so he usually sent salesmen out with parts in their cars.

Come 2005, the last Isuzu was SPENT. Puffing blowby out the crankcase vent, it was definitely beyond the beyond at around 260K miles.

My brother-in-law started shopping around, actually stopping at a Ford dealer, and got a quote on a brand-new van, an E350 with the 2-valve 5.4L and automatic tranny. 4000lbs payload (and it can actually do it safely). $23K out the door, with an extended warranty to 5 years. He asked me about it, I said "go for it".

It's still going strong with over 180K miles on it. NO parts replacement except a water pump early in it's life that started leaking for some reason. Brakes, yes, nothing else. Regular maintenance, oil changes, tranny fluid, lube, etc. Nothing else.

2006 comes along, he has saved so much money on the first van, he buys a 4.6L-powered E250 that can take like 2500-3000lbs payload for around the same price as the first. Still going strong at 160K miles. No repairs, just maintenance.

Now, while the original diesels he owned were Isuzus (and before that, an Iveco which did OK), and you might pick on that brand, being it's really a GM/Isuzu, you get the idea. In his case, it worked out so well, that 5 years later, the vans are still going strong.

The moral of this story: The market has shifted. It started doing so around 2003 when the 6.0 came in.

Much of it is total-cost-of-ownership has leveled out if not tipped the other way, but there is also the fact that townships and counties and states are starting to look at "greener" fuels, be it propane/CNG, E85, or whatever, and the availability and cost of these fuels is low enough that a "gasser" is the way to go for them.