Ford says that a diesel won't make money and they are in business to make money.

So I'm getting 22+ on the highway and the ecodiesel is rated at 25. 3 mpg's isn't much of a bribe to pay the outlandish upfront costs, maintenance costs, fuel costs and post warranty repair bills.

I think the ecoboost is here to stay. Ford will lose some customers who want a 1/2 ton smoker no matter what the name plate says but many more will return once they get fed up with the constant wallet pinching that happens to diesel owners.

In order for Ram to compete fully, they just offered a 6.4L gasser in the HD trucks. That's proof that they are losing people to GM and Ford for the gas engine in an HD truck.

Ford has a diesel engine all set for the full size Transit van what is coming soon and it would reportedly bolt right into an F-150. However, it's a low HP engine designed for economy and full time idling. Knowing our crowd the way I do, no one here is going to be satisfied with a dog, great MPG's or not.

 

Tim is right on - Ford wants to make money.

I can assure you that now more than ever before, people are looking at gas motors in the F-250 to F-550 line thanks to all the emissions crap on the diesel. In the fire service, it's becoming common to see 6.8s in brush trucks, light rescues, and mini-attacks. Even ambulances. I was at a local dealership getting our F-750 medium-duty rescue (which is a Cummins) worked on, and the service manager said he's seeing lots of demand for the 6.8 in the 650/750. My firehouse no longer has a diesel motor in anything except for our old squad (F350) and the medium-duty trucks.

Why? The older diesels were good for a few things - longevity, raw power, idling, and cost savings in the long term. The $10K hit up front and the threat of big-money maintenance ($11K of warranty work on the aforementioned F-750, for example) kill the cost savings. The emissions crap means they don't like to idle. The bigger gas motors can produce fairly similar amounts of power - especially with forced induction (are you listening, Ford? 5.0 EcoBoost please?). And the new gas motors last far longer than 20 years ago.

If that's the case in the medium duty world, why would anyone think that a diesel would make sense in a light-duty truck? Doing a quick napkin-based analysis, let's assume that:
Diesel - $5K up-front, 7500mi. OCI @ $125/OC, 25MPG @ $3.89/gal
Gas - 0 up-front, 7500mi. OCI @ $50/OC, 15MPG @ $2.95/gal

With these numbers, you hit break-even at about 180K miles. That's not factoring in the cost of additional maintenance, more expensive fuel filters, urea (if required), and what happens if that fancy diesel blows up. And that's being pretty generous towards the diesel - it's not likely to get a real-world 10MPG improvement, and it probably costs more than $5K up front.

Most people don't want the smell of a diesel nor the NVH, they don't want the additional maintenance, nor the worry of an expensive repair. You can buy an entire new gas motor for the cost of some of the PSD repairs.

Also, keep in mind that we "truck people" are a mere gnat's *** on Ford's overall sales numbers. Big fleet buyers make up a large percentage of the F150s bought every year, and they are entirely driven on total cost of ownership. If the numbers don't add up, they aren't going to buy it. And if the numbers don't add up in Super Duty world, they certainly won't in F-150 world.

The current F-150 motors are well structured. You have the fuel-miser 3.7, the "standard" 5.0, the EB for those who like new tech and want the forced-induction feel, and the 6.2 for the "no replacement for displacement" crowd. There's just no market left for a baby diesel.

 

it`d be 15-20 years at minimum for Ford to lose the title of best selling trucks....but even at that it won`t happen.....look at the other brands overall quality (I sure have, been looking for a new truck) they don't compare.....engines aside check out the interiors and so on....it`s not an accident that Ford is #1

 

If diesel fuel drops finally in price as it will these engines will be in a F-150. Guaranteed. They have to compete on all fronts in this very competitive light duty truck segment.