I'm in the market for a new truck.

What are some pros and cons of going with either gas or diesel?

both will be sufficient for my towing needs.

I'm getting a platinum 4x4 but need help on deciding if diesel is worth the extra 8500.

thanks

 

Diesel Pros:
- High torque for heavy trailers. Get going quickly and easy to maintain highway speeds even on hills. No comparison to gasoline engines.
- Effortless towing is less physically demanding
- Better mpgs by a couple
- Diesel sound, power, confidence is amazing. Cool factor for diesel-philes

Diesel Cons:
- Expensive $8,000
- Higher maintenance cost
- Not all stations carry diesel fuel and sometimes more expensive

Gas Pros:
- Simple maintenance
- Less expensive. Don't have to pay the engine upgrade, $8,000
- Gasoline is everywhere
- Perfectly reasonable option if loads are not overly heavy (10,000 lbs)

Gas Cons:
- Must run high revs (4,000 - 5,000) to maintain speed on hills or in wind.
- More physically demanding
- Gas mileage can drop to the 4's when climbing.

 

thanks man.

 

what about engine reliability ?

 

Resale alone is a big reason to go diesel. Who wants to by a 6 year old gasser with 100k on the odo?
Most used truck buyers will gladly pay big dollars to buy a diesel with "only 100k" on it.
When you go to trade this truck in you are going to wish it was a diesel if your go gas.

 

Don't forget much higher repair costs on the diesel. Parts alone are usually almost twice the cost of gas.

I'm going from a diesel to gas and would never buy another diesel again unless like it was stated above, I was towing over 10,000 lbs often. I don't, and being that my buddy's V10 has 200K miles on it, I think the reliability is just as good as the diesel. There are plenty of people willing to buy a gasser with 100K. My '08 5.4 F350 has 90K on it and I have 2 people wanting to buy it when my '17 comes in. It's a reg cab XLT and I told them I want $15K for it and both said "no prob". I also had an '04 Duramax SLT Ext. cab SB with 100K miles that I just sold and I had a much harder time selling that. I got $19K for that one....Had a lot of people look at the Duramax but they were more leary to buy.....why?? They all said that they were afraid to spend that kind of money on an older truck because if it needed engine work, they knew it was going to be very costly. I finally got someone to buy it after a dealer looked it over and gave a good write up on it.

 

Diesel is no longer a winning investment. You just buy it for sound and hauling tail up hills without reving the engine. You will not get half your money back at resale. My boss gets 16mpg with his 6.7. That is close to what you get an old school 5.4 gasser.

I would venture to say the 6.2 will be more reliable and cost efficient than the 6.7 based on what I have read. No turbos, DEF, complicated emissions, expensive oil changes, higher fuel costs, etc.

 

Hmmm, I'll never buy another gas engine vehicle if I can avoid it unless it says "Corvette", "Mustang" or "AC Cobra" on the side of it. Once Toyota puts a diesel in their US spec Landcruiser's I'll be a 100% diesel family with 4 in the garage.


There is nothing necessarily wrong with a gas motor, but the driving experience in a diesel is so much better than any gas motor I've driven, empty and especially loaded. I've been doing my own maintenance for nearly 30 years and the cost of maintenance between a gas and diesel is more than made up for in better mileage, i.e. lower fuel costs. The entry price into a diesel is indeed higher, but the cost is worth it to me. Also, at least in the Western U.S., you'd be hard pressed to find a station that didn't carry diesel these days.


Adam

 

I have to totally 100% disagree. I drove my 2011, bought late 2010 for over 6 years and received 28,000 in trade value, it had 125,000 miles on her. Try getting that with a gas engine.

 

Depends on what and when the repair is. If it's covered under warranty it should cost you nothing. I wouldn't even keep a gasser out of warranty any longer, nothing is cheap to fix on any of these trucks.
Your stories on the sales of those trucks are rare IMO. Sounds like you knew the right people on the 5.4 and didn't know the right people on the 04 GM.
But what I'm mainly talking about is trade in value with regards to resale. If my 08 was a gasser with 125k on the odometer, I wouldn't be getting $22k on trade from the dealer. I wouldn't get that selling it outright either.
But yeah, if you're not even pulling a 10k + trailer, than you are only in it for the love of a diesel if you are still going to pay that premium to get one. There would be absolutely no other reason to get the diesel at that point (well, except resale).
But I like diesels so much, I would probably go out of my way to get a big trailer just to justify having a diesel if I didn't already have my toy hauler. LOL.

 

I did a cost-benefit analysis on diesel vs gas with a buddy a few years back, because we could. The diesel never paid for itself with our gas prices in Missouri, based on our number. If we swayed it to be in favor of diesel, we could get it down to paying itself off in 80,000 miles. At the time, a gas engine with a CNG upfit paid itself off faster, though gas and diesel have dropped since then.

I went with gas for a couple reasons...
I don't tow heavy often, so I don't need the extra power
From my perspective... the diesels with DEF are starting to reach higher reliability numbers, but still aren't what they used to be
I'm comfortable with and have used gas engines for a long time
I wanted the ability to do the CNG upfit (requires the $350 CNG/Propane prep package)
I don't buy a truck with the intention to trade it in.

I have towed a bit with my new truck and do not regret my decision at all. I'm also not scared of an engine turning 3-4K. If I were pulling the tractor around every day I'd go diesel, but I'm not.

Final thought.... if you're getting an SRW, I don't even think you get any real benefit with the diesel, so not sure I'd ever recommend an SRW diesel. I'd have to look again.

 

Don't forget in most places the price per gal of diesel is usually more than the price per gal of gas...so although your mpg is better, how much are you really saving?? I ran the numbers before ordering my '17 and at today's prices after 100k miles, I would only save $4,000 in fuel. So it would take 200,000 miles of driving just to break even on the additional cost of buying the diesel, not to mention the additional repair and maintenance cost.....and that's assuming the diesel gets an avg of 18mpg and the gas gets 12mpg.

 

Bought my 08 in 2012 with 65k miles on it. I am trading it in on a 17 and will be getting $22k on trade. So I ended up getting way more than half back after 4 1/2 years and 60k additional miles.
I definitely don't agree with the first part of your post, it's much more than speeding up a mountain without high revs and sound (heck, you can't even hear these motors anymore, so I'm not sure what you're referring to there).
If I tried pulling any of my trailers with a 6.2, I would easily wear that motor out, they are too heavy for that motor. Plus, I can only imagine the drop in gas mileage while pulling a 43' fifth wheel in ANY terrain, let alone hills or mountains.
Oh, and you can forget about using an exhaust brake on the backside of that mountain on the descent.

 

Just went thtu the drill. My needs changed thought I could get by with a gasser. Then it came down to guns...better to have and not need than need and not have. So my 4th truck I ordered will be a diesel like the others.

 

A lot of good info, but the decision is a lot like 4wheel drive. Don't need it till you need it. Good luck.