diesel pickups

[TheKid]

I have an 02 F250 ext cab PSD 4X4 W/ 3.73 gears. With 57K on it I'm averaging just under 19 MPG combined city & hiway.

I wanted full size truck with an 8' bed that would get good milage and that would last me for 300K miles. That equals a diesel.

Maintanence runs a little more than a gasser. Oil change costs me $36 every 5K.

Not sure if they're crash tested of not. At 7500 lbs. I figure it will come out pretty good in a crash if I ever have one.

 

[buckle97]

<font color="blue"> The savings of driving a car instead of my truck would have to eat up the EXTRA cost of the insurance and taxes. </font>

I understand that you don't drive many miles per week, but I drive 160 miles per day commuting to work. I have a Dodge Ram gas truck but I bought a Ford Taurus to commute to work. My savings are easy to see, the following numbers are rounded:

Ram - 3500 miles @ 13mpg @ $1.93 = $520 per month
Taurus - 3500 miles @ 28mpg @ $1.93 = $241 per month

Taurus full coverage insurance = $380 every six months
Taurus taxes and tag = $320 every year

I incur an extra cost of $1,080 per year to own the Taurus.
I save an extra $3,348 per year in fuel with the Taurus.

That looks like a net savings of $2,268 per year. Maintenance on the two vehicles is similar in cost, so there is no reason to put that into the calculation.

Lawrence

 

[_RaT_]

Your right about the smell of diesel exhaust, at least when addressing those from the older diesels. My old 93 Ford non turbo IDI does not have a pleasant odor. It reminds me of BBQ lighter fluid burning off the charcoals. The new diesels to me are so much cleaner burning and continue to get cleaner. Between the quieter engines, the more power and MPG and the much cleaner burning diesels, they ofer a great alternative to almost any of their gas counterparts. If the need for towing or hauling is important, it may be the best solution. I haul some, tow little and would eventually like to downsize to something like a Tacoma size truck. I like the nimblenees of the vehicles and ability to park. As hard as my F250 extended cab is to park with a incredibly large turning radius, I cannot not imagine the drudgery of having a duel tire rear end. Some folks seem to need it, some folks just seem to want it. That I don't understand. Now if Toyota offerd their little truck in a diesel, that would be interesting.

 

[gsxr1100]

Rat, do not take me to the bank, but I read somewhere that Toyota was concepting with diesels.

 

[_RaT_]

I would like a compact with a diesel. Enough capacity to pull/handle a dump trailer.

 

[MikePA]

Perhaps my situation was a bit atypical. We had 2 vehicles, the truck (my vehicle) and a Geo Prizm (wife's car). The truck and the Prizm each had over 100,000 miles on them and my wife was looking to replace the Prizm. We got her a Turbo Beetle, kept the Prizm which I started to use for commuting, retiring the truck to temporary duty. Then both kids started driving, but that's a whole 'nuther story. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Dargo]

Almost all of the Toyota LandCruisers are diesel except here in the U.S. Toyota has the same diesel in their pickups across the pond as well.

 

[johnday]

Timber; I bought my 2001 F250 Stroker in Aug of 2000. I can't even come close to having another gasser. I've used a V10 of my brothers, it seems a marginal tow vehicle compared to diesel. Mileage? I'm not going to tell you that I get 20+ mpg, but I don't think the 17 I get with this truck is too shabby. I had a '99 F250, same truck I have now, except with the 5.4 litre. That was my biggest disappoint in any truck I ever had. That thing couldn't pull itself out of a mudpuddle. Terribly under powered. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif It was also a lot cheaper than a Stroker tho.

I guess it boils down to what you want a truck to do. The newer gas engines do a good job on mileage, but really suffer if you are going to drag any kind of a sizable load. Diesels unloaded get close to the same mileage, but you incur costs besides the initial outlay. Then again, they do last longer.

Also, I've never smelled a diesel I was driving, except for my TC.
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
One fun thing to do with a diesel. At stop lights, if you line your tailpipe up correctly with the stereo on wheels just behind and to the right, and goose it a little, you can usually get the jerk to roll up his window so you can hear that bad a$$ diesel's turbo when you blow him off. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Would "I" do that? OH YEAH!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Just buy what YOU like. Your the guy with the payments. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[TimberXX]

thanks for all the great advice guys... jezzz this site is great... I admit that i will be doing no hauling other than a canoe and some fishing gear... but i thought a diesel would be better for the long term... and with Tacoma's by me going for about 22k used with 18 mpg the upgrade to the diesel would be minimal... i was thinking that the truck would last about 1.5 times longer than the gas... is this correct? of course the engine would hold up... but does the rest of the truck keep up with the diesel? suspension, electrical, etc??

 

[Dargo]

If longevity is your goal, the Cummins diesel will last at least 3 to 4 times as long as your average gas engine. I've posted before that a guy a couple of miles from me has a '93 Cummins powered Dodge with 1.2 million miles on it and it has had not had the head off of it. And, since he hauls over the road year long, he always leaves it running all night when he stays in hotels during cold winter nights. Another guy that lives well out of town but works in town delivering concrete has a '94 Dodge with 780k on his without any problems. These are the norm for the Cummins engines. You can find thousands of examples of people with over 500k on their Cummins without a single issue. Most everyone gets tired of their Cummins powered Dodge before they can wear it out.