JimRB
Veteran Member
Quote "Not trying to save $200 a week, but if I can get double the milage or more per tank is like too. Plus I'm towing 6000-10,500 every week" That is a lot of miles for a regular pickup. That could be over 500,000 miles a year. You would be buying a new truck every year as most gas engines don't last more than a million miles without a major rebuild. I see lots of gas vehicles running fine with 300,000 in the south but not many with 600,000 miles. If you meant to say 600-1000 miles a week that is another story as I do over 30,000 miles a year in my VW TDI. The extra maintenance I do is a timing belt every 100,000 miles but every VW of that vintage gets a timing belt so that is a wash. New injectors every 200,000 miles if I am fussy. That might not be a wash as I do not know how long gas injectors last.
Someone in another group mentioned buying a Nissan Leaf to thumb his nose at the oil companies. Based on the amount of driving he did, the price of fuel, the price of insurance, the price of electricity, over a 5 year span I figured he would spend a $100 a month to say "Screw you oil companies." In other words my math said it would be cheaper to keep driving his gas hog Honda. Seems silly that a Honda gets less than 20 mpg.
Formula could be simple: gas fuel consumed in dollars minus diesel fuel consumed in dollars times years you want to keep "new to you" truck divided by premium you paid to get the "new to you" truck.
G$-D$x60 (5years)/$5000. A really new diesel truck premium is more like $7800 for the Cummins engine and $500 or 2650 for an automatic. Used trucks have depreciated some of that premium. My 2004 2500 Cummins was half the price of its new sticker price with 100,000 miles on it.
Basic assumption is a diesel gets 40% better mileage. Your mileage may vary. Not necessarily the formula I used.
8,000 miles a week at 8 mpg = 1,000 gallons at $3.79 gallon mid grade gas.
8,000 miles a week at 12 mpg = 667 gallons of diesel at $3.79. Diesel is the same price as mid grade. My little Toyota would not tow quietly with mid grade, it needed premium.
$3790 gas - $2527 diesel is $1279 a week in fuel savings. I would have assumed that someone who drove that many miles a week would not be driving a gas powered vehicle. Now if it was 800 miles a week then you only save $130 a week or $7800 over 5 years plus if the truck did not rust our you still have residual value premium when you sell the 5 year old diesel truck. The torque of a diesel is nice for towing and might be quieter than listening to a gas engine at 3000 rpms towing.
Someone in another group mentioned buying a Nissan Leaf to thumb his nose at the oil companies. Based on the amount of driving he did, the price of fuel, the price of insurance, the price of electricity, over a 5 year span I figured he would spend a $100 a month to say "Screw you oil companies." In other words my math said it would be cheaper to keep driving his gas hog Honda. Seems silly that a Honda gets less than 20 mpg.
Formula could be simple: gas fuel consumed in dollars minus diesel fuel consumed in dollars times years you want to keep "new to you" truck divided by premium you paid to get the "new to you" truck.
G$-D$x60 (5years)/$5000. A really new diesel truck premium is more like $7800 for the Cummins engine and $500 or 2650 for an automatic. Used trucks have depreciated some of that premium. My 2004 2500 Cummins was half the price of its new sticker price with 100,000 miles on it.
Basic assumption is a diesel gets 40% better mileage. Your mileage may vary. Not necessarily the formula I used.
8,000 miles a week at 8 mpg = 1,000 gallons at $3.79 gallon mid grade gas.
8,000 miles a week at 12 mpg = 667 gallons of diesel at $3.79. Diesel is the same price as mid grade. My little Toyota would not tow quietly with mid grade, it needed premium.
$3790 gas - $2527 diesel is $1279 a week in fuel savings. I would have assumed that someone who drove that many miles a week would not be driving a gas powered vehicle. Now if it was 800 miles a week then you only save $130 a week or $7800 over 5 years plus if the truck did not rust our you still have residual value premium when you sell the 5 year old diesel truck. The torque of a diesel is nice for towing and might be quieter than listening to a gas engine at 3000 rpms towing.
Or 7.3 days
