Gas or Diesel?? which is better

soren wrote:
If you use the transmission properly, on any of the Ford gas chassis built built in the last 15 years, you can decend the biggest mountains in North America with both feet on the floor. As in cold brakes, and no drama at the bottom of the grade.

Soren, you are correct in that the V10-transmission combo does an excellent job however, your description is a bit misleading from my experience in our previous V10 powered motor home. We travel the western US Rocky Mountains extensively and our former V10 still needed a bit of proper snub braking coupled with proper transmission selection navigating some of the more aggressive grades. "Keeping both feet on the floor" all the way down would have been interesting!:E

I am not even going to try to compare gas vs. DP other than to say, our current DP with a multi-stage compression brake gets the job done. Huge difference in braking performance of the two. Different machines that still took us wherever we wanted go, just different ways to go about it.

Like the Aussies say. One or tother, either one will drive you batty.

vadertime wrote:
The new rig's rear wheels are 6 feet further back and the front wheels are 3 feet further forward. So, this a 9 foot difference in wheelbase on a rig which is only 6 feet longer.

I have always noticed that on diesel pushers, there is much less overhang behind the back wheels. I always assumed it was because of the heavy diesel engine sitting right at the end of the motorhome. On a gas class A (at least on mine) the engine is basically sitting on top of the front axle.

Gator, it's funny you mentioned wheelbase. Yesterday while working on adding an additional 10 foot fresh water hose extension I noticed where my old Bounder's wheels were parked. The new rig's rear wheels are 6 feet further back and the front wheels are 3 feet further forward. So, this a 9 foot difference in wheelbase on a rig which is only 6 feet longer. However, the Bounder was listed as just under 18K lbs and this rig is listed at just under 28K lbs. Also, having the engine and transmission in the back might also account for the wheels being further back and thus the longer wheelbase. Yes, having owned many pickup trucks in the past, I know how longer wheelbases can improve the ride and handling. Good point.

vadertime wrote:
I gotta agree with Ranger Smith. It was like night and day between my 30 ft Gas Bounder and my 36 ft Diesel Crescendo. I love everything about my diesel Crescendo especially the Cat C7 - it rumbles with authority. Additionally, this is most likely my final RV as I prepare for retirement. My neighbors in the park also liked the sound of the Cat when I pulled into the spot where I had my old gas Bounder:B

Some of the ride depends on the wheelbase. You mentioned a 30' vs a 36'. Most diesels are 35+ feet long and have longer wheelbases. I have two Jeep wranglers (2 door and a 4 door). The 4 door has a wheelbase almost 2 feet longer and it rides much better than my 2 door. It's like driving a totally different vehicle. Other than that, the two Jeeps are exactly the same.

I have noticed that some of the Class A gas motorhomes in the 30-35' range have pretty small wheel bases compared to the length of the motorhome. Lots of tail behind the back wheels. Most diesels I see have much longer wheelbases compared to their length vs a gasser.

My 37' gasser rides well. I really have no complaints. I just recently took it to get some work done and a friend of mine rode to the dealership with me. He used to have a diesel class A and he was surprised at how nice the ride was in the Miramar. All Class A gassers are not created the same.

I gotta agree with Ranger Smith. It was like night and day between my 30 ft Gas Bounder and my 36 ft Diesel Crescendo. I love everything about my diesel Crescendo especially the Cat C7 - it rumbles with authority. With less than 60K miles on this 2004 rig, this is most likely my final RV as I prepare to enter retirement in the next few years. My neighbors in the park also liked the sound of the Cat when I pulled into my lot where I had the Bounder:B

Sorry, but I'm just not buying the alledged "fact" that ride and handling on a gasser is somehow a deal breaker. I have put 60K + on our gasser, which was our second rig, following a Winny Journey Diesel, and I'll repeat. The claims made that "OMG, every gasser rides like a farm wagon, and shakes itself apart in a few years" are seriously over blown. Sure a diesel rides nicer. It'a also tremedously more expensive, costs a lot more to maintain, and suffers from horrendously stupid depreciation. Nobody needs a motorhome, but a reasonably priced, used gasser is at least a way to not end up losing ten or fifteen thousand a year in depreciation, and end up with a perfectly reliable, comfortable RV that rides and drives just fine.

For those of you that say,"I'm not comfortable with a used MH, who knows what will break?" All I can say is talk to anybody that has a new MH, and is being honest about what a trip through hell that can be. Every year we meet folks who are trying to get through a full snowbird winter in their new rig, without going postal, or wearing the thing out on the countless trips back and forth to a dealer, who may or may not be sucessful in repairing the piece of junk they bought. Sadly, my eleven year old Winnebago is several magnitudes more reliable than some of the high volume garbage from the big two, that I've watched folks suffer with lately.

Most Gas Engines are "Up Front" and thus there is nore engine noise but frankly at Idle I can almnost hear my 8.1L (Well almost not hear it) and I've had issues where my ears heard the problem before any other indication showed up. that said My wife sitting beside me, could NOT hear the problem. But I've been listening to gas engines for like 50 years (At the time) Longer now.

Diesels are generally designed for very long haul, Gas engines may or may not be (I once drove a Gas SEMI tractor, Ford 8000 Gas Conventional).

But Diesels are also 2x the price.

My recommendation is "What you are comfortable with".. Though I have driven both Gas and Diesel vehicles,, I'm most comfortable with gas. and that's what I Own.

Ranger Smith wrote:
Then you never owned a diesel. Ours was like night and day. Nothing moves around in our Diesel. The gasser was a Tiffin and every time you took a corner with a slight dip everything was on the floor.

I have never owned a diesel but I have ridden in several. Yes, the diesels did ride better but I don't think they ride that much better than my Miramar. I have never had anything fall on the floor with our gasser. I just read all these horror stories about how bad gassers ride and that's just not the case with ours. I rented a class C one time that road terrible but I am very happy with the ride of our Miramar.

MetalGator wrote:

soren wrote:
I've owned both. IMHO, the "horrible handling and ride" of a gasser, is a silly, and over dramatized claim.

I agree. I am very happy with the handing and ride of my gasser.

Then you never owned a diesel. Ours was like night and day. Nothing moves around in our Diesel. The gasser was a Tiffin and every time you took a corner with a slight dip everything was on the floor.