Gas vs diesels

Yes gas is less expensive but most gas motor homes do not have the chassis that give you a nice ride. If you do your own maintenance you will save. The interior is what will sell you on a motor home - buy what your better half likes.

You will no doubt receive many and varied opinions on your post. If your RV lifestyle will involve logging high mileage on a coach, perhaps a diesel powered unit would be the best choice.

In our case we opted for a gas powered coach as we wouldn't be logging high mileage. Our travels average 5-6k miles annually spending 3+ months at any one location.

Insofar as we would be living in the coach more than traveling in it, we gave priority to a coach with a comfortable, livable floor plan that would best suit our needs.

Fortunately we found one in our 2000 gas powered coach we currently own which is now almost 17 years old with 91k miles and still in great shape.

Wishing you the best on your choice of a coach, and may you enjoy many fun, safe and trouble free journeys.

any post you receive saying that diesels are not more expensive will, in the fine print, say that they do their own maintenance. I think it has been about 50 years since I changed my own oil. ;)

bumpy

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that diesels are not more expensive. That's a new one on me.

To the OP. If you do a search, you'll find hundreds of posts on this very subject.

To answer your two statements...yes, diesels are more costly to maintain. Keep in mind, even the smaller diesels require at least 18 quarts of oil, large oil filter and in most cases two fuel filter. In addition, a very large air (and costly) air filter, hydraulic filter, water filter, and a host of other required maintenance items.
Even if you do you own maintenance, the cost of the oil/filters will be far more than a gas rig.

And....if it is maintained correctly, more than likely the diesel "engine/trans" will out last a gas engine/trans.

There are a host of other pro/cons that you need to consider and your best bet would be to do a search like I first mentioned.

Good luck in your quest.

Ron

For the vast majority of motorhomes, the relative longevity of the engine is irrelevant. Other parts (such as house stuff) generally wear out well before the drivetrain is worn out. The current Ford V10 engine and transmissions are quite reliable and long-lived if given proper basic maintenance.

For class A motorhomes, a diesel engine nearly always also implies a rear engine chassis, usually with air suspension, while a gas engine would be in a front engine chassis with leaf spring suspension. There are definite advantages to the former in terms of comfort when traveling, which technically have nothing whatsoever to do with the engine technology but still come along with it. (In other words, there's no inherent reason why one couldn't construct a rear engine gas powered motorhome with air suspension, or a front engine diesel unit, but they are both largely nonexistent.)

It really is hard to say 'gas vs. diesel' as you will not find heavy motorhomes with gas engines. So, the point is really moot when you are talking 40,000 lbs. and over.

Also, keep in mind that diesel motorhomes can go 25,000 miles between oil changes.

MM.

and if you plan on doing any mountain driving with a toad behind you might want to get a diesel. friend of mine had a gasser and he had to stop while going over the rockies and disconnect the toad and had his wife drive it over the mountain. most if not all the diesels are in the back of the coach thus less noise and heat while touring

??? The original poster never mentioned anything about over 40,000 pounds.....

When we were looking we found diesel MH's that were junk and gas MH's that were nice. Find one you like to live in that you can afford. Some gas units ride very nice if they have the right suspension. Some used diesel's are junk. Have fun looking.

Another thing here is that gasoline engines have came a long way in the last 15-20 years. Lets just take the big block Chevy offering from the 1990's through to when they stopped offering them in motorhomes in about 2009. In the early 1990's the Chevy motorhome engine was the throttle body injected version of the venerable Chevy 454 big block whose heritage traces back to the 1960's

The Throttle body 454 produced 230 HP and 385 ft lbs torque and was typically mated to a 4 speed automatic transmission

This was replaced by the Vortec 454, still the same basic block, but updated to modern fuel injection and ignition and achieved 290HP and 410 ft lbs of torque

In 2001 the venerable 454 big block engine was replaced by the all new 8.1 Vortec big block which was a substantially updated successor to the 454 designed for delivery truck use with an estimated 300,000 mile service life. The 8.1 put out 340 HP and 455 ft lbs of torque, initially the 8.1 was mated to a 4 speed transmission, but in later years it was found with 5 and even 6 speed transmissions.


So it is easy to see how someone with experience in a 1996 gasoline coach with a throttle body 454 producing 230HP could consider it under powered vs someone that owns a 2007 with a 340HP 8.1 mated to a 6 speed transmission could feel that it has plenty of power for a smaller class A even in the mountains.