Why are there so few Fr.E.D.?

Groover wrote:

Mile High wrote:

DrewE wrote:
The main chassis supplier for gas class A motorhomes is Ford, and they don't offer a diesel version.

I rather doubt there would be as much of a performance difference between the gas and the diesel version if they did offer one as some here would assume. It's unlikely that the diesel would be a lot more powerful, though it would presumably run at a lower RPM (and, of course, have a higher torque at that RPM to get the same power) and so sound different. Being turbocharged, it would also not lose power at altitude to anywhere near the degree that the normally aspirated gas engines do. On the other hand, the diesel would likely weigh more.

In my opinion, the main advantages of rear engine diesel motorhomes have little if anything to do with the diesel part and a great deal more to do with the rear engine (and air suspension/brake) parts. One might equally well ask why rear engine gas motorhomes are so rare.

You must be kidding. I used to be a skeptic of diesel even back when buying pickups to pull. My daughter put me in powerstroke 7.3 and it was a whole new world. You just can't compare the advantages to the low end torque and turbo until you put yourself behind the wheel and tow. The new powerstrokes have more HP than my 8.9 DP, nearly as much torque! They are rockets!

To your point my F150 EcoBoost has 20% more rated hp than my DP (365 vs 300) and I am not nearly as aware of how hard it is working than I was with either my 460 or V10. Between the extra power and weight savings I would love to try an EcoBoost with the 10 speed transmission in place of my diesel just to see what it would do but I know that I will never have that opportunity.