My 2011 Dodge Diesel is the first tow vehicle I've been satisfied with in regards to towing power, and engine braking.
About the only service I've found to run significantly higher is fuel filter costs. Diesel fuel runs a little more, but I get better gas mileage both towing and unloaded with the diesel than I did with a 2000 Dodge Dakota with a 4.7, used primarily just to tow a 4k boat. The Diesel tows an 8k TT amoungst the other toys.
Pas gasser vehicles are numerous, with the first truck I owned being a 49 international PU. Later trucks have had anything from hopped up 2.8L engines to 460's, all of which were somewhat underpowered for towing and got terrible gas mileage while doing so. They would do fine on the flats, but I do a lot of mountain passes, and even the fuel injected naturally asperated engines struggle, especially at altitude. The high RPM's you need to run to pull hard also tend to lead to overheating if you don't watch it even with highly modified cooling systems.
