Diesel Question for truck campers
I believe a diesel engine is the best for hauling a truck camper. With the price of diesel going up more each week is it still worth it? Just looking for opinions. Today in Canada a gallon ...
Forum Discussion
covered wagon wrote:
In the long run.....The money saved in mileage alone will pay for another new truck.
I'd say this is a bit of hyperbole.
You would have to drive a lot of miles for a lot of years with the TC ON, to make up a 50-60k savings AND offset the increased maintenance and pricing at the pump.
This past week, the overall average of ALL gasoline types and diesel prices, nationwide, was about .42/gallon difference. Some areas it's .60/gallon, some less.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_w.htm
Lets say a diesel gets 12 mpg with the TC on and a gasser gets 8. Driving 2k miles per year, a diesel would burn 166 gallons and the the gasser, 250 gallons. Doing the math, the gasser would cost only 190.00 a year more for fuel with the TC on. Half of that could probably be made up in two oil changes per year. Adding DEP fluid eats into the savings some more.
But we'll ignore the increased maintenance and DEP. How many years would it take to save enough to buy a brand new truck at 50-60k? At 50k, it would take 263 YEARS to buy a new truck, assuming the purchase price and the fuel pricing remained the same.
Let's say you drive three times that. We'll round up to 600.00 difference over 6k miles. Now, it would take you "only" 83 years to make up the difference, while driving with the TC.
Of course, there would be other miles w/o a TC driven that would reduce the years substantially further.........but the mpg gain would be less since gassers do much better when not hauling loads.
But paying for a brand new truck? I doubt it, especially with the cost of trucks these days.
A gasser could make sense for a guy who lives east of the Rockies and usually puts on less than 4k miles/year with the TC on the back. Especially if it is a TC under 3K lbs, which is probably the largest selling segment of the new TC market these days. A guy could probably get by with a 3.54 rear axle with a six speed and might get somewhere approaching 10-12 mpg with the TC and with a easy foot.
Some people just dont need 5k lbs on their back and dont need to roar up mountain passes at 70+ mph because they are offended by people passing them.
