Diesel vs gas......................

Good natured counter points:

And some good natured counter-counter points

Higher initial cost is recovered in about 60k on fuel savings, and at resale you will come out ahead.

Are you quite sure about that? Or did you maybe fudge the diesel mpg up and the gasoline mpg down? Do you come out ahead at resale if you buy another diesel? It seems to me that you only recoup that upfront cost if you don't buy a replacement vehicle. Or can you claim that credit if you replace the diesel with a gasser?

More oil changes? Dodge recommends every 15,000 miles, for severe use 7,500. I spend 50 bucks every 7,500 miles. Not bad in my book.

I change my oil, all six quarts of it, and filter for about $15 every 5000 miles. Even better in my (check)book. And I only change fuel and air filters, for another $20, once a year.

No glow plugs, never had to replace an injector on my two diesels. My 94 had a starter solenoid go bad at 140k, but other than that just fluids, tires and brakes. New truck has incured no extra costs in 30k.

I'm glad to hear your diesel has lasted 30,000 miles. Were you worried? My '92 F-150 302, as mentioned above went 233,000 miles with only 2 seals replaced. (And many, many oil changes....) Some last, some don't. But nobody can argue that the diesel is cheaper to fix if it doesn't.

Newer diesels (at least our Dodge) start easily in cold temps. Started ours at 10 below w/o waiting for the heater grid light to go off.

I'm willing to call that a wash. My gas engine isn't ever hard to start in cold weather either. What's a heater grid? I just jump in and turn the key.

Fuel gelling is easily fixed with addative when in extreme cold temps.

Can't comment here. Never added anything to my fuel or coolant to keep the engine working.

Yes, the engines are heavier. This is to be expected in an engine designed for 2-5 times longer life span and making more TQ.

Is it heavier for a longer life span? Or is it heavier because the peak cylinder pressure is higher? Where on earth did the 5 times longer come from, anyway? Maybe we're fudging diesels up and gassers down again? Even if they lasted twice as long you could buy a whole new engine to replace the worn out gasser for the extra cost. And you wouldn't have to pay for it up front. That cost would be deferred at least 200,000 miles.

To each their own. I have owned many gas vehicles and two diesel ones. Who knows, maybe one day I will drive a gasser again.

And some day I might have a diesel. I don't have anything against diesels and if it makes sense next time I'm in the market I'll buy one.

Beauty is in the eye of the key holder.

Absolutely!!!

This post isn't meant to be a slam against you personally or diesels in general. I've always said that diesels have their place. And sometimes that place is under the hood of a privately owned pickup. They make perfect cents (sic) for the over the road truckers, beacuse they are all about life cycle cost and making money. Very few of us, me included, put 75,000+ miles a year on a vehicle and accumulate fuel bills that dwarf the monthly truck payment. For them a couple mpg is HUGE. For me, it's really not that big of a deal. I had enough money for a diesel so I have money for gasoline. We, for the most part don't care if the vehicle will last 1,000,000 miles because we're not keeping them nearly that long anyway. We'll get tired of it and want something new, or we'll see the next year model has a 5-valve tri-turbo 1000 lb-ft engine that runs on bacon grease and we have to have it. Even here on RV.net when you look at the signatures you rarely see a tow vehicle that's more than five years old.

Happy travels!