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

Taco wrote:
If you look at all the diesel vs gas posts not just on this thread but all of them you will notice something. The diesel guys always talk about how happy the diesel makes them feel, or how they can't stop grinning. They talk about their truck with emotion. The gas guys generally talk more about cost of ownership and potential repair costs. The gas guys rarely talk about their feeling toward their trucks.

I think this really separates the two. I look at vehicles as "equipment" not as status symbols not as something that makes me happy or stokes my ego. I look at what it costs to purchase, own, and will it do what I need it to do, meaning get me, my family, my toyhauler, and misc hauling where I need it to go at a reasonable rate of speed and safety.

I think I may very well be more smiley or amused with a diesel towing than a gas truck but I don't look for amusement out of "equipment" it is just a tool. A means to an end. There is no one that can say that my gas truck won't put my 10k worth of load on top of every public paved highway hill that a diesel will. it might not win EVERY race that I don't know I'm in with some coal roller that has something to prove.

But as a purchaser of equipment I cannot justify the initial purchase cost, ongoing vehicle tax liability and potential elevated repair costs that a diesel brings.

If you have the money and want a diesel or think the smiley factor is important to you get a diesel. If you just want to get the job done as economically as possible and tow less than 12-14k lbs I would seriously consider gas.

That's a very good point Taco. Something for one may not be that something for another. I have a mixture of trucks that I take care of at work and the gas trucks do just fine. The diesel trucks are the trucks that are heavily loaded 100% of the time and pull very heavy loads. I'm not saying that the gas trucks won't preform the job, it's just that the diesel trucks seem to take the abuse that these guys put them through better. You have to remember that these guys are driving trucks that don't cost them anything out of their pockets so they don't try and take care of them. I don't cut my personal trucks any slack either. The gas trucks I've owned just wouldn't hold up. I was always working on them.