Fuelly mileage of the big three diesels

32vld wrote:



Spending more money so you can resell used for more money is bad financial
planning. Years ago I was on a landscape forum where people pulled trailers
all the time.

Many were pro diesel. They could not see past that diesels had more torque.

They ignored that diesels cost more to repair and do maintenance.
They ignored that that the weight of their trailer, 48", 36", and 21" mowers, a back
back blower, line trimer, stick edger, gas cans weighed 2,000 lbs
They ignored that many of them of drove 5,000 miles a year to do their route.
They ignored that 90% of the driving was local low speed roads, not high speed
highways.

They ignored doing the math. They just recited diesels got better MPG.

Just taking the difference between the high purchase price for a diesel, diesel fuel
costs more than gas, combine these with driving 10,000 miles a year it would take
the diesel with better MPG to reach the break even point 10 years for the diesel
to paid back that higher purchase price.

How many people drive towing a camper, carrying a truck camper 10,000 miles
a year? I bet most people RV on the 500 - 1,000 miles a year.

A 100 year payback to reach the break even point is not worth it. To me a 10 year
payback/break even point is not worth it.

So everyone who spends more money on higher trim options, 4wd, or premium engine options gets no value out of it and it is just bad financial planning? Huh.

My company has over 500 trucks in our fleet across 120+ dealerships nationwide. We analyze the cost of every vehicle for future buying decisions and budgeting. The total cost of ownership difference between gas and diesel trucks is generally less than $2000 even those is states with high diesel prices such as our California. In locations where the price difference between gas and diesel fuel is lower such as our Texas locations, diesel trucks actually ends up being the cheaper option. Hence the reason I have said multiple times in the past for people to do the numbers for themselves because the fuel costs, taxes, resale values, and so on will not be the same.

People often ignore a lot of things like the factor that even though the oil/fuel filter change on my Cummins cost $150 and the oil change for a 6.4L gas engine like my truck is $80, they ignore the fact that the 6.4L requires the oil changed at 8k instead of the 15k on my truck. They also ignore the fact that by the time most expensive items like turbos and injectors need to be replaced on my Cummins at 350k, the 6.4L engine will be long past its life.

So lets put your argument to a gas half ton engine upgrade like going from a base 3.3L to a 5.0L which costs $1,995 up front. The 5.0L gets about 2-3 mpg worse fuel economy than the 3.3L and it has a higher maintainenance cost so that the cost of ownership keeps increasing the longer you own it. The same holds true for almost every gas engine option upgrade in half tons yet I never hear any of the half ton guys talk about talk about a payback or break even point like the 3/4 and 1 ton gasser guys do when trying to justify their purchase.