Gas/Diesel Payload trade off
This parallels a post I just made (the answer to which was, bascially, hey dummy, get a 1 -ton). I get that diesel is a better performer under load (and I am not trying to start a gas versus diesel d...
Forum Discussion
serpa4 wrote:
I'm not giving up my Diesel, but it cost freaking .65 more per gallon in Columbia, SC.
3.65/13mpg=.28 per mile
2.99/8mpg=.37 per mile
I guess about 70,000 to 80,000 miles to pay for the $7K option of a diesel in fuel savings.
If you truck is a daily driver, diesel.
If your truck is only for camping, 70,000 miles for a non-full timer is a long time. I have about 68,0000 on my truck and it's pretty much used to haul my TC or boat only. So, it's been about 7 years and it hasn't paid for itself yet.
Assuming you are within the weight ratings, this is the bottom line. It's a simple financial calculation. Assuming you aren't also pulling a heavy trailer, the base V8 will provide plenty of power even in the mountains.
You do need to split out the miles and MPG you expect to run empty. My V10 F250 gets 14mpg running around town. The prior 7.3 F250 gets 20mpg, which will result in much different numbers from your example unless you never run empty.
I believe the diesel is more like a $10k option but haven't priced them lately and I think you are using lower than typical fuel prices going forward which will shrink the difference.
Now if you have a 5k lb camper and are pulling a 10k horse trailer, that's a different ball game and the extra power of a diesel in mountainous terrain can really be of benfit but the big gas engines will handle it too.
