Horsepower is horsepower?

wilber1 wrote:

Well for me it's all about being able to keep with traffic and not be a traffic block and still get good fuel mileage as a tv.I don't care how fast it will run the quarter, that's what I have my Vette for. My truck is 9 years old and will hold its own with ANY new truck gas or diesel. I don't plan on getting rid of it any time soon and if I want something new then I just add something new to it. To me a gas powered tv is not no where near as relaxing on the long hauls. JMO

Of the choices that are out there, diesels are the best TV's for heavier RV's but that doesn't mean they are the best solution for everyone towing or that the reason they are better is because they can make more power. There are other reasons, that's all I'm saying.

On other threads there are people going on about a 3.0 diesel with 240 hp and 420 lb ft not being enough power for a half ton towing 6K. What's that all about? I think it would be just about ideal.

I agree with you mostly. I look at it a little differently though. We know how the diesels pull the heavier loads compared to the gas trucks. Well the pull the 6000 pound high profile loads the same way.

A little example of what I'm talking about. My FIL bought a 24' pontoon a few years back (around 4500 pounds) and they wanted to go on a fishing trip with us to a lake that we frequent. I went to the dealership to pick his boat up and on the way back (on the back roads) he made the comment that his truck (2008 1500 Chevy 5.3 tow package) should pull the boat just fine by the way my truck pulled it. I told him it would do just fine but would work hard out on the interstates. The following weekend we hooked his boat to my truck and headed to the lake (100 miles on the interstate) for it's maiden voyage and to show him around the lake so he would know where he was going without me with him. I turned 16 MPG for the round trip (calculated by hand). The whole way there we never payed any attention to the boat behind us. The weekend after that was the trip we had planned. I was pulling my 5er with my boat and he followed with his truck and boat. After hitting the interstate he called me and said that the brakes must be dragging on the boat because it was pulling very hard. I laughed and told him that his boat trailer has no brakes. I told him to drop a gear and it would be fine. about 20 or so miles later and having to slow down so he would keep up he called me and said that the trans was warming up and the truck was still shifting a lot. His truck did great on the slow speed back roads but worked hard pulling the high profile boat on the interstate 60 and above. He returned 9 mpg on that trip.

The 3 liter 240hp will do fine but it will struggle on the interstates with a 6000# high profile. The 5 liter in the Nissan will do great.