Class A Diesel vs Gas?

[Suncruiser05]

I know this question has been asked MANY times but given today's environment and technology I am reposting this question. I know the price gap between gas and diesel is not insignificant, the diesel chassis has more storage and weight capability, the life of a diesel is longer, the pulling and climbing power on a diesel is greater....so does it boil down to what fits each person's specific needs?

[bluwtr49]

Captain_Happy wrote:
How deep are your pockets? And one thing to consider is the cost of Diesel fuel these days. do the math, you'll figure it out.

I'm not convinced you need that deep of pockets to support the cost of diesel on a trip. In most cases a DP will get slightly better mileage, about 1.0 to 1.2 or so and even with a $0.60 difference (which is a lot) the difference in fuel cost is probably less than $200.00 over a 5,000 mile trip.

Hardly enough to matter when you look at the generally accepted upsides to a DP.

Buy in cost difference, yea that can be significant but it's stretching to worry about fuel cost.

[supercub]

Just because a DP has air ride suspension DOESN"T mean it has a good ride. I had a motorhome on the Roadmaster R4R and it rode 10 times worse then my current gas Workhorse Chassis. I also owned a 40' DP on a Sparten Chassis and it rode very nicely........so my recommendation, rather a Gas or Diesel.......test drive......and then test drive it some more.....on all sorts of surfaces.
Brian

[tgr2975]

Since my truck was totaled a little over 3 years ago I had to make the gas or diesel motorhome. Tiffin makes a gas and diesel with a floor plan we liked. For me it came down to cost. I can buy a lot of gas for the difference in cost. After 3 seasons I still think I made the right decision for us.

[tinkerer]

One thing I have observed is most gasser owners know more about diesel MH's that diesel MH owners. The same thing about diesel owners who know more about gasser MH's than gasser MH owners. I say drive both of them, choose the floor plan that suits you, buy one that suit's your budget, and make up your own mind. I own a diesel pusher and wouldn't have anything else, but that's just me.

[BillMFl]

Happy owner of a 38' gasser. Paid cash. Money not an issue. If I fulltimed probably would have spent another 100k for DP. With only 8k miles in two years a DP would have been a waste of money for me. Verona eh? Grew up in Madison. Have not been back in many years. UW grad. Great area.

[waltfire]

I will be buying a new challenger gasser. I am a fulltimer and I like their floor plan and the fact it's 37 ft. I hear a lot folks talk about the ride, comfort, and silence of driving down the road in a DP. However with only a few exceptions, I plan on moving only about 300-400 miles when driving and stay about a month each stop. Just my opinion but those big heavy diesels were meant to be driven like over the road truckers, not sitting in parks for 75% of their life, plus repair cost are much more, as is buying the fuel. I've seen a lot of really nice DP's 7,8, to 10 years old with less than 50,000 miles which brings me back to I probably need a really nice gasser.

[Captain_Happy]

How deep are your pockets? And one thing to consider is the cost of Diesel fuel these days. do the math, you'll figure it out.

[Executive45]

Riding in a DP is like sitting in first class on an airplane...very little noise, you can actually have a normal conversation.....Dennis

[Goldencrazy]

Air ride for 500 bucks may help but I have Kelderman air ride and it works very well but you need to add a zero to that number. It integrates with the springs and makes a big difference. My coach is only a 30 ft and basically too light for its suspension. The 22.5 tires on a 33 foot coach with more weight make a big difference. You can modify the gas to make it a lot better but the DP is the cadillac ride.

[tatest]

Although some options appear from time to time with smaller front engine diesel chassis, and gassers are pushing toward 26,000 pounds where DPs start, what it really boils down to is HOW BIG.

A motorhome fitting a chassis 24,000 pounds down to about 14,000 GVWR is gong to be gas. 26,000 pounds on up, it is diesel. 6,000 to 12,000 pounds, you might have to make a choice, but that is mostly outside the type A market in North America. Diesel dominates under 8000 pounds in most of the rest of the world, whether the truck is hauling a house or a load of bread or flowers.

[Gjac]

If this were an easy question to answer it would not be asked so often. If you can figure out how you will use it (your camping style) that will get you closer to the answer. Do you want a small MH to get in and out of state parks,NF CG's for short stays or do you plan to live in it for 6 mos or more out of the year in RV parks? I have 2 friends that have purchased 3 new MH's each in the last 8 years since I retired. Each had advantages and advantages. Each lost a lot of money in depreciation trying to find the perfect MH. Both have offered to sell there 38 ft gas Tiffin and a 40 ft Tiffin bus DP for a good price. I just did not what any thing that big because of my camping style and how I would use it. Now if they were 30 -34 ft DP that had the power of the gas chassis in the same size I would consider it. If you can figure out how you would use it you will be much happier with you decision and spend less money in the process.

[rvten]

Depends on your pocket book.
What fits your needs.
Have had several gasser class A's.
I could never justify a diesel unless I drive a lot of miles every year.

[Luna_C]

The thing we did to answer that question was to seriously consider how we would use the thing. If we were only going to camp within an hour to 2-hours drive from us or if we would cross the nation. Then we talked about frequency of use. i.e. if we were only going to camp within a couple of hours drive from us once a month, 3 times a summer, or every weekend. Then came duration of camping...2 day weekend trip, 1 week trip, 3 weeks at a time, 6 months at a time? Once we got down to really looking at how we would use it the decision became as clear as the mississippi river. We knew that we would probably camp in our state's CGs so the drive would not be long...Not a long drive equaled gas......we knew too that we would probably stay at least 4 days so not too many supplies meant not too much cargo carrying capacity so gas again. So for us a Gas MH was just the ticket.......So we bought a DP..go figure

[Cbones]

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
Driveability. Air brakes, engine or exhaust break, Allison transmission, excellent cruise control, We've done 100,000 Kilometers on a gasser and 140,000Kilometers on our DP. No comparison. I was much more tired after a day's driving the Gasser. And it was a nice rig.

Exact same response I would give. I can drive my DP all day long and not be tired. It is so quiet with the engine 40 feet behind you, it almost feels like it has an electric motor.