I have owned a Chevy 6.5 diesel, 2- Dodge 24v diesels and a Ford 7.4 powerstroke. I used to tow heavy loads everyday long miles in the mountains. The powerstroke was a joke, that thing could hardly get out of it's own way and ate a/t for lunch at $5k a pop, fug that. The first Dodge has a 5 sp manual and was a workhorse with virtually no problems for the 100k I drove it. The 2nd Dodge was an automatic and ate tranny's like the powerstroke. The Chevy 6.5 was my favorite, most don't think much of them but mine was powerful, trouble free, comfortable and fun to drive, it only lasted 300k though.
I no longer pull heavy loads on a regular basis and am happy with a gasser. Hell I could replace the whole motor for the price of a diesel injector rebuild. My 6.0 chevy gets 16mpg and starts on cold mornings. It gets 8-10 mpg towing and the fuel cost less.
I wish Chevy would bring back the 8.1 big block , I would buy one. The new Ford 7.3 looks pretty good and may convince me to try a Ford again, after giving them a couple of years to work the bugs out and prove itself.
