Still don’t see the allure of a diesel, unless your pulling a stock trailer or 5th wheel constantly...
It’s all about fuel mileage. I have a buddy with a new GM 1/2 ton with the baby Dura Max and another buddy with a new Ram 1500 Eco Diesel. Getting 25-30 mpg if you drive a lot of miles throughout the year is pretty damn nice. Add to that that Diesel has been cheaper than gas around here this year, what’s not to like.
When I bought my 1999 dodge diesel the price of diesel was 30 cents a gallon less than unleaded and the truck got 22 mpg vs about 14 for an equivalent gasser. You could count on about 150,000 miles out of a gasser and my cummins is still running like new at 400,000 miles. At that time I drove about 40,000 mostly highway miles a year. I pulled with mine some, but most of the miles were running around empty. At the time it was far, far cheaper to drive than any gas truck on the road. That truck was one of most economical vehicles to drive I've ever had.
Fast forward to now and the new 3/4 ton and one ton diesels get about 14-15 mpg and diesel fuel has been anywhere from .25 cents to a buck more than unleaded ever since they switched to ULSD. In my area, east central MS, diesel right now is still about 30 cents more than unleaded.
At one time it was a LOT cheaper to drive a diesel pickup than a gasser, the EPA has ruined that. To most people a couple of MPG difference doesn't matter much, but to someone that drives 40-45K a year like me it makes a real difference, close to a thousand dollars a year difference for 2 mpg in a truck. Multiply that over the years and it adds up. It matters enough to me that I have a Camry I drive 95% of the time so I don't have to drive the Tundra. It gets 38 mpg which to my calculations saves me about $4000 a year in fuel costs vs. driving the truck full time.
