The only additional maintenance is the fuel filter, mine takes 5 minutes to change and costs $14 every 15K miles. Other than that there's no additional maintenance, I don't know where some of these guys come up with that BS.
Dodge builds a great truck. The truck itself is as least as good as any Ford and better than GM/Chevy. The cummins motor is superior to all others. My dodge is a 1999 2500 regular cab, it has 375K miles on it now and while it's a little beat up from all the abuse over the years, everything still works and I wouldn't hesitate to jump in it tomorrow and pull the gooseneck across the country with it.
So your telling us that there is no more regular maintenance that needs to be done on a diesel truck compared to a gas truck? That's not what my best friend tells me about his 97 F350 PS.
On my 06 cummins powered ram my maintenance intervals have been:
7500 oil filter and 1qt oil to top off
15,000 oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, replace engine oil, and diff oil.
30,000 oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, replace engine oil, diff oil, x-fer case oil and transmission fluid.
I replaced the coolant at 75,000.
Fuel injected gas trucks vehicles really should have their fuel filters changed more frequently, but it's typically a PITA job vs. a diesel truck. I can't see the typical diesel light duty truck requiring more frequent or more extensive maintenance, unless the engine has been hot rodded and the owner is wearing out parts more frequently.
I have had no problems opperating in the cold, I do plug the truck in to warm up the engine and batteries in sub zero temps, but it will start to below zero while not plugged in. I've driven plenty of ford diesel trucks on the slope over the past decade and they work fine down to -40, but take forever to warm up at those temps even with a high rate idle. I have heard of some trucks loosing trannies due to seals that shrank at -45F and let out the fluid. Trannies with no fluid don't last long. The main thing I've noticed with the oil field trucks is ~80,000 miles of gravel roads simply shake them loose.
If you're regularly pulling a load, diesel is the way to go.
