Chris Sunkin

On maintenance- let's take the Ford. A filter for their gas V-8 is under $4. Same for the fuel filter. Ford's 6.0 diesel filter is about $40 and the pair of fuel filters is about $65. I change fuel's every other oil change. Air filter- $10 for gas, $55 for diesel. Oil- 6 qts. vs 4 gallons. Purolator now makes the oil filter for about $22 but I won't use them until the 100K warranty is up. At the same time, we spend about nothing in motor parts whereas the gas motors are (were- they're all gone) constantly apart.

I'm in N. Ohio and it gets pretty cold. I've never not had the 6.0 start- even below zero. Never once has it been plugged in. Same with our shop trucks- all Cat's and Int'l. We keep them in top shape and buy fuel at high-volume outlets exclusively. With fuel additives, we've never had a no-start. In fact, in 5 years, we've missed 1/2 day to cold- a frozen line on an air brake system.

Chris Sunkin

On fuel- here, it's $2.59 for unleaded and $2,99 for diesel. last month, diesel had a 20 cent advantage.

CigDaze

Not to argue, but I've owned a 2002 F-250 V-10 for 3 years. I've now owned my 2005 6.0LPS F-250 for 2 years.....maintenance is costing me about double on the diesel.

Have you checked out www.fleetfilter.com ??? if not, you should check it out, great prices on filters and such.

2003-2007 Ford 6.0 Diesel
42731 2731 Air Filter $37.93
33899 3899 Fuel Filter $42.09
57314 7314 Oil Filter $15.31
57702 7702 Transmission Filter $10.80

And Canada's a LOT colder than Ohio. Lot's of folks on www.fordtrucks.com can tell you some stories about Canadian diesels.

CigDaze

That blows! It's about a $0.10 spread here.

Jassman

same thing here .10 difference.

Audiofn

IMO if you do not tow a lot then stay gas. The additional cost of the truck, the additional cost of repairs, the additional cost of maintenance and so on is almost impossible to make up. Remember unless you get 0 percent financing you will be paying interest on that extra 5-6 grand. Deisle for us up north over the last few years has been keeping pace with super unleaded so there goes your milage advantage because you can put regular in all the trucks now. Oh ya since you live in the great white north then plan on a decent addition to your electric bill so that you can plug it in.

Jon

dukenrock

I love my Cummins....

wannabe

Jeff:

GM's get better gas mileage than Fords in the gas engines.

You have to drive a diesel at least 150k miles (not km) to make up for the extra costs and get the benefit of the diesel mpg.

The real question is do you need 4wd- if you get lots of snow where you live in Canada- than you do.

Of course if you like to smell like a trucker buy the diesel.

Wannabe

Canada Jeff

Thanx all, some good points to consider.

czy40p

I like them both, just came back from quick run in a new GM 6.0 liter (gasser) with the 6 speed transmission (16 MPG interstate 70-75 MPH). My daily driver is 04 DD and get about 18 mpg and the diesel motor is about $7,000 more in the 2007 GM line. I think the gas engines are more fun to drive from 0-60 MPH and the diesels are more fun 60-80 (just more low end torque). I am not sure about the break even cost, but some people that let the truck tell them when to change the oil are going 10K on the oil changes. Now I know that is blasphemy to some truck owners out there but, the every 2,500 to 3,000 mile oil changes I think are excessive. If you hire all your work out or do it yourself is big difference in cost. The odds of you finding fuel with out additives in the north are pretty slim, I have never had mine plugged and I have never had any issues.
Jim