I've owned over the years

2002 Chevy 2500 HD/Duramax,
2006 Dodge 2500 Mega/Cummins
2010 Dodge 1500/Hemi
2011 Dodge 2500 Crew/6.7 Cummins

These have all been daily drivers, and I towed/hauled heavy with the first two.

I did not tow anything with the 1500 because I have a bigger tow vehicle. I actually just changed back to a 2500 diesel for daily driver, and I don't hardly tow anything with it (Got 3.42 gears). It will never pay, but I enjoy driving it. Crazy at it sounds, I actually think the HD's handle better than the half tons, even though it's live/live suspsension instead of wishbone/trailing links on the 1500. It has enough torque to roll along the back roads at 50mph at just over 1000 rpm, up hills w/o downshifting. The Hemi was always shifting, and you had to kind of wring it out to really get anywhere.

The downsides to a diesel:

-Take longer to heat up in the winter (they've gotten better). That's alleviated somewhat with remote start.

-Cost of fuel.

Maintenance is a wash. The 1/2 ton required sythetic oil @$20 something a gallon, and I just throw Rotella in the diesel @ $13.

Diesel will be worth a lot more come trade-in time.

funny you say heat up in the winter, and boy you are right. If your drive was 10-15mins or less you might very well not be heated up before you got to work.

SWEET JD!

Goes like a broken dik dog....

UD

Yeah but you pay a lot more in the beginning. A diesel is 7-8K more on the buy in, fuel is .50 a gallon more with very similar mileage (1500 gas vs. 2500 diesel).

My last truck was a 03 GM 2500 crew diesel that I put 170K miles on. Round numbers, if it got 14 mpg then I bought over 12,000 gallons of diesel. So at $3 a gallon I bought $36,000 in fuel (more in fuel than the truck cost me new!).

So in the .50 a gallon less deal, I would save 7-8K on the up front purchase and $6,000 in fuel costs (just gallon price difference/mileage difference not included). So buy a 1500 gasser and I am 13-14K ahead right off the bat (no finance charge difference, insurance savings on the cheaper truck, etc).

Does the diesel really pay if you don't need it? New truck is a F150 and it rides like a Cadillac compared to the 2500, better turning radius and way more comfort options (heated/cooled seats, power pedals/sliding window, keyless doorpads, etc).

Not arguing, just showing another point to the diesel/non diesel equation.

You're absolutely right. Running a diesel these days does come down mostly to preference. It doesn't save money these days. You won't recover all of your extra acquisition costs. You won't gain back much anything if you drive it mostly unloaded (14mpg highway on HD gasser vs 17 mpg diesel). However, if you are pulling anything heavy, the gas could easily drop to 7 mpg, and the diesel might still give 12 pulling the same load. That ends up being a big difference over time.

However, when and if you are grinding up Donner Pass or some other 7000 ft elevation gain with 10K+ in tow, it's worth it. The costs associated with even one breakdown, including getting the truck towed, trailer towed, having to guard it at some sketchy yard (been there with an RV...), repairs, lost time, etc. add up quickly.

Now, here's where a bunch of people write in with their horror stories of electrionics failures , blown turbos, and other Lemony stories with diesels. Not taking anything away from those who've had to go through them, but on average, I think the reliability of the diesels and their transmissions pulling loads is still way better.

My buddies and I get in this debate every few months since they all own diesels and I own a 6.0 gas. This is my argument find me diesel that is still bone stock. They are few and far between. So I ask, does it take Mega mods on diesel to get this awesome towing ability the diesel fan club speaks of?

To pull an 8500 lbs boat I could not justify the diesel cost, unless you plan to upgrade your boat to a much heavier boat. And if you get into the 15000lbs range I would skip all the little diesels and step into a medium duty. A heavier truck will offer you and your passengers a more confortable ride. Isn't that what its about?

Like I said, only time will tell. Right now, the cost of a Diesel 2500HD is the same or a little less than a Gas 2500HD of the same year model in Texas. Unless of course I stepped down to a 6.2L 1500 4x4. Sucks that I am debating all this from out here. We have a ford factory direct program out here, but I have a trade in that they cant process, so unless I sell my Titan, that wont work well.

I work at a Chevrolet dealer. Both trucks are great. I personaly have a Duramax. My Duramax gets 15-16 mpg around town and 18-19mpg on the highway empty. A 6.0 will average around 10-12 mpg depending how you drive it . When you figure in the mileage compared to the added cost of diesel fuel it still is cheaper to drive a diesel. Diesel in my area runs about the same price as 93 octane gas. The main thing you need to remember is a duramax truck will bring a much better resale value. Very Clean 6-7 year old diesel trucks with 100K miles still bring close to 25K on the lot. I don't know if you are buying new or used??? The new 1500 series Silverados with the 400hp 6.2 litre have a ton of power and somewhere around 11K pound towing capacity. Jeff Wurl

I have been towing my 27' Advantage with a 6.0 Escalade, and although it would tow it, it did not like the hills and fuel economy was terrible. I recently purchased a left over 2011 Duramax 2500HD and all I can say is WOW. It ain't no Caddy, but for towing, I would never go back to a gasser. I can leave my house and pull 100 miles to the lake up some pretty good hills and the truck will not even so much as downshift 1 time with the cruise set at 70mph. The 6.0 would downshift to 2nd gear and 5000rpm going up the same hills. Sounded like it was going to blow. And the Duramax gets better fuel mileage empty and WAY better fuel mileage towing.

gonna have to see some concrete proof of this at this point.... I have been driving diesel pickups since 1982 and this is the first time in 29 years I haven't had one in the garage either primary or backup.... I have a 2010 6.0 2500HD 4x4 now it and it WILL surpise you on power and for the extra 8000$$$ for the Dmax it would take about 1/4 mil miles to break even on purchase cost, I had 2 Dmax's recently too, 2002 LB7/2006 LLY