yea, I hear ya, still a new engine at the time with emissions garbage, the emissions kills everything that's why 7.3 are great... just a good ol diesel...

Mid 90's big block gasser dually chevy or ford. Cheap to maintain and repair, good looks, proven the test of time. Take the extra 10,000 and put it into the boat or something. That just my opinion and its what I did also. For the money I saved on the diesel truck I can buy a lot of fuel.

Lets take a trip, 1000 miles to LOTO, I`d burn 144gal @ 7mpg = $ 479 at todays $3.31/gal
Same truck but Diesel if they are lucky would get 9mpg and would burn 111gallons @ $3.80 = $421

Diesel savings = a whole $58/1000miles


I put about 4000miles/year on the truck towing, the Diesel would save me $ 232/year. (Gone very quickly with the higher maintenance cost and God forbid something goes wrong with a Diesel out of warranty.)

When I was looking I had to raised my budget $10, 000 to find a comparable Diesel to the 8.1l gas so in the end @ $232/year gas savings it would take me 43 years to come out even!!!


I~ll stick to the 8.1l for now,

Diesels just last longer then gassers, and really are not bad to maintain at all, I rarely have to touch my diesels, of course I do normal maintainence, but who doesn't?

as far as mileage, 9 mpg?? wow that's bad, my 7.3 is one of the worst for mileage and I average 15 all around, and I beat the tar out of mine, that's not the lie o meter that's a calculator, the newer ones get MUCH better then that also...

[QUOTE=ICDEDPPL;4029253]Lets take a trip, 1000 miles to LOTO, I`d burn 144gal @ 7mpg = $ 479 at todays $3.31/gal
Same truck but Diesel if they are lucky would get 9mpg and would burn 111gallons @ $3.80 = $421

Well, Like I said it is my $0.02. I tow over 10,000 miles per year and have towed my 382 with a 2500 HD 6.0 gaser (4:10 gears) and wouldn't do it again unless it was a short trip on flat land. With a diesel, you simply set the cruise control and point the truck in right direction. You don't have to worry about building speed on down hill runs prepearing for a long climb or clicking the cruise control off at the base of a hill or anything like that. The truck pretty much drives itself. As far as the maintenece goes, I don't see any increased cost here. There are no plugs or wires, cap or rotor to tune up, and oil changes are every 10,000 miles vs 5,000. The only thing I really see is a fuel filter change, but I feel this is more than offeset by all of the consumables you go through with a gasser. I can see how owning a 6.0 powerstroke would turn anyone off from a diesel, but there are crappy gas motors out there as well. There are a ton of D-max's, Cummins, and powersmokes running around trouble free with 300,000 + miles, and the duty cycle of most of these trucks is way more seveer than that of the gassers. By the way my average towing mpg is 10.5 with the boat and 12 with the snowmobile trailer (6.0 gasser gets 7 mpg towing snowmobile trailer) and the I average 19 mpg running around empty. That is way better than any gasser can get with way more capability. (Just to clarify I live out in the sticks and don't do very much city driving, my running around empty number would be closer to highway numbers).

Eh, the 6.4 and 6.7s drink the fuel. 14-16 city and 20 on long road trips (with no boat)

My example was towing MPG obviously.
I had a 7.3L for a couple years.. around town in 80hp econo mode 11MPG if I was lucky. Highway empty I got great mileage but since I got the truck for towing pretty useless to me.

Reliability and Diesels in the same sentence went out with the 7.3L.

Jriggs, seems the Diesel would be a better choice in your situation.

I own an '06 2500 suburban with the 8.1 and love it! It has right at 100,000 miles on it and has been trouble free since day one, I bought it with 20,000miles on it. It is the second one I have owned the previous was an '02 suburban. I would love to have the duramax but unless you tow a lot it really isn't worth the upgrade in cost. The big block has loads of power and torque. My '02 had 4.10 gear ratio, would pull a little better but my '06 with 3.73's pulls just fine and gets about 1-2 mpg's more. My '06 averages 10.6mpg on the dash for the life of the vehicle. The Chevy big blocks will out run and out pull any ford or dodge v-10 all while getting better mileage, plus they are way more reliable.

The 8.1's are hard to find either in the truck or the suburban and when you find one they will have a higher price tag than the 6.0's with equal or lower mileage. Buy the 8.1, the 6.0's are ok but lack the low end grunt of the big block. If you go the diesel route buy the duramax/Allison don't waste your time with the higher mileage fords.

/\ This.

I've had a CTD & a 7.3 Ex. Now I'm saving coin with a V10 Excursion w/4:30's. Former Cali truck w/ no rust anywhere, just a 100k. Yes, I did put a updated trans in it. Rest of the truck is like new. Literally. Its so clean underneath, I will likely get it rustproofed.
Tows great & we are all comfy when towing...even the Yellow Lab.
Everyones situation is a bit different...right now this is workin for us.

To the OP-My TV budget was same as yours, and I'm still short of it, so I'm happy .. Good Luck-