Power/torque of a diesel is a given. What do you want for longevity of your drivetrain 250K miles or 500K+ I made the jump to diesel in 2001 and never looked back. I drive my trucks until they are rusted away. my ’01 duramax was just under 600K miles when I sold it, My ’03 Durmax was nearing 500 when I sold it. I ran into a great deal on my current Dodge and for the $$$ I accept it. It is definitely not the ride of a GMC. But at 240K miles, its going strong. So I look at how many gassers would I have gone through in the same period.
My towing uses vary, but enclosed trailer, car hauler (open) , a 30′ enclosed hauler, camper, and bass boat. I frequently drive between my house and farm (about 120 miles each way). Then add in all the typical needs of a pick up.
Maintenance is always a topic of cost, which isn’t cheap. I change oil every 9K miles. I run Rotella in spring through fall and flush run synthetic in coldest part of winter. 3 gallon Rottela box is about $45 and I run K&N filter at about 17-20 each. Fuel filter every other oil change at 70ish. I grease each oil change and a tube at $10 last a few changes. Brakes and some parts cost more. many parts are comparable in cost.
Torque to the rear wheels. If you want tires to last, you buy E load highway, have some weight in the rear, and keep your foot off the accelerator. Taking off from a dead stop will chirp the tires easily. Not like drag racing but just a little chirp. You have more torque so taking off with no load can easily give you a little slip. that will decrease tire life if your always hammering it.
Here right now by my farm, gas is about 2.77 and diesel is 3.07.-3.18. I use a fuel app an get about .03-.06 off per gallon. Since 2007 the reformulated diesel sucks donkey balls. Additionally, try to stay away for the “bio-blends”. I keep a bottle of additive in the truck just in case I get trapped filling up in Iowa. My 01 by far was the best on milage with pre-reformulated crap. But all that aside, I range about 22-14 per gallon pending load and hills/mountains. Sure is funny crossing a mountain pass and passing guys pulling a camper. Half way up the grade they are starving for air/power. I just steadily cruise by them.
Winter hassles also get kicked around a lot. I plug my heater core in when its going to be below zero. I have an outdoor GFI outlet on the side of my garage so no big deal to plug it in before going to bed. Unplug and fire up in the morning. I let it warm up for 5-10 minutes before I leave. For me its no big deal. Twice I bought fuel that was falsely advertised as winter blend and it gelled. Each was during a artic blast and near 20 below. 1 time was a major PITA and waited the 4 or so days to warm up. The other was a bottle of 911 and open the rail and pump out the crap until fuel flowed and back in business.
Only you can decide what is best for you. For me, its more than twice the longevity of the drive train and the power when I need it. Especially when gas engines are tweaked to get all the power they can out of a smaller engine.
If you do go diesel, will need to relearn the engine / road noise Vs speed. Very different sound when your doing over 70-75 mph at barely 2000 rpms
