Diesel Vs Gas 2500/3500

Mach1

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I could not imagine pulling a skid steer with a half ton, the 2500 gets it done but not as stable as I would like and the reason I am moving to a 3500. The 2500 was a smoking good deal and I needed a truck on the spot.
I agree, will take pics as one is a Chevy other a dodge, both 1500, and I know the Chevy guy. Go to St. Albert and I see them, not a ton but a few,
 

Beels

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IMO the 2500/3500 gasser is pretty much useless. If a 1500 isn't suitable to tow/haul it, buy a diesel. The only advantage with Dodge is the solid axle of the 2500/3500 over the 1500. The 2500/3500 gassers are so hard on fuel, and still have no power. Look up the resale on a 3-5 year old 2500/3500 gasser, people are giving them away, while a diesel is still worth a fortune. My 13 Ram 3500 with 100km on it I could sell it tomorrow and only loose about $12k from what I bought it for. If it was a gasser, it wouldn't be worth anyway close to only the cost of diesel upgrade less, it would be worth probably $15k less then the diesel. The tiny bit of extra maintenance cost will be taken care of by fuel savings (even with fuel costing more currently). However if you keep for a long time and factor in changing spark plugs, that's a huge hit that will probably make the gasser more expensive to maintain.

As others have said, a lot of diesel problems are from people not using them like a truck. 100km of trouble free emissions here, pretty sure the truck has only regen 2 times in it's life. When you are towing 20k with it, it keeps everything pretty clean ;)

Heck i'm looking to buy a new runaround truck and i'm thinking of going with a 3500 diesel over a 1500, when you look at how little the extra cost is initially, re-sale, maintenance, the diesel makes so much more sense.


A lot of peoples cost for a diesel is inflated, yes if you want every single option you will pay like $70k for a diesel, but you can get decent options and be out the door at $55k for a new 3500 diesel. You will be maybe $10k less for a similar 1500/2500/3500 gasser.

The only time a 2500/3500 gasser makes sense is if buying a used one, maybe $5-15k in value and it's seeing very few miles and need to haul/tow just a bit too much for a 1500 to take care of. Otherwise, they are just a terrible buy.

So you're telling us that a lot of diesel problems are a result of people not using them like a truck, but you're going to go buy one for a runaround vehicle? That's why I'm asking people with 2500 and 3500 gassers the questions I am. I completely agree that resale is going to be much better on the diesel, but it makes no sense for me to start a diesel 4 times a day to drive 5 minutes each time. In a perfect world with an unlimited budget, I'd have a 1 ton diesel and a half ton gas to use as a car, but that's not the case.

As far as someone saying buy a GM with the 6.0L gas, not a chance. My old man had one of those and what a waste of time. I had an '01 2500HD with a 8.1L and Allison and my big block got the same mileage day to day as his and hook anything behind it and I could do circles around him. Now, if they'd put the 6.2 in a 2500, I'd be looking.
 

kenvb

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i had 14 tow trucks since 1976. 3 were diesals. the last 02 Dodge was the best motor for power.mileage.but was a short wheel base and wouldnt tow much over a 3/4 ton without frt wheels coming off ground, anyway. gas trucks were cheaper to run and maintain. but that was old units not like we have today. last yr i went to New Brunswick in a 2016 F350 diesal pulling a 35 ft two car trailer with a bare chassis dodge warlock and a dodge car, the unit weighed 16,500 lbs. averaged 12 mpg. on the way back we had a small cat.motorcycle and snowmobile.weighed 24,000 lbs averaged 9 mpg ? at speed limit. then this past spring we drove the same truck back there with a motorcycle in it. averaged 21 mpg at speed limit.
 

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whoDEANie

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...As others have said, a lot of diesel problems are from people not using them like a truck. 100km of trouble free emissions here, pretty sure the truck has only regen 2 times in it's life. When you are towing 20k with it, it keeps everything pretty clean ;)...

Uh yeah, I'm calling bullchit on that if your truck is stock. More weight, more fuel, more soot, more regens. Besides, your truck will automatically regen after a set number of engine hours or km whether your filter needs it or not.
 

Cyle

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So you're telling us that a lot of diesel problems are a result of people not using them like a truck, but you're going to go buy one for a runaround vehicle? That's why I'm asking people with 2500 and 3500 gassers the questions I am. I completely agree that resale is going to be much better on the diesel, but it makes no sense for me to start a diesel 4 times a day to drive 5 minutes each time. In a perfect world with an unlimited budget, I'd have a 1 ton diesel and a half ton gas to use as a car, but that's not the case.

As far as someone saying buy a GM with the 6.0L gas, not a chance. My old man had one of those and what a waste of time. I had an '01 2500HD with a 8.1L and Allison and my big block got the same mileage day to day as his and hook anything behind it and I could do circles around him. Now, if they'd put the 6.2 in a 2500, I'd be looking.

You can not tow/haul with it much and still be ok, if you are running it on the highway plenty and not doing a ton of short trips. Towing/hauling just makes it much easier to not have problems. I live outside the city, so anytime my truck is started it reaches operating temperature.
 

Cyle

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Uh yeah, I'm calling bullchit on that if your truck is stock. More weight, more fuel, more soot, more regens. Besides, your truck will automatically regen after a set number of engine hours or km whether your filter needs it or not.

Not true at all. When the truck is working hard, like when pulling heavy the truck does not need to regen. If your truck is constantly regening, it's because you're idling it too much or doing too many short trips. Truck is completely stock. Actually it doesn't, it hasn't done a regen in roughly 3 years. No idea about other brands, but it comes up on the dash if the truck is regening and shows how full the filter is, and goes off once it gets clean enough. Nothing wrong with it, it's exactly how my semi is too, get idling too much, and you need a parked regen, keep it moving and working, and you won't need to regen.

Why do you think everyone knows the people who have the most problems with emissions are those who aren't working the truck?
 

iceman5689

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Lots of good points and opinions so far ! Does any one have real mpg for all the gassers? And the new diesels ? Unloaded and pulling a trailer ?

My L5P gets 16-18 l/100k unloaded highway, 23-25 pulling 28ft 7000lbs enclosed. Considerably less then my 5.9 Cummins, but it pulls a lot smoother.
 

hondalrd

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My L5P gets 16-18 l/100k unloaded highway, 23-25 pulling 28ft 7000lbs enclosed. Considerably less then my 5.9 Cummins, but it pulls a lot smoother.

So that is not a whole lot better then a gas job ? 17L/100 km is 13.8 mpg and 24L/100 is 9.8 mpg
 

Cdnfireman

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So that is not a whole lot better then a gas job ? 17L/100 km is 13.8 mpg and 24L/100 is 9.8 mpg

The newer diesels don't get the mileage that the old ones did.....lots of pulling power but the economy suffers because of that.... and do yourself a favour.... stay away from the ram/fiat trucks.... the gassers don't compare to the fords for pulling power and the diesels are about to take a big hit on economy as they're being investigated in the states for misrepresenting their emissions (similar to vw) and the build quality of the fiats is horrible. look on youtube where they test trucks pulling up the Eisenhower hill with trailers.... pretty telling
 

Superduty 11

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2017 F 350 3.55 gear ratio, Crew Cab SB, leveling kit, 35" tires.
Driving 110-120 empty hand calculated consistently 18-21 Mpg. Pulling our 5th wheel 14 000lbs +/- I am down to as low as 9mpg but as good as 13 mpg ( with a tail wind and flat road lol). On the occasional trip where a guy drives 90 - 100 I have gotten as good as 25 mpg. So it all really depends how you drive. This truck also only has 9000k on it but it should be somewhat broken in as I bought it on a Friday night and it was hooked to our fifth wheel Saturday morning and pulled the trailer for the next 2000K.
Hope this helps
 

JustChilling19

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I’ve got a 2013 Ram 3500 diesel. Truck only has 80k kms on it. Truck is used to tow our 5th wheel (13k pounds) and for sled trips to the mountains. I use it as a daily driver on average 2 times a week I’d estimate. My office is 5km’s from my house and on days I take the truck I usually am traveling on the henday, yellowhead, or whitemud for meetings. Truck gets similar mileage to the car for day to day driving (the kind I do). Towing- id never not have a diesel again. Everything is better. Before I could afford a diesel I made do with a gasser. Now that I have the diesel I’d never go back. Power and pulling is effortless and like someone else mentioned you do feel safer and more comfortable. It’s also nice to know my truck can take care of almost anything I’d need one to do including a larger trailer should we decide to upgrade.

The maintnence and cost arguments can be argued both ways. I know it’s more expensive to run and am ok with that. To me the ease of use is worth the additional cost. My truck still has warranty until the end of 2018. I’m toying with the idea of deleting now (because I want to and no other reason) or after the warranty expires in October. The emissions **** has been fine for me but I will be deleting. Two friends got theirs done and it makes the truck even better. I’d say keep the emissions stuff on until your warranty is up and then do it, the power they have stock is more then enough. For resale I got a screaming deal on mine and can still get close to what I paid. If I were buying again I’d buy another diesel.

Like many have said already if you can afford the diesel buy the diesel. You won’t regret it. If your budgets so tight a few extra dollars in maintnemcs or running cost is going to break you then I gues that should answer your question... buy a used gasser and make do until you can afford the diesel later...
 

Cdnfireman

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I’ve got a 2013 Ram 3500 diesel. Truck only has 80k kms on it. Truck is used to tow our 5th wheel (13k pounds) and for sled trips to the mountains. I use it as a daily driver on average 2 times a week I’d estimate. My office is 5km’s from my house and on days I take the truck I usually am traveling on the henday, yellowhead, or whitemud for meetings. Truck gets similar mileage to the car for day to day driving (the kind I do). Towing- id never not have a diesel again. Everything is better. Before I could afford a diesel I made do with a gasser. Now that I have the diesel I’d never go back. Power and pulling is effortless and like someone else mentioned you do feel safer and more comfortable. It’s also nice to know my truck can take care of almost anything I’d need one to do including a larger trailer should we decide to upgrade.

The maintnence and cost arguments can be argued both ways. I know it’s more expensive to run and am ok with that. To me the ease of use is worth the additional cost. My truck still has warranty until the end of 2018. I’m toying with the idea of deleting now (because I want to and no other reason) or after the warranty expires in October. The emissions **** has been fine for me but I will be deleting. Two friends got theirs done and it makes the truck even better. I’d say keep the emissions stuff on until your warranty is up and then do it, the power they have stock is more then enough. For resale I got a screaming deal on mine and can still get close to what I paid. If I were buying again I’d buy anoth
diesel.
Like many have said already if you can afford the diesel buy the diesel. You won’t regret it. If your budgets so tight a few extra dollars in maintnemcs or running cost is going to break you then I gues that should answer your question... buy a used gasser and make do until you can afford the diesel later...

Affordability isn't the issue for me... its the long term reliability and costs for repair....The comfort and safety arguments are irrelevant as the chassis and interior of gas trucks are identical, and as for a diesel being effortless to drive, the gas pedal on both takes the same amount of effort to press.
Diesel trucks are great until they start having problems then they are enormous money pits....if you trade your truck off every few years then it doesn't matter. if you're like me and you keep them for a long time, a diesel is a big crap shoot.
If you haul big loads, get the diesel, no question it pulls better. For a someone like me that pulls less than 12k a few times a month and the truck is my daily driver, the diesel isn't justifiable.
 

tool_man

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Recently bought a 14 Ram 2500/6.4L as i wanted a truck to run a deck on for trips to the cabin/mountains. Went to Valemount strong headwind (2sleds on deck) 25L/100K and coming home 20L/100K.
 

pano-dude

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Recently bought a 14 Ram 2500/6.4L as i wanted a truck to run a deck on for trips to the cabin/mountains. Went to Valemount strong headwind (2sleds on deck) 25L/100K and coming home 20L/100K.

What speed were you travelling 140? Lol
 

brutematt750

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I’ve got a 2013 Ram 3500 diesel. Truck only has 80k kms on it. Truck is used to tow our 5th wheel (13k pounds) and for sled trips to the mountains. I use it as a daily driver on average 2 times a week I’d estimate. My office is 5km’s from my house and on days I take the truck I usually am traveling on the henday, yellowhead, or whitemud for meetings. Truck gets similar mileage to the car for day to day driving (the kind I do). Towing- id never not have a diesel again. Everything is better. Before I could afford a diesel I made do with a gasser. Now that I have the diesel I’d never go back. Power and pulling is effortless and like someone else mentioned you do feel safer and more comfortable. It’s also nice to know my truck can take care of almost anything I’d need one to do including a larger trailer should we decide to upgrade.

The maintnence and cost arguments can be argued both ways. I know it’s more expensive to run and am ok with that. To me the ease of use is worth the additional cost. My truck still has warranty until the end of 2018. I’m toying with the idea of deleting now (because I want to and no other reason) or after the warranty expires in October. The emissions **** has been fine for me but I will be deleting. Two friends got theirs done and it makes the truck even better. I’d say keep the emissions stuff on until your warranty is up and then do it, the power they have stock is more then enough. For resale I got a screaming deal on mine and can still get close to what I paid. If I were buying again I’d buy another diesel.

Like many have said already if you can afford the diesel buy the diesel. You won’t regret it. If your budgets so tight a few extra dollars in maintnemcs or running cost is going to break you then I gues that should answer your question... buy a used gasser and make do until you can afford the diesel later...

What kinda car are you driving ???
No truck get similar to a car unless your driving a muscle car or something similar
 

Beels

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Recently bought a 14 Ram 2500/6.4L as i wanted a truck to run a deck on for trips to the cabin/mountains. Went to Valemount strong headwind (2sleds on deck) 25L/100K and coming home 20L/100K.

What do you get for mileage without a load, highway driving?
 

JustChilling19

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Affordability isn't the issue for me... its the long term reliability and costs for repair....The comfort and safety arguments are irrelevant as the chassis and interior of gas trucks are identical, and as for a diesel being effortless to drive, the gas pedal on both takes the same amount of effort to press.
Diesel trucks are great until they start having problems then they are enormous money pits....if you trade your truck off every few years then it doesn't matter. if you're like me and you keep them for a long time, a diesel is a big crap shoot.
If you haul big loads, get the diesel, no question it pulls better. For a someone like me that pulls less than 12k a few times a month and the truck is my daily driver, the diesel isn't justifiable.

I see and respect your opinion. Mine differs. The OP was asking for feedback so I was just giving him my version. I plan to keep my truck for a long time as well with a similar workload. If it starts giving me trouble I will sell it and buy another. Based on my experience of ownership the maintenance is minor and the experience is much better.


What kinda car are you driving ???
No truck get similar to a car unless your driving a muscle car or something similar

Car is a Acura TL. It is nothing fancy but does the trick. I get 420 to 440 km's on a tank like clockwork. Truck gets 700-800 km's to a tank. Car is $40-$55 a fill pending gas prices and the truck is usually $90-105 give or take pending diesel prices. I would say they are not that far off based on my experience.
 

brutematt750

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I see and respect your opinion. Mine differs. The OP was asking for feedback so I was just giving him my version. I plan to keep my truck for a long time as well with a similar workload. If it starts giving me trouble I will sell it and buy another. Based on my experience of ownership the maintenance is minor and the experience is much better.




Car is a Acura TL. It is nothing fancy but does the trick. I get 420 to 440 km's on a tank like clockwork. Truck gets 700-800 km's to a tank. Car is $40-$55 a fill pending gas prices and the truck is usually $90-105 give or take pending diesel prices. I would say they are not that far off based on my experience.

Ya. That car doesn't get very good gas mileage... Damn Acura's. Nice vehicles though
 
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