bought a f-350 with the v-10. mileage is not much worse than my 05' f-150.

 

The diesel will last longer and it get better mpg. The v-10 is about 5500 cheaper and it gets poor mpg. The price and life of the engine is the main factor.

 

Do you have any pictures?

 

my f-150 got 13.5 mpg and my f-350 gets 11.2 mpg.both are 4x4s.no pictures yet.i have wheels on order and should be finished this week. then i need to get my new tires. pictures will come after. the only mod i have done so far are fox shocks.

 

some people just cannot come to grips with this

it has been about 20 years since diesel was competitive with gas on a per gallon cost basis, except for a brief time in 2004 and 2005 during the hurricane "gas shortages" where diesel was slightly cheaper

but the economics of scale simply do not make sense once you figure in the added cost of the motor and what it costs to keep it running

and god forbid you have to fix anything on it after the warranty is up

I have owned several 6.9's, 7.3's and even powerstroke 7.3's, but that was when I needed them as a contractor

if you are not hauling day in and day out, skip the diesel

 

Where was it cheaper than gas? Diesel has been higher than gas everywhere since about 03/04 which is when I got my diesel. It hasn't gone below gas since then no matter where I've been. I miss the days when diesel was $.10-.20 less than gas back in the 90s.

Everything you said about the diesel is right. The only way you can pencil it out now is alot of miles or towing very heavy or very freqently. 10 years ago it was a different story (at least in my area), but now with the premium price for the engine and the fuel cost it takes ALOT of time to ever get your money back. It sucks, but thats the way it is.

 

diesel was cheaper than gas here in Florida during times in 2004 when we had supply interruptions due to 4 major hurricanes hitting us and in 2005 after Katrina when gas shot up to almost $4 a gallon, diesel was in the $3.20 range, but it was a brief ride

diesel prices are never as volatile as gasoline

but it has been since the early 80s since it was consistently cheaper

also, alot of people here will be fitting k&n filters on their diesels, and in the process wrecking their injectors after about a year, bang, a couple grand fix there

glow plugs go out? another grand

water separator goes out, boom, several hundredmore dollars

I have gone down the path before and will never do it again unless I have to

lucking I dont have to anymore

 

The one thing I will not do is change anything under the hood. I was told you get better gas mileage with an K&M so I got one for my F250 5.4. My mileage went down! I was told a chip will increase my mileage with my 1998 F250. I got one and my mileage went down. Everything I did reduced my mileage on my 1998 F250. So with my 2005 F350 Diesel no way I will not bite! I put larger tires on my diesel and my mileage did not change! So I will not tamper with anything with this truck.

 

I never made it to FL during those times, but I was in MS, LA, and TX immediately after Katrina last year. I actually had to delay my trip for a week because of it. The gas never inflated like you guys had, but diesel did drop to around $2.10 or so when the stations started blending on and off road diesel. Up until 2000 to 2001 back in the midwest diesel stayed below gas. It wasn't until gas made its move to $2.00+ and stayed there that diesel followed suit.


I don't see the connection of the K&N to ruining injectors, as a bad air filter can cause a turbo failure or worn rings/cylinder walls, but injectors I think are a stretch. For that you need contaminated or lack of oil, or lack of lubircity in the fuel.

Glow plugs can be a grand at the dealership, but doing it yourself can be much cheaper, if you know what you're doing. Ford in general forced me to start doing my repairs quite awhile ago, and even moreso after getting the PSD. If its diesel its a premium price. I wouldn't figure repair costs into the mix due to if you are diligent in maintenance repairs will be minimal. Thats about the only thing that I can't count against a diesel at purchase. My 7.3L has 113k on it with only an alternator, stuck waste gate, and 2 pinion seals.

 

I say get into a Diesel now. The market share is small for em in right now but Diesels will make stupid power and have great fuel economy. Not to mention the ability to pull anthing like a rabid rhino. 15 quarts of oil but if you move up to Synthetic oils and Good aftermarket oil system alot of guys have been able to move their oil change intervals up. I have seen oil change intervals as high as 20k, they dont just assume tho they send oil samples off to a lab and have it checked. Diesels are like anything Else. Keep up the Maintance and they will do you good. Not like everything else they last much longer.

 

One factor NOT mentioned regarding MPG benefits from diesel is under towing conditions. If you do REGULAR towing than you will probably recoup most, or all of the premium diesel price in fuel savings since diesels tend to be minimally affected in terms of MPG while towing where as gassers will drop more easily...

Right?

 

Does this hold true for the rumored future Diesel in the F150 that so many members are soooooooo excited about? How many of those people are looking at it to work it hard? Fact of the matter is that most people that own a pickup don't "need" one. Same probably goes for diesel owners.

 

I drive an F-150 so I may not have a place in this post, but from everything I have ever heard unless you pull a trailer over 900 lbs everyday the diesel is probably not a good investment for you. I read that in a few different magazines. For the most part I only put my dirtbike in the back and haul some furniture and stuff around so it would be really dumb of me to waste my money on the diesel. I always say if you want gas mileage buy a focus or a 4 cylinder ranger and if you wanna go fast buy a mustang.

 

As far as having to Work Diesels to keep em strong and running was true with older Diesels. Modern Diesels dont have those disadvantages that the old ones had. Ford GM and DC Keep the average user in mind when Engineering new Diesel Trucks.

Most ppl dont want to let a vehicle warm up for 10 mins so they engineered them with pretty close to the same warm up times as Gassers. when i had my 99 Expy i Didnt notice a Difference in Warm up times from my 02 Powerstoke.

The Big 3 were way ahead of everyone when they redesigned these newer Diesels. Also keep in mind VW is now starting to push Diesels in the smaller cars. My boss has a 02 VW with the TDI he makes 50mpg. Dont be scared of diesels they are not to feared. I think a Bonus for Diesels if you really wanted to be independent from Oil You can Run Vegtable oil instead with a Simple set up.

Wanna go fast get a Mustang ehh sure depends on your Venue of vehicles. I have a Mustang and my Diesel. I put a Chip in my Diesel and its faster then my mustang. but when i really want to go fast i jump on my CBR 600F4i.

It will come down to personal preferance in the end, Get what you are gonna enjoy, Just dont get a Diesel because you think it will be more hassle. or break down because average life for a Diesel if 500k.


what ever you get i hope you enjoy it.

 

Unloaded, the diesel is claimed to have about 5MPG advantage (most I ever got was a 3MPG advantage). Loaded, that difference drops to about 2MPG.