Diesel Opinions
 

Whats everyones opinion on diesel trucks? I'm thinking of trading my truck in sometime on a Dodge Cummins or a Ford Powerstroke, A couple of my friends got powerstrokes and are getting 22mpg and havent had any problems and they have like 220k on them.

You won't get 22mpg out of a Cummins I'll tell you that right now. If you get a Powerstroke, stick with the 7.3L. The 6.0 and 6.4 have a ton of problems with them. The 7.3 is a GREAT motor. I've also seen the Duramax's push low-to-mid 20s in terms of fuel mileage as well. If I were in the market for a diesel truck I'd either get a 2003 or earlier F250 (03 was the last year of the 7.3) or a 2001 and up 2500 Chevy (01 was the first year of the duramax IIRC). Eventually I want to get one but that'll be a while before I'll be able to afford one.

If it aint diesel, it aint a truck.

I have an several diesel trucks. An 03 F250 powerstroke, a 94 Chevy 6.5 turbo, an 88 F250 non turbo and an 84 F250 non turbo.
My favorite is my 03 powerstroke. I agree with the post before me, be mindful of the year of the Fords, halfway thru 03 they switched to the 6.0 and it is junk.

I would recommend a turbo back exhaust, new intake and a tuner. Straight stock, you wont get the huge mileage numbers you are talking about, with a little tuning, you can end up with more HP and huge increase in mileage.

I say go for it. If your gonna have a big powerful truck it might as well be a diesel.

Ford powerstroke, 7.3 are awesome engines. They ran from 94-2003 and only had to be dropped because of new emissions standards. I plan to pick up a truck one day and thats my choice.

I can tell u this ikn of a Cummins with 800hp that gets 26mpg on the hwy so u can get good milage outta them

I wouldn't get a diesel truck unless I needed that much pulling power... you looked at the price of diesel lately? 10 years ago, it was the same as regular unleaded, now it is about 75 cents higher... this keeps up, you're going in the hole really quick.

These are all good inputs, trust me this is not my first time thinking about diesels have been on the thought since I had my last Dodge, will be a few years or so before I decided to take action on a new truck so have awhile to think, I've never heard of a cummins getting below 18mpg and theres a few guys round here getting 20mpg don't really expect 22 but when my gasser is getting 11.4mpg I think its time to start thinking about upgrading in the future, the price of diesel is more and i know a lot of friends who say total fuel ups can cost up to 225 dollars but the power and the mpg and of course the fact of owning a diesel is so attractive lol, anyway I'm not a huge fan of the chevy diesels love cummins ever since I drove a few of them and powerstroke I wouldn't think of getting anything besides a 7.3, thanks guys all good input

For the longest time here diesel was about the same as either mid grade or premium, just did a price check and it has gone back up again, darn....

When you get 20+mpg out of a diesel vs 16 or less out of a gas powered truck, you're coming out on top with diesel. I also would never buy a Chrysler product with an automatic transmission. Manuals are fine, but the automatics are crap. If you get an automatic, stick with Ford or Chevy (the Allisons behind the Duramax's are awesome). What is it that you don't like about the Chevys if you don't mind me asking? I've really liked the ones that I've driven. I like that you can get them with a front buckets instead of the bench as well too. That's what I've always liked about the GM trucks. My Burb has front buckets and that means I have room for my console that I built for my ham radios.