LXguy said

Something that isn't being discussed is that diesels currently only come in a 3/4 ton truck (and better). A 3/4 ton pulls and stops way way way better than a smaller truck, *2 for a duallie. So its not all "bigger is better because its bigger".

My haul to the track is 100 miles each way. I've been on a Craigslist binge recently, so there have been lots of trips of equal or longer to get parts. On trips like this power, stability and brakes matter a lot more.

Been using the truck on the left which was a 97 F250 5.7 gas. Started using the 95 F250 7.3L diesel because I wanted to pull an enclosed trailer and have been doing some pretty long parts/car runs lately.



There is no comparison. Both trucks are 3/4 ton so they handled the open trailer easily, but the diesel ROCKs it every other way.

Diesel got 18 mpg unloaded on a trip to pick up a car/trailer and 15mpg on the way home. The Windsor would get about 12mpg unloaded (which I always heard was really good for one of these), and 7-10 with the 2000 pound trailer and 3400 pound car. Pulling the same back and forth with the same car and trailer, the diesel does 16mpg every time. And my diesel has 225K on it.

The diesel really shines on the hills. We don't have any in Illinois really, but on those long trips the places where the gas truck would struggle the diesel doesn't even downshift.

If you get stuck behind a granny on a two lane road with a gas truck you need miles of clear to get around them. The diesel will happily go right around.

That said, I don't have gigantic offroad tires or stacks or a lift kit (lift dramatically reduces towing capacity) or stickers or truck nuts.

It does have like a 4" exhaust on it, but its not loud. The power/$$$ on that is so awesome you basically have to do it.

New trucks cost too damn much.

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