Best older Dodge pickup for daily use?

Northeast Ohio cold. "Normal" winters it doesn't go below zero, but it does happen. Last year was particularly colder and from the summer we had I expect about the same.

I have a friend who drives a Ford E450 Ambulance (for football tailgating) and he has to keep an engine block heater on it the night before come December cold nights. Now is that apples to apples with Cummins diesel? I don't know I'm even drawing a blank on what motor his Ford even has, just know it's a diesel. And I've heard this from others I know with diesels, but again typically Fords.

1994 or older: indirect injection 6.9 or 7.3, fair cold starter. My 92 struggled below ~15 degrees.
1994-2003: 7.3 PowerStroke, good cold starter UNLESS the glow plugs/controller are FUBAR'd or the rings are going (think: 300,000+ miles).
2003.5-later: 6.0 PSD, all-around crap.