KarlVP said:
Okay, now buy a Ram with the 4.7L and get 12 to 15MPG TOWING.
This truck will tow just fine. Why get a Diesel? I really don't see the need. Pulling power, my ass. If you take a stock gas truck and race it against a stock diesel truck of the same payload capacity, the gasser will spank the oil burner. Load them down and you see the same performance.
Sure, you can load either truck down with aftermarket goodies, but I don't want to do that.
I want to buy a reliable truck for daily driving and towing duties. I don't want to spend my time fiddling with my tow rig. So far, given the pros and cons, it is looking like gas is the way to go.
A Ram with a 4.7L gasser is not likely to get 12-15mpg towing anything more substantial than a lightweight utility trailer with a lawn mower on it. Load that truck up with a weekend's worth of supplies, camping equipment, and hitch up your Jeep and it's going to both be a real dog and suck gas like crazy.
You really don't believe that everything else being equal, A Ram with a 4.7 pulling a 7k trailer is going to beat a Ram with a Cummins pulling the same weight up Snoqualamie Pass, do you? I could really care less what empty trucks will do on a flat drag strip.
Diesels make much torque way down low in the RPM. range. More usuable power. Look at where that 4.7 produces it's peak power. 345hp at 5400rpm and 375 ft pds of torque at 4200rpm. You don't really think you are going to see 12-15mpg at those levels, do you? Meanwhile, the Cummins ISB is making 325hp at 2900rpm and more importantly (and useful), 610ft pds of torque at a mere 1600rpms. That's more pulling power, whether your ass likes it or not.
A medium duty diesel like the Cummins will also easily outlast a gasser by 2:1. The added benefit of being able to open up the diesel for even more power, usable power, is just the icing on the cake.
I just went from a 1994 GMC K2500 Suburban with a stock 235hp TBI 454, 4.10 gears, and 265/75R16 tires to a stock 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 with a 215hp Cummins, 4.10 gears, and 315/75R16 tires and the difference is noticeable. The 454 pulled decent enough, but the Cummins is noticeably stronger and has even greater potential when modified. The Ram gets nearly twice the fuel economy that the Suburban did as well.
In the end, it's really no skin off of anyone's nose but your own. Just as some people are content with the lower highway perfomance level of the 2.5 vs 4.0 in their Jeeps, some are content similarly lower performace of gas powered trucks vs diesel ones. There is a reason that heavy trucks, equipment, locomotives, etc use diesel engines. Diesel has a higher BTU content than gasoline.
