XactLEE said:
Save your money they're all crap
!! Buy a gas . Cheaper up front investment, cheaper fuel, and cheaper maintenance.
Federal DOT is aiming for regs on all vehicles over 10,000 GVW soon!
My bonafides: I personally drive an '04 Duramax crew cab 4X4. I also currently operate two Ford F250s, both with 7.3 Powerstrokes.
Starting backwards, what DOT MAY do is legion; one can ruin one's life by such ifs and maybes. My maintenance for my '04 Duramax has been less than $700 these last 140,000 mi., or 1/2 cent per mile. Oil changes at 6 - 9000 mi., a couple of fluid changes in the final drives, two for the transmission, and one for the brake fluid, and three fuel filters. Repairs have been two front wheel bearings, one headlight, and a door lock actuator. Fuel has varied from a lot less than gas to a lot more than gas. The additional up front investment at that time was $4,000; deals and special offers still come up from time to time. None of the big three diesels can be considered "crap"; a FACT, not opinion, which is evidenced by resale values. My lifetime fuel average is 17.7 miles per gallon (I keep records), city, highway, loaded, empty, with trailers and without. I can, and frequently do run 65 mph at 19.5 to 20.5 mpg. I do not wish to talk about mpg in the city or at speeds over 70 mph, however.
Back to the original question, if you have no need for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, you have no need for a diesel either. Ford and GM both have gas engines that give extraordinary fuel economy (Ram, not so much), have horsepower and torque we could only dream of 20 years ago, and can reasonably be expected to go 200,000 miles with proper care - and may go many, many more. The way to beat the poor history with Chrysler automatics is to buy the manual. The Navistar 6.0 was a disaster, the later 6.4 was not popular either, but better, and the new 6.7 is made by Ford in house. It is an unknown quantity at this point, but is supposed to have great fuel economy.
It really is a question of how you use the trucks. We regularly tow rather large loads and the diesel torque is a great advantage in drivability. The fuel economy is what makes them pay: we get about 12 mpg towing our trailers and the same truck with any avaiable gas engine will get around 8 mpg. While the four mpg difference does not sound like much, it is 50% more. 50%!.