by Garet Harris

Created on: May 02, 2009

The diesel powered pickup truck has numerous advantages over it's gasoline powered brethren. The benefits of a diesel engine are far superior to the gasoline engine. A gasoline engine might reach 200,000 miles if you are very consistent with maintenance and care. The diesel, on the other hand, has no problem reaching 500,000 or more miles under even abusive conditions that would kill a gas engine at around 130,000 miles. The fuel mileage of a diesel engine is comparable if not better, most of the time it is better, than gas. Where a diesel really shines is towing fuel mileage. While a gas engine might get 5 or 6 miles per gallon under a 12,000 pound trailer a diesel truck will get 12 or 13 miles per gallon.

It is true that the service costs of a diesel are higher, but the intervals are also longer with the right oils and filters. The power and torque available in a diesel is unmatched verses a gas engine and modification will yield even more power for very little invested money verses a gas engine. A gasoline by its very nature is much harder to modify because they are already optimized from the factory. The cost of bring more power into the scenario becomes quite prohibitive and your fuel mileage will become non existent. The cost of replacing a gas engine versus a diesel is about half that of the diesel, but the labor involved negates the service life balance of two verses one so that even if you swapped your gas engine at 200,000 for a new one you would still pay more due to labor.

Obvious benefits aside there are some other excellent reasons for buying a diesel powered pickup. Due to the increased torque and power put to the drive train by a diesel the drive train must be heavier in design.

This extra reinforcement in the drive train allows the truck to last twice as long or better than its gasoline counter part in most cases. This is the side that almost no one considers when deciding what to purchase. Many people think that because the gas version is around 5,000 dollars cheaper that it off sets the second engine cost making the gas version less expensive in the long run. This is just not true, When you figure up the new purchase price plus the maintenance involved for 500,000 miles and then figure out the fuel consumption costs for that period ,the diesel version will be ahead by 5 to 10,000 dollars and will still be running, while the gas version will be dead on its tires.

In closing a diesel pickup truck is just a superior purchase compared to a gasoline powered version.

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