Kelly, Tow Rig Questions

[BamaTJ]

What are the specs on your new truck? What are the ideal years to look for in the early 3rd gen dodge trucks? I believe the blocks are different in some 03-04 trucks right? Also which year were good for the 7.3 powerstrokes? I am looking at downgrading and getting a car to DD.

 

[wngrog]

YOu know, I have crunched the numbers and with insurance and all, it is hard to justify 2 vehicles if you want a reliable tow rig.

Just look at everything before you do it.

That said, Dad and I both agreed, the next truck we buy will be a gasser. 6.0 2500HD.

 

[BamaTJ]

Yeah I love my truck but damn the price of fuel and the shitty mileage I get just makes me think I am wasting a **** ton of money on fuel. Plus at 3.50+/gallon for diesel it just sucks

 

[Bones]

And it'd suck to keep the tow rig you have and buy a cheap car to commute in. You are used to a nice vehicle and for some work requires a decent ride to take clients to lunches, meetings, etc.

Two mediocre vehicles to me would kinda suck I think if I was used to what you have. A gasser does not sound like a bad idea. You can get a deal on one also I bet. MPG will still suck.

quite teh dilema

 

[Juan_Hong_Loe]

We've been talking about this at work a lot lately. Why is diesel higher than gas now, it used to not be that way? As far as gas mileage goes, there are not many gas trucks out there that I would have as a DD/tow rig due to fuel milage. My father has a 2500 6.0. That pig doesn't ever get anything better than 11mpg, no matter what he is doing. Now as for my truck, around 14 city 19hwy with 35's sounds a helluva lot better than 11. Also like Bones said, what about the comfort and space? Once you get used to something like that it's hard to give that up. Two insurance payments on two "newer" vehicles vs. one? Dunno like Nolen said def. weigh your options first. On the fuel milage note: I work at a shop that sees 10-50 new trucks a day give or take the time of year. I get to play with them all. There is nothing like a Cummins! I kinda feel sorry for the guys that own these new Fords with the 6.4. All the trucks that have came into the shop... none of them were getting better than 12mpg! And when I ask the customer "how's the fuel milage?" They get irritated just thinking about it. Sorry for the long post.

Daniel

 

[blacksheep10]

early 04 with teh 6 speed. it says 305 HP on teh left side of the valve cover. the 325 horse trucks got considerably less. there are hit and miss examples of people getting high teens in the 600/610 trucks, but the late 03/early 04's seem to consistantly pull the good numbers. Depends on what milage range you are looking at. if its a pleasure vehicle (as far as insurance knows) it won't be too bad, and you can pick up a 110K mile one that's still nice as hell for about $21K. all depends on what you can get out of yours and how much you can score a car that's nice enough to drive clients in. Tough call, but I HATE giving my money at the pump.

 

[bigsilly]

I am looking at doing the opposite of you Matt. I have the old F250 and my 2003 F150 DD. I test drove a 2006 F250 diesel the past two days. I put about 250 miles on it and got 16.5 mpg with a mix about 50 city miles and 200 highway miles. The insurance on it will be about $250 less per year than I am paying on the other two trucks together. Having owned two trucks for a year now just does not make as much sense as I had originally thought.

 

[BamaTJ]

Yeah it is quite a dilemma. I really thought the CTD was going to net me a fuel mileage upgrade but that just has not happened in my truck. I get 14mpg at best out of my truck and that is hand calculated (400-425 miles per tank). I drive a lot of stop and go so I know that hurts. My truck is comfortable and fun to drive but it costs me $100 a week in fuel. I was just searching autotrader for 2000-01 XJ's and they are damn cheap. The 4.0 is no great on mpg, but at 17-18mpg for 50 cents less a gallon sounds ok to me. They are so cheap to buy and they are good reliable rides. I may do that and keep my truck. That way I still have a nice rig to drive for work when needed but not everyday.

 

[BamaTJ]

I am looking at doing the opposite of you Matt. I have the old F250 and my 2003 F150 DD. I test drove a 2006 F250 diesel the past two days. I put about 250 miles on it and got 16.5 mpg with a mix about 50 city miles and 200 highway miles. The insurance on it will be about $250 less per year than I am paying on the other two trucks together. Having owned two trucks for a year now just does not make as much sense as I had originally thought.

YEah but you will more than make up for that $250 in fuel money. The difference for diesel is 50 cents/gallon around here. That adds up fast

 

[vanguard]

the next truck we buy will be a gasser. 6.0 2500HD.

I see a lot of people coming down to that decision. Everybody loves their diesel but the economic argument doesn't seem to be there. A friend of mine has a wrx as a DD and a CTD for towing. That seems like a really nice setup.

 

[BamaTJ]

What is a wrx?

 

[InDaShop]

Diesel is a world commodity now, unlike it was just a handful of years ago. The US has to compete for where the diesel deliveries go, with the likes of China and Europe. If you are CalTex (Singapore) and you are trying to decide where your tankers of Diesel are delivered are you going to go to Europe for $5/gallon, China for $2.50/gallon, or US for $3.50/gallon? China is a short boat ride, so you can do more shipments (quicker turnaround), US slightly longer haul, or Europe LONG haul? We have to compete on that world market. Gasoline isn't like that all over the world. Its not used on such a high level as it is in N.A. a majority of the world is on diesel.
Yes, it is much much more complicated, but thats the Cliffnotes version.

Yeah I want a new truck, but your right, its hard to justify the $8k upgrade for a diesel when the fuel is $0.50 higher per gallon at the pump. And your gas milage is marginally better most of the time, and only tremedously better towing. How much do you tow? Right? Since I bought my '02 in the fall of '01 Diesel has only been cheaper than gasoline approx. 10 months. Yeah I keep stupid notes of things like that. When I paid the at the time $6k upgrade, I did the economics and figured in the long run the diesel made infinate more sense over gasoline. little did I imagine that the price curves would end up with an inverse relationship to each other for so long.

Diesel is a simpler process to "crack" out of the petroleum, so it is cheap. less refining process, but the demand charge is what is killing us.

I dont have an answer, as I ask my self this question damn near daily.

 

[87yjtoy]

What is a wrx?

A subaru ???

I have a truck for my work that I use as tow rig. Cant justify the two trucks at all.
Matt I fill up twice a week at about 30 gal per. filled up today.Truck, tractor, and mini excavator......$145.00
Man I love it

 

[Cole]

I will not own a truck unless its a Diesel. Gas burners are boring to drive. Nothing like getting an extra 200 HP with the push of a few buttons.

P.S. I went to ATL this past weekend and I took my programmer off my truck before I went to see what kind of mileage I would get with the stock setting and stock tires. I drove around 75-80 MPH the whole time and only averaged 16MPG.

 

[BamaTJ]

Yeah I really need to crunch some numbers since that is what will make my decision for me. To get a new truck close to my current truck I would be out another 1-2k to get it nice and ready to tow (gn hitch, leather, sirius, etc.), so that factors in. I would need my tow rig to be the nicer of the two vehicles for work. I have had my eye on a 04 Laramie 3500 SRW for 22k. I can swap my brake box, tool box and bully dog to an 03+ CTD. Being able to tow in comfort is nice, my truck will ride 5 comfortably. But I two maybe 1-2 times a month and only 5-6 times a year on truely long trips

 

[Juan_Hong_Loe]

Wyatt, I got a question for ya. Why is fuel a little higher here in tuscaloosa than it is let's say two or so hours form here and we have a refinery here in town?

 

[InDaShop]

Wyatt, I got a question for ya. Why is fuel a little higher here in tuscaloosa than it is let's say two or so hours form here and we have a refinery here in town?

No idea. I'm in the exact same boat. I'm in Houston, we have 20+ refineries within 50 miles of downtown, and gas is higher here than in Dallas.
No idea. I wish I knew.

One example though not your specific issue is Road Tax, Oklahoma gas/fuel is cheaper than Texas. One huge factor there is Oklahoma has less road tax than Texas. Same example works for comparing Kansas to Missouri.

 

[wngrog]

Now that you have bought that truck and pimped it out, you need to figure in the loss of all that stuff in the .50 fuel premium.

If it comes down to straight economics, you are stuck IMO.

Silly, you should really look at a used gas 3/4 ton or a HD 1500 and run those numbers too. To tow once a month, it is silly to have a diesel truck.

We will be getting a 1/2 ton gas truck next.

My buddy is an accountant and just got a 3/4 ton gas Chevy. He ran the numbers with current prices it would take him 8 years to break even on a diesel purchase (new) over the gas truck he bought.

 

[vanguard]

What is a wrx?

It's a badass little sports car. Most would agree it's the best bang for the buck out there right now.

Check this out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wB4RSKvufak <- very very good video

 

[InittowiniT]

Just my .02 I sold an older diesel and went to a V10 about 14mpg, sucks at the pump but is the $hit pulling something. Matt your numbers don't look that bad 14 mpg ,$100 bucks a week , 400 miles a Week? Thats 28.5 Gal a week if you buy a XJ , 400 miles divide by 18 equal 22 gal times $2.90 is $63.80 a week. $36.20 a week for purchase and insurance? Hard to justify but that's just my opinion and yes i know grammar is not my friend.