ALT-5 Diesel Pickup Trucks Pros and Cons
There are many pros to owning and driving a diesel pickup truck that it seems like a given, but there are cons to consider also. One factor that made diesel vehicles unattractive in the past, was the dirty fuel and the harmful fuel emissions. Today, the EPA requires diesel engines to have fewer emissions and mandates the use of cleaner burning Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel fuel.
In addition, new diesel pickup trucks are engineered to be cleaner burning and they offer an even better fuel economy than older models. If you need a heavy duty work truck, a heavy-duty 6.5TD diesel will meet most needs.
Generally, diesel pickups get 10 to 30 percent better mileage than gasoline engines when compared to comparable vehicles, but it's also true that driving habits and proper vehicle maintenance play a large role in fuel economy.
PROS
Diesels have better fuel economy, higher resale value at trade-in time, and they typically out last gasoline engines by 2 to 1 or better. When compared to a gasoline engine, diesels can save $1500 per year with light duty driving for every 100,000 miles and up to $2500 per year with tows and higher power demand driving.
Diesels are heavy-duty trucks and most have massive towing and hauling capacity.
- Significant fuel economy*Improvements in cleaner burning fuel*Maintains high value for resale*Outlasts gasoline engines*Heavy-duty work trucks
With today's gas prices, work trucks need to be highly fuel-efficient as well as able to haul big loads. With all they've got going for them on the pro side, there are some cons to diesel pickups too.
CONS
The cost of diesel fuel used to be less than the cost of gasoline, but since 2004 the cost of diesel fuel has nearly tripled due in part to the cost in processing cleaner fuel. That cost has been passed on to the driver.
Many drivers who use their diesel vehicles for consumer delivery are finding it difficult to survive because they are not able to pass the fuel cost along to the customer as easily as it was passed to them.
A number of factors affect fuel economy and in a diesel the final gear ratio is one of the factors, and unless you plan to do a lot of hauling and towing, higher gear ratios are recommended. As the cost of fuel increases, the operating costs will continue to rise.
- Sharp fuel cost increase*Speed more critical on diesel vehicles*Half as much usable RPM as gasoline vehicles*Narrow range of RPM for acceptable fuel economy
In making the decision for ownership of diesel pickups, all pros and cons should be considered.
NEW DIESEL TECHNOLOGY
A bright spot in the diesel pickup is the continuing work toward producing a hybrid pickup. Chrysler (Dodge Ram) introduced a mild hybrid, but in limited fleet quantities. News on the horizon is that a company in India will introduce a full hybrid pickup in 2010 that is expected to deliver 40mpg.
Dr. Arun Jaura was a head engineer that worked on the Ford Escape Hybrid platform before he became VP of Product Development at Mahindra & Mahindra in India. Watch for the diesel hybrid, the Appalachian, to be available in the US in 2010.
