Okay I surfaced some strongly held opinions with my automatic versus manual question. Lets keep this friendly, but I'd like to know which you prefer, gas or Diesel, and why.
This question is about 1-ton trucks, not cars, not medium or heavy duty trucks, just 1-ton trucks.
Those who have been around a while know I'm a gas guy. I've spent some time thinking about why and I think it comes down to a short list:
1) I resent the noise the Diesel powered milk truck makes early in the morning and don't want to hear it again when I get in my own truck. And yes I've been hearing it that long.
2) I prefer the sound of a big gas V-8 to that of a Diesel. This is different than the first, as its more about what the gas motor sounds like. I love the roar of a big V-8. Muffled of course.
3) I've spent very little time working on Diesel motors and all of that more than 25 years ago. I'm more comfortable working on a gas motor.
4) While a Diesel can make a lot of torque, it has a relatively narrow torque band (limited by max RPM) and requires a lot of shifting to stay in it. A big gas motor can have a wide torque band and reduce the amount of shifting required to pull hard. This makes for smoother operation and makes sense to me.
5) I'd rather smell burned gasoline than burned Diesel. I'm not sure where that preference comes from, but its mine and I claim it.
6) I'm not convinced by the economies associated with Diesels. My math says the total cost of ownership is about the same in most cases. You almost always spend more to own and maintain a Diesel which offsets the savings on fuel.
I had a longer list in mind when I started this, but got interrupted by a neighbor letting me know our community well has died. An hour messing with that drove the other thoughts out of my head and replaced them with a 'what is this going to cost' that has nothing to do with old trucks....
So I won't say I'll never own a Diesel, I have penciled out the economics a couple times considering it an option, but the purely subjective part, which would I prefer, comes down to gasoline power.
How about you? Gasoline or Diesel? And why?
