jj1987

Getting a HD 1500 would actually cost more than the 2500 LT/Custom that I'm looking at. I considered that route. The 3.5L F150 is the most fun truck I've ever driven. I had one for 2 separate week long rentals for work and loved it. Unfortunately it's significantly more expensive up front, and would still suffer from being a lighter truck that the boat can push around quite a bit.

Thanks guys. I think if I could find an extended powertrain warranty for a reasonable price, that would be the one thing to send me over to the diesel camp. 5 year 100k mile factory warranty is basically a 5 year 30k mile warranty for me. The hard part is the fear of the unknown-- with a little one coming how will life change? What if we love camping and do it once a month, or in general just start driving more often (sports, road trips vs flying for vacation, etc). If I could get a 10yr 100k warranty on the diesel then it becomes a $1k/year added expense and a truck we'll never grow out of which would be much easier to justify. I'll see if I can find anything online to see what those cost. With how low the failure rate is on powertrain items I would hope something exists that's reasonable, or maybe that's just wishful thinking and all extended warranties really are scams.

Hey Everyone, I know this question has been asked over and over in various ways, but I wanted to provide specifics around how I intend to use the truck and see if especially those of you with experience with each engine can chime in. I'm coming from a RAM 1500 Ecodiesel that got 31mpg (tuned) highway, and around 13-15mpg towing the boat, but sometimes the boat was more noticeable than I'd like. It blew up at 54,000 miles, so now it's time for a new one. I bought the truck when I was commuting 45min a day to work, then got a work from home job 2 weeks later. Now we generally drive my wife's Honda Civic for around town and the truck when towing. We do have a baby due in January, so we'll need more room than the Civic has for road trips, so some of the road trips will shift to the truck, or renting a bigger vehicle depending on rental rates and how far we're driving. I'm leaning towards the gas for the following reasons I'm in between a 1500 and 2500, so I'm not convinced the diesel is worth the up front cost for towing I work from home, so I rarely drive my truck, hence 54k miles in 7 years (18k were in year 1 before I owned it). Because of this, recouping the diesel up front cost is unlikely. Filling up diesel can be annoying, every time I'm at the filling station then there's a line of gas cars at the 2 diesel pumps because people don't realize how rude it is. When towing our boat on road trips, we often end up at truck stops for convenience, where diesel is $1/gallon more than at Sam's club where I usually get gas, which kills a lot of the diesel advantage. Short trips tend to never get hot enough for a regen Minor repairs even under warranty take longer, as there are fewer diesel mechanics at the dealership than gas. I understand on the internet, we're supposed to act filthy rich where gas prices don't matter, but at the end of the day they do. Diesel does save $400/year, so over 7 years of ownership that's $3k or so, then let's say $4-7k more when you sell the truck for the diesel. So really, the total cost of ownership, the diesel is $1-3k more. That's not enough to change my final decision either way. I used prices from my local Sam's, factoring in only a 60 cent a gallon difference ignoring the temporary inflated diesel prices since this is a 5-7 year decision and not a 12mo out decision. This is the boat we're towing, a Sea Pro 248. Fairly aerodynamic. Rough Weight ~6300lbs 3000lbs hull 727lbs DF350A outboard 420lbs of fuel ~1000lb aluminum trailer 750lbs of other gear when trailering T-Top weight, ~300lbs Now, I know many will say this is fine for a 1500, but remember that boats are not well balanced, so they tend to tow a lot worse than other types of trailers. The next decision is with a baby on the way we would like to rent a camper in the mountains a few times a year. Our neighborhood has a community boat ramp and dock, so we won't camp enough to own one as boating will take priority, only on long weekends for something different to do. Given I've never towed a camper, this is really the big decision point. If I don't get the diesel, will I regret it towing a camper? The 7 year cost of ownership isn't *that* much different for me, so I'm flipping back and forth on my decision process.