Gas vs diesel SMB?

[akfiredude]

Hi everyone

I have been peeking at SMB's for sometime and I'm getting close to making the leap to ownership. I have have been looking at used ones and I'm curious as to others experience/opinions regarding gas vs diesel engines. I assume the diesel is more fuel efficient and more reliable. There are some V10's on the SMB website and they are of course less expensive. Are the diesels worth the extra $? How much better is the fuel economy? Are we likely to have less break downs (as I know diesels can be much more costly to get worked on)? My wife and I will be traveling fairly remotely in Alaska and the desert SW so economy and reliability is really important to us. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated regarding what to look for (or not) for remote travel.Thanks in advance. Paul in AK.

[Ford_6L_E350]

You ask good questions.

It looks like the V10's get 10-14mpg and the diesels 12-18mpg. The maintenance costs for the diesel will eat up any fuel savings. And it is hard to get into a good diesel mechanic, especially when on the road. We sat in Prince George BC for 5 days with injector problems and again 5 days in Sydney, Nova Scotia for another injector failure. And towed 80km into Dawson City YT for another problem.

If I had it to do again, I'd go with gas.

That said, I'm happy with my van and engine and the 16+mpg we've averaged including 4wd use.

Mike

[webbmac]

You might look at a GM Duramax. .

[vwteleman]

Paul,

You may find your answers here:
No more "Gas or Diesel" Threads

(Sorry, not trying to be rude, but there's some good info there.)

Brent

[Tapatio]

[youtube:1qubfwyw]

[akfiredude]

Hi Brent

Thanks for the link (I did not take it as being rude). I did look at these (of course found it after I posted) but these were all posted in 2007/2008 I'm curious now with the higher gas/diesel prices and the fact that people have had several more years of experience with these engines if there is more current feedback for a SMB newbie like me. Thanks again, Paul

[akfiredude]

Tapatio, that was hilarious!!! Thanks for giving me a chuckle without busting my b*lls too bad for asking the same dumb old question.....Paul

[saline]

Great job Tapatio!

[86Scotty]

My belly is hurting from laughing so hard. I love that one. I've seen those before but that one is the best!

[Ultrasport12]

When we started looking to replace our old GMC van with a newer Ford I wanted a diesel because I had a 2000 F350 with a 7.3 and a manual trans that I loved.Because we wanted to use it for long trips my girlfriend had to like it as well. We drove a 2002 van with a 7.3 and it was too loud even for me coming from the old and not too quiet GMC. Since we really wanted a newer van we decided it had to be 2006 or newer and thus a 6.0. We drove a 2006 with maybe 80,000 miles and then a 2008 with only 22,000. I hate to say it but the noise was just to much for her and almost too much for me. I know you can use sound deadener and things to make it quieter but we just thought a gasser might be better. At that time diesel fuel was about 50¢ more than regular and we figured it would take a ton of miles to pay for the difference in purchase price, maintenance and fuel to offset the few miles a gallon better a diesel would get. So we bought a 2008 E-350 with a V-10 and we couldn't be happier with it. It gets 13-15.5 mpg all the time (still 2wd...3.73 gears) has tons of power and it is smooth and quite.