[Badbart56]

The old gas/diesel argument/comparison! Going back to the early 80's when diesels were becoming available in pickups, they weren't a popular option given the noise and smell and lack of power. A 454 C30 or a Ford 460 F-350 was most folks choice for hauling trailers of any weight over say, 5000-8000 pounds, and even so, the trucks were limited in what they were rated to carry. So back then overloading a gasser was pretty much a daily reality as pickups were just not suited (legally) for much heavy hauling.

We've come a long way! While horsepower ratings were quite low on the early diesels the torque numbers were higher that what was possible in the gassers and a few of us came to appreciate the low end grunt that these engines had. Moving into the early/mid 2000's we saw both horsepower and torque numbers on the rise, and although Ford and Chevy had a few hiccups along the way, Dodge stayed with the tried and true Cummins power plant that has made them a very capable commercial pickup truck in the market today. (although I'll bet few of y'all know that the first Dodge diesel pickup powerplant was a Mitsubishi) I see more Ram's out there pulling Hotshot loads on the interstate than the other two options, but Ford comes in second.

By 2011 it was pretty clear that gas engines just couldn't compete with the diesels, at least to me. Will the gas trucks do the job? Sure, and you get lots more payload. But at a trade-off. The diesels will blow by you going up the hills. At much lower rpm's. Torque is a wonderful thing!

It's really an apples to oranges comparison. In the grand scheme of things checking the diesel option may cost you another $9000, but everyone I know that has owned a late model diesel won't go back to a gas engine. And when you get right down to counting pennies (if that's your argument) you can get a diesel Ford F-350 XL for less than what MANY F-150's are going for. Personally, I don't need a King Ranch or a Platinum. That leaves me more money to buy that new SRT Challenger for my wife (that I'll get to drive)!

Get what makes you happy. But as many here have pointed out, do your research carefully and don't have less than you need to safely and comfortably haul what you need. Nothing worse than to buy too little and take the hit trying to upgrade with trading a new truck on another new truck.

And there's always the used truck market, although the price of used vehicles has gone crazy lately. Still, it's an option.

So whatever floats your boat. As for me, I'm staying with diesel. I can afford it and the performance is unrivaled, so why not?