Quote:
Originally Posted by wiredgeorge
I believe many non-commercial buyers are influenced by what they read. The auto/truck magazines and now blogs love to splash big numbers that turn the heads of these buyers. I can't recall ever reading that an engine was built for max durability.
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It stands to reason that the lower power versions of the diesel engines would have a longer life with less parts breakage, just common sense. But judging from the number of hot shot trucks that I see towing on the interstates every day it doesn't appear that they have any concerns about using the 450, 350, and 250 diesel platforms with the high-performance version engines to get the job done.
I know that some of these guys have high miles on these trucks but I won't pretend to be so naive to think they never have any breakdowns or repairs, but I seldom see any on the side of the road. I don't know if GM and Dodge have the power separation on their commercial models, but diesels in general are just meant for longevity in my opinion. I just rolled over 200,000 miles on the one in my signature and have had minimum repairs needed over the years and I don't baby it. I've had several GM and Ford diesels over the years and I'm not sure why so many are afraid to own one. Even when you add in the upcharge for the engine, I see people driving loaded half tons that cost more than a truck like mine. I don't need the leather interior or power seats as much as I need that extra torque to pull my 18,000 lb. toy hauler. I'm pretty happy with just the basic air conditioning, automatic transmission, and AM/FM stereo. Performance is more important to me.
Obviously, there's a huge market for diesel trucks and the bragging rights certainly help drive that. Even though the manufacturers throw out a lot of useless numbers when vying for the prize of best in class whatever, that's what the public sees and believes. And I don't see this ever changing by reducing performance for the sake of longevity, but then again, I seldom keep a truck for less than 250,000 miles and have never had any catastrophic failures. Maybe I'm just lucky!