As I'm typing this, oil is at $125 a barrell. Which means in a week from now diesel fuel is going to be even higher than what it is right now.

I love my truck, the power, and the fact it's a diesel. BUT I'm seriously starting to wonder if it's worth keeping or selling it and going back to gas. I pull at 30' trailer for camping 1 or 2 times a month and again it's nice to have the power but I could live with gas - just can't do 80 over the summitt.

My thoughts (I'm trying to be money smart) Truck payment is $479, I drive about 40 miles everyday and 100+ on the weekends when out playing:

1) Sell the diesel and buy a gas truck.

2) Keep the diesel and buy a cheap economical car for driving around during the week.

 

#2

By the time you sell the diesel and by gas, the price of gas will have caught back up to diesel.

 

NO. Maybe a street riden motorcylce is in my near future, but I will NOT trade my CDT for a Hemi, Vortec or a Triton; NEVER.

 

I've seen where a couple guys actually did the swap and were very unhappy with the results. Yes gas is cheaper, sometimes, but the difference in fuel mileage negates any kind of gains you get in the price of gas. One guy had his truck in the shop for two weeks and had a rental Hemi pickup truck. It cost him more to run the Hemi for two weeks than it did his Diesel. So, by the time you get raped on trading the CTD in and then pay more to run the gasser, it just makes sense to ride it out.
BTW, I heard yesterday that they are predicting that in a years time gas will be $7.00 a gallon!!! That's gonna make it hard for just about anybody to get around. I think that's going to push us over the edge as a nation......

 

buy a car that runs on natural gas for commuting. Natural gas is .69/gal. Semi Service has some on the lot, they are off I-15 near down town. They are converting 200 brand new pickups for Questar.

 

ANWAR anyone?

 

Why so they sell even more Alaska crude oil to other countries like Japan and leave us with lower oil inventories? If they want to drill ANWAR then all of that oil has to stay here in the USA and not be sold to anyone outside of the USA. Nor can they sell more other US oil to keep our supply the same or lower because of the the supply we get out if the new oil fields.

JMHO

 

3)Sell the 35" mudders, go back to stock Michelins/BFGs, bump up 4mpgs.

Seriously though, run the numbers. With my relatively short commute (24 miles/day) I can't justify another car. What, with all the added maintenance, insuance, registration, etc. it just doesn't make sense to me even if I got a a .69/gallon CNG car (good luck finding one of those around here).

Sigh...it's a real cramp to the old lifestyle. Drove down to the Swell last weekend with two biking buddies and a 16' enclosed trailer in tow. Cost us $60/ea in fuel with my truck (600 miles rt, 14 mpg because of headwinds).

But if you quit, they win.

 

I think people are jumping to conclusions and starting rumors a little there with the $7/gallon (think chicken little and the sky is falling). I bet gas catches diesel at about the $4.50 mark and gas continues to the $5 mark and stays there for the next couple years.

 

I get better fuel economy than most mini crew cab pickup trucks with V6's. So why should I downsize?

MikeyB

 

Same here. The Sgt I work with has a new Toyota Tacoma Pre Runner V6 2wd and I get about 1-2 mpg's more than he does and mine is oh-so-much more fun to drive and can do more, well, everything, except off roading maybe but I don't do that anymore............

 

My CTD gets on average 5-7mpg MORE than did my 4.7L Dakota.

It's got a little more power, too

 

I actually had to buy a little commuter car. I use it to commute from work and back. I've had it only 2 months and put 6,000 miles on it so buying another vehicle worked out for me. I think of all the savings as mods to go towards the truck...

 

I hear the concerns on the price of diesel, but after owning one of those gasser trucks (Tundra), I couldn't go back. That being said, I have changed my driving habits to maximize the use of the truck when make errand runs. If i was driving a significant miles a week going to work and using the truck as a "commuter" vehicle, I would definately consider a cheap economy vehicle.

 

So let's do something about it. Where should we start?