I have had my 2005 for about 2 years. I dont drive it much, because I have a long commute (60 miles), and for a while diesel was really expensive. I had a second car, and it almost paid for itself in fuel savings. Well, it never really made sense to me to be paying $500 a month on a truck just to have it sit, especially knowing how long these trucks run. So now I am considering ditching the second car, and just driving the truck. Anything to be concerned about, does the 2500 make a reasonable daily driver?

 

I daily drove my 2500 for a long while 75 miles one way every day, and I was fine with it. This was back when fuel was cheap, and I never had any concerns.
Scott

 

I guess the cost of maintenance, tires, etc is higher on a 2500 than a 2nd car if driven the same miles, but overall I dont know that I am saving much by having insurance, maintenance, etc on that 2nd car.

 

I'm in the same boat.
50+ mile roundtrip commute, from Long Beach, CA to LAX.
Carpool with the my fiancee.

Had three cars (GTI, 3 Series, truck)...two cars sat while we drove one.
The GTI got the best mpg - about 25.
The 3 Series got 21 mpg.
Truck gets about 17 mpg.

Did the math, was throwing money out the window...the fuel savings never justified the added expense (insurance, maintenance).

Needed the truck, sold the cars.

I love driving the truck. Parking is tough - I'm right at 6' 10" in height, so I don't fit in many parking structures. Have less than 1 inch clearance in the structure at my office

The only complaint is from my girl...even with the Carli suspension, freeway expansion joints are rough. Certain stretches of the 110 and 405 make her complain that I'm "driving bumpy"

 

There's only one downside to useing a diesel as a DD: it takes forever to heat up. Even with a remote starter and a block heater, it took 3-4 times as long to get heat (and defroster) as my Dakota

 

I'd hang on to the car for the "just in case" factor....

What if diesel sky rockets back up again....

What if the truck breaks down....

Short trips to the store....

It comes in handy if you have older relatives that come into town that have a hard time getting in and out of a taller vehicle...unless its your mother-in-law of course...


I use my truck as a DD. 46 miles round trip to/from work, but for long trips it's nice to have something that handles the freeways a little better, and like **** said, parking for a larger vehicle in Cali is no fun.. ...

I say hang on to it....

 

I drive a 3500 daily and love every minute of it. Yeah, tires are much more expensive, and I fill up usually every week (about 400 - 500 miles), but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I also have a mini van, so we are a two driver, three car family. We just got back from towing the camper on vacation for a week and it really made me re-appreciate the truck!

 

I DD a 2005 with 32k everyday. Of course my commute is only 10-15 minutes. I would ditch the car if the money earned/saved could be put towards paying down the debt on the truck.

 

My 2005 CTD is my DD too... it gets way better mileage than my old 1500 gasser ever did .. so I'm a happy camper anyway you look at it..

 

I DD my CTD around the mad streets of Vegas, and while it's not the cheapest ride around, I like it because it's safe.

A co-worker drives a Yaris, or some similar micro car, and he's always bragging about the gas mileage. I've never said this to him, but I would hate to be in one of those things in a serious accident.

I'll take the fuel mileage and maintenance hit as the price I pay for the piece of mind my CTD gives me.

 

Keep the car. Money wise it makes no sense to drive the truck like that. I drive 124 miles a day to work. No way am I driving my truck unless I have to get feed on the way home or my car is broke. Your truck will last you a long time. I had to drive mine two months while the car was getting new floorboards. I was fussing all the time. Love the truck but hated to see the miles go up so quick.

 

What kinda sucks is that I am making payments on both the truck and the car. I forgot to mention that.

 

Try to sell the car. No question. It's pointless to discuss the fuel economy advantages of a vehicle that you're making extra payments on. The interest alone more than negates any mpg offset.

Another option may be to "trade down" the car to an older/cheaper vehicle that you can afford to own and DD to work.

 

I use my 3500 (SRW) as a DD. The truck gets better fuel efficiency than all the 1/2 ton pickups out there, so why not?

Ditch the car, get a bicycle!