Mosey,

Seems like you are right on the line gas vs diesel....

In the past I have hauled, not towed, quite a bit of mulch,
soil, gravel, and rock in my old Chevy 2500. I moved up to a
Ford SWD 350 in last December. I have hauled a couple of
loads of rip rap but that is all that would "justify" a diesel.
At the time I was buying I wanted to make sure that I could
tow my tractor if need be as well as a loaded dump trailer.

I also had to have an 8 foot bed and a crew cab. 4x4 was
a tough decision but we need one vehicle that can handle
the yearly snow in....

The credit union had a chart with the price of fuel vs mpg.
Now maybe I looked at the chart wrong but it paid for me
to get a diesel. Maybe that is what I wanted to see! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Diesel fuel in my area is about the same price as regular. My
first two vehicles really ran better on higher octane gas so
I almost always filled up with the high price stuff. I think that
helped move the numbers in the buy diesel decision. If you
are running regular now then diesel engine might not be a
good buy.

I'm also planning to run this truck into the ground and it better
last 10 years. My Chevy was run into the ground after 6
years. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

My Ford 350 which has a 6 speed will get me about 18.0 mpg
in my city loop. 18.5-18.9 in my city/highway loop. The only
long trip I made was before the enigine was broken in and
at 70-75 mph I got about 17.5-17.9 mpg. The MPG ratings
are based on the amount of fuel put into the truck and the
miles driven not what the computer says. BTW thats a good
2 mpg better than my old Chevy diesel which was a smaller
engine with less power...

MPG is highly dependent on the driver, terrain, and road
conditions. They laugh at me at work because I drive to
slow. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Actually I drive fast it just takes me a long time to get going! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] With the traffic around here there
is really no point in spending the fuel so I can slam on the
brakes at the next stop light. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thats my two cents....
Dan McCarty