Not everyone wants a large diesel engine

[itripper]

Originally Posted by Dieselmech2

Don't get too excited, the 1/2ton dodge gets good milage when driving around empty but don't fall for the "tows great" or "will tow 9000lb's" cause that's plain bs. The truck is too big/heavy/too many options to drive/haul in traffic here with that little power. Like I said, a buddy traded his 6 month old 1/2 ton dodge in on a 3/4ton just so he could get the bigger cummins. He loved the cruising around milage but really, it's a big car with an open trunk. He almost bought an ecoboost f-150 like my others friends after hearing their towing stories but wanted diesel and the ford dealership wouldn't give him as much for a trade in as the dodge dealership would. So he bought a diesel that will pull, from the dodge dealership. Check out the payload..then figure in 4 people at say 200lb's each...then any other crap you have laying around in a truck, say a total of 1000lb's..what's the payload again?....1800lb's or something like that....uh that leaves 800lb's you can put in the back??? Yeah, that's a car with an open trunk.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud dodge for building a smaller diesel and sticking it in a 1/2ton, that's awesome. But when a trucks "raison d'etre" is hauling stuff and that's exactly where this truck falls short..that's a fail in my book.

Well I am VERY excited about the new Dodge diesel and the ECOboost Ford, they have exactly what is needed for a drivetrain in the 1/2 ton truck series. If you want to actually haul or tow heavy items it is common knowledge that you need a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, you do not buy a 1/2 ton truck for anything serious. I have a large Chevy diesel 4x4 5th wheel hauler that I love, but my driver for hauling my bikes, off road camping and other stuff is an older 1/2 ton Z71 Chevy Silverado with a 5.3 that gets 15 mpg. EVERYTHING I use that truck for could be done by the ECOBoost or the Dodge diesel with double the MPG. Where I live here in Tucson every third family car is a 4 dr 1/2 ton truck, people like the visibility and versatility of them. To get 29 mpg out of a truck makes them very viable to use as a daily driver. I personally am very jealous of those new trucks but I am not going to spend the money for a new one. I also have a very old 65 Dodge 225 CID (3.5 liter?) truck that is 1/2 ton, it only gets 14 mpg and has maybe 150 horsepower. At least in the state of Arizona, 90% of the trucks here are 1/2 ton grocery getters that get parked in garages and rarely used for hauling, that is the demographic these new fuel efficient trucks are after.

LARGE