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Diesel even worth it still?

Just a few more factors to consider. For both sides.

With the hemi you need to run 89 octane or higher, which does bridge the gap at the pumps a bit.

Also recall diesel is often cheaper than gas - these prices fluctuate. I haven’t owned an Ecodiesel but I do run a BMW diesel and it’s sometimes laughable how cheap it is to run.

Third is cost of maintenance. Oil changes and maintenance for the ED are insane compared to the hemi. Some owners can chime in here but I was pricing out maintenance costs 2-3x higher over the course of ownership compared to the hemi.

I love our BMW diesel and how it drives but it cost the same out the door as the gas. Now it’s worth more and has saved us money but who knows what a Ram diesel will look like 5-10 yrs down the road. At the end of the day there’s too many fluctuating variables, y’all just gotta buy what drives better and makes more sense as a buyer. Most of the numbers wash out to within a few hundred dollars, maybe couple grand over a few years either way. Not a big deal on a 50-90k truck.


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Johnny_H said:
Just a few more factors to consider. For both sides.

With the hemi you need to run 89 octane or higher, which does bridge the gap at the pumps a bit.

Also recall diesel is often cheaper than gas - these prices fluctuate. I haven’t owned an Ecodiesel but I do run a BMW diesel and it’s sometimes laughable how cheap it is to run.

Third is cost of maintenance. Oil changes and maintenance for the ED are insane compared to the hemi. Some owners can chime in here but I was pricing out maintenance costs 2-3x higher over the course of ownership compared to the hemi.

I love our BMW diesel and how it drives but it cost the same out the door as the gas. Now it’s worth more and has saved us money but who knows what a Ram diesel will look like 5-10 yrs down the road. At the end of the day there’s too many fluctuating variables, y’all just gotta buy what drives better and makes more sense as a buyer. Most of the numbers wash out to within a few hundred dollars, maybe couple grand over a few years either way. Not a big deal on a 50-90k truck.


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Click to expand...
With the Hemi, you need to run 87 octane or higher.
 
Diesel stopped being "worth it" back around 1998 as far as I'm concerned.
My Dad bought a 93 Ram 1-ton when they first released. Diesel was $0.35/liter when gas was something like $0.75/liter.
Pretty hard to argue the economics at that point. The Diesel is a clear winner on many counts and the $9k upcharge was quite quickly recovered.

Fast forward to the late 90's when Diesel jumped up to be $0.10/liter more than gas and that equation is drastically changed.
HP numbers and emissions counter measures started catching up to the torque ratings and mileage started to decrease dramatically under load and speed.
Further factor in that every part on the Diesel is 4 times as expensive and you quickly realize that right around the time the diesel pays for itself, one major repair bill sets you back a couple years.

I bought into the diesel game late, first in 2004 with a Cummins QC dually and again in 2008 with a Mega Cab. While both were certainly fun to drive, the economics never added up for me.
Sure they would pull hell off it's hinges but so would a Magnum V10 at a fraction of the cost and upkeep.

Just my $0.02.
It bears noting that in my case, exposure to either raw and burnt desel fumes gives me an instant headache, plus I really like to listen to my radio.
 
I like being able to drive 700 miles between fill ups with the Ecodiesel. It drives fine. Turbo lag isn't nearly as bad as people here like to claim. Go drive a FA powered WRX if you want to feel real turbo lag. If you are trying to save money, a 5.7L V8 nor a desiel are very good options.
 
Johnny_H said:
Just a few more factors to consider. For both sides.

With the hemi you need to run 89 octane or higher, which does bridge the gap at the pumps a bit.

Also recall diesel is often cheaper than gas - these prices fluctuate. I haven’t owned an Ecodiesel but I do run a BMW diesel and it’s sometimes laughable how cheap it is to run.

Third is cost of maintenance. Oil changes and maintenance for the ED are insane compared to the hemi. Some owners can chime in here but I was pricing out maintenance costs 2-3x higher over the course of ownership compared to the hemi.

I love our BMW diesel and how it drives but it cost the same out the door as the gas. Now it’s worth more and has saved us money but who knows what a Ram diesel will look like 5-10 yrs down the road. At the end of the day there’s too many fluctuating variables, y’all just gotta buy what drives better and makes more sense as a buyer. Most of the numbers wash out to within a few hundred dollars, maybe couple grand over a few years either way. Not a big deal on a 50-90k truck.


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Diesel prices here in Nebraska, at least easter side, just gumoed to $5.29/gal. While regular unleaded is $3.89.
 
The ecodiesel don’t make sense to my for my personal use. My daily commute is 6 miles each way. I wouldn’t even get the diesel up to operating temperature on my commute. The only time my truck gets used as a truck is towing a 6000lb camper for 10 trips a year. I bought my truck at the beginning of September and it doesn’t even have 5000 miles on it yet. We usually take the wife’s Qashqai for our weekend grocery trips and the normal running around stuff. The ecodiesel makes sense for many people, just isn’t the right fit in my day to day life.
 
Goldsy said:
The ecodiesel don’t make sense to my for my personal use. My daily commute is 6 miles each way. I wouldn’t even get the diesel up to operating temperature on my commute. The only time my truck gets used as a truck is towing a 6000lb camper for 10 trips a year. I bought my truck at the beginning of September and it doesn’t even have 5000 miles on it yet. We usually take the wife’s Qashqai for our weekend grocery trips and the normal running around stuff. The ecodiesel makes sense for many people, just isn’t the right fit in my day to day life.
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Wow, yeah you made the right choice with a hemi. I’ve had two 5th gen’s since the end of last October, and combined already put a little over 23,000 miles on them.
 
Diesel should be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than gasoline...that whole distillate process and all.

I'm in NC. According to this Gas Tax by State 2022 - Current State Diesel & Motor Fuel Tax Rates

Gas and Diesel have the same state tax of 38 1/2 cents per gallon.

Same site shows Federal tax at 18.4 for gasoline and 24.4 for diesel.

A 6 cent per gallon tax difference does not explain the price difference.
 
  • Haha
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I had a 2019 Hemi and now have a 2020 ecodiesel. I drive between 30-40k km a year and the 18mpg my Hemi struggled to get on the highway was getting old.

My ecodiesel gets 28-30MPG easily and have seen as high as 33mpg. I get 18-20mpg towing my snowmobile trailer with it and it tows great.

Even though diesel prices are insane right now I still love it and for the distances I drive it's fantastic. Last summer diesel was cheaper than gas which was a huge bonus.



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Currently looking around at prices from 5.80- 5.95 per gallon in upstate NY. and I’ve had diesel trucks for years, this is insanity. a tank of gas is 200 dollars in my ram. that’s damn near a full days work after tax just to pay the damn fuel bill and it was half of that when certain “entities” weren’t actively trying to crush the fossil fuel market.

I bought diesel for reliability and fuel economy but now my Harley running premium is a much better deal for my commute… and it isn’t even close anymore.

And we’re the poor saps who bought into the “efficient” trucks out of want, there are truckers who are paying damn near twice or MORE THAN TWICE what they paid for fuel a year ago, and that’s money they need to literally survive, hell, if I were still working my old job I would not be able to afford driving an hour to work.

I don’t even have a question or hope it gets better at this point, just trying to use as few gallons of diesel as possible untill it make any sense to drive. Real expensive garage decoration these politicians let me have.


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It’s funny how people freak out about fuel prices when histoty has shown it to be cyclical. This is no different than other modern times where fuel was high for a while. It will correct when we go into a recession.
 
djevox said:
It’s funny how people freak out about fuel prices when histoty has shown it to be cyclical. This is no different than other modern times where fuel was high for a while. It will correct when we go into a recession.
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Which is fast approaching
 
Idahoktm said:
With the Hemi, you need to run 87 octane or higher.
Click to expand...

39f25e9753e9fa5b468b1466cedf7ca8.jpg

Sorry I was just following the instruction book. I’ll listen to you now.


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HSKR R/T said:
Diesel prices here in Nebraska, at least easter side, just gumoed to $5.29/gal. While regular unleaded is $3.89.
Click to expand...

Literally today it jumped $0.30 a litre overnight here. Now $2.10 a litre! Regular is $1.70. So diesel is now basically $8 a gallon here.

The irony that I’m also selling my BMW diesel today (which is killing me) is not lost.

Insanity. But not unexpected.


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Johnny_H said:
Literally today it jumped $0.30 a litre overnight here. Now $2.10 a litre! Regular is $1.70. So diesel is now basically $8 a gallon here.

The irony that I’m also selling my BMW diesel today (which is killing me) is not lost.

Insanity. But not unexpected.


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Based on the posts here, the problem may be selling it by the litre. It's definitely cheaper by the gallon.

Just sayin'. :)

'Murica!!
 
I believe they mention 87 because at altitude they sell mid-grade at 87 since the altitude also resists pre-detonation. They clarify this with the sentence directly after by describing it as "Plus" which to me indicates mid-grade for the relative altitude of your region.

Obviously many people use regular in their Hemi, but there is also plenty of people reporting knocking until the system retards the timing when towing heavy loads with regular. I think the manual clearly is indicating that mid-grade is preferred for the hemi.
 
jent said:
I believe they mention 87 because at altitude they sell mid-grade at 87 since the altitude also resists pre-detonation. They clarify this with the sentence directly after by describing it as "Plus" which to me indicates mid-grade for the relative altitude of your region.

Obviously many people use regular in their Hemi, but there is also plenty of people reporting knocking until the system retards the timing when towing heavy loads with regular. I think the manual clearly is indicating that mid-grade is preferred for the hemi.
Click to expand...

No I’m gonna listen to that guy with the blue sharpie.

Even though the one tank of 87 I used while towing lead to the timing retarding to the point that the truck couldn’t get out of 5th gear when it’s otherwise always in 7th or 8th and used around 25% more gas, and also I spent $90k on a truck and am too cheap to spend an extra $10 per tank so it doesn’t knock…I’m gonna listen to blue sharpie guy.


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