Speak for your own gas engines! Haha.Whoa, no ketchup on hot dogs. [emoji14]
Diesels are twice the cost across the board. Everything costs more money. Up front, at the pump, DEF, oil changes. MPG savings is feel goods for people who can't do math or see the big picture. You gotta own that diesel for a long time before it averages out. And modern gasser performs just as good and are just as reliable these days. Sure you might not be able to make as much torque or put a million miles on it. But for average folks who are going to own a vehicle for 3-5yrs, gas is a good option still. Don't discount it totally.
I used to be an IFS guy, and it was pretty decent in our old SUV rig, but I tried wheeling an half ton and that got old. Having front and rear solid axles, I get Jeep guys now. I get it. It's the way go. Less things to break offroad. No worrying about breaking CV's and tie rods.
One consideration though might be to investigate the aftermarket for the platform you pick in advance. Especially in terms of lift and suspension. I found when I had the half ton, the options were more geared towards mall crawlers. You could get 6 inches of lift but your rig would have bad geometry. And generally terrible on technical terrain.
Desert running, for some goofy reason, has become very popular with 3/4 ton guys. And even if it's not your thing, it's opened up a lot in the aftermarket community in terms of quality suspension components.
Mines got 300,000 miles on it and shows no signs of stopping.....minus the overheating on a hot day when stopped in traffic. But I honestly think that's cause it idles at 500 rpm so the fans doing literally nothing. Also seen many a 5.3L hit over the 500,000 mile mark. Just cause their gas doesn't mean they're not tough.
I know with all the new gizmos the OEMs put on the new engines is fancy and all but it's a bigger failure point in my eyes. But getting an older one that's just allowed to be a v8, it's all in how you maintain them and treat them.
Anyone can destroy any engine with the lack of maintenance and pushing it beyond it's limits, whether it's a gas or diesel.
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