A friend of mine is trying to decide which would be the better vehicle for him...the 2500 with a diesel engine or with a gas engine. He occasionally tows a trailer with up to 5000 pounds load, but mostly drives about 40,000 miles per year unloaded or lightly loaded. Gas is paid for by our employer, so mileage is less an issue than performance and long-term reliability. He is looking at 2013s...so what do you all recommend? Thanks for your answers!

 

How often is "occasionally"? And what is the distances/terrain covered?

The reason I ask, is even as light as 5k, if it's towing up hills andover long distances, diesel hands down. If it's something like a boat on flat land maybe 20 miles three times a year, I see no reason to get the diesel. Now, if the mileage is mostly highway driving over extended distances, the diesel again gets the nod. The '13 has SCR (or DEF, or exhaust fluid) which from all accounts seems to have brought the mileage up over the 07.5-12 6.7.

The other angle is resale value, the diesel will ALWAYS have higher value than a comparable gasser. Always.

There is also the 6.4 gasser coming for '14MY, that would be the gas rig I'd get.

 

Welcome to DF.

Will move you to the correct location. For future reference: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-r...ead-first.html

 

Before considering a gas or diesel my advice is to seriously reconsider a dodge hd truck,

solid axle issues and drive line problems are not Chrysler concern to resolve, and are legitimate concerns.

My choice would be a ctd with a 6SP man transmission.

Hemi will accomplish the tasks you describe, but mainstance costs are dam near close to a ctd, theirs no advantage in flue costs between the two.

 

There's nothing wrong with the axles, nor is there anything wrong with the driveline.

 

Non servicable ball joints, non servicable u joints, My drive line was replaced twice under warenty ( non servicable crap ) and than again after the warenty was up, with servicable componants at 120,000 km.


Drive train on my truck could not hold up to the weaker hemi engine, CTD guys have the verry same issues.

Chrysler slash Dodge, band aid thease componants to get you up to 100,000 km ( 5 year power train in Canada) and than the dodge owners like me, get to improve on the crap Dodge puts into power trains on thease trucks.

HD Rams and solid axels, is the perfect combination to break the bank!!