I figured I would start a new thread from the what do you tow with thread. Now I know this will agian get turned in to a gasser vs diesel thread but I am more looking for information regarding the differences between any year Ford, Chev, and Dodge diesel up to $ 30k. I have read many threads on here about the new F150 Eco boost so that would be something to test drive as well with the boat in tow to see if it would be good enough.
I have a 05 F150 SCrew with the 5.4L. Towing to my local lake the truck is more then enough because it's pretty much flat road with minor hills. Going to our summer house I am towing over the Coquihalla here in BC. There are 3 major hills. The one know as the Snowshed is a very long hill that has people stranded on the side of roads constantly from overheating or transmissions giving up. You can see the gradient may attached here.
http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/popular-topi...de-profile.pdf . Semi's are going up this hill slow enough you can easily see their individual lugs turning. I'm usually doing about 100km/phr at the bottom and struggle to do 45 km/phr by the top with my RPM's in the 4500 range. My brothers 07 250 with 22's and 37's still had me at 85km.phr on the same hill. I have already swapped out my transmission to a better aftermarket one but I know this hill will get me one day. Just this last weekend my truck was very hot by the time I got to the top. This all really makes me want a diesel especially considering my next boat will be heavier than what I have today plus with kids and the related gear that then comes with it/them. What I would really like would be a diesel suburban so I had the extra seating.
So I'm starting my research to see if it will be a right move for ME. That being said with an approximate budget of $ 30k or less what would be the best truck to get. I know quite a few of the mid 2000 Fords had quite a few issues with them but don't have much experience with the Chevy's or Dodge's. Whenever I look on a site like Craigslist it alwasy seems you get the most bang for your buck with a Ford....may be givin some of the issues. I'm also (if it makes sense) to buy an older diesel that only gets used for towing and have another small car for work. Right now my wife drives my truck as she is on mat leave and once she goes back to work she will continue to drive it as she will be to the local hospital and back. My wife also has no issues driving the current F150 or even a larger vehicle(bless her heart). I'm in sales so I'm driving around a bit more but I still don't even come close to putting 20 km's per year on the truck even when I was driving it daily. My current run around car otherwise is a 02 Protege 5 which is on it's way out as well as it's at 268k km and starting to die.
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