Quote: (05-08-2017 04:46 PM)dirty_old Wrote:
Monty- I wouldn't say that the 7.3L diesel are all that great, not in terms of being worth the premium that SOME people think they are. The 6.0 that came after them was just so bad... that is really the main reason for the premium price. 7.3L's are reliable, cheap and easy enough to work on. Of the alternatives, they are the best of the bunch. The dodge diesel (Cummins 5.9) has the better engine but the suspension/front/end and some of the accessory mechanical components and electronics, not to mention automatic trans (avoid at all cost) are junk. The Chevy/GMC 6.5 diesel gets a bad rap, but can be a great buy, good mpg's, and dirt cheap to get parts for, or cheap to just swap in a whole replacement engine. They got a bad name because of fuel injection pump problems, but 7 times out of 10 that can be repaired with a $200 "PMD relocation kit" (the electronic controller for fuel injection pump overheats, but dealers etc would charger $2k+ in parts to replace the whole injection pump or even the entire engine instead of replacing & relocating the PMD).
If you're looking for a 7.3, I think if you expand your search area, or watch (craigslist) for awhile, and jump on it when you find a deal.. you can find a good one (maintained/never turned up/ old man driven) for ~5k or less. I bought a 99 f450 as my primary/beater work truck for that much about 7 years ago (got a deal) with 250k miles on it, salvage title but good shape, and put another 100k miles on it with no major breakdowns. Most of that was towing a heavy trailer with construction equipment on it.
Ski pro- they don't have the small diesels, only big ones in north america. VW and to the lesser extent mercedes are the only companies that really attempted to sell small diesels (there were none in small pickups, vw/mercedes in cars only) since 1987. I don't really count the rudimentary attempts to cater to large pickup drivers with the chevy colorado diesel/ram 1500/etc, although it's nice to see as an option at least. It would be great to see a volkswagen caddy (the truck not the van) like vehicle 30-40mpg, or a toyota tacoma diesel 30mpg.. Or any of the the other Japanese manufactures to be honest. People would buy it !!
The technology is already out there, and has been for years! The VW rabbit/caddy diesel got 50mpg in 1980! Nisssan/Toyota/Isuzu/Mitsubishi diesel got 30+mpg in the 80's. Of course people might chime in and argue that these things were extremely gutless, and the cars weighed less without much safety equipment. Citroen makes some diesel vans that get 50mpg. I'm not sure about Asia, but Ford ranger, Toyota Hilux, Nissan/Mazda?Suzuki?Mitsubishi all have small diesel pickups & engines already made somewhere in the world, getting around 30mpg..
It comes down to California over-regulation, specifically NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions. If a company can't sell a car/engine in CA (even worse and more expensive testing than standard EPA, expensive catalytic converter/egr/bluetec/etc system required) then the company might not/won't import it at all. In Europe, although emissions regulations can be strict, especially cities, it is recognized that there needs to be a balance, and good mpg's are valued and taken into consideration. In the states, "acid rain" was used as a scare tactic to set the emissions standards, highly favoring petrol over diesel in anything but full size (large) trucks & commercial vehicles. This emissions crap was pushed into place by the usa automakers and the oil companies in the 80's and 90's. The "chicken tax" (on imported light duty vans and trucks since the 60's) also has an impact. But, still, come on ford, it sure would be nice to see a ford ranger 2.3L diesel! /end rant
Appreciate the response!