Originally Posted By: hpb
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Originally Posted By: hpb
That's a fair comparo, I generally respect John Cadogan's opinion. I wonder if the outcome would be different now that there's a new Navara, HiLux and Triton, and the Ford/Mazda twins have had an update?
Whenever diesels are discussed on this forum, there's always mention of the "huge" maintenance costs in comparison to petrol engines. My experience over the years is that there's virtually no difference. Can anyone elaborate on what extra costs they've incurred with their diesel?
Well, until the advent of the newer emissions stuff, diesels were very cost effective choices. With DPF's and SCR units, the dynamics have changed. Replacing one of these setups can be a serious wallet buster. Sure, one can delete all of that stuff, but now the warranty is shot and it costs a hefty amount to delete. Not like one can just pull the stuff off. All in all, comparing the new diesels to the gassers, gas is going to be lower overall cost. There might be a break even somewhere over 100,000 miles with a diesel, but have not seen any appreciable evidence of that. Especially since DPF's and SCR's are going to start having failures soon at that point. When diesel is necessary for work needing to be done, it has a cost benefit ratio that is tolerable. But just to have a diesel because it is a diesel, the cost isn't worth it to me.
Sure, "if" the emissions gear fails, it's a big expense, but it's not a given that it "will" actually occur. Maybe it's an issue with US built diesels, but it's not something we see here, and every second vehicle in my state is diesel powered. I get that petrol is insanely cheap in the US, so imagine if you were paying 3 times more than you do now, and diesel fuel was slightly less expensive than petrol... That might swing things in favour of diesel engines. Different strokes for different folks obviously
It is, in fact, a given that the emission gear WILL fail. The chance it will happen is-exactly-one hundred percent. The only question is when. As a bonus, the new emission engines burn more fuel.