The Cummins was able to avoid the Urea fluid in the regular pickups for an extra year. But cab chassi trucks have it. And pickups will have it soon. Or that's what I've heard.
I work at a GM dealer and diesel truck sales have dropped through the floor (thank god they suck to work on). When the Urea or DEF fluid first came out it was over $15 per gallon. Trucks have a 5 gallon tank with the range of about 3000 miles. I had a guy come back to me complaining about his mileage said he was getting around 15 mpg. He said he had friends with the Cummins that were getting in the 20's. His jaw dropped when I told him the Cummins was a 6 cylinder. His exact words were "they are getting all that power out of a 6 cylinder". Anyways he asked what he could do to get better mileage. I told him go buy a Dodge cause 15 out of a Duramax was good.
I reciently drove a '07 Dodge mega cab with a Cummins and I have to say the lack of power when you mash the pedal was kind of disappointing. The Duramax will burn the tires when you mash the pedal, but working on the SUCKS. So I'm assuming that the Cummins doesn't have a VNT which really does make a difference.
So as far as mileage I think were still in the same place we were 20 years ago. Alot more power though. But in my opinion unless your using your truck to tow constantly a diesel just isn't worth it. Between the extra maintenance cost and higher initial price you'll never make up the difference between the better fuel economy of a diesel vs the gasoline engine.
|