I am trying to decide which truck to go with and was hoping I could get some advice from the group. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to any of the diesel engines offered by the different mnufacturers?
Here's my take on it...
The Dodge has an excellent inline 6-cylinder motor (the 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel) with a very long, very good history. Unfortunately, it's attached to a Dodge transmission which doesn't share the Cummins superb reputation. This motor is turbo-charged, intercooled and has direct injection with 4 valves per cylinder.
The Ford's new 6.0L is a V-8 that uses a variable vane turbocharger, intercooler and has direct injection with pilot injection with 4 valves per cylinder. While promising, it has the drawback of being the newest motor and has had some reported problems with the fuel injection system - something about the pilot injection not working well on random vehicles which requires a total reprogramming of the injection system to disable it, eliminating the benefits of pilot injection. Depending on who you talk to and what their opinion is, some like and some dislike the Ford automatic transmission. Personally I've had nearly 20 years of driving Fords in the Fire Department and don't like them.
GM uses a 6.6L turbo diesel V-8 that uses a variable orifice turbo charger, intercooler, and has direct injection with pilot injection and 4 valves per cyinder. This motor has been around since 2000 and is co-designed and built with Isuzu here in the US, so it's been around long enough to have the bugs worked out although it doesn't have the track record of the Cummins. The high point of this motor is GM offers the Allison transmission (currently a
5-speed automatic but will be a 6-speed automatic with manual mode starting in '06) which IMHO is king of the hill - which is why I own one.Just my two cents worth - Jonathan
Complete agreement, the dodge motor has the history, but unfortunatly so does its transmition. fords never had a great diesel IMHO, and chevy has the duramax and a good tranny that both have most of their bugs worked out. in the end it turns into your personal preferance of motors, transmitions, and body styles. ford has a better looking truck, dodge has a awsome motor, and chevy has an ok body style with a good motor.
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