Gas or Diesel? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Colwell · RV-Dreams Community Member

Gas or Diesel?

karen948 · RV-Dreams Family Member

My wife and I purchased a Tradewinds 40E with a 400 HP Cummings last april and our prior motorhome was a 33 foot Infinity with a Triton v10. We struggled due to the additional cost but now that we have taken a few trips and logged about 4000 miles we know it was the right decision for us. It drives so easy and is very comfortable and quiet going down the road. You do not get buffeted by wind and large trucks on the freeway. We tow a Jeep Rubicon and you don't even notice it back there. I'm more relaxed traveling and also when we arrive at our destination. This along with the solid interior, storage, fuel capacity (150 gallons) make me a believer in the value for the dollar. Good luck with your decision.

Bob

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Reading this thread on the same subject should be a start - http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=91511&p=3&topicID=37940919.

Colwell · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks for your response. Truth is that we had pretty much already decided, but; looking for more positive re-enforcement. I know that if we went gas we would forever be second quessing ourselves. Somewhere I read that nobody ever upgrades to gas. Thanks again.

-- Edited by Colwell on Monday 14th of February 2011 07:56:05 AM

Colwell · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thank you. New to the sight and read on after posting my question. Felt kinda dumb. Hope to see you on the road. Overall I we think diesel is the way to go.

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

You shouldn't feel dumb about posting this question. That is what the forum if for. We had a 22 ft. B+ that got great mileage and worked well for snowbirding. After getting rid of all of our "stuff" it still wasn't big enough for fulltiming. We bought a class A diesel and have been happy with it so far. We wanted something that would last, strong enough to pull, and big enough to live in. Searched for a long time before buying. Good Luck to you!

jb · RV-Dreams Family Member

Never feel dumb. There are lots of considerations. We will go diesel but want to full time in our current 33'ft gas for the first year just to make sure we know what we want before buying the diesel.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Having driven both professionally, in general, if you are actually going to travel a lot, especially in any mountain areas, pull a toad (car) and use the rig, the answer hands down is diesel. More power or, as really matters, more torque than gas. Torque is what moves the rig up hills and you don’t have that roar from the gas engine at high RPMs trying to drag the rig up that incline.

That said, diesels, especially big ones, are more expensive overall to maintain and you can’t just stop into a Ford or Chevy dealer for maintenance. However, they do use a bit less fuel in general. (Net cost) I’m sure that is open to debate, but those are the numbers.

If gas were superior to diesels you wouldn’t see most larger vehicles and buses running on diesel. It really is about that simple. However, diesels cost more. Not trying to be flippant, but you get what you pay for. In all honesty, the decision depends more on your pocket book more than anything else.

Safe travels

Bill

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill makes a good point that it depends more on your pocket book than anything else. I do know of people who overspent on their RV and that caused them to come off the road to get a job. There are many full-timers who are happy to drive gas motorhomes for many years and deal with the limits. We started with a gas motorhome and it worked fine, but we could afford to buy a diesel pusher and that is what we have now. We had a big 8.1 liter Chevy gas engine and passed many a diesel on the hills, but our 8.9 liter Cummins (370HP) diesel pulls even better.

Colwell · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks to everybody for your great information. We have spent enough time in our current unit while still having to work to know that full timers are a special breed of sincerely good people. We are really struggling with having to wait to be a part of your world.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

We currently have a 34' gas RV and hope to go fulltime sometime next year in this rig. We've consumed countless hours struggling with the gas/diesel question too and have weighed all of the pros and cons. The best advice I heard was not to dwell on the fuel choice but to choose an RV that you are happy in which to live day after day.

Think about how much time you will spend driving and how much time sitting still. If you travel like Howard & Linda, moving less than 200 miles every week or so (or even less frequently) that's only 3-4 hours of actually driving the rig per week. That's 2% of the time driving and 98% sitting. In our case we anticipate driving about 7500 miles a year and at that rate it won't make a whole lot of difference what engine moves the rig.

Ignoring the fuel choice, we concentrated on a workable length (we like natural parks as opposed to RV parks), carrying capacity, towing capacity and above all layout, layout, layout! We honestly could not find a diesel powered motorhome in the length we wanted ( less than 35 ft.) that had floorplan that we liked better than what we already have in our driveway.

-- Edited by RVRon on Monday 14th of February 2011 07:01:37 PM

Colwell · RV-Dreams Community Member

All very good points, thanks. You are exactly right about the floor plan. The unit we are favoring for the best space that fits us is gas, but; we sure like the idea of air suspension, much less noise in front when on the road, the extra storage and the air assisted braking. We will be traveling the mountains. Decisions, decisions.

mcw50 · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have been fulltiming since 2000....started out in a 34' gas Class A that we'd had for two years when we retired and hit the road. We were very comfortable in that rig (Ford Triton V10) and it performed well. After several years on the road and several trip to visit our son who lived at 11,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains we decided we could afford to go with a diesel. We discovered that we were even more comfortable in our new unit...better insulated, less struggle on the mountain roads, smoother ride, etc., and at this point have no big desire for a new unit. Again..lifestyle, floor plan and cost can influence you a lot.

Mary