Diesel Question

[Kenmotorist]

I have older diesels, '94 Chevy 6.5 turbo. They're pigs at highway speed, but get 17mpg compared to 11 in my gas trucks.
If you need to accelerate to pass on the interstate, diesels are not for you. They're great pulling a load or for mileage at steady state, but passing is just not their forte.
They'll keep speed even with a load, but they don't pick up speed quickly.

True for larger capacity diesels but not the 3.0 duramax. It’s a light duty diesel tuned to behave like a gas truck but with stellar fuel economy

 

[Pressureangle]

True for larger capacity diesels but not the 3.0 duramax. It’s a light duty diesel tuned to behave like a gas truck but with stellar fuel economy

Yes, and I'm all for unleashing the diesel beasts. Modern electronic diesels with variable turbos are pretty amazing, but nobody's stock Duramax will win a drag race with a 6.0 gas motor. It will get twice the fuel mileage trying, though.

 

[StephenPT]

Do you carry DEF with you regularly? Just on long trips? Or not all all?

Never carried extra. As mentioned, when you’re doing regular driving usage rate is about ~7K miles per tank of DEF.

Towing is considerably more usage, but you’ll get a warning on the dash when you’re 1K miles from empty. Our range while towing is ~350 miles so the next time we hit a Pilot, Loves, etc. we pull over for diesel and I grab a jug of DEF.

The DEF is a non-issue. People that don’t own this motor will make comments about the inconvenience. Under normal driving I probably refill my washer fluid more often than I do DEF. Towing is about 5-6 times a year for us and if it’s a trip <1K miles I won’t need to get DEF until I get home.