AHH!
Got It.
Man that makes a WHOLE lot more sense now!:face-icon-small-hap:face-icon-small-hap
Christopher -- I cannot recommend the 3.5 motor enough for the "lighter" or "occasional" duty towing. Is it gonna chew gas? Yup. Gonna pass everything on the way to the gas station? Yup.
I "tend" to lean GM, that said, my last two pickups have been Fords. Drove the 3.5 a couple years ago just as a test. Knew it was the motor I wanted vs all the new 5.3s. Came home with the Ford. That Ford was starting to show it's age and the idiot behind the wheel was a little tough on her. Started looking for a different one -- drove the 6.2 and still wasn't impressed. Hopped in the 3.5 and boom. That one came home. If the new diesel will give me that feeling in either Ford or GM I'll be putting the pen to paper (or really calcs in an excel sheet) to see what the cost of ownership will be.
Annual trip of Grand Forks, ND to Togwotee and back -- three sleds, open trailer (with shields), full gear, three guys per truck. 80-85 as the roads allow. -- 2013 Eco CC, 5'5" box, 3.55s - Same truck, same guys, same trailer, round trip 2k miles. Last year low 8s fighting the wind big time out bound trip. Two years ago just over 10. Round trip. That 10 to 10.5 is pretty normal for our group heading anywhere out west.
I bombed out by myself last year over New Years to Island Park. Sled in the back of the pickup. 85-90 and it was cold coming back, decent heading out. Drove over the night of New Years and most of the way from Billings to Bismark was -25F between Forsyth and Miles City I saw -44 on the thermometer. That trip alone was 10.8 ish -- speed and the cold. I don't know if I would have been able to make it in the diesel or if I would have been gelled up. One of the few times I thought to myself "I'm glad I'm in a gasser."
I know you won't see that kind of miles, but just a snap shot.
