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My wife and I have owned 5 diesel trucks so far. We put an average of 300,000 miles on each one. We bought them because we were hauling a 24 foot gooseneck filled with 6 or 7 head of horses all the time. That would have killed a gas engine truck in a short period of time and the fuel cost would have been significantly higher.
We are now down to short hops most of the time with a smaller trailer and have switched back to a gas engine. You will only recover the extra costs of driving the diesel if you drive a lot of miles and tow a lot.
One other thing as far as cost............by the time we sell the diesels they are trashed. The engines are still doing alright but the rest of the truck is junk. They do not build the trucks to last as long as the engines. With ours, all 4x4's, we had totally rebuilt the front end in them several times, the rear ends, and for sure one clutch job.
If you are in cold country, diesels can be a pain as well. Many is the time I have seen cold snaps in October gell the fuel in trucks when we are up in hunting camp. Winter grade diesel is still not available at the pump that early in the fall. So, to error on the side of caution you need to make sure you treat your fuel if you are going anywhere early in the fall that could get a spell of bad weather.
If your fuel gells out in the middle of nowhere and you do not have Meltdown or some other product to degell, and you don't have a generator to plug a block heater in for a while.......you won't be going anywhere except on foot.
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