would you guys rather have a Taco or cummins....

See that works sometimes, but I am usually doing the work on MY rental property so If i need to deliver it, it's me just loosing.

My other source of income, is new construction. So every extra penny spent is a penny less I make.

 

I understand.

I used to haul materials...but the last dozen or so homes I've built...I have all larger materials delivered.

I've hauled a handful of sheets of plywood in my Tacoma...and 10', 12' lumber. even 16' moulding. and of course smaller materials and tools (including extention ladder)

20 pieced of durarock...I'm having it delivered.

not where I do business. the yard I deal with is competitive with any, and they even pickup extra for return credit. no delivery fee or pickup charges.

 

haha, i know. Im not thrilled about the dodge at all, but I love the motor combo. And they offer the cheapest truck. And cost is a big thing here.

 

yeah i know what you saying.i have helped dad remodel our old house. and it’s just easier to get the stuff your self


if i did not have accesses to dads truck or a 12’x7’ trailer i would have got the long bed. but i like the looks of the short bed better. and i don’t need the extra foot. and i don’t go get stuff much that i would even need dads truck or a trailer for. if i’m lucky it’s 1 time a year. but i have had my truck over a year and not gone to lowes or some where and filled it up or needed the trailer.

 

a Dodge makes public transportation look good.

 

That's why i am considering the taco again. 90% of the time, its not a "I NEED IT RIGHT NOW" kind of thing. And most of the small stuff fits in the bed. It hauls weight just fine. And the over all cost is so much lower, that it may be worth the inconvince of having something smaller. Gas is way cheaper then Diesel, so is insurance. The insurance for commercial in NYC on a taco and 3/4 ton differ by 45%.

I also prefer it as the daily driver. Most of the work on new construction is subbed, so its me just running for this or that. And when I do a job, like a kitchen or bath, I pull the trailer with me since it has all the tools.

I know the dodge, would probably make it easier overall, but if that "easy" costs me %60 more...well I'd rather have the cash then be able to tow15k when i know my taco will do 5k just fine....

when you take into consideration the initial purchase price, as well as cost of ownership...the taco is just so so much better.

 

very true, but I've been pricing RAM 2500's 2/3 years old and they are MUCH cheaper then the fords or GM's..and i can get a stick shift.

I don't work for GM, Chevy, Ford or toyota....I'd rather see that money in bank.

 

I would pick a Cummins just for the fact that you will constantly get around 20MPG with it towing or not. The taco will get, with #4800, around 8, or 10, if your lucky. Fuel filters are more but they don't NEED to be changed that often. Change the oil yourself and it knocks of 40-50 dollars. Don't buy A/T tires, get street tires, they are cheaper and usually last longer, unless you spend a good amount of time in the mud. A Cummins will last longer than a Taco, if maintained properly, and holds it's value a little better than the Taco.

 

the 6.7 cummins only gets 12-14 MPG ( unless you gut Emssions which voids warrenty on a VERY expensive engine) Fuel filters on diesel are every 15k miles and doing olic myself costs $75 bucks...takes 4 Gallons and filters aint cheap. The A/T isnt why the tires are expensive, they are weight ratet Much higher than the taco, for the sheer weight of the truck and payload. And 8-10 while towing sucks in taco, but don;t have the trailer All the time, and the much higher price of diesel averages that out.

Yes the cummins will hold its value, and has a long life on it. Both will last a very long time if maintained.

 

Both

 

Well overall, the extra lets say 10 CU ft of cargo space from the 5' to a 6' taco won't be a huge difference. In a dump maybe, but I can't fill it with stone, so its not that important. Mostly what will be in the bed is small material and small tools. The trailer holds much more, especially since the taco narrow bed won't allow pallet loading. The bed in the ram is only 5.5' but it's wider and deeper. But more importantly can hold a much bigger payload.

As for the cost of owner ship, setting aside that i want a manual. I've looked on ebay/Craigslist. And compared to the original purchase price, taco's with the OR package seem to sell for more ( not based on non OR equipped models, compared to their respective purchase price) or at least have more interest. Maybe its location or some other factor but seems to be the case. So if the truck costs me X, and in 5 years i can sell a OR package for .75X, but a SR5 for .65X that difference of 10% Is sill in my pocket, so MY overall cost to own the truck is less.

 

K

 

It sounds like you need the cummins but want the taco, hard decision to make. In the end if it were me and I had to tow just once a month I would go for the cummins, I hate towing with my truck but I only do it maybe once a year.

 

I won't deny that. I would much rather have the taco vs the cummins. It's cooler, smaller, cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, and I like them better. But the cummins does make more sense. I never minded towing with my taco. It was just harder. I pulled a car 40 miles (5500lbs) and it was heavy, and not great but it did it. I only did it once though and i'm sure if i had to load that up every 15 days I'd hate it.

I dunno. I need to do a real life calculation of the actual costs, and see if its worth the savings.

 

Sure sounds like you want the Cummins

 

True about the tires. Forgot about the weight and payload on the them. Maybe you don't need to get the 6.7 but get the 5.9! lol. JK They have around 200k on them now, if not more! I honestly don't see a point in doing the fuel filter on them every 15k. My dad has a F350 w/the 7.3 and I think he has changed the fuel filter once and it's got 200k miles on it now and still gets all the fuel it needs. On a diesel, it's a waste of $75 if you change the oil every 3-5k miles. With the Taco, working that hard, I would change the oil every 3-5k miles. That adds up quicker in oil cost than it would with the diesel. Changing the oil every 10k miles on it and averaging 30k miles a year, thats around 3 oil changes. If you drive more than 30k miles a year it is still cheaper. Say its 50k a year, that's $375 a year for oil change on the Cummins. With the Taco at 50k a year, it puts it at $450 for an oil change. With 30k a year on the Cummins it's $225 and for the Taco it's $270. That's not that much of a difference but it's $45. I am sure you have done these calculations and have figured all this out. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Here is a good idea.... Buy the Taco and do a 4bt cummins swap or swap in a toyota diesel!!!!!

 

I have owned three diesels prior to my Tacoma. One Ford 7.3 and two cummins 5.9s. I loved all of them, added performance chips, gauges, etc. They all towed my 30 foot camper effortlessly and were suitable daily drivers getting 18-20 mpg.

I owned my last one during the switch to ULSD fuel. It took about two years, but th low sulfur fuel destroyed my injectors and resulted in a $5000 repair bill. The truck really didn't run the same after the fix and it was time to trade. I looked, but refused to buy another diesel with the new emmisions equipment that only got 12-14 mpg, especially with the ULSD being even more expensive.

I no longer have the camper and chose to purchase the Tacoma. I am enjoying it very much and just bought a full OME kit for it.

I wouldn't buy a newer diesel because of the poor milage and the complexity of the emmisions systems. Because of your need to tow I would suggest a 3/4 ton with a V8 gas motor. It will cost less and will have similar efficiency to the diesel. You don't tow very heavy and the gas motor will do fine.

 

The oil on the diesel i push to about 7500. Yea Im looking at the spreadsheet now, the maintnece is about the same. but when something goes, brakes, this or that the dielse is much more.

the cost of diesel is so so much higher here. Thats a big factor. I have found taco set up I want for $22-25k the dodge 27-33k so the intial purchase price isn't too far off. the other thing to consider is that, running a taco hard will take its toll eventually, running the dodge hard it wont break a sweat.

Lets say i drive 50k a year, dodge avg 14 and taco 13 mpg ( avg cause it tows) the dodge would cost me $13,750 in fuel the taco $11,900. Thats $1,800 a year in savings, not even taking into consideration the other maintence costs or insurance. the insurance difference is $790 a year. So right there is $2600 a year in savings. If i keep the truck for 5 years, and invest that difference @ 6%. that will give me $15,500 almost enough to buy another taco, since after 250k of that kind of work will leave it needing to be replaced.

 

Where are you located OP ?