Gas Or Diesel Motorhomes - Which One Should You Choose?

Hello everyone and welcome to the RV Inspection and Care podcast and video. I'm Dwayne and I'm a certified RV inspector and today we're going to be talking about whether you should buy a gas or a diesel powered motorhome. Now this is a very big decision for a lot of RVers and quite frankly many times they spend a lot more time on this decision than they really should. But if you go out and you start asking RVers what their opinion is and you know what would you recommend for me and so on, you're probably going to find you're going to get a lot of conflicting advice. You're going to hear that a lot of RVers are very set in their ways. You know they think their opinion on this, the decision that they made, is the only right one. They can't understand why anybody would do anything different than what they did. But the truth is that that's not really true. There's a place in the RV world for both gas and diesel powered motorhomes. And we'll talk about the advantages of each one of those engines and really what kind of people work best with the advantages that each has to offer. But let me mention that this video too is really only for class A, class C, and super C RVs. There is a discussion about gas versus diesel in class B's but it's kind of a different discussion so we'll save it for a different video. Now let's go ahead though and let's talk about this subject of the advantages of each kind of engine. And we'll start with diesels. And really the big advantage of diesel engines is that torque that they have. So they can get those heavy weights moving quickly and keep them moving easily. It works a lot better than even horsepower. You're looking for torque to do that. That's why commercial truck drivers are using diesel engines because they get those heavy loads moving and they move them very well. So it has to do with weight. Now that leads us to our second advantage because you can move more weight with the diesel engine. Well then the manufacturer of that motorhome or that RV can stuff in a lot more goodies, more luxuries, more appliances, heavier things, and so on. So you get all those advantages by having a diesel powered engine. The next advantage of diesel engines is they can be bigger, longer. You know these days you see a lot of class A's out there going up to 40 to 45 feet long. And that gives you more living space inside. And that's a big plus for a lot of people. The next advantage is that you can have greater storage capacity. Now usually if you're a person who wants to have all the luxuries and the niceties and you like to have more space, well then you're probably going to enjoy having more storage space too. Because you're going to want to bring a lot of extra stuff with you that maybe you had at home and you just want to have it with you on your travels. Well a diesel engine can allow you to do that to a great degree. Now the next point for the advantages of diesel engines is the opportunity to be able to tow heavier things. Like for instance heavier vehicles. I think we've all seen diesel pushers going down the road with full size pickup trucks being flat towed behind them. Or maybe even these super C's. My goodness they can tow up to 25 or 30,000 pounds in some cases. And so they can be hauling these really heavy trailers with lots of heavy stuff in them. That's all done because of the diesel engine. So that's very important if you have heavy things to haul. The last point for diesel engines that we're going to cover today is the exhaust brake. Many of them have exhaust brakes and for mountain driving or hill driving that's a great thing. It's so comfortable because when you crest the hill and you go down, well that exhaust brake kicks in and makes things so easy and comfortable. You don't have to worry about being on your brakes, your wheel brakes too much or anything like that. Very simple, very easy for mountain and hill driving. All right now let's talk about the advantages of gasoline engines. And just reviewing diesel engines, all the advantages, almost all of them come back to weight with the diesel engine. Well when we're talking gasoline engines, so many of the advantages come back to cost of things. And we're going to start with number one and that is a gasoline engine is just less expensive to buy right off the bat. If you buy it new, if you buy it used, diesel powered coaches are going to cost more, the engines cost more and so on. So that's, you're going to pay more right up front for a diesel powered motorhome. The second advantage is that gasoline engines are less expensive to repair. Now for normal repairs and maintenance and all that, it may not really be all that different from a diesel engine. But let me tell you, if you have major work that has to be done on a diesel engine as opposed to a gasoline engine, well you're going to spend a lot more money on the diesel engine. And if it's catastrophic problems that are going on with the diesel engine, you could be spending many tens of thousands of dollars to fix it. Yes, you'll pay a lot for the gasoline engine too, but it won't be anywhere near what you pay for a diesel engine. So if you're a person that kind of reviews your worst case scenario for repairs, well then diesel engines are definitely going to cost you more that way. And the third advantage that we're going to cover today for gasoline engines is that you have a lot more service facilities for maintenance and for repair. And when I say a lot more facilities, just think about this. When you have a diesel pusher motorhome, where is the engine? It's in the back. That's why they call it a pusher. But where are you going to put an engine in the back? Well, most of the time in class A's it's stuffed up under the bedroom or the bathroom in the back. Well, if you're a mechanic and you've got to work on that engine, how are you going to get to it? Well, in many cases you've got to pull the floor up in the RV and the mechanic lays on his tummy working on that engine. I think you can see why a lot of diesel mechanics really are not even interested in working on diesel pushers because of the aggravation associated with it. Or the other point is that if you're going to work on the engine from the back, well then in many cases there's a rear radiator sitting there. And if you're going to get to the engine, you have to take the radiator out just to work on the engine. This happens a lot. So it can be a lot of extra expenses, a lot of extra aggravation for the mechanic, and so on. So bottom line is this. There are a lot more service facilities for gasoline engines where the engine is right out front. It's a gasoline engine. They're used to it. They know how to work on it. It's just a lot simpler. So more facilities are there, more mechanics to work on it, and that's an advantage of a gasoline engine. The next advantage is that you may even be able to work on the engine. If you're used to working on your car or your vehicle at home, well then that can probably transfer to a gasoline engine in an RV. But diesel engines are really kind of in a whole separate category. The next advantage is that because gasoline engines don't haul so much weight, well the RVs tend to be shorter and smaller. Now for many people that's an advantage. It's what they want. They want to get into national parks where the campsites are smaller. They want to be able to boondock and get in places where bigger RVs really have a hard time. So a gas-powered RV can be a really good choice in those cases because they're smaller and more nimble. The final point too that we can consider is that gasoline costs less than diesel here in the United States. And now a lot of RVers will kind of argue about that because they say yeah but diesel is more fuel efficient than the gas and so it's all just a wash. Well there's a lot to be said for that. However if you have a smaller gas-powered RV, well then the gas itself is less expensive and your gas mileage is going to be better. And in those cases it's going to save you money. All right now we've covered the advantages of diesel engines. We've covered some advantages of gasoline engines. Here we are at the question who should buy diesel? Who should buy gas? Let's start with diesel. Honestly it's best for full and part-time RVers. RVers that plan to have their coach for a while. They plan to be RVing for a while. They can absorb the extra cost and you know kind of average it out over many years of RVing. It's also great for glampers. Glampers who really want their luxury to go with them or folks that are moving from a home, full-size home, to an RV because you're going to have more space, more things that look like a home that go with you. It's also good for those who want to tow heavy loads as we discussed earlier. Now gasoline engines, who's best for that? Generally speaking it's best for part-time RVers like snowbirds or weekenders. Very good for those. It's good for RVers on a budget. You know maybe you don't have all the money in the world to spend but you want to be out RVing. Well then gas-powered engines are a much better choice for you and as we covered they're going to be better to repair and so on. It's good for boondockers too that want to get in small places. It's great for those who want to travel light. So those are the people that really should consider each one of these engines. Now let me say this, either engine will get you where you want to go. They both work and they work fine. So don't get too caught up in this controversy and feel that you're just going to make a horrible decision. Both are proven technologies that have been working side by side in the RV industry for years, decades now and will be for years going forward for the foreseeable future. So they work, both of them work, they work well. What I recommend is review the advantages that I just covered with you for each kind of engine. Try to determine which of those advantages fits you best. Fits the way that you like to travel and the way that you like to camp and that will help you make the right choice between either diesel or gas-powered motorhomes. Well that's it for now. Have safe and happy travels, my friends. Until next time.