A little diesel misinformation

[TRoss]

My wife and I are going to be moving across the country soon, and so I've been looking at different moving equipment sites. Penske uses its diesel trucks as a major selling point over Uhaul, and it appears that Uhaul has decided to strike back by setting the record "right" on all things wrong with diesel vehicles. Thought some others might find it interesting, too.



U-Haul: Rates and reservations



As a graduate student, my interest is always turned toward citations. Naturally, then, my favorite part was "All numbers are estimates based on averages from various reliable sources. "

 

[Dieselnut59]

What a bunch of BS!!! I wonder where they get that the "same" vehicle gets the "same" (7-11) mpg? I wonder where the HELL they get the "1 in 4 stations have diesel" crap?! I sure as hell wonder where they get that diesels have more CO2 emissions? What BS! That is exactly why Europe has more diesel vehicles than gasoline. "Serviced every 5,000 miles, versus serviced every 8,000 miles... DUH! The diesel requires less frequent service!! I wonder where the hell their source (misguided BS) is?
If the "advantage" were really gasoline over diesel, then why aren't tractor trailers using gasoline? If places to find fuel are really THAT hard to find, then why is it always that I see GAS BURNING vehicles out of fuel on the side of the road, not diesels? What a bunch of crock!!

 

[AABEN]

Diselnut59 I will say you are on the money. the only different is over head storage!! Gas here in IN is 0. 20 higher than diesel I checked it to night Princeton IN.

 

[HBarlow]

UHaul probably had so much trouble and so many replaced/repaired engines on those old IH box trucks with 6. 9 Navistar non-turbo engines and so many dummies putting gasoline in the diesel fuel tanks they thought they'd save money by replacing that fleet with GM gassers. A gasser engine box truck hauling furniture through the Rocky Mountains will probably deliver 4-5 mpg.

 

[Dieselnut59]

That makes sense HBarlow. I have seen that with our rental forklifts too. If I ever have to rent a box truck, it WILL be a diesel and if U-Haul offers no diesels, I will get one from someone else. I will not buy a gas burning vehicle, so why the hell will I rent one?

 

[GOlsen]

I've done both. Got an average of 2-3 mpg in a gasser box truck with a car trailer from NY to WA. Get into the mountains, and that thing wouldn't pull for anything. Foot on the floor, 15 mph tops. Plus, that's a big truck combo to try to pull into a rest stop with when all the pumps you can actually pull up to are diesel. .

 

[jwgary]

I think the point about the average Joe not knowing better than to put gas in a diesel is probably the best one. I also interpreted the service interval as the difference in the NEED for service because they won't service more often than they have to. I wish that people didn't have to see this kind of stuff. Maybe I will complain to U-Haul, but it probably won't do anything. If I was to get a box truck, I would go with someone else who offers a lift gate anyway. Loading ramps are for amateurs.

 

[fox]

When I bought this dodge, because of some pressure from someone, I looked a t the duramaxes.

The salesman said the gas engine technology has advanced so much there is little difference between gas and diesel mileage. !!!!

I said too bad chevy hasn't figured it out YET!!!! The cummins will deliver better fuel mileage and run a long time. He said I was wrong. I asked him about his experience with diesel trucks, and he said none. I said look at what I drove here ( a cummins) I told him I could hook a trailer hauling a duramax next to his gas equivalent and get the same or better mileage. He wouldn't take my bet.

I told him to sell his big talk to someone else. If chevy still hasn't done it right after all the trys they had, I better stal with a real diesel, with some stroke built in.

 

[HBarlow]

Wow, 2-3 mpg, that's worse than my estimate. That makes for some expensive moving. It might be as cheap to box/crate your belongings and deliver to a LTL trucking company's terminal for shipment. Penske offers big box trucks on IH/Navistar chassis with DT-466 engines and Allison five speed automatics. I rented one of them 18 years ago and it offered plenty of power and reasonable fuel economy.

 

[GOlsen]

Wow, 2-3 mpg, that's worse than my estimate. That makes for some expensive moving. It might be as cheap to box/crate your belongings and deliever it to a LTL trucking company's terminal for shipment. Penske offers big box trucks on IH/Navistar chassis with DT-466 engines and Allison five speed automatics. I rented one of them 18 years ago and it offered plenty of power and reasonable fuel economy.

Yeah, it was pretty terrible. Luckily it was back in 2001, so fuel prices weren't too too bad. It still cost me over $1000 in fuel though.

 

[rscurtis]

When I moved from Long Island to PA I rented a 4500 GMC cabover (Isuzu) from Budget Truck rental. 16' truck with a liftgate, which sort of ruled out U-Haul. Kept it under 60 and got 12 MPG, and the 5. 2L Diesel had adequate power except on a few grades. Budget will also deeply discount the mileage charges if you have a business.

 

[brods]

Got 12 mpg with a rented Penske 26' box truck. 608 miles in the snow going west on route 80 through the hills of Pennsylvania going to Michigan. It was brand new with less then 500 miles on it so it wasn’t even broken in. That was 2005 so I have no idea what emission equipment it had, if any.



Don’t forget as a fleet owner and operator that is constantly updating their fleet, Uhaul may have made the decision to stay out of the diesel market due to the new emission rules. Not a bad choice given the unknowns and likely maintenance issues until the bugs are worked out.



Now they have to sell that decision to the public, so they are probably using the worst mpg numbers they could find for the new smogified heavy truck diesels, otherwise there is no way the gas and diesel mpg would be the same. Their dollars saved falls apart if the diesel gets 10% or better mpg than the gasser and the CO2 saved advantage goes to the diesel if it gets more then 13% better mpg.



Marketing.



What is more amusing is how diehard diesel fans get their panties all knotted up over it! :-laf

 

[Skydiver]

One question for u-HAuL. Why are all road trucks running Diesels?



U-Haul either lied or thinks that all the public is ignorant. Maybe they (u-H) are not to smart.



(If this were a Duramix or PS issue then my ? would be, "why are all road trucks running inline diesels?)

 

[rbattelle]

They lost me as soon as they *****d out CO2 like good global warming pimps.

Ryan

 

[Shelby Griggs]

My last U-Haul truck rental was in 1995, an International with a diesel, biggest box truck U-Haul had. That thing shouldn't even of been on the road, horrible maintenance, I won't rent a U-Haul again.



Previous to that I rented a Ryder truck in 1990, a Ford with a diesel and auto transmission, decent truck, but pretty low on power.



From what I have seen the U-haul equipment (including trailers) is maintained the least of any of the rental fleets, nothing missed by renting something else IMHO.



SHG

 

[rscurtis]

In the '70's and '80's, U-Haul had some proprietary technology in their fleet of Ford trucks. Ever hear of a 330XD V-8? - a U-Haul special with sodium cooled valves. Their 24' trucks used to use a "359" as opposed to a 360 hooked up to a water cooled C-6 automatic. They also had proprietary tires and built their own truck bodies (Cargo Mfg. ) But ever since the murder of Sam Schoen's wife, the company hasn't been the same with all the family infighting.

 

[Missouri Mule]

When my 78 or 88 ford van was down I rented a Isuzu 14 to 16 box truck form Budget it was pretty cost effective. If my Moose (Freightliner) is down I use my Mule (Dodge).

 

[brods]

In the '70's and '80's, U-Haul had some proprietary technology in their fleet of Ford trucks. Ever hear of a 330XD V-8? - a U-Haul special with sodium cooled valves. Their 24' trucks used to use a "359" as opposed to a 360 hooked up to a water cooled C-6 automatic. They also had proprietary tires and built their own truck bodies (Cargo Mfg. ) But ever since the murder of Sam Schoen's wife, the company hasn't been the same with all the family infighting.

Wow.

Eva Schoen, Murder in Telluride - Crime Library on truTV.com



Gotta watch your back when hiring the kids... .

 

[Champane Flight]

Uhaul junk...

I have used Uhaul a few times in my life and can say everytime was an adventure. The last time I was in Washington state and ran into a deal on a old sports car, went down and rented a car trailer one way to Colo. The pimply faced kid says "Its ready to go" , I hooked up to it found no tail lights, one tire low (slow leak), and his advice of a 1 7/8 ball, wrong, 2", had another set. . After sitting on the lot for an hour waiting for the kid to fix the lights, finally left went back to the kids house and fixed them myself. Put a can of stop leak in the tire, and pulled the heavy POS back to Colo. Got home, went to return it, they TRIED to overcharge me, told them if they did I would charge them for fixing their POS trailer... .



The kids decided to use Penske truck on their move back from Washington, told them to get a diesel, NOPE (kids do not listen), picked the new gasser, it looked nicer, should have only taken two days, ended up taking five days! Every hill they dropped to 15 mph...



Rental trucks are a pain, expensive, and usually a POS...

 

[TRoss]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to be annoyed by this. As others have said, renting a moving truck/trailer is never ideal. My wife and I are moving to Reno from Nashville. Its sort of a slap in the face to own my truck and yet have to rent something. I don't own a trailer and Uhaul's biggest trailer isn't big enough. We're currently looking at the Penske trucks, but my wife would have to drive the moving truck while I towed her car on a car trailer behind my truck, which is far from ideal for a lot of reasons. She has never driven anything bigger than her car, so neither of us are very excited about her having to do that. I'm still trying to come up with some better ideas, I might go post in a more appropriate forum to see if anyone has any better ideas around here.