I had hip resurfacing surgery on December 3rd and am stuck at home while I am recovering. Since I have a lot of spare time I have been reading the forum regularly and spending a lot of time on the internet looking at motor homes. I am strongly considering upgrading from a 10 year old class C to a newer (2005 - 2007) class A. Until recently I was only considering gas coaches because I have some tight turns to make to get to my house and maneuverability is a concern. I have been looking mostly at gas units in the 28' - 32' range; however, I recently found a couple of 33' diesel pushers that look like good alternatives. And, the prices of the diesels are attractive.
Since I live in the North Carolina mountains, I think the diesel will give a significant advantage on the steep grades I frequently encounter (I am disappointed in how much trouble my class C has when towing my boat up some of the grades).
I have read several of the past discussions on the fuel costs for gas versus diesel, and I decided to do a little analysis of my own. The analysis is summarized in the attached file. I was curious about the fuel costs differences for gas versus diesel, so the first thing that I did was download fuel cost data for the first week of each month of 2008. Then I calculated the fuel cost per mile for diesel assuming 9.5 MPG and the fuel cost per mile for gas assuming 7.5 MPG (these values are loosely based on MPG values that I have observed in various discussions). These costs for each month are given in the table.
The last column gives the "Breakeven Diesel MPG." This is the MPG that a diesel coach would need to achieve to have a fuel cost that is equivalent to the fuel cost per mile for a gas coach with 7.5 MPG fuel consumption. Based on this analysis, when fuel prices were higher earlier in the year, the diesel coach would only need to achieve 1 to 1.5 MPG more than the gas coach to breakeven with the fuel cost for the gas coach. However, as fuel prices dropped over the past couple of months, the difference in the price of diesel versus gas has increased. Therefore, for November the breakeven MPG for the diesel is 9.9 MPG (2.4 MPG higher than gas) and for December the breakeven MPG for the diesel is 11 MPG (3.5 MPG higher than gas).
If the difference between the cost of gas and diesel stays as high as it was during the first week of December and if fuel prices stay low, diesels will have higher fuel costs than gas unless the diesels can get at least 3.5 MPG better than gas coaches (again assume that the gas coaches get 7.5 MPG). Is it likely that a diesel will do that much better than a gas coach?
My opinion regarding fuel prices is that they will remain close to the current level for much of 2009 and then start increasing as economies around the globe start to recover. I do not have a strong opinion regarding what will happen with the difference between the cost of diesel and the cost of gas. My gut feel is that, in the long run, diesels will be the better option when considering only fuel consumption (ignoring the cost differential for diesel coaches vs. gas coaches and the higher maintenance costs for diesels).
I did this analysis in hope of getting a better idea of which coach to buy. The diesels that I have found cost more than the gas units that I have been considering; however, I am leaning toward the diesel because of the hill climbing ability. In addition, the diesels are higher-end coaches, so it is an apples to oranges comparison.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be recovered enough from my surgery to go start looking at the coaches in person (most of the coaches that I am looking at online are 3 to 5 hours from my house).
Questions and comments about my analysis are welcome. Also, any comments that may help me make a purchase decision are welcome.
Delbert
Since I live in the North Carolina mountains, I think the diesel will give a significant advantage on the steep grades I frequently encounter (I am disappointed in how much trouble my class C has when towing my boat up some of the grades).
I have read several of the past discussions on the fuel costs for gas versus diesel, and I decided to do a little analysis of my own. The analysis is summarized in the attached file. I was curious about the fuel costs differences for gas versus diesel, so the first thing that I did was download fuel cost data for the first week of each month of 2008. Then I calculated the fuel cost per mile for diesel assuming 9.5 MPG and the fuel cost per mile for gas assuming 7.5 MPG (these values are loosely based on MPG values that I have observed in various discussions). These costs for each month are given in the table.
The last column gives the "Breakeven Diesel MPG." This is the MPG that a diesel coach would need to achieve to have a fuel cost that is equivalent to the fuel cost per mile for a gas coach with 7.5 MPG fuel consumption. Based on this analysis, when fuel prices were higher earlier in the year, the diesel coach would only need to achieve 1 to 1.5 MPG more than the gas coach to breakeven with the fuel cost for the gas coach. However, as fuel prices dropped over the past couple of months, the difference in the price of diesel versus gas has increased. Therefore, for November the breakeven MPG for the diesel is 9.9 MPG (2.4 MPG higher than gas) and for December the breakeven MPG for the diesel is 11 MPG (3.5 MPG higher than gas).
If the difference between the cost of gas and diesel stays as high as it was during the first week of December and if fuel prices stay low, diesels will have higher fuel costs than gas unless the diesels can get at least 3.5 MPG better than gas coaches (again assume that the gas coaches get 7.5 MPG). Is it likely that a diesel will do that much better than a gas coach?
My opinion regarding fuel prices is that they will remain close to the current level for much of 2009 and then start increasing as economies around the globe start to recover. I do not have a strong opinion regarding what will happen with the difference between the cost of diesel and the cost of gas. My gut feel is that, in the long run, diesels will be the better option when considering only fuel consumption (ignoring the cost differential for diesel coaches vs. gas coaches and the higher maintenance costs for diesels).
I did this analysis in hope of getting a better idea of which coach to buy. The diesels that I have found cost more than the gas units that I have been considering; however, I am leaning toward the diesel because of the hill climbing ability. In addition, the diesels are higher-end coaches, so it is an apples to oranges comparison.
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be recovered enough from my surgery to go start looking at the coaches in person (most of the coaches that I am looking at online are 3 to 5 hours from my house).
Questions and comments about my analysis are welcome. Also, any comments that may help me make a purchase decision are welcome.
Delbert