I just don't understand what the point is. People don't buy 1/2 ton trucks to tow with. I know the F150 is basically today what used to qualify as a "3/4 ton" 10 years ago, but I still say if whatever you're pulling warrants getting a diesel get the suspension and chassis to go with it. I really don't see where this is going to get applicably better mileage than a 5.X litre gas small block with VVT and DoD and all the bells and whistles will these days especially since fuel averages $0.30 more per gallon.
IDK, if I'm buying a half-ton to tow a smallerish trailer its gonna be a gas motor, not a diesel, if I actually need a diesel I'll buy it in a truck more fitting to towing.
I can't believe you haven't seen people tow with a half ton. Lots of people do it.
Especially those who don't need 3/4 or 1 ton trucks but still wanna pull a smaller camper, boat of sled trailer. I strongly disagree that new half tons are built to a HD truck standard of 10 years ago. You point out in your next post that you just purchased your first diesel. Have you owned anything but a half ton before, because you don't really sound like you know what you're talking about.
You ARE NOT saving any money buying a diesel truck over a gas truck these days, PERIOD.
The ONLY time in this day and age a diesel truck is more economic than a gasoline powered truck is if you are literally towing 10,000+ lbs around with them everywhere you go. It isn't like it was 10 years ago when diesel was a buck a gallon less than gas, and now combined with the fact that we have to have the DPF on all the new trucks, there is really very little incentive economically to purchase a diesel unless you tow with it every time the motor starts.
This is precisely why many companies who operate fleets of light duty trucks went away from the diesels. You're paying $10k more up front, you're not getting any better reliability, and in most cases worse, and you don't need that much power in a work truck.
With that said, I recently purchased my first diesel truck last year, and I can speak to the hole in my wallet each month that I most assuredly AM NOT saving any money by having it. I'm going to have to own it another 9 years for it to pay out.
I really fail to see how a diesel in a truck that is absolutely NOT going to be used for towing is going to result in any form of economic benefit whatsoever.
The kicker on this "half ton diesel" thing is going to be what the up front cost is. If you can get this truck for a lower price than an Ecoboost, maybe we'll have some real competition .... but if its going to cost as much as an Ecoboost, there is no incentive whatsoever for me to buy this truck.
Someone else pointed it out, (MountainHorse I think) but smaller diesels are all over in other countries and get excellent fuel economy. If you can't afford to have a large diesel truck, well then, you shouldn't have one. That being said, my last truck (which remains on the farm) was an '06 Dodge Mega Cab 3500 single rear wheel. It got great mileage and still got decent mileage after it got tuned and larger tires. It's had very little go wrong with it, original tranny, 170k+ miles on it and it still gets 17-18mpg if you drive like a sane person (I'm not, not every day).
My new truck, a '12 crew cab short box 3500 RAM only got in the 15's before I did the deletes. Now it'll average almost 18mpg when driving 70+mph.
My '12 GMC extended cab short box 1500 5.3L maybe gets 15mpg on a good day and it's a pretty worthless towing vehicle. My dad bought a '13 GMC, basically the same as mine, this last winter and gets about the same mileage. That's pretty poor to me. His everyday work pickup now is his '06 GMC half ton extended cab that he's owned since new and it probably gets around 16-17mpg. So if time and break in have anything to do with mileage, once again, I'll stick with the diesel.
A half ton diesel would have plenty of pep to do whatever driving/towing the average pickup owner would ever want to do. If you're gonna pay $27k+ for a half ton and think you're gonna tow a little, might as well ante up for the $3k-$4K more it'll take to get you into the diesel. Once you get into the $35k range, it makes no sense to me to buy anything but a larger diesel vehicle because of the resale value. If you're new to the diesel scene then I don't totally value your opinion of people not wanting half ton diesels and them being impractical......Idk, I just don't think you have a good handle on how big the diesel market/community is.
I will agree that there is no signifcant advantage economically to a diesel today. With the DPF, SCR, and higher cost of maintence. But these new smaller diesel in the 1/2 tons may not have the extra maintence cost. The trucks will be alot lighter than the HDs.
If your communting to work, and it less than 10 miles, no diesel is probably going to make any sense. But I will wait and see what these new 1/2 ton diesels can do.
I owned a few diesels, and own one now. But the horsepower/torque wars of the last decade or so is nuts. If it keeps going I think a smaller diesel my fit my needs. I would take a smaller diesel in my HD. My old 7.3 made like 1/2 the power my new one does, and it still got the job done.
I would take a 100 hp less, 150 less torque if you bumped my fuel economy.
You sir, have a head on your shoulders. You're seeing the positives and the whole point to creating a half ton diesel. These new half-ton turbo diesels have less power, not much more weight than the comparable gas offerings and should, they
should get better mileage and also be much more capable for towing.
I will play.
small diesel in a half ton is very appealing to me.
1- it should have the ride quality of the 1/2 over the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks.
2- it should be able to tow just as much.
3- with a couple of mods it should should be getting 40-50% better gas mileage than gas trucks. towing and empty. hemi v8- 20mpg small diesel modified should easily get 30 mpg.
while its true that diesel being roughly $.30 more a gallon negates the lower overall maintenance costs, a small diesel engine SHOULD be only $2k more than the best gas engine available. lower initial cost should help sell them and level out the cost of ownership long term.
removing the DPF and other nonsense that will come on them will help you obtain 30+ mpg. And if its not possible to remove that stuff, then there is probably not much market for these trucks.
last thing does anyone else find it odd that dodge will put in some italian v6 diesel and nissan will put in the cummins into the 1/2 tons? 
Something about the bankruptcy and the bailout killed the initial plan of the Dodge 1500 diesel. I believe the 5.0 Cummins V8 was supposed to eventually go in the RAM but things fell apart during the recession. Chrysler and GM both own VM Motori, so after they restructured, they probably found that financially it's smarter for the RAM to have their engine rather than go to Cummins and purchase another line of engines for the half tons.
ok now what was I going to sayyyy..........
k just make sure
And I'm willing to pay for that 
