Thirsty truck!

Our company has grown a lot, so decision has been made to open a new branch in Denver. Base is now Boca Raton, south Florida. 6 of our Boca people are relocating. Everybody is going via rental trucks. Really nice looking Ryder 26' units. I was admiring how nice they looked, basically brand new. Then I noticed the engine sticker. V10. OMG, they are gas engines in a big ass truck? I asked one of the guys that are going, and he said they will get 8mpg. No way did I belive that. He came back to me today and said the rental agent told him that with the car trailer attached, 3mpg should be expected. 2000+ miles, will be close to 2000.00 just for fuel. Why do they even build a combo like this? Why would a major company like Ryder rent these?

They are in town trucks built to be the cheapest possible.

1: Ryder isn't paying for the gas. The gas trucks are cheaper and likely equally reliable, they win.
2: For a short move, how much is it? A 2000 mile trip, yeah it is bad, but a 20 mile trip... I'd take a guess that most of these rentals are for trips less than 100 miles.

Why would Ryder pay more for the Diesel Chassis? Are they getting more in rental fees for a diesel version?

To buy a diesel upfront is usually 5K more. Uhaul does the same for their 24-26' range trucks. They are all V10 Gas trucks. It's pretty common.

cwh wrote: Why do they even build a combo like this? Why would a major company like Ryder rent these?

Too many idiot renters putting regular gas in a diesel and ruining the motor?

Doing some quick math, 3mpg, $1.69 gallon (here in Texas) is $1100. For diesel, guessing 5mpg, it'd be 960. Not a huge difference.... Plus, diesels are more expensive to maintain. Yeah, they last longer, but I bet the fleet turnover is too often to offset the costs.

But, I'm not in the rental fleet business, so it's all just guessing.

-Rob

My Dad had an RV with the Ford V10. He would frequently mention "high sevens to low eights"...

the average civilian wouldn't know where to find diesel fuel, and they also don't like the smell of the fuel and exhaust or the noise from the engine.

one quick question: why didn't the company just pay a couple of semi drivers to haul everything instead of getting the rental trucks?

Masochistically installing gas engines where there should be a diesel is common with RVs as well. The up-front and maintenance costs of a diesel scares them into going for a gas engine, and then they pay astronomical fuel costs. So either they're bad at math or they hate diesels more than they like having money.

Ryder did rent diesels, but they generally had air brakes so they also required a CDL. That's been several years ago, so they may not offer them anymore.

I was stranded in FL about 12-years ago with a dead car, and rented a Uhaul F350/V10 and trailer to get us and the car back home. The back of the truck was completely empty since all our crap was already packed in the car, and we were in single-digits for every tank all the way home.

Yet another reason to go Penske.

rob_lewis wrote:

cwh wrote: Why do they even build a combo like this? Why would a major company like Ryder rent these?

Too many idiot renters putting regular gas in a diesel and ruining the motor? -Rob

This. I've picked up several that needed to be towed after they died feet from the gas station.

With the latest regulations on diesels greatly reducing everything that made them good to begin with, it's working out cheaper to go back to gasoline now. The days of a simple diesel engine that is more fuel cost efficient than a comparable gasser and goes for 500000 miles between overhauls with nothing but oil changes and valve adjustments is dead. It's like malaise era smog controls all over again.

Ryder still rents diesels in that size, just depends on location.

I rented a Ryder 26 two weeks ago that was diesel, but also had air brakes. The truck was an International with under 20k on the odometer.

The following week I had a Ryder 16 foot Isuzu NPR with hydraulic brakes, also diesel. That had over 115k on the odometer.

Both were registered under 26,000 lbs.

usually they buy and rent the gas engines out to avoid people putting gas into the diesel tanks.. trust me, diesel engines do -not- like gasoline and make their displeasure known loudly and destructively

8mpg? That's no better that the old man's 95 Ford with a 460...unloaded.

Appleseed wrote: 8mpg? That's no better that the old man's 95 Ford with a 460...unloaded.

you gotta remember that this is the site where everyone wants a pickup that tows 10,000 pounds, seats 7, fits in a compact parking spot, and averages 30mpg fully loaded..

In reply to novaderrik: And don't forget, less than $30K MSRP.

But does it come in black?

rob_lewis wrote:

cwh wrote: Why do they even build a combo like this? Why would a major company like Ryder rent these?

Too many idiot renters putting regular gas in a diesel and ruining the motor? Doing some quick math, 3mpg, $1.69 gallon (here in Texas) is $1100. For diesel, guessing 5mpg, it'd be 960. Not a huge difference.... Plus, diesels are more expensive to maintain. Yeah, they last longer, but I bet the fleet turnover is too often to offset the costs. But, I'm not in the rental fleet business, so it's all just guessing. -Rob

If the diesel option was the 6.0/6.4, no it would not last longer

Kenny_McCormic wrote: With the latest regulations on diesels greatly reducing everything that made them good to begin with, it's working out cheaper to go back to gasoline now. The days of a simple diesel engine that is more fuel cost efficient than a comparable gasser and goes for 500000 miles between overhauls with nothing but oil changes and valve adjustments is dead. It's like malaise era smog controls all over again.

Except, it's the opposite. Malaise era smog controls gave the malaise era its name because the only good ways we knew to cut emissions were no compression, tiny cams, lots of exhaust backpressure to force the EGR to work (I have heard of 1.5" restrictors in 460 exhaust manifolds!) and so forth.

The new Diesel smog controls allow the manufacturers to crank up the power AND the efficiency, since they can clean up the exhaust with aftertreatment. Diesel trucks aren't 150hp slugs that barely get better economy than 7+ liter gas trucks, anymore.

If anything, the malaise era was BEFORE we had DEF and particulate traps and NOx reduction catalysts. What we have now in gasoline engine terms is when we figured out how to really control spark and fuel finely, and that close-coupled open substrate cats work really really well.