I understand all of your arguments but disagree with the numbers. HD gas trucks with 8 liter engines do not get 20% worse gas mileage than a comparable diesel in a 4x4. They get half, empty.
And I'm a cheap bastard who would buy a Ford 7.3 PU for $10k w/ scrapes instead of the '06 Duramax that I really want for double, (or more). All diesel PUs are grossly over-priced compared to their gas counterparts if you ignore resale value, which you seem to be doing.
This is truly a case of YMMV, as they say around here.
