Diesel engines provide lots of low-end torque, giving them the power to pull huge loads with ease. If you're buying a pickup truck — especially a heavy-duty model — and towing and hauling are your main priorities, a diesel engine is a worthwhile option. Diesel engines are also surprisingly efficient compared to similarly sized gasoline engines, often surpassing them in terms of fuel economy. Here are the best ones you can buy new today.
The Best Diesel Trucks in 2025
These well-rounded pickups offer serious hauling capability
Ford F-Series Super Duty
As far as heavy-duty trucks are concerned, they don't get much better than the Ford F-Series Super Duty. The F-250, F-350 and F-450 are available with a monster diesel engine: a 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8, which is offered with either 475 horsepower and 1,050 lb-ft of torque or 500 hp and 1,200 lb-ft of torque. Get an F-450 with the higher-output diesel engine and this truck can tow 30,000 pounds with a conventional trailering setup or up to 40,000 pounds via a fifth-wheel/gooseneck hitch. Need to move a house in one shot? The F-Series Super Duty's diesel engine has you covered.
As for pricing, the 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty starts at $47,295 including destination fee, while the F-350 and F-450 Super Duty trucks start at $48,590 and $61,950, respectively.
Ram HD
Ram's heavy-duty pickups, the Ram 2500 and Ram 3500, are some of the most luxurious in the segment, but they certainly don't skimp on performance. Ram's Heavy Duty lineup also scores a raft of updates for 2025 that include a new diesel straight-six, a new transmission, more tech and a refreshed look. The new diesel powerplant is a 6.7-liter Cummins inline-six rated at 430 hp and 1,075 lb-ft of torque, while an eight-speed automatic transmission now handles the gear changes. Max towing for the Ram 3500 with the diesel is rated at 36,610 pounds when gooseneck trailering and 23,000 pounds with a conventional hitch. That's a bit shy of the F-Series' quoted max trailing spec of 40,000 pounds, but it's still way more towing capability than most buyers will ever need.
The new 2500 starts at $47,560 and the new 3500 is priced from $48,565, including destination fee.
- Shop all new Ram Heavy Duty trucks for sale
- Read our 2025 Ram 2500 and 3500 first look
GMC Sierra HD
Unlike Ford and Ram, if you want the GMC Sierra HD with a diesel engine, you're stuck with one option: a 6.6-liter Duramax V8 making 470 hp and 975 lb-ft of torque. Those specs aren't anything to complain about, mind you, and they allow the Sierra 3500HD to tow up to 36,000 pounds, which is mighty impressive. The Sierra HD is also available in GMC's fancy-pants Denali grade, making it a seriously luxurious pickup for folks who aren't about all work and no play. It's also subjectively better-looking than its Chevrolet-branded sibling, for whatever that's worth.
The 2025 GMC Sierra 2500HD starts at $48,295 with destination fee, while the 3500HD comes in at $52,295.
Chevrolet Silverado HD
The Chevy Silverado HD is effectively a copycat of its GMC Sierra twin, just one that lacks the GMC's good looks. A Duramax 6.6-liter V8 diesel engine offers 470 hp and 975 lb-ft of torque, allowing this truck to pull as much as 22,500 pounds through a conventional trailering arrangement or 36,000 pounds if you go the fifth-wheel/gooseneck route.
Starting prices for the Chevrolet Silverado HD come in at $47,295 for the 2500HD and $51,995 for the 3500HD, including destination fee.
GMC Sierra 1500
While Ford and Ram no longer offer smaller diesel engines for their non-heavy-duty trucks, General Motors still has you covered with a 3.0-liter Duramax inline-six. In the Sierra pickup — once again our top pick because it's better looking than its sibling from Chevy — this engine offers 305 hp and 495 lb-ft of torque. It's also the most efficient of the Sierra's engines by a country mile, with the EPA rating this truck at 25 mpg combined with rear-wheel drive or 24 mpg combined with four-wheel drive. That definitely bests the 20 mpg combined rating of GMC's puny 2.7-liter turbo four-cylinder option.
The 2025 GMC Sierra 1500 starts at $39,695 including its destination fee.
Chevrolet Silverado 1500
The specs are the same for the Chevy Silverado 1500 as its GMC twin with its 3.0-liter Duramax diesel inline-six: 305 hp and 495 lb-ft of torque, though this truck is EPA-estimated to offer as much as 26 mpg combined with two-wheel drive. Diesel power is a boon for towing, too, with the diesel-six-equipped Silverado rated to pull as much as 13,300 pounds and handle as much as 1,970 pounds of payload. Not bad at all.
The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 has a starting price of $38,795 including its destination fee.
Used truck choices
While there are plenty of good choices for new diesel trucks, there are a lot of late-model options on the used market that might make sense too. The Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 half-ton trucks were available with diesel engines as recently as a few years ago, as were the last-generation Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups, offering a more fuel-efficient take on a smaller pickup package.
If you're looking for non-diesel pickups, check out our article covering all of the most reliable trucks.