Another point that I don't think anyone has pointed out yet is that a diesel makes more of its power as torque, which is good for a tow vehicle. Our Liberty CRD's 2.8l diesel has only 160hp, but 290 lb-ft of torque makes towing the trailer up hills easy.
The cost benefit analysis is close enough these days that it can be outweighed by other considerations. It's like buying a hybrid, you have to figure out for each vehicle how far you have to drive it before the better mpg outweighs the initial price premium over the equivalent gas model. It is nice that Jeep is now offering the diesel option in the base model Grand Cherokee and not just the premium package, which makes the choice a little more even.
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