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Anyone!? Thoughts on a 2021+ I/2 ton Duramax

I've got 2 friends with the 3.0 Duramax and have no issues and love the power delivery and mileage. They report getting upper 20s to low 30s depending, which is easily about 10 mpg better than a 5.3 truck.
 
eodcoduto said:
An

And diesel is more expensive so I don’t get the tradeoff. Thats why I sold my TDI passat, at 39mpg it still cost more than a gasser at 25mpg.
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Never had a 25 mpg gasser. Best I've had was my old 87 R10 with the 305. Thats with just me and a weekend bag in it, tailgate down. 21 mpg.

Edit: come to think of it, that was after changing tire size. I really have no idea what it truly got!

Went from 235/75 to 255/60 I think
It was 255 something or other. Handled like it was on rails. Called it my hillbilly corvette!
Lol
 
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centexk5 said:
I think if a lot of people would sit down and actually calculate their monthly or annual fuel costs out they’d realize that buying a vehicle that only gets 5-10mpg better doesn’t really pan out unless gas prices are extremely high or you drive 20k+ annually.
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Exactly. If you drive 1000 miles a month and go from 20MPG to 30MPG (actually unlikely staying in the same vehicle segment) you've saved $50 on fuel, but are paying in hundreds in a car payment. It's what people use to justify buying a newer car. If that 20MPG-30MPG means going from gas to diesel, you've only saved about $20.

But...in recent times there are many instances of used cars appreciating (!) and trade-ins becoming almost even swaps for new cars. So the real math is given you already HAVE to purchase a car...what's the tradeoff in purchase price vs. fuel cost. In terms of total $$ spent, the answer is almost always gas, but if the primary use is towing, you have to figure that into $/mile, along with your mental health.
 
Blue85 said:
Exactly. If you drive 1000 miles a month and go from 20MPG to 30MPG (actually unlikely staying in the same vehicle segment) you've saved $50 on fuel, but are paying in hundreds in a car payment. It's what people use to justify buying a newer car. If that 20MPG-30MPG means going from gas to diesel, you've only saved about $20.

But...in recent times there are many instances of used cars appreciating (!) and trade-ins becoming almost even swaps for new cars. So the real math is given you already HAVE to purchase a car...what's the tradeoff in purchase price vs. fuel cost. In terms of total $$ spent, the answer is almost always gas, but if the primary use is towing, you have to figure that into $/mile, along with your mental health.
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I just put a transmission in the wife's Suburban. The air ride needs work. I'm going to have to start spending a bunch of money fixing it, or start over fresh and have a happy wife.

We didn't specifically want the diesel, but were not opposed to it. What we wanted was a low trim level Suburban, so we were not stuck with shitty leather seats, and a front bench seat. The bench seat is hard to find. Every time she would find one, it was sold before we called on it. A dealer who she talked to about one we missed a few months back called her, and said they had one being built that fit our criteria (4x4, Max Tow, cloth seats, front bench). It just happened to have the diesel.

Martin
 
eodcoduto said:
With diesel being almost a dollar a gallon more than gas, the gas is going to be cheaper to own and fix when the time comes. Plus a cheaper intitial purchase price. Most diesels on the road are bought to impress other dudes and not to tow real loads, its expensive to impress other guys!

There are two of the new 1/2 ton diesels here at work and I haven’t heard any complaints, they owners love them and they ride very nice.
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bet he wishes he had a diesel
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And too many people thinks that fine for towing.
The old saying “it tows so good you don’t even know its back there”….you shouldnt be towing then!
 
Same on Cummins conversion pages, people pulling 30,000 on a frame that was built for 17500 GCWR.
Just because it can, doesn’t mean you should!
 
76zimmer said:
And too many people thinks that fine for towing.
The old saying “it tows so good you don’t even know its back there”….you shouldnt be towing then!
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My empty car trailer behind my '18 3500 Denali...really can't tell you got anything behind you. Hell, even with the car trailer loaded with a 52 Pontiac, I could hardly tell there was something behind me. Our 5th wheel trailer...no question you're hooked up to something with some mass, but the L5P doesn't care.

As a daily driver, well...it's not ideal. Empty it rides fairly firmly, and for all the BS I hear about fuel mileage I don't see it. My 5.3 Sierra 1500 was better on fuel, and the fuel was cheaper. Fortunately I only average about 650 miles per month.
 
76zimmer said:
And too many people thinks that fine for towing.
The old saying “it tows so good you don’t even know its back there”….you shouldnt be towing then!
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Especially in a 1/2-ton, you've exceeded payload rating before you get close to tow rating, but that's where the marketing magic is.
 
I agree Rene’, the newer diesels excel at towing, but some people tow with them like they’re driving a family sedan. And FME, its usually the hotrodded diesel crowd.
 
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