New Truck

[goodwrench]

Hi Air streamers,need your advice on making a decision on a new truck. I am looking at a chevy 2500 4x4 HD crew cab gas engine.I have a 32FT Excella1000 my chevy 1500 4x4 HD Z71 struggles when loaded and long trips. Should i consider a diesel or gas engine, need your help. Thanks Jim

[PharmGeek]

Ohhhhh dear....

[rumrunner]

this thread always opens up a can of worms
Basically you will get 2 types of responses, those who will tell you what the minimum they would use is, and those who tell you to get as much truck as you can. Personally I am in the latter bunch. Once you have experienced the ease of towing with a diesel truck with the power to climb and descend mountains in cruise control with exhaust braking you will never go back. Your next question then becomes-"which WD hitch should I get?
tim

[ROBERT CROSS]

Don't buy a new one, look for good used, and take everything said here with a grain of salt.

Whatever you choose will be better than what we have anyway.

I use a 2006 2500 Suburban 8.1, the worlds best tow vehicle.

That's my grain of salt and I'm stick'n to it.

Bob

[dkottum]

No way, Bob. We use a 2012 Ram 1500 5.7 and it's definitely the best.

doug k

[SL4BLLT]

Surprised we aren't up to 1000 responses already. We've owned the old 1500 Suburbans, had the 7.4 Suburbans 2500 and then the 8.1 Avalanche 2500 which we loved. We now and have had the 6.6 Duramax 2005 since 2005 and wouldn't change it out for the new one, just due to the new emissions required with the "additive" which (1) lowers the mileage and (2) is expensive to recharge.

GM is coming out with that new 335 HP engine, if you can hold off, I'd wait and go with the gas engine as that is suppose to get 23 mpg. With a 373 rear end, you'll have plenty of engine and torque to pull that 32 footer. Fuel wise IMHO, you'll get decent mileage all around and when you compare with diesel prices (.40 more a gallon) and the additive required, you'll have savings.

We're looking at upgrading next year due to safety features and other modern upgrades on new TV's and most likely will go with a Yukon Denali even with the big V8 just for comfort. towing capacity and safety.

Good luck, and it is great to have options, but I would NOT buy new, see what credit unions or banks have repos that are still under manufacturers warranties and get them to throw in and extended warranty to 75K. Trust me, they will with a vehicle under 12-35K just to move it.

SL4BLLT

[andreasduess]

I think whatever our personal preferences re TVs are, we can all agree that buying new is a bit of a waste of money.

I tend to buy cars off-lease. By that time they're two or three years old, dealer serviced and almost as good as new at 50-60% of the original purchase price.

An extra $1500 paid for a three year nose-to-tail-everything-covered warrantee for our car, which makes for worry free motoring.

[pappy19]

Originally Posted by andreasduess

I think whatever our personal preferences re TVs are, we can all agree that buying new is a bit of a waste of money.

I tend to buy cars off-lease. By that time they're two or three years old, dealer serviced and almost as good as new at 50-60% of the original purchase price.

An extra $1500 paid for a three year nose-to-tail-everything-covered warrantee for our car, which makes for worry free motoring.

Smart man, or just lease a new one yourself and pay $2-300 less per month and no sales tax except on the monthly payment. At the end of the lease if you like the truck, buy it at the residual price on the lease or turn it in and lease another new vehicle. I've been doing this for 20 years.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by andreasduess

I think whatever our personal preferences re TVs are, we can all agree that buying new is a bit of a waste of money.

No we can't :-D

[pappy19]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

No we can't :-D

Even if you can pay cash up front, math tells you your are better off to lease for 2 years, pay the 2-3 year lease up front and put the remainder in a money making account and buy it at the end of the lease.

[SteveSueMac]

Sadly, math and I are not on speaking terms with one another. :-(

Thanks for the tip though, Pappy!!

[jdalrymple]

Had an 03 Duramax and loved it.

Replaced it with a 12 Duramax and love it.

We keep them 10 years, so depreciation is minimized, as much as can be.


For the original poster, your screen name says it all.

Good Luck with whatever you choose.

Regards.

JD

[PharmGeek]

I have a thread that hashes a lot of this out from a couple weeks ago - has a title with suburban in it - I ended up between a 2500 ram gasser vs diesel - I was on the fence - found a decent deal on the diesel (Carmax) and it is in transit as we speak for me I test drive and likely purchase.

I'm sure both will do the job fine - folks will debate these two forever to no end - perhaps drive them yourself and simply decide that way...

Many ways to skin this cat I would suppose (which btw that saying is a reference to skinning catfish if you didn't know )

Good luck in your search and decision

[n2916s]

My vote is for a big ol' gasser. My truck is 9 years old now and just starting to look a little tired inside. 156000 miles with no major repairs. Fairly soon I will be in the market despite the fact that the truck is running perfectly.

A diesel should last hundreds of thousands of miles ( years and years...) and, frankly, I would like to buy a new truck every ten years or so if for no other reason than to get all the new bells and whistles.

Not to mention more expensive fuel, noisier powerplant, DEF refills, $100 plus oil changes...

Now, as to 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, one ton or Peterbilt -- I am not touching that issue with a 10 foot pole...

Mike

[andreasduess]

Originally Posted by pappy19

Smart man, or just lease a new one yourself and pay $2-300 less per month and no sales tax except on the monthly payment. At the end of the lease if you like the truck, buy it at the residual price on the lease or turn it in and lease another new vehicle. I've been doing this for 20 years.

Personal thing, but I don't much like debt and the associated payments - the only one we've got is our mortgage and I am trying to pay that one down as fast as we can.

For most everything else we try to save up and pay cash. Goes for cars as well as toys, like AS trailers. It means that brand new is often out of our price range but I can live with that

[drunkensloth]

Buy the duramax. After being a gm tech for 12 years, I've never had a customer say "gee I wish I had bought a gas engine instead"

[Silverflames]

Hands down the best TV is a 1990 Chevy Spectrum, with a class 3 hitch, using an air ride system and a Hensley hitch set up, with hydraulic breaks on the trailer, no shocks, and ST tires. I keep a 10,000 lbs rated electric wench on the front, just in case I have to go up hill.

Now we're is my stick and that horse?

[moosetags]

I'm afraid that I have to cast my vote with the Dmax crowd. We pulled Lucy (25Fb/7400#) many, many miles with two 3/4 ton Suburbans, and was quite satisfied. When we decided to add a 3000# truck camper to the mix, the diesel became an absolute necessity. That was almost two years ago, and all that I can say is that I will never buy another gasoline powered tow vehicle again. The diesel just does a better job of pulling and stopping with a load.

As far as new vs. used, we ordered new so that we could get exactly what we wanted. It's almost impossible to find a one ton, single rear wheel, crew cab, long bed, snow plow package Duramax on the used market. We had to wait nine weeks for the truck to come in, but it was worth it, and we even got it in red.

Brian

[DKB_SATX]

Originally Posted by Silverflames

Hands down the best TV is a 1990 Chevy Spectrum, with a class 3 hitch, using an air ride system and a Hensley hitch set up, with hydraulic breaks on the trailer, no shocks, and ST tires. I keep a 10,000 lbs rated electric wench on the front, just in case I have to go up hill.

Now we're is my stick and that horse?

Where does one find an electric wench? Is that the sort of thing they sell in those *ahem* video stores on the internet just outside lots of cities?

[Silverflames]

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

Where does one find an electric wench? Is that the sort of thing they sell in those *ahem* video stores on the internet just outside lots of cities?

Lol, yea, spell check can't fix every thing! Yea makes the set up a hole lot different when when you think of it that way. (Pun intended)