Fuel Mileage with Chevy Diesel Truck???

[VtMapleGal]

Right now i own a 05 2500 HD extended cab truck with a 8.1 L motor and allison tranny. I LOVE it. We use it to haul our horse trailer and race car. The hubby wants a Diesel. His claim is we will get better fuel mileage. We went from a Suburban that got 6 mpg to the 2500HD that gets about 14 mpg. Ive been told the chevy diesel gets about 17-18 mpg...we are looking at a 06 as i dont really like the looks of the new body style. Does anyone have one on here and what are thier thoughts?

 

[john250]

Right now i own a 05 2500 HD extended cab truck with a 8.1 L motor and allison tranny. I LOVE it. We use it to haul our horse trailer and race car. The hubby wants a Diesel. His claim is we will get better fuel mileage. We went from a Suburban that got 6 mpg to the 2500HD that gets about 14 mpg. Ive been told the chevy diesel gets about 17-18 mpg...we are looking at a 06 as i dont really like the looks of the new body style. Does anyone have one on here and what are thier thoughts?

annual mileage/mpg=gallons
gallons*$/gal=annual expense
If your assumptions for price and other factors are realistic, you'll never justify the extra $5000 for a diesel.
Unless you count testosterone as a plus. It is OK to do that.

 

[cleland]

I have a duramax in an 03 chevy 3/4 4x4 ext cab long bed and on a recent trip on the interstate I got 24 mpg. I get between 16 and 19 normally, and have all the power that I could need. milage does decrease with towing unlike with the 97 ford pwrstroke I had

 

[Horticattleman]

I have an 05 chev. duramax 3/4 4x4 crew and get an avg. of 14mpg. In town, towng, and interstate averaged.

 

[VtMapleGal]

annual mileage/mpg=gallons
gallons*$/gal=annual expense
If your assumptions for price and other factors are realistic, you'll never justify the extra $5000 for a diesel.
Unless you count testosterone as a plus. It is OK to do that.[/quote]

Annual Mileage (30000)/Mpg(17ave diesel)=1765gal x 2.79/gal=$4925
30000/14(8.1 L i have now)=2142 gal x $2.99 =$6404
so i will save 1500 in fuel a year.

 

[VtMapleGal]

oh, and i forgot to mention i have a 05 with 65000 mi on it and i will be trading for a 05 diesel with 12000 mi on it and my payments will be the same per month.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

You are lucky, here in Texas for the past 2 years diesel has been an average of 20 cents per gallon higher than gas.
Sure made my buying of a Ford Powerstroke a , not so good decison. (will take quite a bit longer to pay for the diesel engine.). Now with Ford wanting over $7000 for the new motor, it would never pencil out for me.

By the way, my Ford gets about 15mpg, city/highway combined.

 

[aplusmnt]

annual mileage/mpg=gallons
gallons*$/gal=annual expense
If your assumptions for price and other factors are realistic, you'll never justify the extra $5000 for a diesel.
Unless you count testosterone as a plus. It is OK to do that.

Annual Mileage (30000)/Mpg(17ave diesel)=1765gal x 2.79/gal=$4925
30000/14(8.1 L i have now)=2142 gal x $2.99 =$6404
so i will save 1500 in fuel a year.[/quote]

Around here diesel bounces between 20 cents and 30 cents a gallon higher.

 

[flaboy?]

I didn't buy my diesel for mileage. I bought it so when I hooked up to something it would move it without getting a hemorrhoid. Now most of my experience is with the Ford but folks with the "other" brands tell me the same thing. When towing the mileage will drop about 5MPG with the diesel and almost 10MPG with a gas motor. So if you tow a lot, payback might be faster. Also Ford doesn't offer 100,000 mile warranty on the gas motors, only the diesel.

What is the warranty on the Duramax, Cummins? I never looked.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

My '04 Duramax has 100K warranty on the engine I think partly due to the injector problem they had/have.

My overall milage since new is 17.7 mpg and I have 80K+ miles. Not too bad considering a 7.3 mpg tow job a few months back. Driving like a sane person I get 22 - 24 mpg and I do not run a chip.

I know what you mean about the looks of the Chevy. That's the reason I bought a GMC because it didn't have the "slanted eye" headlights.

 

[JDI]

You need to figure the difference of services also. If taken to Jiffy lube...10 litter 6.9 Ford..29.95...Poerstroke diesel take to same place....59.95...30,000 mi X 10 services...3000 mi service...300.00 more on services...diesels ARE more expensive to operate...

 

[Tod Dague]

You need to figure the difference of services also. If taken to Jiffy lube...10 litter 6.9 Ford..29.95...Poerstroke diesel take to same place....59.95...30,000 mi X 10 services...3000 mi service...300.00 more on services...diesels ARE more expensive to operate...

I figured with my fuel prices regular 2.73 and diesel 2.83. If the gas engine gets 16 and the diesel gets 18 then at 30,000 miles we are at $400 toward the diesel minus the 300 you are still ahead $100. Then I expect to get about twice the miles out of my diesel vs. a gas which should more than make up the difference in initial purchase. I have 170,000 miles on my truck and it still drives, feels, and pulls like new. Well, even better now that I have a chip in it. It maybe bad luck on my part but I've never had a gas powered truck do that at that mileage.

 

[flaboy?]

Tod, you will see a bigger difference in mileage towing between the diesel and gas motor also. All my gas buddies say their mileage drops 50-60% when towing.

I don't know about the GM or Dodge gas motors but the Ford V10 will usually only do about 14 at best. There are exceptions as in everything. My niece pulls a light weight 3-horse with a Ford v10 and gets 6-7 MPG. I can pull my loaded steel stock trailer and get 13-14 MPG.

 

[john250]

Tod, you will see a bigger difference in mileage towing between the diesel and gas motor also. All my gas buddies say their mileage drops 50-60% when towing.

I don't know about the GM or Dodge gas motors but the Ford V10 will usually only do about 14 at best. There are exceptions as in everything. My niece pulls a light weight 3-horse with a Ford v10 and gets 6-7 MPG. I can pull my loaded steel stock trailer and get 13-14 MPG.

My F250 V10 gets 11 runnin around and lots of stops and idling. Pulling about 16K it gets 9. I'm just not seeing the towing penalty your niece is seeing.

 

[JDI]

Tod,
I have never seen the use of putting a 500,000 mi. engine (cummings) in a 50,000 mi. truck Dodge). What use do you have for a diesel engine if you don't have a body to put around it or a susp. to carry it!!

 

[flaboy?]

Tod, you will see a bigger difference in mileage towing between the diesel and gas motor also. All my gas buddies say their mileage drops 50-60% when towing.

I don't know about the GM or Dodge gas motors but the Ford V10 will usually only do about 14 at best. There are exceptions as in everything. My niece pulls a light weight 3-horse with a Ford v10 and gets 6-7 MPG. I can pull my loaded steel stock trailer and get 13-14 MPG.

My F250 V10 gets 11 runnin around and lots of stops and idling. Pulling about 16K it gets 9. I'm just not seeing the towing penalty your niece is seeing.

Down hill? :lol:

Kidding John... Like I said before there are exceptions. I considered the V10 until I started checking what folks were getting around here for mileage with them. Maybe it's the humidity. :lol:

 

[VtMapleGal]

I get about 15 with my 8.1 weather im towing or not. When i do tow its either 1. our race car or 2. a horse trailer, so nothing really heavy most of the time. Once in a while a tractor or bulldozer. I get my oil changes done at the dealer for 15 bucks, weather its a diesel or not. Its a thing they do when you buy a truck there. And the truck comes with a 100,000 mi factory warrantee. All chevy trucks do now on powertrain.

 

[Tod Dague]

Tod,
I have never seen the use of putting a 500,000 mi. engine (cummings) in a 50,000 mi. truck Dodge). What use do you have for a diesel engine if you don't have a body to put around it or a susp. to carry it!!

Sorry, but I'm not following you. I'm a little slow at times. ;-)

 

[JDI]

I have used all 3 major automakers trucks in the oilfield for yrs. You won't see much worse abuse of trucks.
Dodges with a Cummings engine all you have is an engine. The body will not hold up to more than 50,000-100,00 mi. & then what do you have. An engine that will go another 400,00 mi.
General motors we have had trouble with the suspinsion SP. After about 100,000- 125,000 mi. the springs & frontend are so wore out you need a rubber suite to go down the road. But you have got an Allison engine that will run forever.
Fords the only problems we had were tranny's & front ends after about 150,00- 250,00 mi.
So, all I'm saying is why buy a truck (any make) that all you have after 100,00 mi is an engine. Most gas engines if used heavy will be worn out or in need of replacement around 250,00 mi. the same as the rest of the truck. JMO after 25yrs. of using trucks heavy.

 

[Tod Dague]

Gotcha! I'm a small time operator and I don't do near as much heavy hauling and driving though real rough county as many of the other people on here. But when I do have a big load I have plenty of truck to get it done. I've got 170,000 miles on it so far and no body troubles as of yet. I will be sorely disappointed if it falls apart at 250,000 miles.