Newb buying my first truck, need some reassurance!

Layla · August 25, 2016

I'm new here, my husband and I are very close to buying our first truck, a new 2016 Sierra 5.3 1500 4x4, regular cab long box. Just a 6 speed, which makes me a bit sad, but I don't even know how easy it'll be to get the 8 speed in a work truck in Canada in 2017, or if I'll feel safe buying it.

I must say, reading some of the comments here about the new trucks is making me feel really anxious about whether I'm making the right choice.

I've done a TON of research but it's impossible to ever do enough.

It does seem like this forum isn't too happy with their newer trucks.

This truck will be driven a lot of highway/country road miles through some intense weather. It won't tow a ton, and it'll be looked after. I just hope we can get through our financing (which is stretched over 7 years at 0%) before the costs start piling up. We'll be rustproofing of course, we live in the land of road salt.

I've looked closely at the competition and honestly there are things I've liked a lot about all of them. I did think that getting a truck with a body we can repair might be a good idea (vs aluminum), especially since we'll be oil spraying every year. I figure that by the time the thing rusts, the engine will be killed anyway with the miles it'll be driven. It was pretty much between the Sierra/Silverado and F150 since the R*m rebates for work truck configurations suck. Drove the Tundra, it was fine. Asked the sales guy about rear axle ratios and he didn't know. Kind of lost interest at that point....

And we found the truck with the right configuration, for a price I can live with. At this time of year the pickings start getting slim and work trucks aren't exactly overflowing on the lots. No one seems to want a fleet-style truck, go figure.

Frankly part of my reason for going for the Sierra is 0% (even though I distrust this type of incentive). The alternative would have been waiting until next year to put a big downpayment down and pay aggressively to save money on interest. This way we get the truck now and the payments will be pretty painless with no real pressure to pay it off fast. I've been squeezing the dealer for every penny. I figure if I buy another truck someday, this sales guy will avoid me like the plague lol.

My only experience with trucks has been online research and interacting with dealers so I'm hoping like HELL this experience works out for us. Reading this forum makes me worry.... feel free to offer some reassurance!!

mookdoc6 · August 25, 2016

Sorry to break it to ya hunny! But most of us are on this site are extremely happy with our trucks! Most of these people posting have owned countless trucks GM and others and are keenly aware of what is good and what is not so good!

Rule #1 your truck and all it's associated crap will rot away, break away etc. Long before your engine starts to peter out!

If you distrust 0% you have more problems than wondering what Truck might or might not be good for you?

Good luck...............

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · August 25, 2016

Well you do have to realize that most people with problems will join a forum just to figure out the problem or how to deal with it. So you can't go by the % of the people on forums that have issues. I bought my '14 in April of '14 and have over 26,000 miles on it and I've loved it the whole time. The only real problem I've had was the u-bolt nuts not being TQed or under TQed which everybody seems to have had that problem. It would cause clunking sometimes when you give it throttle or let out of it. I believe the machine or TQ wrench they used either wasn't right or they used the wrong spec. I TQed them to what I've read on here and the problem was gone. Really the main thing to worry about is the vibrating issue. Seems like you either luck out or you don't. Some lucked out by the problem being unbalanced tires. But, it seems to not be any common denominator as to what it could be so it seems to be hard to diagnose and fix. Even though there's still more that have the vibration issue than it should be, but it still a very small $, not even a full 1% with the problem. Just make sure to test drive it on different speed limit like highway and interstate.

Layla · August 25, 2016

Thanks guys!

I test drove on highway and didn't notice any vibrating.

As for 0%, it's just another way to incentivize. It's a bit of an illusion in my opinion. You end up getting less in the way of cash incentives, and the dealer ends up with similar money than if you'd gotten more cash off the price but paid some interest. I think the best way to buy is get bigger cash discounts, finance with lowish interest, go in with a decent downpayment and pay the rest of the loan ASAP. 0% makes sense if you KNOW you're financing for 7 years, no matter what. If you actually have cash and can pay the loan down fast, you can save more money with cash incentives.

In our case, we could have waited a year and kept driving our Honda Element, and that might have saved a few grand because of being able to save more money and pay more aggressively. But then we'd have to wait a year. And I found this truck.... and dammit.

By the time this truck is paid for in seven years I expect it'll have 220K miles on it. I'm constantly amazed by how little a lot of people on here drive their trucks. This will be a daily driver and work vehicle so lots of miles. I'm sure with the right care I can keep the frame intact for seven years. I wonder how big the engine repair bills will be at that point - but if you're right, and the engine is going strong, so much the better. I'd love to drive it longer, it's not like I could get any money for it on trade at that point anyway. Right now I'm of the mind to drive it until the wheels fall off but I guess we'll see.

Layla · August 25, 2016

Reading this thread about how many miles people drive before dumping their trucks is what started getting me really nervous actually.

Sooo many guys seem to get out early 'before the problems start.' And many comments about how shit the new trucks are. At least let's get some balanced comments trashing the new F150s and Rams so that us newbs can feel like at least they're all equally shit. ;-)

Daryl Z71 · August 25, 2016

Welcome!

Layla · August 25, 2016

Daryl your truck is gorgeous by the way. We started off looking at older trucks. But neither of us are particularly mechanically inclined, and have our plates full with working on the house and property.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · August 25, 2016

Well there's a lot of people that prefer to lease or they just want something different. Even if the vehicle is a good one some people still prefer to get rid of it before major stuff starts to come up. Yes some times people get out of a problem truck, but that's not the case every time. I plan on keeping my '14 until it can't be driven anymore or until it's just not reliable anymore. I've always had full size Chevys and haven't really be disappointed. I tend to make huge jumps as I started out with an '86 2wd reg cab long bed manual trans without factory A/C to a '98 Z71 and now my '14 Z71. My '98 I bought in '04 and kept until '14 and it just wasn't reliable anymore. That was mainly from me though from the way I treated it on and off-road. I guess my next truck will be a 2500 gasser the way I step up every time even though I have no use for an HD lol.

Layla · August 25, 2016

Yeah I know that there are many who just like what's new and fresh. I could be that person myself if I had more money lol.

I swore we'd never buy new again. I only recently bought a 2008 Rav4 as my daily driver. It's not the lowest mileage but I think it'll go and go.

But researching used trucks with regular cabs and long boxes (ie worked, often fleet) made me realize that buying a used truck could be quite risky for us. Add to that the relatively low depreciation for used trucks, at least compared to other vehicles, and the strong US dollar (many Canadian used trucks are going south, leaving us with the scraps), and the stakes are even higher. We did not want an HD truck, but 90% of the trucks with that configuration are 3/4 ton. And I just didn't ever feel like driving an hour for the few and far times that an older used truck was listed 'as-is,' with no idea how rusty and how much work it really needs.

Anyway I do appreciate the replies. Makes me feel excited again! Other than lacking a backup camera (which I think would be a smart thing to get for a truck with a long bed and cap), it's just what we wanted. Probably won't tow frequently, but capable if called upon to do so. Believe it or not, vinyl floors were a desired option and (not surprisingly) this truck has them too.

And it's not white (cardinal red - and with a long bed and cap, that'll be a LOT of red), and has power windows. Freakin luxury, I tell ya. I wouldn't mind some slightly blingier rims than the steelies but I guess it is a work truck....

I feel like I'm actually becoming really interested in trucks and it's kind of a bummer that I won't be the one driving it most of the time. Makes me want to get a little light truck with a short bed for my next vehicle lol.

99silveradoz71 · August 28, 2016

Had a '99, and '08, and now a '16. I've enjoyed every one, and the '16 is great so far.

Layla · August 28, 2016

Papers are signed. Truck is being dressed for us and we'll pick it up when the cap is on it (figured we'd just do it through the dealer).

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with rustproofing etc. If I get the dealer package we have some protection both for perforation and surface rust. But it costs a ton. $1600+ tax for paint sealant, rust proofing/undercoating (which I doubt is that great) and scotchguard. We can take it in annually for inspection and they will re-do it if necessary, but I don't really want to wait until rust appears to touch up the undercoat etc.

Plus if we ever have it Krowned that will void the warranty.

I'm so torn. Thinking of taking it to Ziebart for the works AND getting it Krowned, so it gets the oil spray, heavy duty undercoat and also paint sealant. I'd feel protected from rust that way, especially if we respray with Krown each fall. I'm just worried that if we do ever have an issue with the paint flaking, we'll have no support from GM.

Debra in Cali · September 19, 2016

Layla, First of all welcome. And congrats on your new truck.

The only problem that I see, is that you state that you aren't going to be the driver. Tell him to you want to drive it. Us Chevy Girls, love our trucks. Once you drive it a few times you will be hooked. Then if you are game to try towing, then he is in real trouble. He won't be able to get it away from you.

Layla · September 20, 2016

Thanks Debra!

We brought home the truck just this past Friday and Big Red has settled in like a part of the family. I've done some driving but I have to admit I'm jealous of hubby. We'll be taking it on a longer trip to see the in-laws for Thanksgiving and I think I'll be vying to share the driving more equally (for a change).

I'm too lazy to upload an online pic but it's a regular cab long box 1500 work truck with vinyl flooring. The dealer installed a cap and we opted for paint sealant. They threw in a free window tint and accidentally rust proofed/undercoated for free (I'm still taking it to Corrosian Free though - the road salt in Ontario is terrible). It's just the right balance between work truck with a few extras, exactly what we were looking for. And it's not white (which I love, but I'm not a big fan of the generic white work truck look).

I even found a great deal on used winter LT tires on rims, which we picked up the same dayj and same town where we got the truck.

The day after we brought it home, we sold our old Honda Element. By this weekend it'll just be us, Big Red and my V6 Rav. Worked out awesome!