What would you buy?

Z71RAD88 · August 14, 2020

1 hour ago, Chevyguy273 said:

Greetings from Maine. You didn’t say if you were getting a 2wd or 4wd Silverado? Anyways 6.2l L87 all day! I have had my 2020 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab short box LTZ Z-71 with 20 inch all terrain tires for 5 weeks now. It now has 1100 miles on the odometer. On 2 road trips to a friends property up the coast from me. It’s 220 miles round trip. 75% highway 25% driving the speed limit through lazy coastal towns. 30-50 mph speed limits. Some sections of both roads can be hilly at times. I averaged over 24 mpg on both trips. 65-70 on the highway. Speed limit through the small lazy coastal towns. I also never drove it like I stole it. Until about 2 days ago. I’m now averaging 16 mpg combined on the current tank of 93 octane. I never knew combining a ginormous pickup truck with an absolutely awesome motor would create a truck that is an absolute blast to drive. This thing just coasts down the highway effortlessly. Plus. Premium fuel is cheap right now. It’s obvious I’m a 6.2l fan. But. Good luck in your decision. It’s your truck. Get it the way you want it and enjoy.

Also, what’s your typical range when your tank is full and cruising at those highway speeds?

aseibel · August 14, 2020

The 5.3 would easily meet your towing demands, so this doesn't seem to be about needs. Its all about wants.

Are you a "no replacement for displacement" guy? Or do you want to be early on the bandwagon for the new diesel? That's all this comes down to. I personally would not buy a diesel yet. So between your two choices, I vote for the 6.2.

Z71RAD88 · August 14, 2020

2 hours ago, aseibel said:

The 5.3 would easily meet your towing demands, so this doesn't seem to be about needs. Its all about wants.

Are you a "no replacement for displacement" guy? Or do you want to be early on the bandwagon for the new diesel? That's all this comes down to. I personally would not buy a diesel yet. So between your two choices, I vote for the 6.2.

Ha! I was just thinking about this actually. Maybe the 5.3 is enough for me. The trailer I'm looking at is a Trail Manor 2518 KB. It has a dry weight of 2580 lbs with a load capacity of 920 lbs, so may would be 3500 lbs. I am by all means a novice when it comes to towing minus a small trailer for my ATV I used to have. I do value the comfort and safety aspect of towing with my new truck, especially with my family in it (and yes, I am concerned about your family out on the road too), so whatever I do, I don't wanna sell myself short because the 5.3 is overall a less expensive truck to buy and fuel up. But for those that have towed with the 5.3 or towing in general, would the 5.3 fit what I'm looking to do with this truck.....safely?

Edited August 14, 2020 by Z71RAD88

aseibel · August 14, 2020

On 8/14/2020 at 10:43 AM, Z71RAD88 said:

would the 5.3 fit what I'm looking to do with this truck.....safely?

The 5.3 and 6.2 trucks are identical except for the displacement. That means that the steering, handling and more importantly braking, are the SAME. So you would have no difference in safety. The only thing you get with the 6.2 to is a little more oomph under throttle. Just be aware of the transmission and gear ratio on the trucks you are looking at. With more gears in the new tranny, you should have more than ample torque to get that little trailer moving. Heck, guys are pulling 9,000 lb trailers with them already.

Edited August 20, 2020 by aseibel

Colossus · August 15, 2020

I think the 3.0 diesel is nice. But being a current REAL duramax owner, the little brother just feels too underpowered and slow to me but if that didn't bother me I might not have too much concern with them. Though I hate the DEF and had enough of that DEF crap in my 2012 so I went back to a 2008 that only has a trusty good DPF. No DEF ****** that I have to add to it.

Transient · August 22, 2020

I had the same questions as the OP when researching trucks. It sounds like my clone scenario. Socal, towing, family, etc. At the end of the day I went with the 6.2.

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Z71RAD88 · August 22, 2020

12 hours ago, Transient said:

I had the same questions as the OP when researching trucks. It sounds like my clone scenario. Socal, towing, family, etc. At the end of the day I went with the 6.2.

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Care to share what led you to go with 6.2 over 3.0?

Transient · August 22, 2020

Care to share what led you to go with 6.2 over 3.0?

One thing I've learned about owning various GM vehicles for almost 20 years as that they often have difficulty getting new things (for them) right the first time. The 3.0 Duramax is new, whereas the 6.2 is older. There has been time to find many problems in the 6.2 and get those issues resolved.

Furthermore, every gas station in the country has gasoline. Not all of them have diesel. When you need to fuel up, you need to fuel up. I didn't want to run into a situation where I couldn't reach a gas station that had diesel because it wasn't available at the exit I got off the highway at, and I then had to get back on and continue my trip to the next gas station. If you're going up hill towing, the odds of making it up decrease significantly.

Another area of concern is that diesel engines are heavier than gasoline engines. This not only reduces the weight you can tow, but also places more bias on the front end. I have family in Northern Utah, and driving there in the winter is likely. I need the weight between the front and rear axles as close to 50/50 as possible when unloaded to have the best possible traction for climbing hills. Growing up in Northern Utah, I've seen many times where an unloaded 4x4 truck couldn't make it up a snowy hill.

I was initially leaning towards buying a Sierra AT4 with the 3.0. Once i decided to get the 6.2 V8 I could no longer justify the $6,000 price difference between the Sierra AT4 and the Silverado Trail Boss, so I went with a Trail Boss LT. Getting the gasser also allowed me to have some features GM doesn't offer with the diesel, such as cool air intake and catback exhaust.

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Z71RAD88 · August 22, 2020

15 minutes ago, Transient said:

One thing I've learned about owning various GM vehicles for almost 20 years as that they often have difficulty getting new things (for them) right the first time. The 3.0 Duramax is new, whereas the 6.2 is older. There has been time to find many problems in the 6.2 and get those issues resolved.

Furthermore, every gas station in the country has gasoline. Not all of them have diesel. When you need to fuel up, you need to fuel up. I didn't want to run into a situation where I couldn't reach a gas station that had diesel because it wasn't available at the exit I got off the highway at, and I then had to get back on and continue my trip to the next gas station. If you're going up hill towing, the odds of making it up decrease significantly.

Another area of concern is that diesel engines are heavier than gasoline engines. This not only reduces the weight you can tow, but also places more bias on the front end. I have family in Northern Utah, and driving there in the winter is likely. I need the weight between the front and rear axles as close to 50/50 as possible when unloaded to have the best possible traction for climbing hills. Growing up in Northern Utah, I've seen many times where an unloaded 4x4 truck couldn't make it up a snowy hill.

I was initially leaning towards buying a Sierra AT4 with the 3.0. Once i decided to get the 6.2 V8 I could no longer justify the $6,000 price difference between the Sierra AT4 and the Silverado Trail Boss, so I went with a Trail Boss LT. Getting the gasser also allowed me to have some features GM doesn't offer with the diesel, such as cool air intake and catback exhaust.

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Thanks for sharing! I do appreciate powertrains that have some history to them. Are you running 87 or 91 in your truck? Curious what kind of highway mileage you’re getting if you wouldn’t mind sharing.

Donstar · August 22, 2020

On 8/14/2020 at 6:31 AM, aseibel said:

The 5.3 would easily meet your towing demands, so this doesn't seem to be about needs. Its all about wants.

Are you a "no replacement for displacement" guy? Or do you want to be early on the bandwagon for the new diesel? That's all this comes down to. I personally would not buy a diesel yet. So between your two choices, I vote for the 6.2.

I thought the same except one step further. The 2.7 would pull a 3500lb. trailer with ease and can get you speeding ticket going uphill while pulling it!

Transient · August 23, 2020

Thanks for sharing! I do appreciate powertrains that have some history to them. Are you running 87 or 91 in your truck? Curious what kind of highway mileage you’re getting if you wouldn’t mind sharing.

GM recommends a minimum of 91 octane for the 6.2, so that's what I use. The best mpg I've seen on the highway is 23.1mpg, however, it's usually 19.X while unloaded. The truck seems to be accurate to the numbers.

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Chevyguy273 · August 24, 2020

On 8/14/2020 at 8:27 AM, Z71RAD88 said:

Also, what’s your typical range when your tank is full and cruising at those highway speeds?

I’ve done this mini road trip twice in the first 1000 miles of ownership so far. And both times on after getting on the highway and plodding along at 65-70 the range was between 510-530 miles. With a full tank. But, I’ve also been driving it like a grandma going to church on a Sunday. Until about 200 miles ago. Now I’ve discovered that it’s an absolute blast to drive a gigantic truck with so much power!! Now my last tank average was 16.8. It’s just so intoxicating listening to this wonderful small block Chevy V-8 pull from idle up to 5k. And it’s as quiet as a library inside the ginormous cabin.

KARNUT · August 24, 2020

I would be hesitant to buy a diesel in any vehicle unless certain driving conditions exist. Mostly long distance driving or pulling often. The added pollution devices would keep me away.

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Z71RAD88 · August 24, 2020

5 hours ago, Chevyguy273 said:

I’ve done this mini road trip twice in the first 1000 miles of ownership so far. And both times on after getting on the highway and plodding along at 65-70 the range was between 510-530 miles. With a full tank. But, I’ve also been driving it like a grandma going to church on a Sunday. Until about 200 miles ago. Now I’ve discovered that it’s an absolute blast to drive a gigantic truck with so much power!! Now my last tank average was 16.8. It’s just so intoxicating listening to this wonderful small block Chevy V-8 pull from idle up to 5k. And it’s as quiet as a library inside the ginormous cabin.

I feel like you should make a 6.2 t-shirt with the bottom half of your paragraph on the back. Ha!

Z71RAD88 · August 24, 2020

28 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

I would be hesitant to buy a diesel in any vehicle unless certain driving conditions exist. Mostly long distance driving or pulling often. The added pollution devices would keep me away.

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What would you consider long? I can tell you right now, I have a commuter car for work that I drive about 25k-ish per year (minus COVID this year) so the truck would get used on the weekends only and for buzzing around town or going to visit family 3 hours away which is all straight highway. During summer and fall months it winks be a tow vehicle for RV-ing/camping as well as fishing and hunting trips, all 2-3 hour drives.

I’m just scratching the surface on educating myself on modern diesels and understand the emissions are a huge factor when considering to take this dive. So, I’ll sit back and listen to others experiences and knowledge.