2020 silverado ltz - ready to trade after five months?

[sailor]

So I bought a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ 5.3 late last November with 23K miles.  Its black, crew cab, 4WD and light tan interior.  It's all stock and I pretty much bought it as I needed a tax write off and after a two month search for a 3.0 Duramax didn’t pan out. This past March I towed my 25' boat on a 1,100 mile round trip and gas mileage for the trip was 8.2 but I saw as little as 6.3 mpg with a headwind, so I am thinking about trading this one in on a 2500 Duramax.  My buddy just bought one and is getting way better mileage unloaded then I have with any of my previous gas motors and interestingly the 2020 is getting way worse mileage around down then my 2015 GMC crew 4x4 even with the auto stop.  Around town with the new truck I am luck to see 14 but unloaded and under 70 mpg it does get up around 21-22, but so did my GMC before I put bigger tires on it.  Is it worth moving to a 2500 for a once or twice a year long haul? Probably not but the increase in local mpg is what really has me interested.  thoughts?

 

Also my wife said the back seats were incredibly uncomfortable, something I thought as well shortly after I purchased the truck.

Edited April 12, 2022 by sailor
Clarification

[Dirk13]

1. That mileage is crap for a 3.0. Either something is wrong or you’ve got a heavy foot. Unloaded and under 70 for me is 27-28 (mine is 4wd). Around town is low 20s. 
 

2. the back seat in a GM 2500 isn’t going to me different than your 1500

[jlong1984]

My truck will get mid 20s all day with the cruise set at 81/82 MPH. I concur that something is wrong with your truck. Take it to the dealer and have them look it over.  

[sailor]

13 hours ago, Dirk13 said:

1. That mileage is crap for a 3.0. Either something is wrong or you’ve got a heavy foot. Unloaded and under 70 for me is 27-28 (mine is 4wd). Around town is low 20s. 
 

2. the back seat in a GM 2500 isn’t going to me different than your 1500

sorry I may not have been clear - my truck is a 5.3 gasser not the 3.0 diesel. If I drive like there is an egg under my foot and don’t let the engine go over 1,500 rpm I can eek out barely 14 mpg around town. Not much fun driving this way.  
 

I understand the cab is essentially the same between the 1500 and 2500 but the padding in the 2020 seems half of my 2015 gmc. If I went with a 2500 I’d probably go down to a 2018 or 2019. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by sailor

[CamGTP]

Would be a 5.7 if it was a Hemi but a 5.3 in a Chevrolet.

[TNTSierra]

There was a reason why someone traded it in with only 23k miles! 
 

Stepdad had 2020 Sierra with 5.3L and 10 speed, and he gets above 20 mpgs all day long. Even 23 when driving very conservatively. 

[fatwhiteboy]

14 hours ago, sailor said:

So I bought a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ 5.7 late last November with 23K miles.  Its black, crew cab, 4WD and light tan interior.  It's all stock and I pretty much bought it as I needed a tax write off and after a two month search for a 3.0 Duramax didn’t pan out. This past March I towed my 25' boat on a 1,100 mile round trip and gas mileage for the trip was 8.2 but I saw as little as 6.3 mpg with a headwind, so I am thinking about trading this one in on a 2500 Duramax.  My buddy just bought one and is getting way better mileage unloaded then I have with any of my previous gas motors and interestingly the 2020 is getting way worse mileage around down then my 2015 GMC crew 4x4 even with the auto stop.  Around town with the new truck I am luck to see 14 but unloaded and under 70 mpg it does get up around 21-22, but so did my GMC before I put bigger tires on it.  Is it worth moving to a 2500 for a once or twice a year long haul? Probably not but the increase in local mpg is what really has me interested.  thoughts?

 

Also my wife said the back seats were incredibly uncomfortable, something I thought as well shortly after I purchased the truck.

Sadly when you are in tow mode that is about all you will see for MPG.  I have the same truck with the 6.2L and it does not pull real well.  It drives great when unloaded and I have seen 20MPG on the highway but to pull my cars I use my trusty old 2016 2500 with the old school 6L.  I do not know if you like the looks of the new Chevy HD trucks, I do not.  I do like the GMC HD trucks and my plan is to purchase a new one if production ever get caught up.

Edited April 12, 2022 by fatwhiteboy

[sailor]

11 hours ago, CamGTP said:

Would be a 5.7 if it was a Hemi but a 5.3 in a Chevrolet.

Duh!  What a typo. If you need me I will be under my truck…since it’s like a rock. 

[sailor]

10 hours ago, TNTSilverado said:

There was a reason why someone traded it in with only 23k miles! 
 

Stepdad had 2020 Sierra with 5.3L and 10 speed, and he gets above 20 mpgs all day long. Even 23 when driving very conservatively. 

 Are you suggesting that some of these trucks get better gas mileage then others?  When I read your post it vaguely rang a bell that this might be the case. 

[WeGone]

I Agree something is amiss.

I have a 2021 6.2 Z71  with a 10 speed (you did not say what transmission you have)

I have a Pulsar LT (before Pulsar I get up to 25mpg) so I run V8 at all times so I lost 1-3mpg across the board. Just around town I get 17-20 on the big road 19-22. Pulling my 18ft steel car trailer 1500lbs loaded with a 4-5k car or truck total of 6500+ I average  13-15mpg.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2022 by WeGone

[TNTSierra]

27 minutes ago, sailor said:

 Are you suggesting that some of these trucks get better gas mileage then others?  When I read your post it vaguely rang a bell that this might be the case. 

I am not suggesting but STATING that something is wrong with your truck!! That is why they traded it in! My 2019 6.2L and 10 Spd averages 13-14 mpgs pulling my boat to lake house at 75 mph.  My older 2017 5.3L with 8 spd did the same. So you getting 8 down to 6 is a-little suspicious. Now are there trucks out there that just get terrible mileage because of this and that?!? Yes, but very far and few. 

 

You couldn’t pay me in the past year to buy a used truck. With the crazy inflation and lifter issues that isn’t being addressed the correct way. (GM should Replace all of them right away when there is an issue, instead of one side at a time from what I have read and heard about here on forum). 
 

I would go back to the “stealership” you bought it at. Ask for all of its prior service records and have them pull it up to see if it’s been rebuilt. If it had, then ask to have them look it over, then I would push to have them work with you on extended warranty if you are keeping it.
 

 Is it just me? But they “ stealership” should inform customers on used trucks what is wrong with them!  Especially the lifter issues.  Isn’t anything $5k or above in damage supposed to be? With inflation redoing a motor or half a motor has got to be close to pushing $5k. 
 

Hopefully you get some answers. The good thing is that with high prices on used trucks. You might be able to get almost all your money back out of your truck to trade in for a HD. But they are over charging for used HDs right now. Cousin just bought a 2020 Denali and it was only $2500 less than a new one but the new one didn’t have heated steering wheel, cooled/heated front seats, and heated back seats. Chip shortage.  He did get a lifetime powertrain warranty with it though so that a plus. 
 

Good luck. 

[Wiggums]

That gas mileage is horrible! I regularly get 28 mpg going 60 mph on a very flat surface on the highway and that's with the 5.3 V8 with 8-speed automatic. My last 400 miles shows an average of 22.5 mpg, roughly 70% highway and 30% city. I regularly drive below the speed limit on highways, that helps a lot.

[denny noname]

I mainly drive mine around town. Average mpg is 14.6 for last 1k miles. All stock 5.3L 6 speed.

[Ezekiel2517]

On 4/12/2022 at 6:44 AM, WeGone said:

I Agree something is amiss.

I have a 2021 6.2 Z71  with a 10 speed (you did not say what transmission you have)

I have a Pulsar LT (before Pulsar I get up to 25mpg) so I run V8 at all times so I lost 1-3mpg across the board. Just around town I get 17-20 on the big road 19-22. Pulling my 18ft steel car trailer 1500lbs loaded with a 4-5k car or truck total of 6500+ I average  13-15mpg.

 

 

That is amazing MPG towing.  When I pull my 7000lb RV I usually do about 8mpg with my 2019 6.2 10 spd.  Lots of wind drag with that, but still thats a big difference.  I do 13 with my single axle utility trailer with no weight.

[todd308]

Seats are quite poor in these GM's compare to the competition but seats are an individual thing.  GM's are quite hard, some like it, some hate it.   They also have very narrow seat centers with small bolsters so you tend to slide around on them more. 

 

As for trading if you're going to do it, do it now, used/trade prices have been tanking, not sure why if it's the 22's coming out, gas prices, economy, they've burned through all the suckers willing to pay huge markups, etc. but I've seen offers from places like Carvana, GiveMeTheVin drop $6-7k in the last 2 months. 

 

Gas mileage, honesty I never believe half of the reported numbers you see on forums/facebook, you'll see guys claiming they get anywhere from 25mpg to 10mpg with the same engine/truck/driving (city/hwy).   Read the EPA testing course for city/hwy numbers, it's super granny driving.  You are unlikely to ever beat those numbers over thousands of miles, any claims of beating those numbers by 25-30% I'd take with a bowl full of salt.