Yes it worth it to me. I love my truck.

 

X a bazillion, when i buy a vehicle i buy it cause i like it not cause of its fuel mileage or price of fuel. they can have my truck when they can pry my cold dead ass from outta the seat.:gearjamin

 

you also have to take into account the longevity of the duramax motor and Allison trans. the cost of ownership has got to be lower than say a gas truck. so that extra 10cents a gallon extra will make up for the fact that with regular maintenance you will most likely not spend much on major repairs.

I'm not an expert bit in my experience the truck just runs and runs and all I've had to do is put fluids and fuel in it

I say go for it! you'll never regret It!

 

Diesel is looking like 60 cents a gallon more than gasoline here where I live. And it is only February. Wait till December, I am thinking $4.00 / gal easy for diesel. $1.XX more than gasoline.

How much fuel economy could you really gain before the price of fuel starts to cancel that out?

 

....and as soon as you hook to a trailer with it, you know it's worth it. Plus, my dad has a Tacoma TRD, not even 4x4, and I get better mileage than him!!!

 

well, I have an lb7 so my mpg is a little better than some so I say 22 mpg in a 9k pound truck cruising at 65 is enough to make me smile. then again, I drive like a 90 year old woman.

do you tow alot? that's where my decision was solidified, I tow a relatively light 5k lbs boat and with my half ton I was lucky to get 12 mpg.. bit with the duramax ill see 18 19 Hwy all day.

 

you can back and forth yourself all you want but if you pull anything wether its a atv or a gooseneck the diesel motor is gonna out due and out last any gas burner. Im on my 2nd diesel truck now and have been through all the highs and lows of fuel prices. if i can afford to feed my truck being a college sr and working a bs job anyone can. it just makes things easier and while your buddies are in their gassers with the tacked out pulling a couple of wheelers you can hook up to a gooseneck and ease on along without a grunt. i get 17 to 18 mpg just putting around town and down highways where my buddies in their z's are getting 12ish. not worth it to me. IMO

 

I agree. I had an 07.5 Z71 gasser before this truck and with it hooked to my 17 foot trailer with two Grizzly's on.... I thought it was going to blow up sometimes and I was lucky to see 13 in it. No comparison and it is worth every cent to me.

 

It may be easy to afford fuel as a college senior, but I got a wife and 2 kids, and all those payments that come along with it. And I make $25/hour. I have to pay for fuel and I drive at least 150 miles round trip for work everyday.

There was a time when a diesel was more economical, no question. Now fuel prices are really looking to negate the efficiency and power of the engine.

Obviously this is a duramax forum and I know no one wants to start hearing that their trucks arent economical, but seriously guys, I need a little more to go on. Do yall realize that there is a tipping point that diesel truckers start going out of business because of fuel prices? That happened not too long ago and is poised to happen again in the near future.

I need some hard statements of fuel economy that will convince me to stick with the duramax otherwise I may just wait for a couple years until the prices stabilize and our government decides to authorize real energy solutions, not the green energy BS.

 

Easy man lol i drive a 100+ miles 3 days out of the week just go to school on top of my driving to work and my little i do on the weekends. I make a whooping $140 a week at $7.50 and hour. Yeah i feel ya i dont have kids and such but i do have bills along with a truck payment to make as well. not arguing with you just saying it can be done man. $25 an hour would make me feel like it just hit the lotto lol.

Now on to your hard statements you wanted. I get 17-18 putting around town and down highways and interstate never getting over 75mph. Yeah i got a little done to my truck but its all bolt on stuff and a canned tuner there are guys on here with a lot more time and money tied into their truck then I have. It will get 20-almost 21 if i go on a long trip and bump it up to extreme setting and run at about 68mph (seems to be the sweet spot). And with all the different loads I have pulled I have not gotten below 15mpg except for when I pulled a gooseneck with a tractor and batwing bushhog.

Its all about what you do with it. If you don't pull ,even just a wheeler or two, and just hop around town yeah maybe it wouldn't justify itself but if you do man you will be ruined for life.:drink

Hope this all helps you on your decision one way or another.

Forrest

 

Well, with my mods, I have gotten 23.5 with mine on a road trip between MS and CT. BUT, that was babying it the whole way. Normal "around town" driving i net 15 or less, and it is expensive. It is all based on what you need. If it is for a daily commuter, I would look elsewhere. Seriously. Not trying to be a smart a#$, but it is not something you should even consider if things are tight. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

 

It is not so much that "things are tight" now, it is just what the future is going to bring for diesel.

(from http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp)

Somewhere in that graph will be a point that truckers start going out of business.

 

Oh I hear you brother, and I think about it every time I pull up to that pump, and then get back in with my wife and daughter. "Did I make the right choice?" is a question I ask myself on a regular basis, and so far the answer has been "yes". I know it is a tough one but when I was looking, I looked at everything..... and for an all around vehicle, my truck seemed like the best option. I mean a tahoe or a suburban gets worse mileage than my truck. A 4Runner gets worse mileage. And I refuse to drive a minivan. Plus none of them could pull a 12k pound trailer if I needed to hook to it. And a huge selling point for me was this forum. There are guys on here who have 500+ thousand miles on their trucks and still going strong. So, in the long run with the way these things last, I think it may outweigh the price of fuel. And the info that these guys spit out on DIY stuff will save you a ton. Either way, good luck and I hope that some of our responses have encouraged you and not pushed you away.

 

trade the Z in for something that gets better mileage and pocket the money. with diesel expected to become retarded high, im parking mine.

 

agreed as soon as may rolles around and this job im suppose to have after i graduate takes me im buying my moms prisus:neener!!! call me gay or whatever you like but 45mpg sure is better then 17 when driving 100+ miles a day lol

 

Easy decision: If you tow anything, or are ever going to tow anything, get the Duramax. If you're ever going to enter pulling contests, get the Duramax. If you like to surprise the kid next to you in the ricer with the pop can, get the Duramax. If you want a 4 ton street racer,get the Duramax. Otherwise, the Prius is the rig for you.......

 

too bad you can't do that with a stock duramax, you gotta spend 5k+ to do that, which not everyone wants to do.

 

FWIW~ As diesel prices rise so will gasoline prices go up. Can't be gotten around in the winter, I guess demand for heating oil causes it. Plus diesel is taxed MUCH higher than gas. We pay road tax at the pump like 18 wheelers, seems like this subject should be addressed.

 

yeah i have never figured out why 6 years ago when i got my first diesel i was paying almost a dollar a gallon less then my buddies with their gassers and the all the sudden it flip-flopped.

 

I never tow but I paid cash for mine and for all mods and i only make 15 an hour but i dont have alot of expenses other than tools so i guess wether you can afford it has alot too do with wether you should get a diesel. I do plan on picking up a beater 4cylinder car someday too run to work everyday and keep the truck nice for evenings and weekends, thats definitly what i would do if i were in your shoes....

 

last year i bought a 86 ranger and it's a beater but ive put just shy of 10k miles on it. 21mpg in the city, ive never been on the highway with it. :rof

At 3.05 a gallon, it takes 40 bucks to fill it up and last me 2 weeks.

 

Thats the way to go! I was considering cng injection on my truck but decided against it because of the hassle to get it.

 

Unfortunately for me, I already have a go fast / show car. A dmax truck would be a family / work vehicle utilized almost everyday of the week. AKA DD.

I would feel like an idiot with the Z AND the truck parked until date night.

 

I have to be missing something here.... I have never hit 18mpg driving under 2000 rpm on an entire tank. Please tell me what mods I need to get to get 23mpg????

 

pfff...prius, my diesel Jetta gets better mileage

so you will break even with mileage vs. diesel cost, you will be able to tow anything get twice the life out of the motor, have large amounts of torque and be very mod friendly

gas sucks

 

Unless you plan to tow heavy and a lot or are getting a smoking deal on a diesel, the increased MPG between a gasser and a diesel does not make financial sense. And depending on the version of the Duramax you get there won't be any difference or it'll be negligible. I pretty much get the same MPG between my old stock '07 5.3L with 3.73 gears Silverado and my new stock '08 LMM Sierra. Under certain loads the Duramax might do a little better.

Also, go to GMC's web site and build an identical 5.3L 1/2 ton crew cab gasser and a 3/4 ton crew cab diesel. I just did this quickly and the 3/4 ton diesel is ~$13K more. That is a lot of gas and repairs at the dealer assuming your gas engine and tranny don't last as long as the Duramax and Allison. This does not even take into account the increased maintenance cost of a diesel over a gasser e.g. 6 qts of oil vs 10 qts of oil on a Duramax.

 

Well the duramax I want is my dads old one that is literally just sitting and collecting dust. I think he will sell it to me for $15k; 2007, 65k miles. Even at $20k, it is a steal.

And if diesel prices skyrocket I can sell it and still make profit.

But if he refuses to sell for whatever reasons I will probably get out of the diesel market for a while.

 

In my experience with the diesel's there is no way you can justify owning one based solely on expense to operate. Everything cost more to take care of. The fact the motor along will set you back approx. 7,500 extra to start with is a real killer if you are looking for a cheap ride. I think you have to ask yourself why are you buying the truck and what are you going to use it for. If you want to ride around then buy a gasser but if you want something that will kick the crap out of a mountain with a trailer hooked to it's butt then you have to get a duramax. I have towed for the last 40 years and didn't know what it felt like to pull 400 miles a day and get and still be rested until I bought this 03. So what are you going to do with it and how much time is going to be spent doing it?

 

15k for an 07! buy that thing!!

seriously though if you never ever tow or haul anything and ate worried about fuel prices buy a prius or a volt.

 

^^^ What he said. If you can buy that thing for that price jump on it now especiallly knowing the truck and its history. Can't go wrong with that deal.

 

I dont think the maintence is that much more expensive, the only extra cost is fuel filters($20 per unit, everyone should have one in the truck and be able to chanck in the dark), for oil changes my dealer does them for the same cost as for a gasser with the annual/semi-annual checkup. Besides if you do your own changes, whats the cost of 4 quarts of oil 2 or 3 times a year worth---$50? The rest of the maintence on the truck is the same as for a gasser as a diesel. Provide you buy a good truck, ie not a lemon, the truck really shouldnt cost you that much more to maintain.

If you can justify buying a 1 ton truck, to me a diesel is a no-brainer. I have gasser f250s and gasser gms in my fleet, I would not drive one daily.

 

The major reason that the price of diesel is so high is ULSD. Prior to ULSD, U.S. diesel was not compatible with the rest of the world, too dirty, too much sulfur. It is now a tradeable commodity. One of the diesel mags that I had subscribed to, published the US government export statistics for US diesel after the conversion to ULSD. A huge amount, if not a majority of the diesel in this country is now being exported.

The Discovery Channel and its sister channels that deal with science (not sci-fi ) ran some shows concerning the price of fuel. The tipping point for our country is $7.00 per gallon. At $7.00 people can no longer afford to drive to work, and the country goes belly up.

I am starting to see an impact on driving already, ourselves included.

dc

 

The cost of fuel is not being based on the 'ability' to import into europe, it is based on the price the oil companies could get if they do import into Europe--its called gouging when NA refined fuel is sold in NA based on prices that could be gotten if sold in Europe.

Read up on the scheduling of sulfur reduction in fuel, our fuel has sky rocketed in price doesnt necesarily follow the sulfur reduction trends. Also, the major fuel consumers of the world (ie Asia, particularly China) still permit 500ppm sulfur in their fuel, I dont know of the prices, but i would bet that its pretty cheap when imported. The bulk of fuel costs are various taxes, the more we accept the more they(they being government), the more they tax us...

I dont doubt what was said in the discovery station show(i saw the same type of show), but I have also noticed that the cheapest fuel in various regions isnt the cheapest in areas that have refineries.

 

I'm right there with you on this one. To use this truck as a DD has gotten a little too $$. I'm actively looking at parking it and getting a car that gets better than 17mpg. I love my truck, just hate filling it up every 4 days! Chris