1/2 ton 6cyl diesel and midsize diesel experiences

Wrench

WKR
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Aug 23, 2018
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Ya, I've never really understood that......especially if you're going with a small diesel. My 7.3L Powerstroke takes 15qts of oil, and I still don't think it's that much different for costs. I use Mobil Delvac oil and pay around $3/qt, compared to the Mobil 1 I use in all our gassers at closer to $5/qt. So even with 15qts that's $45 versus $25 (or $35 in my Tundra). $10 for an oil filter (similar to gas), $26 for a fuel filter every 10-15k, and that's it as far as "diesel specific" maintenance. That would be less difference for a smaller engine, but with the new ones you do have the DEF costs.
And 7500 vs 3500 mile service intervals.
 

Wrench

WKR
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The 73/35 was diesel vs gas. 4k miles on 4 gallons of oil seems pretty redundant unless it's super dirty environment or lots of idle time.
 

DooleyVT

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A 23 babymax Trail Boss here and love it so far (20,000 miles) with the fuel mileage (25) and pulling power. It rarely ever shifts gears and just pulls so hard with very little effort. Climbing long hills is so different with a gas truck shifting gears constantly. After owning a diesel it would be really hard to ever get back into a gasser for me.
 
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Ive had my At4 3.0l for a few weeks and so far it's my most impressive vehicle. I have a few buddies who have older 3.0's and they've been nothing but happy with them. Having said that, this is the first truck ever I bought the extended warranty on. There are so many "bells and whistles" that I'm confident I will cone out ahead by 72 months 100k bumper to bumper. Time will tell, but after declining the warranty and then naming my price of 2500$ is my top $ I'd spend on one, they caved.
 

180ls1

WKR
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Is this turbo gas engine that utilizes diesel design elements? If so, apparently it’s awesome.

Possibly but I believe that's the new/proto 6.7 cummins that can run on gas/diesel/other.
 
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Is this turbo gas engine that utilizes diesel design elements? If so, apparently it’s awesome.
FWIW, I test drove the small 2.7 turbomax. I was not impressed and the sales guy said they were not selling like they had hoped. He said If I wanted an ecoboost type to go with Ford in his opinion. GMC just hasnt gotten the little boost motor perfected yet.
 

Beendare

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I don't know about the mini trucks like the Canyon....but a buddy that has had a couple of the 3.0 Duramax diesels and works on all of these vehicles thinks that 3.0 is the best thing going for a 1/2 ton pickup.

He thinks that chevy V8 gas is darn good too, better mileage than the Ram, Ford or Tundra.
 

Fullfan

WKR
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Wife has a 1/2 dodge w the eco diesel. Not made for towing, would struggle to run 65-70 w a 2 horse slant loaded and a 22’ Crownline boat that was around 5k. Often the oil temps would reach 269-275. It went down the road and I bought here a 3/4 ton w a Duramax.. all good now
 

Afhunter1

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I wouldn’t buy a gas GM motor if I had to. I replaced an oil sucking 5.3 a few years ago and they still have lifter failures right off the lot sometimes.

3.0 belt change interval is now 200k not 150k
 
OP
sndmn11

sndmn11

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FWIW, I test drove the small 2.7 turbomax. I was not impressed and the sales guy said they were not selling like they had hoped. He said If I wanted an ecoboost type to go with Ford in his opinion. GMC just hasnt gotten the little boost motor perfected yet.
@KickinNDishin and I drove the 2.7 turbos and a 3.0 diesel today. It's a tie.
 

Macintosh

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Feb 17, 2018
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I had a 2017 diesel colorado for 2 years. I came out of a string of toyota trucks to that, I compared a tacoma to the colorado pretty hard and ultimately thought the colorado was the nicer truck, and I had just had a pretty bad toyota experience so was ready to try something different. I wanted to check out the ram diesel, but they had just taken them off the market or something like that, so that was a no-go. My colorado was great, I tow a +\- 3700lb boat a lot, not huge, but the little diesel accelerated up big hills with that in tow just fine—for a small engine it has massive torque. It was plenty zippy and did not have a sluggish feel like some diesel cars Ive driven. Stopped good with the trailer too, brakes are one of the weak points on a tacoma and the colorado had disc brakes all around. I routinely got 32mpg on long highway trips, a few less in town (27-ish I think?). Ultimately I traded it in because I had an electrical gremlin that caused the 4wd to go out repeatedly, I didnt lemon-law it but probably could have if Id gotten my act together faster. I have a steep dirt driveway, so it was a bit frustrating to be unable to leave my own yard in the winter. They fixed it under warranty at 28,000 miles, told me it had a 100% clean bill of health and was in fantastic condition, so I traded it in on the spot. The silverado I traded it for has been great, and I have enough friends with good reliable chevy/gmc trucks that Im not scared of the brand. I also thought the interior was pretty cramped, at this point Id have a hard time going back to a small truck. The ride was good, I had the z71 suspension which I thought had a noticeably better ride than the standard suspension, although my current z71 silverado is a little better ridewise especially towing, with a quieter interior.
When I got it I did the math on cost pretty accurately, my cost to run the diesel was significantly less than gas—it paid off the difference in vehicle price in about 2 years. But at the time I was buying diesel for almost the same $ as gas. That has changed. Def was nominal cost, didnt go through enough to matter. I got free lifetime oil changes from the dealership when I bought the truck so never paid for one, but if I recall they were about double the price of a regular oil change.

Im not a car guy and cant speak to this motor vs that one, but I have owned and run this vehicle along with a bunch of others similar, If you have questions about the small diesel that I can answer let me know.
 

Ucsdryder

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Jan 24, 2015
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2.7 gas?! 🤮

There’s a reason when GM has a great incentive it’s almost always on the 2.7. If I had to guess the only reason that engine exists is to hit epa requirements.

If you’re that concerned about fuel mileage, spend 10-15k less on a gas engine and you’ll never hit the fuel savings.

My tundra does 12-17mpg, I paid 40k less than the 3.0 duramax I had. I’ll never spend enough in gas to hit half the price difference. Only thing I really miss is the fuel range. 350 vs 650 miles. I wish I had a bigger tank.
 
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