Lt CHEG
Platinum Member
Last week the dealer closest to my home got in a GMC Sierra 2500 HD Crew Cab Z71 SLE with the new Duramax and Allison combo. It was equipped very similarly to how I would order the truck and pretty close to what my 2009 Chevy 1500 Crew Cab Z71 is like. I stopped in after work and was able to take the truck for a test drive. The salesperson was super helpful, very nice and welcomed me to take the truck for a spin. He also knew that if I was going to be upgrading my current truck, that it wouldn't be for a bit and that I would likely order exactly what I wanted. He still couldn't wait to hand me the keys.
The interior and exterior of the truck are very similar to mine and largely unchanged. The hoods are slightly different I believe to accommodate some changes in the engine compartment, but things are overall very similar. Not really much to report on here. The truck drove slightly more comfortably than the 2010 Ford F350 Power Stroke that I test drove a few months ago, but not by a whole lot. I would say the ride quality was actually quite comparable to the Ram I test drove last month. I consider this a compliment to the Ram as I usually am very partial to the ride quality of the GM trucks. Make no mistake though, even with the independent front axle this truck still doesn't ride like a half ton, and if I'm ever going to upgrade the change in ride quality will be the hardest sell on my wife. I understand that it's pretty easy to change the front suspension settings to accommodate a snow plow (this was equipped with the snow plow prep package) and I'd like to make sure that the suspension was set as soft as possible if I take another one for a spin. Overall, the truck seemed nice, and very familiar to me. The steering took a little more effort than on my truck but I don't think that is a bad thing and it was no more effort to turn the wheel than on the Ford or Dodge trucks that I've tested. The sound insulation was excellent. I'd almost venture to say that inside, it was quieter than my truck and I think that my truck is very quiet. I'm thinking that this is the result of a little more sound insulation to further muffle the already quiet diesel noise.
The truck was plenty powerful. It was actually pretty impressive going uphill on the highway as I was able to accelerate harder uphill in a higher gear than in my current truck despite moving a good amount more weight. The engine seemed very well mannered and I'm quite confident that it would pull double the weight of what I would ever intend on towing (even though it's not rated to pull double what I tow via bumper pull). The transmission shifted nicely and I was very impressed by the engine braking when I engaged tow/haul mode and drove down a very steep hill on one of the back roads (I was able to maintain 30 mph without touching the brakes).
As I've said, the most important factor for me on any diesel truck that I would purchase is fuel economy and this truck was definitely more in line with my expectations than the 2010 Dodge CTD and 2010 Ford 6.4 PS that I test drove. I got something like 16.5 mpg mixed city and highway driving on an admittedly not very long (approx. 25 miles) test drive. The truck had I believe 43 miles on the odometer when I parked it so it was not even remotely close to being broken in yet. I also probably ran it at a little higher RPM than I normally would as I wanted to see what it would do. Normally when I drive my truck I try to pretend that there is an egg under the accelerator when I take off from a stop and get up to speed but I didn't drive that truck in this fashion. I'm thinking that when broken in 20 mpg highway unloaded would not be unreasonable, maybe even a little better with an improved exhaust and a tonneau cover. With a programmer I could see this truck getting better still.
My overall impression was favorable. It is more in line with what I'd be wanting in a truck if I was to upgrade, but I still am not sold. I like the looks of this truck much more than the 2011 Ford, but not as much as the 2010 Dodge. The interior space was about the same as the Ford and maybe a pinch less than the Dodge but still more than adequate for my needs and I'd be comfortable in the back seat for a long ride, even with the front seat all the way back and I'm 6'2". Overall I still don't know that I want to lose the ride quality of my half ton truck when I don't need to tow heavy often. This is especially true since my truck will easily pull my equipment trailer to its max GVWR even though the max GVWR of the trailer is 500 pounds over the truck's tow limit. The diesel is still a pricey option too and the mileage increase over my truck is probably fairly small and probably not enough to justify the increased cost of diesel over gasoline. I don't factor maintenance in as it isn't a big expense on any vehicle for me because I only drive my personal truck about 5,000 to 6,500 miles per year. Also I like driving new trucks and like the new car smell so I trade my vehicles in usually as soon as they're paid off so I will likely always have a car payment. Therefore since diesel trucks tend to hold their value even better (especially around here) the upfront cost of the diesel option is largely recovered for me.
I'm still thinking that if I do anything I'll probably just makes some very slight improvements on my current truck. I'm thinking about a very conservative exhaust that won't increase the noise but will flow better (like maybe a Banks) and get better fuel economy. I'm also thinking about a set of airbags and a replacement hitch that will be rated to tow 10,000 pounds without weight distribution. I guess I just wanted to share my experience from this test drive here on the forum, where I know there are at least a few people with similar situations to my own.
The interior and exterior of the truck are very similar to mine and largely unchanged. The hoods are slightly different I believe to accommodate some changes in the engine compartment, but things are overall very similar. Not really much to report on here. The truck drove slightly more comfortably than the 2010 Ford F350 Power Stroke that I test drove a few months ago, but not by a whole lot. I would say the ride quality was actually quite comparable to the Ram I test drove last month. I consider this a compliment to the Ram as I usually am very partial to the ride quality of the GM trucks. Make no mistake though, even with the independent front axle this truck still doesn't ride like a half ton, and if I'm ever going to upgrade the change in ride quality will be the hardest sell on my wife. I understand that it's pretty easy to change the front suspension settings to accommodate a snow plow (this was equipped with the snow plow prep package) and I'd like to make sure that the suspension was set as soft as possible if I take another one for a spin. Overall, the truck seemed nice, and very familiar to me. The steering took a little more effort than on my truck but I don't think that is a bad thing and it was no more effort to turn the wheel than on the Ford or Dodge trucks that I've tested. The sound insulation was excellent. I'd almost venture to say that inside, it was quieter than my truck and I think that my truck is very quiet. I'm thinking that this is the result of a little more sound insulation to further muffle the already quiet diesel noise.
The truck was plenty powerful. It was actually pretty impressive going uphill on the highway as I was able to accelerate harder uphill in a higher gear than in my current truck despite moving a good amount more weight. The engine seemed very well mannered and I'm quite confident that it would pull double the weight of what I would ever intend on towing (even though it's not rated to pull double what I tow via bumper pull). The transmission shifted nicely and I was very impressed by the engine braking when I engaged tow/haul mode and drove down a very steep hill on one of the back roads (I was able to maintain 30 mph without touching the brakes).
As I've said, the most important factor for me on any diesel truck that I would purchase is fuel economy and this truck was definitely more in line with my expectations than the 2010 Dodge CTD and 2010 Ford 6.4 PS that I test drove. I got something like 16.5 mpg mixed city and highway driving on an admittedly not very long (approx. 25 miles) test drive. The truck had I believe 43 miles on the odometer when I parked it so it was not even remotely close to being broken in yet. I also probably ran it at a little higher RPM than I normally would as I wanted to see what it would do. Normally when I drive my truck I try to pretend that there is an egg under the accelerator when I take off from a stop and get up to speed but I didn't drive that truck in this fashion. I'm thinking that when broken in 20 mpg highway unloaded would not be unreasonable, maybe even a little better with an improved exhaust and a tonneau cover. With a programmer I could see this truck getting better still.
My overall impression was favorable. It is more in line with what I'd be wanting in a truck if I was to upgrade, but I still am not sold. I like the looks of this truck much more than the 2011 Ford, but not as much as the 2010 Dodge. The interior space was about the same as the Ford and maybe a pinch less than the Dodge but still more than adequate for my needs and I'd be comfortable in the back seat for a long ride, even with the front seat all the way back and I'm 6'2". Overall I still don't know that I want to lose the ride quality of my half ton truck when I don't need to tow heavy often. This is especially true since my truck will easily pull my equipment trailer to its max GVWR even though the max GVWR of the trailer is 500 pounds over the truck's tow limit. The diesel is still a pricey option too and the mileage increase over my truck is probably fairly small and probably not enough to justify the increased cost of diesel over gasoline. I don't factor maintenance in as it isn't a big expense on any vehicle for me because I only drive my personal truck about 5,000 to 6,500 miles per year. Also I like driving new trucks and like the new car smell so I trade my vehicles in usually as soon as they're paid off so I will likely always have a car payment. Therefore since diesel trucks tend to hold their value even better (especially around here) the upfront cost of the diesel option is largely recovered for me.
I'm still thinking that if I do anything I'll probably just makes some very slight improvements on my current truck. I'm thinking about a very conservative exhaust that won't increase the noise but will flow better (like maybe a Banks) and get better fuel economy. I'm also thinking about a set of airbags and a replacement hitch that will be rated to tow 10,000 pounds without weight distribution. I guess I just wanted to share my experience from this test drive here on the forum, where I know there are at least a few people with similar situations to my own.