2014 GM Sierra/Silverado

[buickanddeere]

Lets try the durability past 150,000, 200,000 miles plus with a 2007 and later pickup. The cat converter, particulate filter, urea injection, turbo variable waste gate, EGR, high pressure fuel injection system, glow plugs, two batteries, two alternators. An over sized, over priced starter.
. There are very few diesel owners out there that honestly make a diesel pickup pay. For the heavy load hauling many pickup towed loads should behind a small single axle tractor.
The majority or diesel pickups are driven as personal transportation for 1-2 people . And rarely see any load on the trailer hitch or in the box.
As for long term durability? Since fuel injection and unleaded gasoline. Gassers that exceed 300,000 miles are the norm. By that amount of road time, miles and corrosion from road salt and atmospheric moisture. The body and frame is rotten and the vehicle needs to be scraped.
The EPA and CAFE are going to keep inventing new rules and regulations to force Motor vehicles in general and diesels in particular off the road.
If a diesel truck today was a 24 valve Cummins with just a mechanical P pump, a turbo and a six speeds manual transmission. I would be all for it.
Most of these diesel vs. gas advocates are either stuck in 1985 and comparing diesel vs. gas. Or they have some emotional attachment to diesel and like the sound, smell and status.

 

[jcmseven]

I do not know that I'm buying it. While I do agree that increased government regulation has hurt prior diesel simplicity, the concept is far from dead v. gas in my mind. The diesel truck I mentioned is, in fact, a 2007 model post-DPF. I hear what you are saying and to some degree it has validity. I am not anti-gas engine. There are many gas engines out there (one being the 6.2L we cited) that have tremendous power, good longevity and reasonable fuel economy for the degree of performance one gets from the engine. While I know there are 300,000+ mile gas engines out there, I would be hard pressed to say these are ubiquitous and when one does see one, it usually sticks in the mind as exceptional service. This does not hold true with diesel, when such mileage would be considered "expected" or "average." Having owned mostly Fords in my life and a combination of diesel pickups and gas pickups including, but not limited to, 3 5.4L Fords, 2 F250 V-10s; 3 7.3L PSD's, and a 6.4 L F250, my current Duramax I can say without doubt, is the most reliable and economical truck to operate I have had, either diesel or gas, 1/2 ton or heavy duty. There has been no truck, even from that golden age and more simple time (and including the revered 7.3L PSD--among Ford owners anyway) that has come close to offering equivalent service in my case. While it appears to be almost impossible to stay a step ahead of federal regulations I think for the most part it has been done. Diesel is even making up ground in passenger cars again. I noticed even where Porsche, who just developed the Cayenne Hybrid, is now pushing the 3.0L Cayenne diesel they are now bringing to the US with plans to bring the 4.2L diesel in the future. I do not think the average Porsche owner would be towing around a #7,000 utility trailer, but he/she can now if they want and get 30 MPG in average highway driving unloaded. If the complexity were so great that it was not worth diving into the market, I doubt Porsche and other automakers who could go another direction or opt out altogether would be looking to expand this market as they are. I do not think these companies are stuck in the 1980's when making these decisions. When I bought my truck, I was told how terrible the mileage would be, and how much complexity would hurt the performance and reliability and so far this has proven not the case. I hope my truck runs well for many years more, but if it died tomorrow I would still say it was worth having and operating and the performance and cost of maintenance were both "better than expected." I personally realize that the initial cost of ownership of a diesel is much higher than gas, but for those who pull or simply drive a lot of miles each year (or in my case both) it is likely still beneficial to consider and not that scary. Also, on average one will recoup a significant chunk of that investment back at resale because at least where I live, everyone seems to be looking for a good used diesel and is willing to pay for it.

John M

John M

 

[WilliamBos]

Reliability beyond that point is no problem. The OTR trucks and AG Tractors use the same system. Fear of owning a new one is non existentt for me.

Lets try the durability past 150,000, 200,000 miles plus with a 2007 and later pickup. The cat converter, particulate filter, urea injection, turbo variable waste gate, EGR, high pressure fuel injection system, glow plugs, two batteries, two alternators. An over sized, over priced starter.
. There are very few diesel owners out there that honestly make a diesel pickup pay. For the heavy load hauling many pickup towed loads should behind a small single axle tractor.
The majority or diesel pickups are driven as personal transportation for 1-2 people . And rarely see any load on the trailer hitch or in the box.
As for long term durability? Since fuel injection and unleaded gasoline. Gassers that exceed 300,000 miles are the norm. By that amount of road time, miles and corrosion from road salt and atmospheric moisture. The body and frame is rotten and the vehicle needs to be scraped.
The EPA and CAFE are going to keep inventing new rules and regulations to force Motor vehicles in general and diesels in particular off the road.
If a diesel truck today was a 24 valve Cummins with just a mechanical P pump, a turbo and a six speeds manual transmission. I would be all for it.
Most of these diesel vs. gas advocates are either stuck in 1985 and comparing diesel vs. gas. Or they have some emotional attachment to diesel and like the sound, smell and status.

 

[Hay Dude]

Lets try the durability past 150,000, 200,000 miles plus with a 2007 and later pickup. The cat converter, particulate filter, urea injection, turbo variable waste gate, EGR, high pressure fuel injection system, glow plugs, two batteries, two alternators. An over sized, over priced starter.
. There are very few diesel owners out there that honestly make a diesel pickup pay. For the heavy load hauling many pickup towed loads should behind a small single axle tractor.
The majority or diesel pickups are driven as personal transportation for 1-2 people . And rarely see any load on the trailer hitch or in the box.
As for long term durability? Since fuel injection and unleaded gasoline. Gassers that exceed 300,000 miles are the norm. By that amount of road time, miles and corrosion from road salt and atmospheric moisture. The body and frame is rotten and the vehicle needs to be scraped.
The EPA and CAFE are going to keep inventing new rules and regulations to force Motor vehicles in general and diesels in particular off the road.
If a diesel truck today was a 24 valve Cummins with just a mechanical P pump, a turbo and a six speeds manual transmission. I would be all for it.
Most of these diesel vs. gas advocates are either stuck in 1985 and comparing diesel vs. gas. Or they have some emotional attachment to diesel and like the sound, smell and status.

Fantasy
Gassers that exceed 300,000 are the exception.

 

[timswi]

Fantasy
Gassers that exceed 300,000 are the exception.

I don't know, I've hit 200K easily with 2 Chevy 1500 4x4's with no repairs beyond the normal maintenance stuff...If I didn't have such a long commute, I'd have gone for 300k...I think they might have very well made it.

 

[WilliamBos]

Fantasy
Gassers that exceed 300,000 are the exception.

Wrong! Loads of LS GM truck engines on the road with that or more on it. They are 350,000 mile engines at minumum.

 

[Peacock]

Wrong! Loads of LS GM truck engines on the road with that or more on it. They are 350,000 mile engines at minumum.

Absolutely. The Gen. III and IV GM engines last a long time.

 

[JDgreen227]

Longest mileage vehicle we ever had was a '92 Olds 98 with the GM 3.8 V6, it had about 122,000 when we sold it to the third owner and she ran it to 214,000 before the body finally gave up...but the engine was still running well and had never had anything replaced but things like water pumps, etc. Had it not been so rusty I am sure it would have gone another 30-40,000 miles.

 

[buickanddeere]

Lets add the extra annual cost for additional insurance on the diesel vs. gas .extra interest paid in finance costs too.
Think too over the life of the diesel, how much energy is used acceleration the extra weight of the diesel truck?
The diesel only pays back in a small percent of applications now. Introduce the direct injection V8 to the diesel comparison. Being within a mpg or two of diesel and using cheaper fuel. There is no way to ever make the diesel option payback in the non existent savings.
As for those worried about high rpms. It's a truck that runs less than 10,000 hrs in it's lifetime. iirc there are 146,000 miles and 4600 hrs on my truck. A highway vehicle that cruises at 1900rpm and climbs a steep hill with a heavy load at 4500rpm for less than a minute doesn't mean beans.
This isn't a 24/7 genset, pump or marine propulsion application
where 8760 hrs per year is a concern. And where a 600rpm engine is preferred over an 1800rpm engine.

 

[jcmseven]

Buickanddeere might be right on some of these opinions. It is true that the savings benefits between diesel and gas operations in light duty trucks has diminished over recent years, but it is still there in more than a few cases. I cannot over generalize because I do not know everyone's circumstance but in my case there were no finance costs as I bought the truck, the insurance cost was only a couple dollars different between gas and diesel versions of the same truck so almost not figurable into the numerator, and the mileage difference was more than a mpg or two and much more pulling. I do not know what to say about the acceleration and weight energy cost statement except to say that my running hourly total is 2095 as of yesterday on the engine and I have 88,820 miles on my rig also as of yesterday so either I am driving too fast or not idling as much (though diesels are also more fuel efficient at idle speed than gas). Not sure which, but either way prorating it out based on current trends I will have about 3800 hours on the truck at 150,000 miles. There can be a lot of fuel burnt in 800 hours also, though I realize and appreciate the potential difference in applications between users. I also am not overly concerned about RPM, as with most of us what it takes is what it takes. Where I live, the gradients are pretty long though and an engine that revs to pull a load may be doing so for several minutes potentially multiple times per day. With improved fabrication and lubricants this is not the concern it used to be, but climbing the grade to the homestead in the diesel at 2,100 rpm over 5-8 minutes as an example in overdrive as compared with the old 5.4 L revving at 4200+ pulling the same grade with a smaller load is a big difference. I am anxious to see how my dad's ecoboost does pulling some real loads on my terrain for comparison, but so far it has seemed marginally more efficient loaded on hilly terrain in his locale than prior Ford gas engines I have owned in similar applications, but pulls a good bit better---though still not like a diesel.

John M