Ok Basically I am going to buy a new vehicle. I will post a little bit about me to help me figure out what is best in my situation.

I am 20 yrs. old, turning 21 on X-Mas Eve. Basically I have always been into faster vehicles and currently own a 2010 Genesis Coupe 3.8L 6spd v6. I am deciding to finally turn into a man and part with my RWD car, after learning last winter RWD will be the death of me as I ended up into 3 ditches and barely avoided countless accidents. HOWEVER despite the fact I want a 4x4 truck, I still want something with some grunt to her. I recently moved and have got a job where I travel and clean boilers. and my job is somewhat in a country town about 10 miles from my house. so its only a 10mile drive to and from work. I don't tow anything very often except my sports bike when I go to st. louis to ride, and for track days, and occasionally to the shop. My bike will be my new daily driver so Gas mileage isnt TOO important. I do occasionally tow my fathers john boat when we go fishing. Since I dont have a truck I always have to borrow someones vehicle or use my moms chrysler pacifica to tow. I have always wanted to go mudding or be able to jump through some country roads with no fear of bottoming out and tearing up my vehicle.

All in all I have a car I can sell for roughly 18G which will pay off its loan and looking for no more than a 650$/mo. car payment meaning I need to stay in the roughly 40K range. I test drove a 2012 6.6L DMAX LT today with 21k miles asking $39,800 and fell in love with the truck. I feel like I am leaning toward the DMax not because I necessarily NEED the power but because I like to go big power wise haha and because Ive heard diesels last forever. Despite being somewhat biased I am NEVER oblivious to good information and facts. Therefore I cant decide if I should save some money and go with a gasser or go big with the dmax.

Some things I look for.
- good stock power, and cheap to get power out of.
- reliability as I plan on keeping the next vehicle till it dies.
- plenty of room for passengers and a smooth comfortable ride.
- braging rights and being the king of the road
- Possibly buy a snow plow setup in the future and plow mine and neighbors driveways.
- No worries of start up issues in winter (dont know how the dmax performs in winter)
- be able to be the winter superman and pull cars from ditches for friends.

 

I'd say go gasser, just because you can slap a turbo on there one day and make some impressive power, gas is cheaper, better MPGs most likely, and cheaper sticker price. Plus if anything goes wrong with it, a gasser is easier to get parts for. Easy cold starts, lots of power, cheaper, easy to fix, cheap parts. Cheaper engine means you can afford the Z-71 offroad package on the truck (assuming the other dmax didn't have it).

Crew cab Chevy Silverado with an LS engine makes for a real nice ride. Just my opinion though. But you know what they say, diesel engines don't suck :P

 

Turbos on the gasser are more expensive since I would need a full kit haha, dmax has a turbo so all I would have to do is replace the turbo itself would it? Also do the Gassers come with an LS? Ive always been an LS fan and Point blank a chevy fan haha. and you guessed right the dmax did not have the Z71, what exactly is the Z71 off road package. If I went gasser route should I go 1500 or 2500, not saying I will for sure go gasser but I wont mark it off my list. I do like the big body of the 2500 though makes her look like a beast haha.

 

Well the Z-71 kit adds bigger shocks, underbody skid plates and a few other things that make it better .. but I can't say for sure what it adds on the newer trucks.

Yes, you'd need a full kit to add a turbo on a gasser engine, but the power you'd make off of it is well worth it. Yeah the new engines are LS engines. You really can't buy a Chevy V8 and it not be an LS engine. The deisel engines I can't say for sure .. I know the least about diesels, but I know there is a community of people who like to tune them and mod them.

 

Yes the Chevy diesels come with the Z-71 pkg. My Duramax has the Z-71

 

I haven't worked with diesels first hand, but I've heard a few things through the grapevine. Firstly, I've been told that turbo diesels, due to their better efficiency, negate the price difference in fuels, allowing fuel costs to be comperable if not better than gasoline engines.

Second, I've also heard the new urea filters can be a pain in the ***. Haven't worked with these directly, but just sharing in case it is something to keep in mind.


Personally, I prefer diesel. I plan on purchasing/converting to diesel some day. This is, though, mostly to take advantage of homebrew biodiesel.

 

Diesel is a bit cheaper than gas these days, around here anyways.....I would go diesel if I were you. My next truck will be one, I imagine

 

A diesel truck can be as fuel efficient as a gas truck and in some case more fuel efficient. The hard part is trying to leave all that horsepower and torque alone. As soon as you put your foot in it or start towing heavy loads all your efficiency goods out the tail pipe.
As posted earlier, most places you can pay $0.10 less for diesel then gas.
But you will pay more for oil changes and fuel filters.
In my opinion it's all a wash. Owning a gasser or diesel is equally $$$

The newer diesel trucks need urea can be a pain if you live in the sub zero climates causing the urea to freeze or gel resulting in no starts. It's not a problem if you buy pre 2011

 

Thanks for all the replies I appreciate them all. Looking for as much insight as I can before making a purchase. The average lowest temp for the past 5 years in my town is 19.9 degree so it isn't too awfully bad. Would that be a problem?


Once again thanks for all who have commented

 

If you are thinking plow make sure it has plow prep option. Don't see many duramax pickups with plows in New Hampshire unless its in a dually dump 3500.