Advice on 2021 Tahoe, 5.3 V8 vs. Duramax 3.0

[Haninoy]

I little backstory. I ordered a 2021 Tahoe RST 5.3 V8 back on November 4th. I took delivery on January 8th. We only had the vehicle for a little over a month and put around 1200 miles on it. Mid February my wife was in a bad car accident in it and was t-***** by someone in an intersection. The Tahoe protected her from serious injuries, but as a result there was firewall and frame damage. The insurance claimed it a total loss, so now I'm back to square one on ordering another one.

I was curious about the Duramax 3.0, but was not yet available to order when I ordered mine. I wanted to know some people's thoughts on the forum, if you were to do it over again, would you opt for the turbo diesel over the 5.3 v8 and why.

Thanks in advanced!

 

[Stbentoak]

Sadly, we can hardly get a peep from any Duramax owners on here about their driving and ownership experiences... Maybe there really aren't that many, or they are happy and don't visit, but some real world input would certainly be nice for those of us that are on the fence about getting a Dmax....

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

I have no experience with the new Duramax in the new 2021 Tahoe but do have a history of the older V8 in a truck. Without a doubt, the best diesel engine I ever drove and when I was off roading I hauled an oversized trailer with a full size 73 Blazer that had 1 ton everything on it and I hauled lots of spare parts and tires/wheels because I was rough on my off road rig. I was with guys with smaller trailers and Jeeps and I could blow their doors off pulling up the passes around here. I also had the Allison transmission with it.

The diesel will cost more and if you want to tow on a regular basis, get the diesel. If you plan to keep the rig till it rusts off the frame, get the diesel. You need to keep it long enough and use it enough to get your money back on the price difference. Post pics when you get it as well.

 

[Tyler M]

I ordered one in October. Still waiting for it since it’s delayed due to options I chose. It’s the only engine I would choose.

 

[Toasty]

The consensus on the silverado/sierra forums is that the 3.0 has been great thus far. I really considered the 3.0 vs the 6.2 in the Denali, but we don't NEED the diesel, and for the cost difference per year, decided that I'd rather have the 6.2.

 

[BrokerThis]

What do you figure as the cost difference per year between 6.2 and diesel ? Seeing as the 6.2 runs premium that is right about the same cost as deisel, in a majority of regions atleast.

 

[Z71orAT4]

I just got my ordered Yukon Denali with the 3.0L Duramax Turbo Diesel a few weeks ago and have just under 1000 miles on it so far and it's perhaps the best vehicle I've ever owned!

 

[Haninoy]

What do you figure as the cost difference per year between 6.2 and diesel ? Seeing as the 6.2 runs premium that is right about the same cost as deisel, in a majority of regions atleast.

I'm looking at only the RST model, and the 6.2 isn't available for the RST. Our diesel price in California is roughly priced around the 89 octane level fuel and around $.10 more than 87. So far people are liking the duramax. I've only had a month of driving on the 5.3 v8 and to me it was perfectly fine. If the duramax feels the same as the 5.3 then I may just pay the extra for the duramax and get better fuel economy.

 

[OR VietVet]

People that are buying diesel rigs need to be aware of maybe upcoming bills by idiot governments that want to do something like this:

https://cdllife.com/2021/oregon-law...leum-diesel-at-gas-stations-starting-in-2025/

 

[Stbentoak]

What do you figure as the cost difference per year between 6.2 and diesel ? Seeing as the 6.2 runs premium that is right about the same cost as deisel, in a majority of regions atleast.

Don't know where you live but in most of my travels, Diesel is about 10-15 cents higher than RUL if that, and about 40-50 cents less than Premium... Where I am now in FL, RUL 2.86 Diesel 2.85 PUL 3.46

You can go appx 40% further on a gallon of diesel and premium is required for optimum performance of the 6.2.
I'm saying real world avg mpg for the V8 around town and some hwy miles per tank....17 MPG That might be generous unless your miles are mostly hwy instead of city...

I'm guessing real world mileage on the 3.0 for the Denali... 23 MPG per tank on average, as diesels usually surpass EPA estimates unlike gas estimates.

1000 miles on Diesel 47.5 gallons at 2.85 =135.37$
1000 miles on PUL 58 gallons at 3.46 =200.68$

At 15k mile per year avg that's about 980.00 a year in fuel. Most owners road trip and drive even more... Would certainly pay for your Auto insurance, and maybe your plates too...

Let's say gas get back up to 3.50 4.00 a gal for RUL ( is already there in some parts of the east coast and most all of CA...) Certainly conceivable as pandemic lays down and demand spikes for all fuels including jet fuel which had been basically dead...The spread widens and diesel desirability goes up further.

Bonus points also, for not having to fill up every week or every 6 hrs or so on a hwy trip. The Duramax is to me the #1 desirability factor in wanting this large SUV. Without it, would probably buy a GLS...

 

[OR VietVet]

"Let's say gas get back up to 3.50 4.00 a gal for RUL ( is already there in some parts of the east coast and most all of CA...) Certainly conceivable as pandemic lays down and demand spikes for all fuels including jet fuel which had been basically dead...The spread widens and diesel desirability goes up further."

This is not what is causing prices to go up. Yes, more people driving but that was not a problem and fuel prices were very low compared to now and I know why they are rising. You should too.

 

[Bill 1960]

There’s not enough cost differential for that to be a decisive factor for me. I’d test drive them and buy what I liked the most.
5.3 with proper maintenance are good for several hundred thousand miles.
There’s no evidence yet to say what the B50 life on the new diesel will be. Modern designs are much more highly stressed and wear faster than pre emissions diesels. And there’s the requirement to remove the transmission at 150k miles to inspect the oil pump drive belt. I hope they fired the designer who signed off on that.

All of which is just academic for me; like most drivers I won’t keep one that long.

 

[petethepug]

Diesel 3.0L all the way. Customers are willing to pay out the nose to have a company called DuraBurb graft a 2500 or 3500 truck chassis on to a 1500 truck body to get a 6.2 or 6.6L duramax diesel. Now you can finally get an I-6 3.0L turbo diesel that’s going to be completely tunable and get the 4-600k mi engine life that’ll pay you back through savings or resale.

My bug guy (exterminator) got one 6 Mo ago in a quad cab truck w/ 4WD and loves the 1-2x a Mo fill ups based upon where the lowest price fuel is. It’s like having a bulldog pulling your kids wagon who doesn’t know or care he’s doing it and wants the job just to spend time with you.

It’s on my radar until we wear out our 09 Platinum Esky ESV that’s loved for the e85 ($2.49 gal) fuel it sips @ 149k miles on the clock. Another member found a 3.0L Burb in SanDiego by dealer searching within just a few days. Find on, test drive it and be ready to ****** it after you drive it [emoji3]



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[TrueAt1stLight]

Cross-posting:

I had terrible experiences with diesels in 3 BMW X5’s I owned back to back a number of years ago before the German auto manufacturers pulled all diesel vehicles from the US. Where I live in MN we have the highest percentage of biodiesel blend of anywhere in the country and I was having extreme carbon buildup on the intake manifolds. German diesels were technically only rated for a 5% biodiesel blend but could get by on 10%. Yeah, that was a recipe for disaster with the minimum in the region at the time only as low as 15%.

Please keep in mind that American diesel vehicles are tuned to run on the 20% blend but I was so shaken by my experiences that no matter the range or torque of the diesel, I just couldn’t bring myself to roll the dice on the risk of more issues with the Denali. It KILLS me though as that low-end torque is addictive and the range is second-to-none. I would routinely get mid 30’s MPG in my X5’s and insane range but it was so short-lived before major engine issues that I vowed to be done with diesel.

I’m very hopeful for all those on the board with Duramax-powered rigs that your ownership experience is opposite of mine in the past with 3 liter diesel vehicles. I fully realize I’m comparing apples and oranges here and these American diesels will hopefully churn out power for hundreds of thousands of miles, trouble free. Hell, maybe you’ll all make a believer out of me again and I’ll trade this one on an oil-burner!

 

[Fireman591]

Get the diesel in a heartbeat!!!!! Instant torque and great gas mileage. Not sure if you have been paying attention to gas prices lately but regular will be more expensive than diesel by the summer. Just my opinion

 

[Toasty]

What do you figure as the cost difference per year between 6.2 and diesel ? Seeing as the 6.2 runs premium that is right about the same cost as deisel, in a majority of regions atleast.

The differential for me is probably around $1000/per year or less (probably less) - Here's how I guestimated that. FuelEconomy.gov has a vehicle mileage comparison tool, that you can customize with miles per year, and adjustment of percentage city/highway, and fuel cost for regular, mid, premium and diesel. (I added about .25 cents or so to current prices for some fluctuation) What I did is used my current vehicle as a baseline for the calculated average mpg, and I adjusted the % city/highway variable to match what I know I get on a regular basis. Then adding the Yukon Denali XL 3.0 Duramax and 6.2 V8 variants, I was able to see the average cost per year based on the entered number of mileage. the difference was just over 1000 less on the 3.0, but by the time one adds a couple tankfulls of DEF per year, that would put it under 1000/yr in my case. You might decide that difference is worth it, I was torn but we've decided to opt for the 6.2

 

[JasonHTX]

I was torn between the 6.2L and the diesel. Both are more than what I need -- the 5.3L SLT does everything I needed, so this was definitely considered a splurge. I opted for the 6.2L because I didn't want to risk shortages or wait too long for the diesel. Had it been the 6.6L diesel, I would have waited for as long as it took.

 

[mwswarrior]

I've had the 5.3 and currently 6.2 in Tahoes/Yukons and have had the 6.6 and currently the 2.8 Diesel in trucks.

With that in mind, if I wanted a hotrod SUV with smooth power, I'd go 6.2 gas. I love that in my 2019 Premier Plus and plan to add an Edelbrock super charger one of these days. If I could do it all over again with today's options, I'd go for the 3.0 Diesel because of the excellent mileage and the fact I use ours for numerous road trips each year.

I don't know that I'd ever go back to the 5.3 for gas when the 6.2 performs so much better and gets about the same mileage. BTW, you can run regular unleaded in the 6.2. The ECM adjusts timing, etc so no issues. You give up a bit on performance and mileage but barely enough to notice in around town driving.

 

[CocobrownLT]

I was talking to a guy that owns a duramax sierra yesterday. He said when he tows his trailer and car in it which is around 8,000lbs he was getting average 22mpg highway.

 

[Bill Barnes]

What does the average oil change on the diesel cost compared to the gas engine? I understand there are typically multiple filters that have to be replaced, and that the diesel requires a higher grade and more quarts of oil than for a gas engine. Is that true, and how does that affect the comparison? Since I have never owned a diesel powered vehicle, I would like to know how the overall scheduled maintenance compares. Thanks!