Is the Duramax good for City Driving

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Offthesheet

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Hello all, I currently have a 2022 Toyota Sequioa and I love it. Considering a new Tahoe,suburban, Yukon or xl with the Duramax Diesel for more room and fuel economy.

Concerns are reliability and how well the engine will work it I do a lot of city driving. We don’t drive a lot in the highway. Mainly taking kids to school daily and a few trips to town. Maybe 10-12k miles a year with a few road trips. Thoughts on the diesel working well for this?

Also, how are the seats comfort wise and any emissions or engine issues?

Thanks
 

Matz

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FWIW I'm only at 4800 miles with a 22 Tahoe Duramax. We have used it around town and several 200-800 mile trips. About 70% city/ local and 30% highway. So far nothing different then the gas PU's I drove for 30 years. I don't tow so the fuel mileage is great. All around mid 20's . On the 800 round trip we averaged 29.5 @ 80mph it is still close to that. On one of the 200 milers doing 60-65 , 35.8mpg. Very comfortable to drive . We had some mid teen mornings here in mid-Michigan and within a mile heater was good and no long warm up. Now there will be some who have had diesels much longer than me and will tell you that short trips are bad , the need to run them hot so on and so on. On a side note I took care of the trucks at work which had diesels from PU's to a semi. Never had any big feedback on the downside driving local. Also I don't think GM would offer such a option knowing a SUV is an upgraded mini van / grocery getter not a hard driven work truck. It's quiet and I really don't notice a lot of diesel smell. The fuel cost is more , but the mpg more than makes up for that. Go for it!
 

suterusu

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Echoing what Matz said. We put 20K miles on our '21 SLT Duramax before trading in, and about 2K miles on our Denali Duramax now. Also in Michigan, and never any issues with it. Our kids school is 4 minutes down the road, wife's office is a 10 minute drive. I use it for towing (about 6-7 longer round trips) during the summer and the highway mileage is amazing. Even towing ~5,000lbs. I still get 21mpg.
 

Tinbadtin

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Coming from multiple GMs with the 5.3s I absolutely love the diesel and it’s my favorite feature of the Suburban. The low end torque is perfect for this tiny house on wheels and city driving is where this power train shines IMO. This is where the 5.3 often felt like an old dog.

We only have 1800 miles on ours so it’s way too early to say anything about longevity however we do strictly use it around town and plan to for the next x years of ownership. Maybe done a few 50 mile trips since taking delivery this summer but most of our 1800 miles have been short 4-8 mile city (stoplights, traffic, etc) trips, multiple times a week and so far no issues. Haven’t even noticed it regen once. Only thing is DEF is already at 50%, which I expected to last longer however I do almost always use the remote start for 5-10 mins to preheat/cool the cabine…
 

CTown Duramax

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13,500 miles great majority local driving and city traffic. It's perfect. The engine moves this truck effortlessly. Everything about this 2021 Tahoe LT Duramax is tops. The engine is the best part.
 

steiny93

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Wife has a '21 denali xl with the diesel, she has ~20k miles on it.
When it's in town it does all short drives (sub 10 miles), it will do that for months then it will go on a long road trip (500 - 5k miles).
The mileage is insane, near 30mpg on the road trips, twenties in town.

Hers has been into the dealer for issues with the exhaust system, hvac and sound system but no better / worse then any other new body style scenario.

We also have the ram ecoDiesel, the GMC is more refined and seems to handle the the short in town trips better (it regen's quicker, we don't get the regen needs to happen msg on the GMC like the Ram does).

In regards to the seats, it has the nice GMC seats, they aren't BMW or Merc seats but they are fine.

We are in Fargo ND, it is cold here, the baby DMax doesn't have issue with the cold temps, neither does the Ram, both handle it well.
 

FatBob

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Coming from multiple GMs with the 5.3s I absolutely love the diesel and it’s my favorite feature of the Suburban. The low end torque is perfect for this tiny house on wheels and city driving is where this power train shines IMO. This is where the 5.3 often felt like an old dog.

We only have 1800 miles on ours so it’s way too early to say anything about longevity however we do strictly use it around town and plan to for the next x years of ownership. Maybe done a few 50 mile trips since taking delivery this summer but most of our 1800 miles have been short 4-8 mile city (stoplights, traffic, etc) trips, multiple times a week and so far no issues. Haven’t even noticed it regen once. Only thing is DEF is already at 50%, which I expected to last longer however I do almost always use the remote start for 5-10 mins to preheat/cool the cabine…
With DEF at 50% at 1800 miles, do you know if it was full when delivered?
Also where is your oil life at?
 

Stbentoak

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It is very unlikely it was full of DEF when delivered. Unless you specifically requested/wrote this in your contract, it prob had the factory fill of a couple of gallons.
No big deal.... Get a 2.5 from Wally World, dump in and keep motoring....
 

Tinbadtin

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With DEF at 50% at 1800 miles, do you know if it was full when delivered?
Also where is your oil life at?

Yea, I actually checked the DEF in the DIC when purchased because I was curious myself. At the time, it was one dash away from being completely full. Not sure how accurate that gauge is but it did look like the dealer topped it off or at least made an attempt…
 

OBSSSD

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Hello all, I currently have a 2022 Toyota Sequioa and I love it. Considering a new Tahoe,suburban, Yukon or xl with the Duramax Diesel for more room and fuel economy.

Concerns are reliability and how well the engine will work it I do a lot of city driving. We don’t drive a lot in the highway. Mainly taking kids to school daily and a few trips to town. Maybe 10-12k miles a year with a few road trips. Thoughts on the diesel working well for this?

Also, how are the seats comfort wise and any emissions or engine issues?

Thanks
I have 3.0 diesel and 6.2 V8 (wife) and diesel gets 70% better MPG in town and 40% higher on highway - huge difference
 

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