Buy a New 2024 Yukon or Tahoe or wait til 25s

You say: "I decided to wait for the 2025. The main reason was to get the newer diesel. " and
"I live in southern California (not too close to the ocean) so vehicles tend to last here plus I don't drive that much anymore."
Please tell me why do you want a diesel if you don't drive that much?
I've seen a number of posts on this forum claiming that Duramax may not be the best choice for short runs because of the DPF regeneration.
And many posts about the Duramax mpg advantage but the savings don't add up to much for those who don't drive that much.

I want a 2025 Yukon and I'm debating between the 6.2 L and the new diesel.

Collectorzdream said:

Thanks for all comments! I went ahead and purchased a 2024 Yukon Denali. Got a little over 5k off and felt the offer for my trade was good so I went for it. I’ll post pictures soon

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Congrats!!

Alexandroid said:

You say: "I decided to wait for the 2025. The main reason was to get the newer diesel. " and
"I live in southern California (not too close to the ocean) so vehicles tend to last here plus I don't drive that much anymore."
Please tell me why do you want a diesel if you don't drive that much?
I've seen a number of posts on this forum claiming that Duramax may not be the best choice for short runs because of the DPF regeneration.
And many posts about the Duramax mpg advantage but the savings don't add up to much for those who don't drive that much.

I want a 2025 Yukon and I'm debating between the 6.2 L and the new diesel.

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My mpg around town with the Duramax is better than I’d ever get with gas. I’m getting between 20-23 mpg as an everyday average and my best 50 mile highway stretch so far is 27mpg according to the computer.
I also hand calculated my last fill up and it was exactly what the computer showed - 21.8mpg.

JayceeP said:

My mpg around town with the Duramax is better than I’d ever get with gas. I’m getting between 20-23 mpg as an everyday average and my best 50 mile highway stretch so far is 27mpg according to the computer.
I also hand calculated my last fill up and it was exactly what the computer showed - 21.8mpg.

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That looks impressive and in line with the EPA rating of 21/23/27 for the 3.0L diesel on https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2024_GMC_Yukon.shtml

Yesterday, tom3 on this forum reported the average of 23 mpg on a 500 mile trip with his 5.3L Tahoe and he hand checked the readout. That's quite a bit higher than the EPA rating of 15/17/20 for the 5.3L gasser.
And there are tons of mpg reports on this forum that vary quite a bit.

I would like to know how much money I would save on fuel, PER YEAR, with the Duramax vs 5.3L Yukon assuming that I don't drive much, about 5,000 miles a year mostly city driving. So I made a spreadsheet using EPA mpg and AAA current national average fuel prices of $3.53/gal for Regular and $3.85 for diesel.
My annual fuel cost would be $1177 for the 5.3L gasser and $917 for the 3.0L diesel. A savings of $260 per year if favor of the diesel. Or $220 if I subtract about $40 for the DEF fluid.

Frankly, if I'm going to drop $90,000 for a new Yukon, I don't think $20/month would make much difference. Even if I go with the 6.2L and burn premium gas ... I'll forget about the mpg and focus on more important aspects of the diesel vs gas, me thinks.

Alexandroid said:

That looks impressive and in line with the EPA rating of 21/23/27 for the 3.0L diesel on https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2024_GMC_Yukon.shtml

Yesterday, tom3 on this forum reported the average of 23 mpg on a 500 mile trip with his 5.3L Tahoe and he hand checked the readout. That's quite a bit higher than the EPA rating of 15/17/20 for the 5.3L gasser.
And there are tons of mpg reports on this forum that vary quite a bit.

I would like to know how much money I would save on fuel, PER YEAR, with the Duramax vs 5.3L Yukon assuming that I don't drive much, about 5,000 miles a year mostly city driving. So I made a spreadsheet using EPA mpg and AAA current national average fuel prices of $3.53/gal for Regular and $3.85 for diesel.
My annual fuel cost would be $1177 for the 5.3L gasser and $917 for the 3.0L diesel. A savings of $260 per year if favor of the diesel. Or $220 if I subtract about $40 for the DEF fluid.

Frankly, if I'm going to drop $90,000 for a new Yukon, I don't think $20/month would make much difference. Even if I go with the 6.2L and burn premium gas ... I'll forget about the mpg and focus on more important aspects of the diesel vs gas, me thinks.

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Yeah if you don’t drive much, who cares. I’m more like 13,000 miles per year. Also depends on where you live too. First, I don’t drive slow. Second, I live in Nova Scotia - it’s not flat . Highways are rolling hills for the most part so my mpg numbers reflect hilly highway driving. So MPG suffers. At 75 mph+ on flat highway, I’d expect upwards of 30 mpg from what I’m seeing from the diesel.

I should also add the torque and pull on the highway is fantastic. Even going through the Cobequid Pass, I think I had one downshift on the highway going uphill.

My guess is I’d be getting 15-17mpg in the 5.3. 20 would be a great day on flat roads. I rented a Yukon in Florida in 2018 and I was getting 16-18 mpg and it’s flat as can be. Also warm weather too.

JayceeP said:

Yeah if you don’t drive much, who cares. I’m more like 13,000 miles per year. Also depends on where you live too. First, I don’t drive slow. Second, I live in Nova Scotia - it’s not flat . Highways are rolling hills for the most part so my mpg numbers reflect hilly highway driving. So MPG suffers. At 75 mph+ on flat highway, I’d expect upwards of 30 mpg from what I’m seeing from the diesel.

I should also add the torque and pull on the highway is fantastic. Even going through the Cobequid Pass, I think I had one downshift on the highway going uphill.

My guess is I’d be getting 15-17mpg in the 5.3. 20 would be a great day on flat roads. I rented a Yukon in Florida in 2018 and I was getting 16-18 mpg and it’s flat as can be. Also warm weather too.

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How do you keep diesel from gelling in Nova Scotia? Do gas stations sell a winter blend or do you need to add an anti-gel treatment to your tank?
Does your vehicle pre-heat the fuel before it's pumped to the injectors?
It doesn't snow where I live. If I fill up at home and drive to a ski resort, would I need to treat my diesel fuel?

The mpg is not why you get the diesel. If you're buying a $90,000 truck, cost of fuel shouldn't matter to you.

For me, it's the reliability. Heard about too many gas engines going bad to ever put my family in there for a road trip.

umar96 said:

The mpg is not why you get the diesel. If you're buying a $90,000 truck, cost of fuel shouldn't matter to you.

For me, it's the reliability. Heard about too many gas engines going bad to ever put my family in there for a road trip.

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I agree. For me, it's the reliability, too. I get an anxiety attack just thinking about a major breakdown on a road trip far away from home. Just like what happened to Paul Owens who six months ago described his experience:

"I own an 2022 GMC 1500 with an LM2 3.0 Duramax. I recently returned from a trip to Alaska from Ohio and had some issues with my truck in the Yukon. I blew the turbo and the particulate filter got clogged and both needed replacement. At first there were no turbo's available in Canada or the US so my truck was unrepairable. GM came through and pulled one off line I'm assuming. My truck was down for 47 days in the Yukon. "

I know, the 6.2L gas engine has other problems but it doesn't have the turbo or the diesel particulate filter to worry about.
Perhaps instead of paying an extra $1000 for the Duramax option, I'll pay $2000 for a GM extended warranty that will cover the 6.2L powertrain for 9 years or 100k miles total.

Alexandroid said:

I agree. For me, it's the reliability, too. I get an anxiety attack just thinking about a major breakdown on a road trip far away from home. Just like what happened to Paul Owens who six months ago described his experience:

I know, the 6.2L gas engine has other problems but it doesn't have the turbo or the diesel particulate filter to worry about.
Perhaps instead of paying an extra $1000 for the Duramax option, I'll pay $2000 for a GM extended warranty that will cover the 6.2L powertrain for 9 years or 100k miles total.

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It isn't about "being covered" ....it's about dependability. I don't care that I'm "covered" if at any time on a 2000-mile trip this thing could lose its cookies. There's a reason why the duramax forum on this site only has 150 Entries (and the majority are not show stoppers.) and the other engine threads are littered with issues. I'm three years into my D Max and it's been flawless.

Stbentoak said:

It isn't about "being covered" ....it's about dependability. I don't care that I'm "covered" if at any time on a 2000-mile trip this thing could lose its cookies. There's a reason why the duramax forum on this site only has 150 Entries (and the majority are not show stoppers.) and the other engine threads are littered with issues. I'm three years into my D Max and it's been flawless.

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As far as dependability goes the gas engines have definitely been improved with 2023/2024 from service techs Ive talked to. This is only one dealership service department but I have been using them since 1997. In a small upscale Florida beach town that sells a lot of Tahoe/suburbans. The service rep I have known for my last 3 vehicles says they saw the most problems with the 2021/2022 gas motors with the lifter problems. GM did update the parts on motors done under warranty and he hasn’t seen any of those back for failure. Most got fixed in less than 2 weeks and he had one Tahoe that had to wait a month for parts before it finally got fixed. He said his service department hasn’t seen any 2023/2024 lifter failures yet, I was talking to him about 2 weeks ago.

Granted, this is only one dealer but they sell a lot of trucks and they service a lot of vehicles during the “season” like a lot of dealers in coastal Florida do so they get trucks from all over besides the local residents. I believe the guys I deal with in the service department as they have always treated me right and they have no motive to lie. I never asked these questions when other people are around and I certainly know what a compromised situation is for employees to speak frankly. Pretty sure this guy would have told me the truth if they were still seeing lifter failure.

He always tells me some sort of service horror story when I ask but most of these scenarios involve stupidity (he is not shy about calling out a tech or a customer when they screw up) with a variety of vehicles not just trucks. Even though it’s still mentioned in threads and certainly some will happen, it’s much less likely than the 2021 models.

As far as Toyota and reliability, they have had issues with their new motors in Tundra and Sequoia and as far as percentage of failure it’s probably a lot higher than GM as they sell a lot less Sequoias than Tahoe/Suburbans and YouTube is full of this topic.

That said I would not hesitate to buy a Sequoia as I think both Toyota and GM handle most warranty problems without much drama. The reason I and most others buy the big GM SUV is the cargo size, performance and the awesome V8!

Quality control in everything is definitely not what it should be especially for the prices that all new trucks are demanding.