Bay City MI to Calhoun GA on one tank of diesel

[DuraYuk]

My 2013 Yukon XL is getting up there in mileage and age. Thinking of a new one with diesel engine. Do you owners find that the increased mileage offsets the higher price per gallon for diesel? Also how does it tow. I currently toe a boat the is about 7000 pounds including trailer etc. My 5.3 with trailer package has no problem.

Thanks
Padraig

In Georgia diesel is cheaper then premium my QT is at 3.52$ for diesel.

 

[drmoose]

In Georgia diesel is cheaper then premium my QT is at 3.52$ for diesel.

In my area (Seattle), diesel is now ~5, and regular 4.7, so yeh, much easier to make up that cost difference fast.

 

[DuraYuk]

In my area (Seattle), diesel is now ~5, and regular 4.7, so yeh, much easier to make up that cost difference fast.

Yup. For a while it def was 25cents to 75 cents more expensive

 

[Padraig]

In Georgia diesel is cheaper then premium my QT is at 3.52$ for diesel.

Dam....Regular gas is $3.69 in Western NY. Dieselis $4,99

Padraig

 

[Tonyv__]

Dang I love this Suburban. We had a head wind all the wat down and set the cruise in the 72-74 range most of this leg. One of these trips i will get a tail wind and average well into the 30's. View attachment 397198

Impressive. I remember a few years ago we drove down to concord NC from PA. My gps right now is telling me that’s 542 miles. I remember burning atleast 2 full tanks of gas in the ford excursion v10 we borrowed for the trip.

 

[FatBob]

I guesstimated in 16-20K miles the extra cost of the diesel engine would be paid for. After that it will be cheaper to operate.
I did not figure in if service/oil changes would skew that.

I was looking at simple cost per mile of the fuel only.

 

[Tinbadtin]

Regardless of costs because let’s be honest, no one drops 70-90k on a truck to save on money, the diesel just makes that much more sense in these trucks than the 5.3 and even the 6.2.

In real world driving, the 3.0 is very zippy with massive amounts of low end torque. Compare that to the old dog that is the 5.3, you can step on it all day long it will barely move. While the 6.2 is slightly faster 0-60 and has the V8 soundtrack, it’s objectively worse at everything else. The diesel is heads down the better choice for this vehicle. From all the anecdata researching online there’s also nothing that makes me believe the 3.0 is less reliable than either the 5.3 or 6.2 either so long term costs are likely to be roughly same.

The main issue with the diesel is they are very few and far in between. Good luck finding one on the lot to test drive. If it wasn’t for the lack of availability and the bad (often unfounded) rep that diesels get, I’m certain majority of buyers would pick the diesel. IMO for the measly $900 GM should’ve made it the base engine and replace the outdated POS that is the 5.3.

 

[Chad G 1979]

Pos outdated 5.3? How on earth do you drive? Mash the pedal to the floor? I have the 5.3 and i have more than enough power to push myself and other occupants back into our seats and thats not even mashing the pedal to the floor and having rpms no more than 4k.

 

[martinajm]

Pos outdated 5.3? How on earth do you drive? Mash the pedal to the floor? I have the 5.3 and i have more than enough power to push myself and other occupants back into our seats and thats not even mashing the pedal to the floor and having rpms no more than 4k.

I would have said the same thing before I got the 3.0. My previous 5 GMC’s all had (or have, I still have the 2002 sierra) the 5.3. I drive with a pretty light foot and seldom have to go over 3000 rpm driving the 3.0. In a heavy vehicle like the sub / XL, it does make the 5.3 feel like a dog. Nothing wrong with the 5.3, but the 3.0 is a much better engine for 95% + percent of the use applications.

Footnote: 87% of all statistics are made up!

 

[drmoose]

I would have said the same thing before I got the 3.0. My previous 5 GMC’s all had (or have, I still have the 2002 sierra) the 5.3. I drive with a pretty light foot and seldom have to go over 3000 rpm driving the 3.0. In a heavy vehicle like the sub / XL, it does make the 5.3 feel like a dog. Nothing wrong with the 5.3, but the 3.0 is a much better engine for 95% + percent of the use applications.

Footnote: 87% of all statistics are made up!

I have to agree, I thought the 5.3 was fine but the diesel just is so much better.

I also agree completely with your earlier post - the diesel should be the default engine. It is just so good with this vehicle lineup. As far as saving money, at 68k for this, saving a few bucks is secondary, but it still feels good. Perhaps more significantly, driving 10 hours with having to stop for gas is a huge plus.