Best for towing. 2500 6.0 vs Denali 6.2

[Bobielon]

Hey guys. My 07 Yukon XL SLT is having some major engine trouble and has me looking to trade in. 167k miles and using 3 quarts of oil in 1k miles. Has rough idle at times. Using a little coolant too.

I tow a 18' Sea Ray in the summer around the mountains in Montana and at least once a summer all the way to North Dakota. 700 miles or so of high winds and rolling hills. Half way on rough, two lane highway and the rest on smooth but hilly interstate. Loaded down with 3 kids, dogs and gear for a week. Ill probably get a little bigger boat in the next few years. 20-21 foot Wakeboard boat. So maybe another 1k pounds of weight.

The 5.3 was totally acceptable but works ******* the hills. I get pushed around a bit on the rough roads by the boat, but not too bad.

My question is what would be a better tow rig for that situation? The 2500 yukon xl with the 6.0 would hands down be more stable and geared better. But it has less power and heavier than the denali.

The denali has more power and is lighter, but has worse gearing for towing and stuck in AWD.

I test drove each model and could definitely feel the 2500 being heavier duty. Stiffer ride and harder to park. Drove them both unloaded and hard to tell a difference on which one would pull better. I love that you could shift each one on the handle. thats nice compared to the auto in the 07.

Thoughts?

Neither seemed much different at all than my 07 SLT XL 5.3. Makes me thing of just getting the engine sorted. New rings or new motor... The rest of the rig is in great shape.

 

[JennaBear]

What year are you looking at?

I have towed our 22' in extreme hills with both or 2010 6.2 denali and our 2013 denali xl. Tows like a dream, hardly know the boat is there. The 6spd Yukon denali is geared way better than the 2500burb, for towing. This due to a short first and second gear ratio on the denali.

 

[Bobielon]

What year are you looking at?

I have towed our 22' in extreme hills with both or 2010 6.2 denali and our 2013 denali xl. Tows like a dream, hardly know the boat is there. The 6spd Yukon denali is geared way better than the 2500burb, for towing. This due to a short first and second gear ratio on the denali.

Nice, looking at 07 to 12 or 13 models

 

[Deephaven]

Be careful on your weight estimates. My sis had an 18' Sea Ray and it was around 3500lbs on the trailer. My 23' Malibu LSV is just a hair under 7000lbs.

The question though I'd still ask yourself is if you want to deal with the 3/4 ton suspension for the rest of the year you aren't towing? I sure the hell wouldn't. My Escalade tows the Malibu just fine, but I tow it 2x a year a whopping 100mi. My snowmobile trailer on the other hand which is maybe 3k loaded but a huge wind sail I put a few thousand miles a year on.

I had a 5.3 Silverado before and it was literally the worst tow vehicle I have ever owned. No brakes and nowhere near enough power to even tow the little snow trailer. The 6.2 is a huge improvement.

Best tow vehicle I've ever owned was an ML63 AMG. Huge brakes, 500hp, and sport suspension. Figured since that worked so well I'd buy an Escalade and do the same (suspension, Wilwoods, Whipple). Just hope my tranny doesn't melt while towing now.

 

[JennaBear]

My 2013 is lowered with a TVS2300, and Wilwoods. I think you would be happy with the set up

 

[TowGMC]

I tow a 7,000 lb enclosed race car trailer and my '09 Denali 6.2 is marginal at best. The truck itself is an extremely stable platform even at 75 mph, I've never had to worry about sway or stability. But the engine struggles to pull the weight up grades here in the midwest. Half the time I'm pulling at 3,000 rpm in 4th, getting 6.5 mpg just to maintain 70 mph.

 

[DenaliScott]

Hey guys. My 07 Yukon XL SLT is having some major engine trouble and has me looking to trade in. 167k miles and using 3 quarts of oil in 1k miles. Has rough idle at times. Using a little coolant too.

I tow a 18' Sea Ray in the summer around the mountains in Montana and at least once a summer all the way to North Dakota. 700 miles or so of high winds and rolling hills. Half way on rough, two lane highway and the rest on smooth but hilly interstate. Loaded down with 3 kids, dogs and gear for a week. Ill probably get a little bigger boat in the next few years. 20-21 foot Wakeboard boat. So maybe another 1k pounds of weight.

The 5.3 was totally acceptable but works ******* the hills. I get pushed around a bit on the rough roads by the boat, but not too bad.

My question is what would be a better tow rig for that situation? The 2500 yukon xl with the 6.0 would hands down be more stable and geared better. But it has less power and heavier than the denali.

The denali has more power and is lighter, but has worse gearing for towing and stuck in AWD.

I test drove each model and could definitely feel the 2500 being heavier duty. Stiffer ride and harder to park. Drove them both unloaded and hard to tell a difference on which one would pull better. I love that you could shift each one on the handle. thats nice compared to the auto in the 07.

Thoughts?

Neither seemed much different at all than my 07 SLT XL 5.3. Makes me thing of just getting the engine sorted. New rings or new motor... The rest of the rig is in great shape.

I tow a 20' Sea Ray 200BR about 4500lbs with the 6.2L and there is plenty of power for more. I'm pretty sure the 6.0 2500 would get even worse mileage than the 6.2 Denali. Some of the fleet vehicles at my work have the 6.0 and are at the gas station over and over in just city driving.

The 6.2 is rated to tow over 8,000lbs. It would easily tow a 20-24ft wakeboard boat loaded with coolers and gear.

 

[TowGMC]

I tow with several other friends to races, we're all towing about the same weight enclosed trailers.
Friend 1 is pulling with a 2500 Suburban with 8.1L and 4 speed automatic. He gets better fuel economy than my 6.2 Denali. Plus with his 34 gallon tank he can go further on a tank. He gets 15-16 empty and 8.5 pulling.

Friend 2 pulls with a 2011 Tahoe 5.3. On steep grades he can't run with any of us, and his fuel economy is no better than 7 mpg.

Friend 3 pulls with a 2011 F250 Powerstroke turbodiesel. gets 14 mpg pulling, never loses speed on grades.

Friend 4 has a 2006 VW Touareg V10 turbodiesel that also gets 14 mpg and will only occasionally drop down a gear, but with a 7700 lb tow rating is close to maxxed out.

Friend 5 has a 2011 VW Touareg with a V6 turbodiesel, gets 12-14 towing, and pulls grades just as well as the Denali. But gets 25+ mpg empty

All of which is why I don't pull with the Denali much anymore, unless I have the whole family and am going to a race <100 miles away. Otherwise my 2500HD Duramax/Allison is a far better tow rig, and it gets better economy empty than the Denali ever gets.

Too bad the US truck companies won't drop a turbodiesel into an SUV.

 

[M3kanic]

https://sites.google.com/a/duraburb.com/duraburb/

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[undertaker]

https://sites.google.com/a/duraburb.com/duraburb/

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I was quoted 25-28k including my truck I currently have.

I went the 2300 route instead.

They claim it'd be worth 45k when I'm done, but I don't believe it.

The 2500 is a pig power wise (especially if you throw 20's and 33 inch tires on it like me), but the brakes and suspension are noticeably better (the ride isn't so bad if you drop the rear tires to 50ish, same as front when its not towing/loaded heavy, It does ride like a dream with 500-1k lbs in the back, like a good ol iron BBC, or half a pallet of shingles) You have to realize the pbr style caliper on the front of a 1500 truck, is the same as the front of a C5 vette, and the same as the REAR of a 2500 suburban, the front caliper is massive.

. The good thing is you're looking at later trucks with a 6 speed vs a 4 speed. (I'm currently looking into doing that swap after the blower install is sorted out) Expect 7 mpg with a heavy 24ish enclosed, more like 9 with a heavier open/reasonable boat. Of course I tow at 75-80ish. Have to figure in the difference in compression between the two, the 2500 will run all day on 87 vs 91+ for the 6.2. Also if you think of dabbling in boost, there's much more room to make the power back up with the 2500 at 9.5-1 vs 10.5-1 in the 6.2.