Denali Duramax: Expectation vs. Reality

[Crash51730]

Also far fewer owners....what percentage of 21/22s Tahoes and Yukons are diesel? 5%....2% or even less? Are there more than 10 active posters on here that own a Tahoe/Yukon diesel? I'll admit I'd buy one in a heartbeat to try it out, but I'd lean towards an extended warranty for sure if I was going to keep it past 50-60k miles, emission systems are a headache in any brand

As others have said, completely different driving experience so you're right, comparing to 5.3/6.2, throttle response is going to be different to say the least...

I may be wrong on my numbers but… I think when Diesels were hard to come by (I guess they still are!) there were only 40-42 available per week on the line. I don’t know what the lines capacity per week is but that’s not many. I look at almost every Tahoe, Yukon and Esky I see and I haven’t seen many diesels. We love our XL. We’ve had it since the middle of May and only out 1300 miles on it. Crazy to believe I can get almost 31 MPG’s out of it on the highway. I don’t have a complaint about it. It’s no speed demon but it doesn’t struggle to out of its own way either. Craziest thing I’ve seen with it is we park it in the garage with the keys in it. After a couple days you have to actually physically move the key fob to start the thing. The dash will tell you the key fob is asleep. Never seen that before!

 

[todayusay]

I may be wrong on my numbers but… I think when Diesels were hard to come by (I guess they still are!) there were only 40-42 available per week on the line. I don’t know what the lines capacity per week is but that’s not many. I look at almost every Tahoe, Yukon and Esky I see and I haven’t seen many diesels. We love our XL. We’ve had it since the middle of May and only out 1300 miles on it. Crazy to believe I can get almost 31 MPG’s out of it on the highway. I don’t have a complaint about it. It’s no speed demon but it doesn’t struggle to out of its own way either. Craziest thing I’ve seen with it is we park it in the garage with the keys in it. After a couple days you have to actually physically move the key fob to start the thing. The dash will tell you the key fob is asleep. Never seen that before!

The filters on Chevrolet's website are messed up...over 7k tahoes listed and only 10 as having a diesel powertrain...the 5.3/6.2s only have a couple hundred each and then 3.23 gear ratio has over 6k....the 10 may actually be correct but I'd have figured it was higher...

 

[BrokerThis]

Mine when listed on GMC was not populating as a diesel for some reason, even though the sticker and dealer website showed it as diesel. There is something really off with their search, cause my rig only shows at 12/22 filter matching ... and the color is X'd as not a match somehow.

 

[todayusay]

You bring up many good points . Although it’s almost impossible to find a warranty that covers the emissions systems besides the gm backed extended bumper to bumper warranty (not the gmepp). It only goes to 60K though and it doesn’t seem that every dealer offers it

DEF pump went out on my 2016 dodge dually...with about 55k on the odometer. got lucky as I believe it only had a 5yr 50k warranty on the emission system...cost outside of warranty was $2500...I told them i'd just spend a grand to delete it and I guess with them knowing they were going to lose the shop work, got Ram to cover most of it and I paid $300...i had never had that truck in their shop before (it went into limp mode on me and i couldn't make it home) and he said they told Ram I had been having issues with it over the past several thousand miles - which wasn't the case but I got it fixed so there's that

honestly, outside of the curiosity factor, i'd like to see how these engines are doing once they get to 80k....reliability factor at that point as well as value...knowing that the oil pump belt change is imminent in the near future ----anybody know the cost to replace it?

i know one guy that had it in a half ton and seemed to really like it, but he's already sold it and haven't talk to him since

 

[Crash51730]

DEF pump went out on my 2016 dodge dually...with about 55k on the odometer. got lucky as I believe it only had a 5yr 50k warranty on the emission system...cost outside of warranty was $2500...I told them i'd just spend a grand to delete it and I guess with them knowing they were going to lose the shop work, got Ram to cover most of it and I paid $300...i had never had that truck in their shop before (it went into limp mode on me and i couldn't make it home) and he said they told Ram I had been having issues with it over the past several thousand miles - which wasn't the case but I got it fixed so there's that

honestly, outside of the curiosity factor, i'd like to see how these engines are doing once they get to 80k....reliability factor at that point as well as value...knowing that the oil pump belt change is imminent in the near future ----anybody know the cost to replace it?

i know one guy that had it in a half ton and seemed to really like it, but he's already sold it and haven't talk to him since

I thought the major cost in the belt change was the transmission drop. I think I saw $1500 somewhere.

 

[Stbentoak]

The oil pump belt issue is a totally overblown issue. Vast majority of owners will not even keep them that long.
Do good maintenance, dump a can of Seafoam thru them every so often, and don’t speculate about what may or may not happen. Drive it and be happy….

 

[tthecchadd]

Does your new Duramax Denali have a low-range transfer case or is it single speed (high) AWD only?

I believe it is low range but to be honest I don't know much about the mechanical side. I threw a picture below if that helps any.

 

[doc5339]

I believe it is low range but to be honest I don't know much about the mechanical side. I threw a picture below if that helps any.

Yup, you have a 2-speed transfer case with 4WD Hi and Low Range. Thanks for posting the picture!

 

[CTown Duramax]

That's a great question and probably something I should've commented on.

A big fear of mine was that it would feel like it is struggling or that it was just slow. I can say that I am pleasantly surprised with the acceleration. The torque is absolutely noticeable and it feels surprisingly nimble. My wife even made a comment about how she was surprised it doesn't feel heavy.

I think if you are someone that doesn't care too much about lightning acceleration

I have the '21 LT Duramax and drove the 327 ci gas model too before deciding. I really could not tell that the gas was any faster to 60mph or even 80mph but, off the line and for drivability, the diesel was the clear winner to me (just a biased and subjective observation and I love Chevy V-8's, could have gone with one of them too). I don't think their is any speed disadvantage here. Perhaps pushing the small block 327 to the red line would have made more of a difference, but I don't think so b/c this diesel revs pretty high too.

 

[suterusu]

Also far fewer owners....what percentage of 21/22s Tahoes and Yukons are diesel? 5%....2% or even less? Are there more than 10 active posters on here that own a Tahoe/Yukon diesel? I'll admit I'd buy one in a heartbeat to try it out, but I'd lean towards an extended warranty for sure if I was going to keep it past 50-60k miles, emission systems are a headache in any brand

As others have said, completely different driving experience so you're right, comparing to 5.3/6.2, throttle response is going to be different to say the least...

The take rate according to my dealer was nearly 30% according to their GM stats last year. Also, the LM2 trucks have a 5yr/100K powertrain warranty right on the window sticker to help sell the durability.

I appreciate this as well. I haven’t been able to find anyone locally that has one with the diesel so I feel like I’m taking a bit of a risk while also being a pioneer. Similar to what someone else stated, I’m waiting on an order since January which just got built last week and is in transit to the dealer. Your feedback seems pretty much all positive. Anything you’ve found that you don’t like about it yet? (It’s OK if not).. haha

I think a 6.2L is more of a risk than buying a concept that's been around for decades and powerplant that has been around for years. There are far more catastrophic engine failures documented on the V8 (even outside the range GM reported), and I wouldn't trust a dealer-repaired engine that had mechanical failure of any kind.

Yup, you have a 2-speed transfer case with 4WD Hi and Low Range. Thanks for posting the picture!

All Denali's have the 2 speed case standard.