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Duramax Diesel vs. V6 Gas Engine - 100K Fuel Cost Comparo


Gorehamj
  • John Goreham
    Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
    11/13/2015
    The fuel economy numbers arrived this week. The new Duramax Diesel Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon 4x4s earned a 23 MPP combined fuel efficiency rating from the EPA. By Contrast, the same trucks with a gasoline engine are rated at 20 MPG combined. Using today's daily average for both regular unleaded ($2.19 per gallon) and diesel ($2.479) supplied by AAA we calculated the cost to drive each 100,000 miles. The results?
    Gasoline engine Canyon and Colorado - $10,950
    Duramax Diesel Canyon and Colorado - $10,778

A pretty close tie we'd call that, except one thing. The Duramax engine costs $3,750 more than the V6 gasoline engine according to GM. So, by our estimation the Duramax has a higher cost over 100,000 miles on a strictly fuel economy basis.

Diesel owners don't care about combined MPG though. Most diesel fans only look at the highway mileage of their trucks because that is the situation in which the diesel is most efficient. So we re-ran the calculations using the V6 gas engines' highway mileage of 24 MPG and the diesel trucks' mileage of 29 MPG. Here is the result:
Gasoline Canyon and Colorado - $9,125
Diesel Colorado and Canyon - $ 8,548

Here the diesel looks much better until the engine premium is factored in. Of course, the diesel has other advantages. This analysis is simply one way to look at the cost for fuel over 100K miles. If anyone spots a math error please let me know and it will be corrected.


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