New Member 1st Post

sydscrew · October 8, 2009

This is my first post to this forum. I have been a Ford man since 1988. I have spent the past 2 years researching the 3 Diesel truck offerings by the Big 3 to see which truck I should buy. The end result is I will take delivery this Saturday Oct 10/09 of a 2009 GMC Sierra SLT 2500HD Crew Cab 4x4 standard box Diesel. I have been shopping in the Toronto area since the last week in August. There were 65 trucks that met the criteria I set down for the truck I wanted. With the exception of 6, all of them were out in Western Canada. My dealer in Toronto came up against a brick wall in getting the truck I wanted. The western dealers refused to trade within the dealer net so I couldn't get a truck. One dealer in B.C. told me to show up at his dealership and have a face to face business deal with him. When I told him that I lived in Toronto, he asked why I had sent the email to his location. I asked why he advertised on the Web, He had no answer. The surprise announcement by GM that the Duramax engine plant would be shut down for 4 1/2 months set my teeth on edge for fear of not getting anything and lose out of the nice incentives to purchase a 2009 truck. After backing out of the deal with the Toronto dealership, I made 1 phone call to a dealer in the Chatham area and got my truck. It is not the color I wanted, (GMC calls it Carbon Black Metallic and Chevrolet calls it Black Granite) and just my luck, it is the only premium paint they sell, but it has everything I needed.

I haven't driven a GM product since 1968, and the research I did showed that among the big 3, that the technology in use on their pickups are 2nd to none.

I looked at the Ford F250, but the problems with their 6.4 diesel made it not worth the money despite being cheaper than the GM's, by several thousand dollars. And I wasn't about to wait for the new engine 6.7 in 2010. And an unproven engine poses a risk I didn't want to take. Although the 2011 Ford looks impressive, the truck despite the new grill is basically the same since 2008.

With the Dodge pickups, the only good thing they have going is the Cummins Diesel, but the transmission it uses leaves a lot to be desired. I had a 1974 Dodge D200 Club Cab, remember them? It had the 400 cu in engine in it. It was a good truck Dodge built in those days.

(Now a question arises, how old is this guy? I am 58, and I am retired. I bought the truck so that my wife and I can travel all over North America, with a 5th wheel trailer, which I have to buy later this month.)

So I look forward to spending some quality time with the other members of this forum asking both dum and intelligent questions, and ask that you not flame me too hard when I rant about problems.

Thank you