Would you buy the gasser or diesel?

WhiteMike · August 31, 2020

Until GM offers a 10spd for the 6.6 gas, I will never consider one for my personal vehicle. I have two 2020 gasser work trucks for my business but my personal truck is a 2020 HC Duramax., The 6.6 gas is cheaper than the Duramax and gets the job done just fine but IMO they are not even close to being as pleasurable to drive as the Duramax. Long drives towing with the gas, lots of shifting and high revs whereas the Duramax quietly hums along with power to spare. Even if i didn't tow much I would prefer the diesel. The additional maintenance costs are well worth it! The 10spd in the Duramax is awesome, so don't forget about that benefit as well.
As far as the reliability, I have not had one issue with emissions on Duramax trucks and I've used them for plowing, short daily drives and everything in between. Don't let the comments about reliability and all the emissions issues scare you away, they are very few and far between. The Duramax/Allison also has a 100,000 mile power train warranty, gasser only 60k.

All that said, I would be very interested to drive the 6.6 gas with a 10spd transmission, I just can't understand why they wouldn't offer it. The GM HD gas motors are incredibly reliable, we have had some transmissions go on our gas work trucks but not one issue with the previous 6.0's and I'm assuming the 6.6's will be just as reliable. Drive them both and decide for yourself..

Is there any word if/when GM will offer the 2500 HD gas with the 10 speed transmission?

The other day I drove a 10 speed diesel and man it was a big difference. I do not need a diesel but would certainly love the 6.6 with a 10 speed.

Thank you.

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Hagar68 · September 1, 2020

Bought '19 Duramax 11/19 to pull 8k travel trailer but mostly to correct a half ton way over gvwr. Kept it 15 months and traded for '20 GMC Gasser 2500.

Dmax pulled the trailer great, smoother and quieter than wife's Acura. But exhaust filter made it virtually unusable in my town. So many red lights that Regen needed every 80 miles so had to drive to next town every week.

Love the Gasser, pulls trailer just fine and has 2800 lbs payload vs 1800 on the diesel. Driving is fun again for me, but it was a very expensive lesson.

Colossus · September 1, 2020

I hear ya on the DPF. They regen even more often on these newer ones vs the first DPFs on the LMMs which will regen about every 350-450 miles.

redwngr · September 1, 2020

10 hours ago, Colossus said:

I hear ya on the DPF. They regen even more often on these newer ones vs the first DPFs on the LMMs which will regen about every 350-450 miles.

Although the time/miles for a regen to finish is shorter.

Colossus · September 1, 2020

True. But I am not sure I like more frequent regens, I'd rather drive 30+ min and miles at highway speeds and have 400+ miles to go until my next regen. Especially when I know i am going to do a lot of city driving coming up. I hated when my 2012 went into regen in the city and I knew I was not going to get up to highway speeds for awhile (days) or sometimes I would be able to get up to 45/55 MPH for short periods of time on the streets and it would start the regen (based upon speed unless doing a manual regen at the dealer) and then hitting stop lights I could smoke out the intersection with white smoke when taking off from a stop due to the regen process trying to work or being incomplete. Fords like to do this as well. I got pulled over and got a written warning for opacity emission. Told them it was normal for these newer diesels and they could expect to see it more often. But to his point, I did smoke out an intersection (unintentionally) Took the written warning to the dealer service manager and he just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and said he would forward the issue on up the chain at GM, they did a courtesy check and manual regen of my truck and said everything was operating as it should and that I wasn't the first one to complain of this issue.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Colossus

redwngr · September 3, 2020

On 9/1/2020 at 7:51 PM, Colossus said:

True. But I am not sure I like more frequent regens, I'd rather drive 30+ min and miles at highway speeds and have 400+ miles to go until my next regen. Especially when I know i am going to do a lot of city driving coming up. I hated when my 2012 went into regen in the city and I knew I was not going to get up to highway speeds for awhile (days) or sometimes I would be able to get up to 45/55 MPH for short periods of time on the streets and it would start the regen (based upon speed unless doing a manual regen at the dealer) and then hitting stop lights I could smoke out the intersection with white smoke when taking off from a stop due to the regen process trying to work or being incomplete. Fords like to do this as well. I got pulled over and got a written warning for opacity emission. Told them it was normal for these newer diesels and they could expect to see it more often. But to his point, I did smoke out an intersection (unintentionally) Took the written warning to the dealer service manager and he just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and said he would forward the issue on up the chain at GM, they did a courtesy check and manual regen of my truck and said everything was operating as it should and that I wasn't the first one to complain of this issue.

Something was wrong with it it it was smoking during regen.

September 3, 2020

Something was wrong with it it it was smoking during regen.

Mine did that.... i think it was a pipe in the rear of the engine.... took it back they fixed it. Never happened again. Maybe up pipe not on correctly.

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i82much · September 3, 2020

I bought a 2016 gas 2500HD. For me, it wasn't a question of gas vs. diesel - I knew I had no need for a $45k or more pickup truck with a diesel engine, despite the fact that I think they are incredible machines. For me, I was cross-shopping a 1500 vs. a gas 2500. I just couldn't see why so many people bought 1500 trucks when you get so much more for nearly the same price in a gas 2500HD. Ground clearance, full floater, standard locker, steeper gears, stronger trans, stronger front axle, better engine and trans cooling, payload, towing capacity, etc. And you don't get AFM! I get that the gas mileage isn't great and it is a lot easier to deal with a 5.5 bed on a 1500, but man - you sure get a lot for your money going from a 1500 to a gas 2500HD. That was true when I bought my 2016 and it is even more true now with the 6.6 gas trucks.

nick112288 · September 3, 2020

I really would prefer to get the 6.6 gas, but until they either give us 4.10s, the 10 speed, or 4.10s and the 10 speed (this is what I'd prefer) I'll take the new Ford 7.3 over the 6.6 or any diesel.

I may be completely wrong, but I also think GM held back the 10 speed and 4.10s to have a way to easily "upgrade" their tow rating.

Look at a F350 crew cab 4wd dually 7.3 with 4.30s and it's rated for 20,000lbs. Drop to 3.73? 16,000lbs. 180lbs under Chevy. Chevy all the sudden throws in a 10 speed, hey we can do 20,180! Add 4.10s? Maybe 21k!

I just think it's all a game

Colossus · September 4, 2020

8 hours ago, 48548 said:

Mine did that.... i think it was a pipe in the rear of the engine.... took it back they fixed it. Never happened again. Maybe up pipe not on correctly.

That's what I thought. And was suggested on here to have the dealer check it out. They did check it out, took the pipes off and re-attached, put on new seals/boots, said it was connected, took the DPF off and did a high temp bake clean of it, checked the DEF injector and sensors and NOX sensors and everything was within spec. Drove it around for several hours in regen mode with the Tech-II monitoring things along with soot levels and Regen progress and such, they could even duplicate getting the white smoke out at times during the regen upon acceleration, but it all showed within spec, and GM tech support told them it was operating the way it is supposed to and that some white smoke discharge during a regen is perfectly normal. Uggh. Once the warranty expired and the NOX sensors were starting to go bad again, I arranged a "voluntary" repossession with State Farm Bank who had the note on it. They were able to sell it at auction for more than I thought they would and I only ended up having to fork over $4000 when everything was said and done. I was glad to be done with that thing. when it worked good, it worked good but those times were far and few between. Only GM truck I had driven that I felt had let me down and really pissed me off. And then I saw all the other LML owners along with Power Joke and Cummins owners with the same DPF and DEF system issues and I didn't feel so bad, but decided I was going to go back to an LMM or older Duramax if I went the route of a Diesel again. Found a great deal on the current LMM I am driving. No shitty DEF system, and the original DPF system is still going great at 205,000 miles. So I can't complain.

shadow gray 2020 hd · September 4, 2020

Went with the diesel here. I wanted to know I could hook up my trailer and pull it easily with whatever equipment or however much hay I could fit on it. The new 10 speed and updated duramax were big contributors into that decision.

Due to the current truck availability issues we had to drive almost 8 hours away to get our truck. Rolling home the diesel averaged around 21.9 mpg on the highway going around 78 mph. Average has come down with more sitting in traffic, but even still about 17 mpg.