Need Some Help With A Decision

HDdave · June 18, 2008

I came across an offer where I can trade a guy my dark green 01 with the 6.0 (the one listed below) and 5 or 6 grand for his Charcoal 04 Duramax ecsb LS with a 6 speed manual. My truck has 116,000 on it and his has 90,000. From what he told me it will get 20mpg in the city and on country roads, and I get 13 everywhere... He said that if I want, I could just take the truck for a few days and see how it drives and just to verify that it gets that good of milage, plus if we do trade I get to keep any parts off of my truck that I want. He is just getting rid of it to get rid of some of his payment because he is building a house. I will be starting college in a couple months and its 50 miles from home each directions and I plan on comming home on the weekends. I am just thinking the trade would be smart because of the added longevity I could get from a D-max and the higher resale value it would have. Also I would save over $1,000 in fuel in a year. I'm just not sure if I want to do it or not because I really love the truck I have now. What do you guys think?

Zembonez · June 18, 2008

If you love your current truck I'd stick with it. As tempting as that Duramax with the manual sounds... who knows where diesel prices are headed. Laying out another 5 or 6 grand for a truck with about as many miles on it is spooky too. Even though I know they are quite different... the truck market is really in the toilet right now. (and dropping fast)

Draenor · June 18, 2008

Diesel resale value around here is trash. I have a friend trying to get rid of an '04 in prime condition for 2-3K under book, but cant. Also some dealerships around here wont even take them as a trade in.

But do what you what makes you happy. If you can afford ,it go for it.

Silverado4x4 · June 18, 2008

I would keep what you have also, I was down our Chevy dealership last week just BSing with some friends of mine down there and I was talking to the salesman friend and he said the only people buying Diesels now are people that really need them for work and towing. If your giving your truck and 5-6 grand to the guy its going to take you a very long time to get your money back with the little bit more mpg out of the diesel and the higher price of the fuel and dont forget the added cost of the maintance on the diesel. I think you be sorry if you did the trade.

Controller · June 18, 2008

If you go from 13 mpg to 20 mpg and pay $6000 for the duramax and drive 10000 miles per year and figuring gas @$4.00 and diesel @$4.85 per gallon, you have a 9.2 year pay back on the duramax.

This is not taking into consideration loans, maint. etc on the duramax...just something to think about. I personally think your crazy to get rid of the gasser.

Darkanion · June 18, 2008

It sounds like you're looking at 500 miles per week of driving (50 miles, each way, each day... 100 miles per day, 5 days of classes).

At 13 mpg, you'll burn about 40 gallons of gas a week. At $4.08 / gallon (the national avg, according to a govt site I just checked), that works out to $163.20. Let's call it $165, to make the math a little easier...

At 20 mpg (in the Duramax), you'll burn 25 gallons a week. At $4.69 / gallon (also the national avg according to that same govt site), you'll spend $117.25. Let's call that $115, to make things easy.

So, you'll spend $50 less per week in fuel costs, driving the Duramax vs. your current truck. At $5k extra to get yourself INTO the D-Max, you'll have to drive it 50,000 miles to break-even on fuel costs. That's not counting the more expensive oil changes and other maintenance issues that may cost you more for the diesel vs. gas engine.

Since you're asking for advice... If you're just looking to save $ on gas, going back & forth to college, I'd spend some of that $5k on an inexpensive, used car that gets much better mileage than either of the trucks you're talking about. You'll come out further ahead, quicker, doing that than you will spending more $ to get the D-max..

That's my $.02, at least...

Best of luck!

99silveradoz71 · June 18, 2008

I'd agree with the others. Your truck is a known situation to you- You know the upkeep that's been done and its reliability. If you step back, you can look at this on a basic level and see that you're looking to spend money to save money. Granted the offer isn't that simple, but again, as mentioned above, perhaps you could get yourself into a beater car or save the cash you'd be paying for the other truck and use it on your fuel.

wellinghurst · June 19, 2008

Don't make it all that complicated with the price of gas and everything. It will be more expensive to operate, they always end up that way, but...

a new diesel is around $7000 more.

this truck is 3 years newer and has 25k less miles. If it's in good shape, I'd personally jump on that. Unless like Zembonez says, you love the one you have. Nothing wrong with keeping your either.

vranasaurus · June 19, 2008

With $5000 you can get a car that gets 30 MPG.

2000DV4.8 · June 19, 2008

With $5000 you can get a car that gets 30 MPG.

And a damn nice car at that. IMO, if you're going to spend the 5k, spend it on something that gets good mileage.

wellinghurst · June 20, 2008

With $5000 you can get a car that gets 30 MPG.

And a damn nice car at that. IMO, if you're going to spend the 5k, spend it on something that gets good mileage.

Maybe, like me, he doesn't care about gas mileage. Maybe he's already got another car, or a company car (what I have), or simply doesn't worry about the price of gas, or only has one parking space where he lives. Who knows.

Doesn't sound like he's even looking for anything else, rather the offer just presented itself. Just looking at the deal at face value, it sounds good to me.

BlackSilver · June 20, 2008

A diesel as a "daily driver" wouldn't be my choice.

Diesels are meant to work for a living, and that's where they shine. But you'll never get your money out of them on "fuel savings".

Zembonez · June 20, 2008

A diesel as a "daily driver" wouldn't be my choice.

Diesels are meant to work for a living, and that's where they shine. But you'll never get your money out of them on "fuel savings".

DANG! A nice and informative good discussion / debate without anybody calling the others idiots! You guys give me hope that the whole forum hasn't gone to crap!

2000DV4.8 · June 20, 2008

A diesel as a "daily driver" wouldn't be my choice.

Diesels are meant to work for a living, and that's where they shine. But you'll never get your money out of them on "fuel savings".

DANG! A nice and informative good discussion / debate without anybody calling the others idiots! You guys give me hope that the whole forum hasn't gone to crap!

Shut the hell up, idiot. Your truck is going to implode because of your spray-in liner.

davzog · June 20, 2008

I owned a diesel for one year...that was all it took for me to know it was not for me....it ran good, and towed like crazy, but that was all the good I could mention.

Oil changes were a big deal and the filter was a pain and expensive (cummins). In the winter, I froze to death if I forgot to plug in the engine heater over night....

The noise was bothersome, the garage smelled of diesel exhaust which gagged me, mpg was never near what it was "supposed" to be...I got 18 hiway and 13 city....11 towing. My 6.0 chevy gets 14 hiway, 11 city, and 9 towing.... Not a real big difference for the extra cost. Now that diesel is ALMOST $1 higher than gas, it minimizes the mpg advantage of the diesel.

Then there were the fuel filters and air filters that had to be changed....seemed like a continuous process, though it actually wasn't...just a pain.

I lucked out and found a guy at a campground that was looking for a used diesel and offered my a nice amount for mine on a private sale....I never hesitated and would never own another unless I had to pull a huge 5th wheel....my 6.0 is fine...

Just my $.02....GOOD LUCK in whatever you decide....