Gas Mileage On 1997 Gmc Sierra

cory_larousse · June 6, 2009

greetings. i am about to buy my first truck (used) was originally looking for a chevy s-10 but no dice; almost got sold on a ford ranger but i'm REALLY not a ford person. found a 1997 GMC Sierra 1500 it's really more truck than i need but i like the way it drives and looks. the guy selling it says he gets 22-23 mpg highway, 20 city. sounds too good to be true. i am planning on taking it on a long road trip from new mexico back to my home state of maine don't want to regret this decision. oh yeah -- relevant information : V-6, 4.3L, short bed, 2WD, regular cab. thanks for any help. i really like this truck and want to justify it to myself.

kuhl_530 · June 6, 2009

I think he may be stretching the truth on the city milage, but with a 4.3 2x i guess it would be plausable to get 22mpg hwy. Not saying you're going to get that, everyone's driving habbits are different. Just keep that foot off the gas!

cory_larousse · June 8, 2009

thank you for the reply. i am tentativly planning on purchasing the vehicle, the guy's out of town till wednesday so i got a few more days to research and mull it over. i have had good luck with GM cars and this thing drives great, so gas mileage was my big concern, and i will be mostly highway driving. good to know the numbers he gave me are fairly accurate.

superjim · June 8, 2009

Cory,

A short bed, regular cab should get 20+ on the highway in normal driving.

I have a 2006 Chevy Express van with the 4.3 V6.

I get 18 to 20 mpg from it, driving it mostly on the freeways in and around Dallas / FT. Worth at around 70 mph.

There is some city street driving,maybe 10 to 15 percent.

kuhl_530 · June 8, 2009

try this site : fueleconomy.gov

they'll give you the expected fuel milage for your vehicle based on engine size, transmission, and drive type (2x, 4x, awd), and a nifty charting tool to keep track of your milage (if you record it on a piece of paper every time you fill up) and graphs it for you. Kinda neat to tinker with or compare milage with other people that have the same truck as you.

Nick The Great · June 8, 2009

I think 20+ highway is plausible, but not city. My 99 RCSB Silverado would average 16mpg, 100% City. It'd get about the same on the interstate, but that's because I'd never go less than 80mph.

cory_larousse · June 10, 2009

i went to fueleconomy.gov (thanks for the tip) -- it says 15 city 21 highway, but of course it doesn't let me select short bed or manual transmission. i've been driving a Toyota Tercel for the last 7 years so i've gotten used to 30+ mpg and i know this is gonna hurt (even though i'm really fed up with the tercel due to its extremely limited interior space).

to complicate matters, at the 11th hour, someone who knew i was looking for a small truck alerted me to an older Chevy S10 for sale. it had been used as a second vehicle and was well maintained. now, if i had not seen and driven the Sierra, i would probably think the S10 was pretty swell; unfortunately, i did drive the Sierra, and REALLY liked it. the S10 is a 4cyl 4spd 2.5L. fueleconomy.gov is showing a difference of 4mpg between the two vehicles. that's fairly negligible (though i do realize it adds up). but it also seems unrealistic. shouldn't a considerably smaller vehicle with 2 fewer cylinders and almost half the engine size have substantially better fuel economy? are these numbers for real?

thanks for all the replies. i thought this was probably a pretty boring topic and doubted anyone would reply, actually.

1SlowSierra · June 14, 2009

its amazing that they say 14city and 17highway for the 5.7... i get 13 higway ...

txab · June 14, 2009

its amazing that they say 14city and 17highway for the 5.7... i get 13 higway ...

Those figures are based on when the vehicle was produced. It also doesn't take into account different diff. ratios. You have 4:10 so it is going to suck at mileage.

1SlowSierra · June 16, 2009

its amazing that they say 14city and 17highway for the 5.7... i get 13 higway ...

Those figures are based on when the vehicle was produced. It also doesn't take into account different diff. ratios. You have 4:10 so it is going to suck at mileage.

yea I understand that just the diffrence supprises me.

gmchevroletruck · June 16, 2009

its amazing that they say 14city and 17highway for the 5.7... i get 13 higway ...

I get 12.5 highway with my 350...but it's in a 94 2500 (non-HD, "under 8600 gvw"), and it has 271,000 miles on it and burns a ton of oil, and has slightly larger than stock mud tires on it. But it does have the 3.42 gear. 17 would be a miracle for me...my 2002 with the 5.3 barely gets that, with a light foot (3.73 gear)

rodram · June 17, 2009

I went for a road trip for work today.... beautiful sunny hot day in Saskatchewan (haven't had many so far this year)

5.7L vortec, 3.73 gears, 1997 C2500 (GVW 7200); with the AC running all day ; stock tires; 210,000 km (130,000 mi) on odometer; and travel speed 100-110 km/hr (65-70 mi/hr)

I travelled 537 kilometers, fill up was 72.0 Litres .... 13.4 L/100km or 21 mpg (canadian imperial gallons)