Good Evening Folks, I had posted in here earlier about the fudge factor if any in a GVWR for a 1500. Thank you all for the feedback. As much as ...

Good Evening Folks,

I had posted in here earlier about the "fudge factor" if any in a GVWR for a 1500. Thank you all for the feedback. As much as I'd like to do the smart thing financially and just keep what I have, pay it off in a few months and enjoy having no truck payment...........after reading a lot of the posts and/or having the "itch" for something new, I am doing a little fact finding right now.

Today I test drove two Sierra 2500s. One was a Duramax AT4 crew cab and the other was the new 6.6 L gas engine SLT level. Both were very, very nice rides with lots of bells and whistles on the truck. And both would probably be over kill for my smaller trailer and/or how often I truly wind up towing things. However, when I priced out a 1500 with a max trailering package with the options I'd want on it.......it was almost as much as the gas 2500. To be honest, I probably would be fine with the 1500 max package given my towing concerns mentioned in the previous post.

However, my question to y'all is what if any feedback do folks have on this new gas 6.6 L V8 that is replacing the tried and true 6.0 L V8 engine that Chevy/GMC had for years in their 2500s? Pros/Cons? Any maintenance concerns? Towing capability concerns? Gas mileage concerns?

I surely do not have anything in my driveway to justify the nearly 10K more initial costs and long term maintenance costs of a diesel even though they are a blast to drive.

I will say that this new 6.6 seems to have a heck of a lot more get up and go than the 6.0 V8 of old. To me those 2500s I had tested with the 6.0 seemed to be sluggish, especially when compared to the Duramax 2500s. But this new gas engine seems to be close to the diesel in terms of the "butt dyno." And for my limited towing requirements in both weight and actual use, the gas HD truck would suit my needs just fine.

My only real hesitation other than if I am going to make a move on an HD truck instead of keeping my 1500 is that I have always been warned to stay away from first year engine or transmission changes to allow for recalls, problems, etc....etc.... to be worked out down the road.

Thank you all for any input you can provide.

Respectfully,
Jim

In my opinion it's still too early to tell. Seems to be liked over the 6.0 as far as power goes on all accounts I've read. Fuel milage also seems to be better than the 6.0.

It will probably turn out to be a good motor. No DFM so it's already got that going for it lol.

Will never be able to touch the diesels though as far as power goes. Especially when your towing. But it's also substantially cheaper.

As biased as they are sometimes, the fast lane truck has some decent videos out on the 6.6 gas. When I bought my 15 they had a few of them on the lot. Most were diesels but they had a few with the gas motor. Didnt bother looking at them because I wasnt at all interested in a gas 2500. But I kinda wish I drove one just to see how it is lol.

I keep checking this post for more replies, surprised there are not. I’m very interested in this as my next truck will likely be 2500 gasser. Currently in 1500 SLT NHT with 6.2l. Wanting to see what mpg comes out at, I average about 17 now.

If I ever need another 2500 I'll probably consider the gas job. I wish they would have stuck with the 4.10 instead of going back to the 3.73. GM can be frustrating as hell sometimes. I'm really enjoying my 6.2 right now though, even more than the diesels I've had, I'd have to have a good reason to go away from it.

I am super-curious how the 6.6 ends up- a modern 400 ci gas V8. Not many of those coming online these days,
5th gen LS, pushrod, iron block (big plus), direct injection, no AFM.

I am also interested in this new beast. From the reviews I had seen it was rated or reviewed well. I do agree as stated I am also a little wary about 1st year production bugs to be worked out.

I've been eye balling the new 2500s as well, but will be waiting a bit before I take the plunge.

I've watched some fast lane truck videos too, and the new gasser was almost 2 minutes slower on the gauntlet, than a 2017 6.0 gasser they tested. But the new truck was towing about 3000lbs more. Can't help but think 4.10 gears would probably do away with that 2 minutes.

Give it some time, and we'll be hearing about the 6.6 gasser, I'm sure. Hopefully it turns out to be as dependable as the 6.0

MMZ71 wrote:I've been eye balling the new 2500s as well, but will be waiting a bit before I take the plunge.

I've watched some fast lane truck videos too, and the new gasser was almost 2 minutes slower on the gauntlet, than a 2017 6.0 gasser they tested. But the new truck was towing about 3000lbs more. Can't help but think 4.10 gears would probably do away with that 2 minutes.

Give it some time, and we'll be hearing about the 6.6 gasser, I'm sure. Hopefully it turns out to be as dependable as the 6.0

That test isn’t really anything to go by considering they don’t manually shift like 95% of the people who tow


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^^^^ this. All they had to do was keep it in (maybe?) M3 and they would have gotten much better time. That's what that button is for.

But then the test wouldn't be the same. I know they don't use the best real world method, but for consistency, and comparing apples to apples, I can't think of a better way.

As soon as you start manually shifting, or modulating the throttle, you've added another variable, that is not neccessarily precisely repeatable.