new truck

[Lloyd Smale]

picked up a 2024 silverado rst yesterday. i actually liked my ram other than it gets about 4mpg less than my chevs did. main reason i went back to chev is because ram is ditching v8s and going to twin turbo 6s. comical thing is they did it to appease the government and the reviews i read it gets even worse fuel mileage than the hemi. i wont have a full sized truck without a v8 and am sure not buying a first year production new motor. even had this one undercoated and rust proofed because at my age it just might be my last new one. trip to the dealer in the ram i got 17mpg. trip back in the chev i got 21.5. i was worried that with the 10 speed it would drive me nuts shifting all the time but you have to pay attention to even feel it shift. one thing thats real cool on it is the power up and down tail gate that you also can open and close automatically. i like the ram and if they werent caving to the feds and kept a v8 i might have bought different. the ram sucked gas but that hemi has more guts than the 5.3

[Drilling Man]

  I guess if you wanted more guts in the Chevy, you should have got the 6.2L...

  My brother switched from Dodge to a Chevy with the inline 6 diesel.  That thing gets mpg in the 30's, and it's quiet with decent power.  He also said that with a small trailer behind it, it "loses" 10 MPG.

  It's not for me, but he really likes it.

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

6.2s suck gas and have oil consumption issues. i thought hard on a diesel they had but thought to hard and someone else bought it. worked out ok though because to keep me as a customer because a local gmc dealer had one they tacked on 3k to what they quoted me on my trade and it was already a good offer. about any new truck drops about 10mpg with a trailer. even my empty 14 foot atv trailer would knock 10mpg off my5.3 silverados and my ram. there set up to get the absolute best mpg empty driving 60. my ram also hit a wall at 65. drive it 70 and you lost 4mpg compared to 60. that said were still lucky. i grew up with 4x4s and remember 1/2 tons lucky to get 12 empty.

  I guess if you wanted more guts in the Chevy, you should have got the 6.2L...

  My brother switched from Dodge to a Chevy with the inline 6 diesel.  That thing gets mpg in the 30's, and it's quiet with decent power.  He also said that with a small trailer behind it, it "loses" 10 MPG.

  It's not for me, but he really likes it.

  DM

[Drilling Man]

  I don't know about the 6.2's sucking gas and having oil problems, I have a couple friends with them, and it looks like 18 to 19 average is what they are getting (driven decent) and NO oil problems at all.  Yeaa, that's no 5.3 millage, but not all that bad for the added power.

  I grew up with old 4x4 pu's too, in 1972 I bought my first one NEW, a Chevy 350 4 speed with posi front and rear, spl. ordered it and waited to get it, as I wanted that front posi.  lol

  Yeaa, they liked gas, but gas was only 20 cents a gallon around here!

  BTW, I love my Silverado with its 5.3 V8.

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

i drove a 6.2 a while back and there real animals that out accelerate many performance cars. but if i feel the need for speed ive got my 392 challenger. to be honest though anymore the wife drives it more than me. my bum legs dont do well with a stick for more than a short ride

[Lloyd Smale]

BTW, I love my Silverado with its 5.3 V8.

probably  the best v8 gas engine ever made. heck you could probably spin the odometer back on my old 2006 that has a 100k on it and sell it as a 20k mileage truck. it runs and looks new. ive had 7 5.3 chevs 8 including the gmc and havent had a single driveline issue with any of them. my 2006 silverado was a testament to that. sold it to my buddy at a 120k and he pulled a 26 foot camper all over the country with it and it just turned 300k. last 5 years its been his plow truck. its a rusted hulk now but the engine and tranny have never been touched and it still doesnt use oil (less than a quart every 5k) and shifts perfectly. heck you even see many street and track mustangs with modified LS motors. when's the last time youve seen a chev with a ford or mopar motor swapped into it???  ive seen stock ls motors supercharged running 10-12lbs of boost. do that to my 392 and one trip down the quarter and youd have to go back and pick up the rods and clean the oil slick.

[Drilling Man]

  And yet, there's guys that think the 5.3's have problems and won't buy them.

  A few weeks ago I went to Tn. and bought a tractor,



  My 5.3 made the 1,600 mile trip without a whimper, and even though it was a bit buzzy on the hills, it never ran out of power or even begin to heat up, and that includes the transmission.

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

most are probably just chev haters. i can pull up any motor on the internet and find some know it all bashing them. most are wet behind the ears self proclaimed experts in there 20s. anyone that knows trucks and motors know how good they are.

  And yet, there's guys that think the 5.3's have problems and won't buy them.

  A few weeks ago I went to Tn. and bought a tractor,



  My 5.3 made the 1,600 mile trip without a whimper, and even though it was a bit buzzy on the hills, it never ran out of power or even begin to heat up, and that includes the transmission.

  DM

[Graybeard]

My LAST and yes I do mean the last one I'll ever own, was a '73 Silverado bought brand new. Total brake failure at 300 miles and I was coming off the tallest mountain in Alabama at the time of failure. That was a fun trip down.

At 3000 miles the transmission spilled it's guts. They had it about a month that time to get it fixed. I can't recall all the times it had to go back for service in the short time I owned it but it was many.

I swore I'd never own a GM product again and have not and never will. I'd not take one if offered for free.

I traded it on an '85 Bronco that never had an issue until I traded it on an '88 Bronco. The '88 was as good as the '86 but I had over $8000 of extras added to it before I picked it up. i think every dang add on to it went bad in the first year at least once. What Ford had built was fine but not so all those extras.

My last Bronco was a '92 bought used with about 10,000 on it. I drove that one until 2004 when I sold it to Matt and bought my first Toyota Tundra. I've driven nothing but Toyota since. They don't get the best gas mileage but no more than I drive gas mileage just doesn't matter. I'm about a 2500 mile a year driver.

Other than the not great gas mileage I've found nothing to complain about with my Toyota trucks. I figure the 2017 I now drive with outlast me by a long sight. Matt now has almost 200,000 on my 2011 I gave him when it had 12,000 on it. At most I might have to replace the tires on the 2017 Tundra before I hang up my keys for the last time. It won't need anything else.

[Lloyd Smale]

same thing with ford for with me. my dad bought a new 77 f150 with what some call one of fords best engines. it threw a rod at 3k. they put a replacement engine in it and it did the same at 12k and they told him the warrantee was up. i had my buddy who built engines for a living rebuild it and he found that  2 of the 6 cylinders were bored to small right from the factory. he got it done and i sold it a week later and bought a chev and nevr looked back. come to find out later he wasnt the only one that had the problem. they let like 5k of those motors out knowing there was a problem and 2 years later offered to replace it. but they wouldnt refund me the cost of the rebuilt. he detested fords ever since and so have I. probably silly to jug a brand by one bad vehicle. truth is they are all light years better than anything from the 70s or 80s.

[Casull]

I drive a Ram now, but had a Tahoe for years.  Unlike Lloyd's magical 5.3, the very best mileage I got on the highway was 18 and driving to work was 13 to 14.  Other than mpg's, it was a good engine though.  Sold it with 250,000 miles. Still running well.  But, as far as mpg, I'll trust Fuelly.  According to the reported mileage there (thousands of vehicles and millions of miles), the 5.3 seems to average about 16.5 and the hemi about 1 mpg less.

[Lloyd Smale]

remember i live where thers no 4 lane roads and the speed limit is 55 in 95 percent of the area. drive my ram 60 or less and  it wo uld get 17-18 drive it 70 and your lucky to see 15. my last silverado got 21mpg on a trip my wife took to detroit with the the 2017. i put 33" tires on this one right at the dealership and the 60 mile trip with a bit of in town it got 18. same trip in the ram on the way there (with 33s too with the exact same tire) the ram got 16.5. wife drove both ways so i could get a fair comparison.  i have no doubt even with the tires on a strictly highway run i could get 20. but again im talking driving 60. with the stock 32 highway weenies id bet money on over 20. heck my old tech gmc 5.3 4x4 short box standard cab wil get 20 and thats near 20 year old tech. granted it is lighter though. im a straight shooter and dont bs. rams are gas hogs and from what ive read the new twinn turbo 6 is even worse. all that said the chev doesnt have the snort the hemi has.

[Casull]

Well, like I said, the Fuelly app is probably going to give the most accurate average.  I've put 5,000 on my Ram and the worst mileage was 16.4 and the best was 20.2.  And that is without doing any long straight highway driving.  Again, my Tahoe (which was old tech) never got more than 18 highway and that was on a couple of 900 mile trips to visit family.  Also, all my mileage checks were hand calculated.  The computers are notoriously inaccurate.  Lloyd, you weren't relying on the dash calculation were you?

[Drilling Man]

  I'm sure glad I got a "magic" 5.3 like Lloyds, cuz mine has no problem at all getting 20 mpg + just driving around, and that's using paper and pencil to check the fuel millage.

  My brother bought three dodges in a row, (the one that has the Chevy inline 6 diesel now) none of them would even get 20 mpg, so there ya go...

  DM

[Mule 11]

  I'm sure glad I got a "magic" 5.3 like Lloyds, cuz mine has no problem at all getting 20 mpg + just driving around, and that's using paper and pencil to check the fuel millage.

  My brother bought three dodges in a row, (the one that has the Chevy inline 6 diesel now) none of them would even get 20 mpg, so there ya go...

  DM

I have one truck and 2 suv’s And I doubt I get 20 mpg in any of em. Now I don’t use a scratch pad or the onboard computer so, could be wrong again... I also has an ahole with a lead foot behind the wheel . What’s the use of all that horsepower if ya don’t use it?

[Casull]

  I'm sure glad I got a "magic" 5.3 like Lloyds, cuz mine has no problem at all getting 20 mpg + just driving around, and that's using paper and pencil to check the fuel millage.

  My brother bought three dodges in a row, (the one that has the Chevy inline 6 diesel now) none of them would even get 20 mpg, so there ya go...

  DM

Well, good for you.  I guess it must be all the others that dragged that average down to 16.5 mpg.

[Drilling Man]

  When it comes to trucks, I now have a ford a dodge and two Chevys, the ford could only DREAM of getting 20 mpg, the dodge might do it on a VERY good day, it's Cummins powered, and both the Chevys will get 20, with my 5.3 Silverado easily getting 20 any day of the week!

  When it comes to mpg, the newer the better, that's the secret.  Even a few years makes a difference.

  I have a Chevy Impala that will easily get 25+ mpg (305hp V6) and it has 260,000 miles on it, it was my wife's daily driver and has been the best car we have ever owned.

  DM

[Casull]

Look at Fuelly.  They list the averages for the last 5 or 6 years.  They're all in that range.

[Lloyd Smale]

the ram was figured on paper many times. as were my 15 and 17 silverado. best tank on the 15 was 21. the 17 23. the ram 18. the new one is only the display reading coming home from the dealer. i havent even drove it yet. it has about a 100 miles and its the wifes vehicle and shes the only one who drove it. i dont think anyone whos honest will claim a hemi ram gets as good fuel economy as a 5.3 chev. epa figures? i guess if you trust the government. im not bashing the rams. mine was a good truck but it just liked the gas stations. if the government appeasers at ram would have put all that R&D money into building a better v8 instead of caving and building a twinn turbo 6 i would have bought another but that decision might just be what destroys ram altogether. there are alot of ram buyers like me that just wont settle for anything but a v8 in a full size truck that wikk abandon the brand because of it.

Well, like I said, the Fuelly app is probably going to give the most accurate average.  I've put 5,000 on my Ram and the worst mileage was 16.4 and the best was 20.2.  And that is without doing any long straight highway driving.  Again, my Tahoe (which was old tech) never got more than 18 highway and that was on a couple of 900 mile trips to visit family.  Also, all my mileage checks were hand calculated.  The computers are notoriously inaccurate.  Lloyd, you weren't relying on the dash calculation were you?

[Casull]

Lloyd, those weren't EPA figures.  And, by the way, I believe Ram is still selling 24's with the hemi.

[Drilling Man]

  24's will have the Hemi, but 25's will be out early summer and they won't have V8's in them.

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

Lloyd, those weren't EPA figures.  And, by the way, I believe Ram is still selling 24's with the hemi.

yes they are but this is partly my discust for them caving to the government leftists

[Lloyd Smale]

well first gas milage test with 500 miles at the start. i make a 320 mile loop trip to the va hospital about 4 times a year. its about 80% highway (2 lane) and 20% in town. rams last 2 tips saw 16.2 (winter) 16.7 summer. today the silverado with the exact same 33in tires (dealership swapped them out) got 20.4 so @4mpg better. thats real world driving including passing slow cars and mostly driving 63 in the 55 zones with both trucks. not intentionaly trying to milk extra miles out of it. matter of fact both the summer ram trip and this one were with the wife driving. about as real world as it gets