[trackbird]

After 7 glorious years, I finally retired my faithful 2015 SIlverado 1500. It was a 5.3 with crew cab and the electronic transfer case with the AWD option. We have been using it to tow our camper for about the last year and it did an admirable job overall. Sadly, the brakes were not up to the task and on more than one occasion I ran completely out of truck brakes and the trailer stopped the truck. That finally convinced me that it was time for an upgrade.

Last Monday, I drug home a new Silverado 3500 HD (Crew cab, short bed, 4x4/AWD, diesel with the 10 speed allison, 5th wheel/gooseneck prep, Z71 protection package, etc). I'm trying to put break in mileage on it before the next time I have to tow the camper, but so far I'm really impressed. It feels a lot larger than my last 3500, but it feels remarkably light on its feet with all that torque. GM was supposed to do a facelift and a power upgrade for the diesel in 2023, but they held it until 2024. I picked the truck up Monday, Tuesday I went to the chevrolet.com site and they are now "Introducing the 2024 Silverado HD". Awesome....

Despite that, I really like the truck and the facelift isn't really an improvement (I really think these trucks are rather ugly, but the chrome front end on mine is "less bad") and the diesel seems to have plenty of power so I'm not sure if I'll really care about the upgrade. Maybe I'll trade it in a few years....maybe I won't.

I've been trying to verify that the shocks didn't change between 2022 and 2023 so I can order Fox shocks for it. The OEM ranchos provide almost zero damping.

Also, I ordered the Advanced Trailering Package with the multiple camera views. However, you have to buy the "technology package" to get all of the camera views. So, I don't have the front bumper view (could be nice for parking) or the trailer side view cameras (that would be great for pulling around tight corners, etc). I'm a little irritated that the "Advanced Trailering Package" isn't the complete package unless you take lane departure warnings, parking assist, etc....all stuff I specifically didn't want.

So, be aware if you order one, check that stuff out. I ordered this one June 19th, give or take and got it last Monday. I hope I'm not sorry I bought a diesel.

[Hardrvin]

The diesel prices are a bit crushing. With that said, I’ve done side by side pulls to tracks with similar trailer setups, and at “normal” towing speeds, I’d get almost double the fuel economy compared to a gasser. But with the diesel, it’s always tempting to tow that 5~10mph faster just because it can. And that just drags the fuel economy down incredibly.

[trackbird]

Glad you're enjoying the new truck, even if you're hating paying for diesel. We still dig our old '02, even with the price of diesel. Unfortunately, when we bought the '02, diesel was cheaper than gasoline, and was for a while. Then, the switch 'flipped' and hasn't returned, sadly.

Note that you be careful 'upgrading' the tires to anything larger. It will hurt the MPG, if you care about that. We were in the 18 MPG range, then went up a couple of sizes of tire on ours, which brought MPG down in the mid-14 range. Still, though, that's almost 100% of the time with the car getting dragged to different events.

This thing has 34" wheels on it from the factory with 20" wheels. I don't have any plans to increase the size of the tires on this truck. GM actually put 3.42 gears in it with the 10 speed and I'm happy with the combination.

The diesel prices are a bit crushing. With that said, I’ve done side by side pulls to tracks with similar trailer setups, and at “normal” towing speeds, I’d get almost double the fuel economy compared to a gasser. But with the diesel, it’s always tempting to tow that 5~10mph faster just because it can. And that just drags the fuel economy down incredibly.

I agree. I struggled to average 7.5 mpg with my 5.3 liter gas truck...that was including the times we ran around unloaded. Otherwise we were getting 3-6 MPG much of the time. I've heard these trucks will increase fuel mileage once they break in. A friend said that took about 20k miles on his last two diesels. I don't know exactly what the break in looks like on these trucks. I am doing a fair amount of towing. I'll likely tow 4,500 miles next summer.

I took it through the mountains of western MD and through WV and down into VA. We "reset" the "best 50 mile average" to 21.3 mpg with the cruise on 72 MPH.

[CrashTestDummy]

<SNIP>

I took it through the mountains of western MD and through WV and down into VA. We "reset" the "best 50 mile average" to 21.3 mpg with the cruise on 72 MPH.

That's some GREAT mileage there!

[trackbird]

<SNIP>

I took it through the mountains of western MD and through WV and down into VA. We "reset" the "best 50 mile average" to 21.3 mpg with the cruise on 72 MPH.

That's some GREAT mileage there!

I certainly wasn't mad about it. We left central Ohio for the Hagerstown, MD area, then south to Harrisonburg, VA and then out to Elkton Va. 530 miles on a tank and 90+ miles to empty on the display. Averaged 17.0 mpg per the dish display. I have not tested it with a calculator to see how accurate it is at this time. I threw 15 gallons of diesel in it (I had cans in the bed) and drove it to the VA line (an hour and change away) and stopped at a truck stop (fuel is cheaper in VA than in WV, often by a lot). Topped it off there, drove around town for 4 days, threw a 5 gallon can in it and came back to Columbus with 8 gallons or so in the tank. Averaging another 17+ mpg for the trip home through the mountains of western MD.