I just took a drive in my friend's new Duramax/Allison 6 speed equipped GMC 2500 HD Crew Cab. Nice setup. We have an older 2002 GMC 2500 regular cab with the Duramax & Allison 5 speed.

Anyways, I'd like to know if anyone had heard anything about the new Suburban being available with the Duramax/6 speed Allison tranny? It would seem a natural to me but then again the Suburban has been without a diesel option for some time.

 

They keep tossing around rumors as the previous firewall design did not allow the diesel. But I have heard this rumor for 3-4 years now so I would not hold my breath.

 

They have said they would do it for 5 years and have not. The problem I understand is the Transmission tunnel in the Suburban never had enough room for the allison, not sure in the latest redesign if they addressed that. Hopefully so, it would be a no brainer...

 

I have a friend who is a regional sales rep for GMC and I asked him this just prior to buying my 06 GMC Crew Cab diesel/duramax. I am sure you can guess by now that he said NO since I made the mentioned purchase.

 

That's too bad. It's been a long time since I purchased a vehicle from the General.

Seems kind of shortsighted not to offer the diesel in the Suburban does it not? They'd sell like hotcakes in Texas and it would make a safe, stable, competant tow platform that can be used daily. All those people buying travel trailers, horse trailers, boats etc. would be their clientele.

A pickup truck isn't very useful to me as a daily driver. I guess I'll just use the older pickups at work.

 

Keep the faith Chris... perhaps GMC will one day decide to produce this vehicle.

 

It would need to be in a "heavy duty" 2500 in order to not fall into the emissions requirements that keep diesels out of 1/2 ton pick-ups and other large SUVs. I forget what the exact GVW minimum is to qualify for the reduced emissions standards, but it is fairly high these days.

 

This is 100% correct still, with the new ones. I have a 2007 model, 3/4 ton, and it STILL won't fit the Allison.

That said, some GM folks I know tell me that work is progressing on a lighter-duty turbodiesel V8 that can use a beefed-up version of the 6 speed GM tranny in the Denali's and Escalades. So it won't be quite as powerful as the Duramax, but it will still be better than the 6.0 gasser that I have.

We'll see.

 

The General does offer a Duramax in the Van however, that is my next Griswald family hauler/trailer puller. All the advantages of a truck chassis but room for all my loyal minions.

 

Yeah, but traffic doesn't clear outta the way when they see a van in their rear view mirrors the way it does when they see my dark blue 3/4 ton Yokon XL with all the antennas on it!

 

Speaking of diesels....

Does it make sense to buy a truck, like an F250 SuperCrew that has a diesel for a daily driver and use it to tow 6-8 times a year for no more than 700 miles round trip each time? I'm in construction, so I need a truck, but have been happy with my 2001 F150 SuperCrew.

What is mileage like around town? I drive about 15,000 miles a year. Diesel engines cost more and fuel seems to be $.25 more than regular right now. I have an open trailer now, but was thinking of an enclosed trailer...

What are your thoughts and sorry for the thread hi-jack.

 

I think that turbodiesels will get worse fuel economy around town (stops & starts; frequent use of the turbo) than a gasser, but will get much better fuel economy towing than the gasser due to their exceptional torque.

 

My diesel Excursion does far better in mpg than the gasser equivalent in all conditions, city, highway, and towing. My basis is simply my mileage vs. a friend's friend who had a gas Excursion.

Someone needs to start selling a full size SUV in diesel again. With the demise of the diesel Excursion, there is a hole waiting to be filled. I was hoping the full size Expedition would get a diesel, but as Bull points out, there must be some regulation against it. A diesel Suburban would be nice, as well.

Also, the other value of diesels is that they typically last a long time. So, in computing the value of the diesel, one has to consider how far they will drive the truck. We've been putting ~22k miles/year on our Excursion.

 

My '05 F-250 was getting about 13mpg in town and about 18mpg on highway... While I loved driving it, I found it quite challenging to be with it around town not to mention the fuel economy.

 

I believe it is 8500#.