Topic: Day-by-Day Review: 2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD; Day 1

[Autos_Editor]

The 2015 GMC Sierra 2500HD -- one tough truck
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[Ex-airbalancer]

High Idle Switch — $250?
Is this truck costly , yes, but it a truck that you can make money with, you cannot make money with an Audi, MB, Lexus, BMW

[Northernridge]

Hey! An HD truck review where the truck will be put through its paces...outstanding.   

You've commented several times about the towing experience with the Lexus... I'm glad you'll be hauling the race trailer several times which should give you a sense of how well an HD pickup would fair compared to you're current tow rig. I don't just mean outright towing and trailer control but liveability as a support vehicle for the racing experience.

[Fobroader]

$200 + for chrome bloody tow hooks?  I love the look of the GMC/Chev trucks but I can't get over the idiotic placement of the DEF tank....right behind the front wheel, very low to the ground.

[tooscoops]

some of those "options" are definitely silly... as a sales person, i can already hear the customer saying, "i'm paying 80+ and you can't throw in a 4x4 sticker and some tow hooks!?

but as i've said before.. the 2500 from the gm brothers are definitely a solid truck... i just personally wouldn't be getting it up to this level of kit.

enjoy the truck! i want you to put it through some paces with a load... curious to see what 6000lbs will do to it, if you even feel it!

[Blueprint]

90k$...

And to think this rig shares dna with the C10 Custom Deluxe I learned to drive in on my grandad's farm. Just for the heck of it, I tried to max out a 2wd Sierra single cab 8' box (what a full-size truck should be IMHO) and had trouble reaching 38k$.

[Silverbird]

Love the $100 4WD decal.  Thought that would be included for the cost increase of going from 4X2 to 4X4.

[redman]

"easily enough for 1,000 lb of wood pellets in fact." I guess you using the pellets as a heating source ? Looked into that also but pellets are not that easy to come by here in the GTA.
Seems like a beefy truck but I agree. Where does the price point end ?

[Fobroader]

"easily enough for 1,000 lb of wood pellets in fact." I guess you using the pellets as a heating source ? Looked into that also but pellets are not that easy to come by here in the GTA.
Seems like a beefy truck but I agree. Where does the price point end ?

This is about the top end for GM....a one ton dually will add a few grand on top. Thing is, at this price point, the Denali line starts making sense.

[Northernridge]

So, for someone who routinely hauls multi-ton loads and tows north of 6-7,000lbs 3/4 trucks make for a great solution. Near commercial truck capability with consumer comforts and pretty good drivability.

Although the review didn't make mention, the truck's ability to safely haul/tow these loads everyday as opposed to just having the ability to execute, is a huge deal. Towing a max load through the mountains with the engine brake for example is a major safety feature.

[SaskSpecV]

So, for someone who routinely hauls multi-ton loads and tows north of 6-7,000lbs 3/4 trucks make for a great solution. Near commercial truck capability with consumer comforts and pretty good drivability.

Although the review didn't make mention, the truck's ability to safely haul/tow these loads everyday as opposed to just having the ability to execute, is a huge deal. Towing a max load through the mountains with the engine brake for example is a major safety feature.

This is the sort-of dilemma my wife is facing when considering her next truck - she tows her horse (sometimes horses) infrequently, maybe 3 - 5 times per year.  There's usually a couple of longer drives to Alberta in there, but no mountain passes (yet, maybe in the future).  Total weight is in the 5.5 - 6K pound range for one horse, likely about 6.5 - 7.5K pound for two. The F150 can do one horse OK - but not very happily, or easily (despite its 8100 lb BS-tow rating). She won't use it for towing two horses.

So she wants a gooseneck trailer with a different loading design (long story), but the upshot is she'd (likely?) need a 6.5' box instead of the current 5.5' box.  She's also thinking a 3/4 tonne truck would be required - it would certainly make the towing easier, but if only towing long distance twice a year, is it worth it over a 1/2 tonne with max towing capacity? (3.5 EB or 6.2L F150, 6.2L GM, 5.7L Ram, 5.7L Tundra - all with highest numerical axle ratio of course)  She doesn't want a diesel 3/4 tonne - the truck will only be driven 5 - 10K km per year, and not worth the extra cost.   So is a gas 3/4 tonne truck significantly more appropriate than the equivalent engine in a half-tonne?  Now that all the MNFR use the SAE towing capacity standard, at least the numbers are comparable. But is a half-tonne truck really sufficient for these types of loads, even if infrequent and only on flat prairie?  All you serious towers out there, any opinions?

FWIW, I say just rent or borrow a damn 3/4 tonne for 4 days, twice a year - makes more sense to me than getting a different truck! But then she retorts with "we really don't need a new family vehicle, either, yet you insist on looking at wagons/CUVs"... Touche!

Of course, even if she gets a 3/4 tonne it would be the antithesis of this $80K rig that Wing is piloting!

[Northernridge]

That's a conundrum given that her long trips are infrequent. My reference is towing a 7-8,000lb camper trailer full of gear with my family in the truck on mulit-thousand km road trips. It's inevitable that one will experience an 'oh no' from time to time and encounter difficult driving conditions (strong wind, high heat, etc). So I opted for 3/4 ton gas trucks and then a diesel to improve mileage but the torque gain turned out to be the bigger benefit.

In you wife's case I'd suggest on older diesel powered Dodge or Chevy and if diesel is out of the question then a gas 3/4 or 1 ton truck. The good news is that HD gas engine trucks have low resale value so she should be able to find a reasonably priced one.

For me it comes down to that fact that you're taking (or sending) your loved ones off for hundreds/thousand of km of driving with a massive load...gotta make decisions from that perspective.

[SaskSpecV]

That's a conundrum given that her long trips are infrequent. My reference is towing a 7-8,000lb camper trailer full of gear with my family in the truck on mulit-thousand km road trips. It's inevitable that one will experience an 'oh no' from time to time and encounter difficult driving conditions (strong wind, high heat, etc). So I opted for 3/4 ton gas trucks and then a diesel to improve mileage but the torque gain turned out to be the bigger benefit.

In you wife's case I'd suggest on older diesel powered Dodge or Chevy and if diesel is out of the question then a gas 3/4 or 1 ton truck. The good news is that HD gas engine trucks have low resale value so she should be able to find a reasonably priced one.

For me it comes down to that fact that you're taking (or sending) your loved ones off for hundreds/thousand of km of driving with a massive load...gotta make decisions from that perspective.

Very good points, and obviously the differences in usage come into play.  The (theoretically) low resale of the gas 3/4 tonnes is what makes this discussion feasible for my wife.  We just don't drive the truck enough to warrant buying a new one, so buying used makes more sense.  And out here there's amazing used selection - the problem is, the used truck prices at dealerships are often ridiculous (I know there's lots of haggling room there, so we'd have to start those discussions when serious), and the private truck sales have the increased risk element (especially for former work trucks). 

I think my wife did really well when buying her F150 used, but it obviously wasn't someone's beat-up work truck (Shortbed extended cab, 2WD, with a sunroof!)  But buying a used 3/4 tonne privately?  Maybe should try to buy from someone like yourself, who has used the vehicle to tow a camper, and obviously not for heavy-duty work.  You just hear too many horror stories about the "only" 3 year old work truck with 200K km that has been to hell and back, and beaten on by employees who don't give a damn.  "But it's a steal of a deal!"

[Vanstar]

For price of this, I could get another Hino 308, a real work truck.

[Fobroader]

That's a conundrum given that her long trips are infrequent. My reference is towing a 7-8,000lb camper trailer full of gear with my family in the truck on mulit-thousand km road trips. It's inevitable that one will experience an 'oh no' from time to time and encounter difficult driving conditions (strong wind, high heat, etc). So I opted for 3/4 ton gas trucks and then a diesel to improve mileage but the torque gain turned out to be the bigger benefit.

In you wife's case I'd suggest on older diesel powered Dodge or Chevy and if diesel is out of the question then a gas 3/4 or 1 ton truck. The good news is that HD gas engine trucks have low resale value so she should be able to find a reasonably priced one.

For me it comes down to that fact that you're taking (or sending) your loved ones off for hundreds/thousand of km of driving with a massive load...gotta make decisions from that perspective.

Very good points, and obviously the differences in usage come into play.  The (theoretically) low resale of the gas 3/4 tonnes is what makes this discussion feasible for my wife.  We just don't drive the truck enough to warrant buying a new one, so buying used makes more sense.  And out here there's amazing used selection - the problem is, the used truck prices at dealerships are often ridiculous (I know there's lots of haggling room there, so we'd have to start those discussions when serious), and the private truck sales have the increased risk element (especially for former work trucks). 

I think my wife did really well when buying her F150 used, but it obviously wasn't someone's beat-up work truck (Shortbed extended cab, 2WD, with a sunroof!)  But buying a used 3/4 tonne privately?  Maybe should try to buy from someone like yourself, who has used the vehicle to tow a camper, and obviously not for heavy-duty work.  You just hear too many horror stories about the "only" 3 year old work truck with 200K km that has been to hell and back, and beaten on by employees who don't give a damn.  "But it's a steal of a deal!"

When I was looking to buy my truck I found the most perfect truck, it was a 2005 1 ton, dually, crew cab, 4x4, full load SLT with an 8.1 V8 and an Allison transmission. As I wasn't as well versed in the newer GM truck, the 8.1 scared me because I though it would be twice the fuel mileage of the 6L I eventually bought......it wasnt. I passed up a great, low mileage, grandpa that used it to haul a 5th wheel truck. They are out there and its easy to see whether or not they have been used for work or play.

[Firm]

I tested the Chevy version of this truck back in the summer and echo Jame's thoughts. I hauled similar weight in the bed (approx 4000lbs) and the change in driving dynamics of the truck was barely noticable. Very impressive truck!  Pricing does throw up a few question marks, but like with most pickups I suspect you'd be able to cut yourself a pretty good deal for something sitting on the dealer's lot and get a lot of the "frills" thrown in.

[Fobroader]

I tested the Chevy version of this truck back in the summer and echo Jame's thoughts. I hauled similar weight in the bed (approx 4000lbs) and the change in driving dynamics of the truck was barely noticable. Very impressive truck!  Pricing does throw up a few question marks, but like with most pickups I suspect you'd be able to cut yourself a pretty good deal for something sitting on the dealer's lot and get a lot of the "frills" thrown in.

All you need is a bedliner, gooseneck hitch and some step bars 

[Firm]

All you "need" yes.  But when I was working in the summer those ventilated seats and a good stereo were very much appreciated.

[Northernridge]

As a side note, a gooseneck hitch/trailer setup is awesome both for hitching/unhitching and especially good during towing. Excellent trailer control.

[Fobroader]

All you "need" yes.  But when I was working in the summer those ventilated seats and a good stereo were very much appreciated.

Oh, I thought to get at the dealer....oh yeah, I agree....heated/cooled seats, heated steering wheel, a nice stereo and maybe even a sunroof are nice to have.