Our Last New Truck

[JEBar]

UPDATE :

filled out truck on our way home from one of Maureen's medical appointment .... the odometer showed that since new we have put 1,561 miles on our truck .... my best guess is that includes roughly 100 miles of interstate driving .... the rest is round town/stop and go driving .... for the entire 1,561 miles she averaged 29.3 mph and 13.5 mpg .... my best guess, based on very limited miles, I believe our nontowing, interstate speed mileage will end up between 15 and 17 mpg

would I like that to be more, absolutely .... am I disappointed, nope .... it is replacing the Freightliner Sportchassis that used for almost 20 years .... over its life with us it averaged less than 9 mpg burning diesel fuel ...

[JEBar]

with no medical appointments today, we plan to take our truck on a bit of a road trip .... the route we normally travel from our home to Raleigh Oaks Campground is just over 30 miles / 50+ minutes ..... the last time we drove over there was in May and at they time there were multiple road construction zones, two of which involved detours .... it is all 2 lane roads with a bit of 55 mph speed limits but the majority of the time speed limits were +/- 45 mph .... I don't like to take unfamiliar detours while towing .... my hope is today's scouting trip will show us that there are no longer any detours .... on our way back we plan to take a bit longer route traveling I-95 and I-40 .... if things go as we hope, we will more than double the amount of time our truck will have run at interstate speeds .... its around home non-towing gas mileage has settled into the 13+ to 15- range .... looking forward to learning about her non-towing interstate mileage

[JEBar]

the short road trip mentioned above provided us with some interesting info .... when going the usual way over 2 lane roads is 28 miles the distance from our home to the campground and we got 15.8 mpg .... when traveling the route that is mostly interstate highway, the distance is 30.9 miles .... we about half the time the cruse was set at 65 and the other half at 70 .... over that distance she got 17.7 mpg .... I'm not unhappy with either of them ..... I was mildly surprised that there wasn't a bigger difference mileages .... in about two weeks we will be towing our camper over one or possibly both routes .... looking forward to what we will learn about the towing mileages when we tow our camper for the first time

[JEBar]

just got home from our first tow with our new truck which has just under 2,000 miles on it ..... we were towing our 20 year old, heavy 5er .... the campground where we spent our over on Friday afternoon and back home Sunday morning weekend is about 30 miles from our house .... going over there we traveled 2 lane roads where the highest speed limit was 55, most of it 45 or less .... rolling terrain, with about a dozen stop signs/traffic lights .... per the truck's computer we averaged 7.5 mpg .... towing the same camper over the same roads with our former Freightliner Sportchassis with a Mercedes diesel we'd get about 8 mpg .... on the way back we drove over about about half of the same 2 lane two lane roads and the other half on Interstate highways where the speed limit was 65 to 70 mph .... for that our truck showed 6.5 mpg .... these mileages .... unsure how much stock to put into these numbers .... do know that the truck had no trouble towing the camper .... it seemed to handle it with ease .... our next tow is scheduled to be over these same roads for a long weekend in December

[JEBar]

just got home from our first tow with our new truck which has just under 2,000 miles on it ..... we were towing our 20 year old, heavy 5er .... the campground where we spent our over on Friday afternoon and back home Sunday morning weekend is about 30 miles from our house .... going over there we traveled 2 lane roads where the highest speed limit was 55, most of it 45 or less .... rolling terrain, with about a dozen stop signs/traffic lights .... per the truck's computer we averaged 7.5 mpg .... towing the same camper over the same roads with our former Freightliner Sportchassis with a Mercedes diesel we'd get about 8 mpg .... on the way back we drove over about about half of the same 2 lane two lane roads and the other half on Interstate highways where the speed limit was 65 to 70 mph .... for that our truck showed 6.5 mpg .... these mileages .... unsure how much stock to put into these numbers .... do know that the truck had no trouble towing the camper .... it seemed to handle it with ease .... our next tow is scheduled to be over these same roads for a long weekend in December

[JEBar]

tomorrow morning (Wed Nov 26) we plan to take our new truck on its first interstate cruise from our home in central NC roughly 300 miles west to Asheville in the Great Smoky Mountains .... her odometer showed 2,012 when we dropped her off at our favorite local garage for her first oil/filter change .... we a couple of days later we plan to return home .... we will be on I-40 which has speed limits from 55 to 70 ....with tomorrow being Thanksgiving Eve we expect heavy traffic but hope by getting on the road early we will avoid the traditionally very heavy PM traffic

[JEBar]

unfortunately, as a result of Maureen experiencing an attack of vertigo, our Thanksgiving trip (mentioned above) had to be cancelled .... as this is being typed we are setup in our camper at Four Oaks, NC .... we are here for out last club campout in 2025 .... its cold and is supposed to get much colder late this weekend with a low of 16 .... this is the second tow for our Chevy 2500 .... her odometer clicked over 2500 miles on the way over .... she still runs strong and I'm gradually growing more at ease driving her .... I'm still learning about features and still don't know exactly what all the buttons are for .... I'm very pleased with the way she handles towing our camper .... I have learned that she gets lower 65 +/- MPH towing mileage when on cruise control .... so far, not using the cruise control, I feel comfortable that I can get her to average 8 to 9 MPG

[The Wiz]

Sorry about Maureen, hope she feeling better.

[JEBar]

as she sits out in our driveway as this is being typed, our 2500 has 2,706 miles showing on the odometer ..... she's pretty much settled into getting approximately 12MPG while driven in daily use .... her tank holds 36 gallons of fuel .... I just returned home from pumping 32 gallons to fill her tank in preparation for a 540 mile road trip .... this will be the trucks first interstate cruise and I'm looking forward to seeing what her mileage will be ....we will be on I-40 for more than 500 of the miles .... my plan is to set the cruise on whatever the posted speed limit may be ..... for the most part that will be 65 with a couple of hundred being 70

[Sir Henry]

as she sits out in our driveway as this is being typed, our 2500 has 2,706 miles showing on the odometer ..... she's pretty much settled into getting approximately 12MPG while driven in daily use .... her tank holds 36 gallons of fuel .... I just returned home from pumping 32 gallons to fill her tank in preparation for a 540 mile road trip .... this will be the trucks first interstate cruise and I'm looking forward to seeing what her mileage will be ....we will be on I-40 for more than 500 of the miles .... my plan is to set the cruise on whatever the posted speed limit may be ..... for the most part that will be 65 with a couple of hundred being 70

Keep us posted.

[JEBar]

Keep us posted.

well, our truck has made its first cross state cruise .... the numbers are in and don't look all that bad ....

3,242 miles driven since purchased --- 13.4 average MPG for the entire distance

best average for any individual 50 mile stretch since purchase --- 20.3 MPG

average for all individual 50 mile stretches since purchase --- 15.1 MPG

average for yesterday's total 536.3 mile drive --- 17.1 MPG ...

elevation at home 200 and some odd feet above sea level .... elevation at Asheville 2,000 and some odd feet --- average for the interstate part of the drive up there 17.4 MPG ---- average for the the interstate drive back 18.8 MPG

[Sir Henry]

Keep us posted.

well, our truck has made its first cross state cruise .... the numbers are in and don't look all that bad ....

3,242 miles driven since purchased --- 13.4 average MPG for the entire distance

best average for any individual 50 mile stretch since purchase --- 20.3 MPG

average for all individual 50 mile stretches since purchase --- 15.1 MPG

average for yesterday's total 536.3 mile drive --- 17.1 MPG ...

elevation at home 200 and some odd feet above sea level .... elevation at Asheville 2,000 and some odd feet --- average for the interstate part of the drive up there 17.4 MPG ---- average for the the interstate drive back 18.8 MPG

Elevation sure makes a big difference going uphill.

[JEBar]

Elevation sure makes a big difference going uphill.

it most certainly can and does

[JEBar]

6 MONTHS UPDATE :

we've had our Chevy 2500 HD for just under 6 months .... during that time we've driven it 3,605 miles at an average speed of 28.4 MPH.... during that time its gas mileage has settled in to 13 +/- miles per gallon .... our current tank of gas has taken us 160 miles at an average speed of 30 MPH while getting 13.7 MPG .... today's drive covered 17 miles while averaging 13.9 MPH .... as can easily be seen, almost all of our driving has been short trips in stop and go traffic over rural, two lane roads .... she's proven to very stable and handles really well .... overall we continue to be pleased with it and its performance

[daytime dave]

I'm glad you like it Jim. The gas mileage sounds reasonable.

[Sir Henry]

Ditto Jim on you liking it.

[JEBar]

we just returned from a 4 day camping outing with our club .... when we got home our truck's odometer shows it has been driven 4,638 miles .... it has averaged 13.1 MPG over that entire distance .... on its current tank of gas it has covered 124.9 miles, all but a couple of miles of that were towing our camper and she averaged 9.4 MPG .... so far she's been hitched to our camped 117 miles, during which she averaged 6.59 MPG .... it should be noted that this includes considerable idling while hooking and unhooking; as well as, time for doing many other things ....

some observations :

1. this truck shows absolutely no indications that towing our 15,000+ pounds puts it under stress ....

2. towing the camper in the "tow/haul" setting is a very different experience .... transmission shift points and the exhaust sound are most certainly different

3. handling and ride quality are fine

4. hooking and unhooking are getting easier


I'm still very much in a learning mode .... overall, still well pleased

[BrokenolMarine]

Glad it was the right choice. It seems to be working out well. Not too much truck, and thankfully, it's enough truck. Have had friends purchase towing rigs for boats or horse trailers and discover they bought both, either way too much or not enough.

[JEBar]

Have had friends purchase towing rigs for boats or horse trailers and discover they bought both, either way too much or not enough.

understood and agree .... between having too much or not enough, I'd much rather have too much ..

[BrokenolMarine]

Have had friends purchase towing rigs for boats or horse trailers and discover they bought both, either way too much or not enough.

understood and agree .... between having too much or not enough, I'd much rather have too much ..

Yup, but the problem with way too much is the operating and maintenance costs.
Tires, fuel, service...

"It will shock you how much difference the maintenance runs when you step over a certain line."

A quote from a friend who was told he needed a specific truck to pull the new horse trailer. Turned out they didn't need all that truck. Salesman just needed the larger commission.