Suburban Diesel Fuel Mileage Test

[FishOnOne]

TFL drove a Surburban with a Duramax diesel made ~27mpg with a range of 612 miles driving on fumes. Pretty impressive setup but again highway miles is where todays diesel emission diesels shine.

Link

[IdaD]

The cost arguments about gas vs diesel are generally stupid at a consumer level. Sometimes one is a little cheaper, sometimes the other. Generally speaking when you throw all factors into play there's not enough of a cost difference to matter relative to total ownership cost. There sure isn't to me, anyway.

That's why I'm not really sold on the baby diesels. They're more complicated and you've got more emission **** to deal with, yet they don't perform any better. The huge advantage of the Cummins, D-Max and Powerstroke is they're not turds like their gas counterparts.

[Gene_K_2]

APT wrote:
$1k upcharge for the diesel on the Suburban is the lowest of any diesel in the US market today. I bet that option costs more in a few years. Also, resale and the driving experience of the diesel is different than the 5.3L. 4WD EPA estimates are 20mpg city, 26mpg highway. That's almost exactly the same as my Subaru Outback at 20/27. I cannot imaging getting 22mpg in a full sized SUV as a daily driver.

I had a diesel(gate) Passat. No mathematical analysis could justify the upcharge in that car. But I loved driving it for 80k miles which was better than almost every mid size 6-cyl car I had before (and my current Outback 3.6)..

Why? My old 5.9L 12V 5-spd Cummins 3/4 Ton Dodge Reg Cab weighed 5400 lb curb and averaged 21.5 mpg with or without the boat in town or out. The only thing that would drop it was a high frontal area trailer. I wouldn't think the Suburban was that much heavier and they have had 25 years to offset the emissions rules losses and it runs a lot smaller engine and passenger tires.

[RoyJ]

GDS-3950BH wrote:
Around here with diesel running around $0.45 to $0.55 more per gallon than unleaded consistently, sometimes more, it's a wash. 2018 Burb with 6.0 would get a consistent 19.5 highway.

20 gallons UL @ 19.5mpg @ $2.50 = $50.00/390 miles/ $0.1282 per mile.
20 gallons D @ 27mpg @ $3.00 = $60.00/540 miles/ $0.1111 per mile.

I guess if saving $0.0171 per mile gets you off, it's incredible, thats a whopping $1710 over 100K miles which pays for the $1000.00 upcharge to the 3.0, with $710.00 to spare. Just hope the difference between fuels does not increase to $0.60 or god forbid $0.70

TFL......LOL......those guys need to get real jobs. They have too much time on their hands and too many cult like followers paying them to do basically nothing providing useless info and reviews/tests such as those IKE towing comparisons.

And 87 octane is 80 cents / gal higher than diesel up here. Give credit when credit is due - this engine is amazing as far as efficiency goes. (reliability is yet to be seen)

Try producing video content like TFL, it'll humble you on what "real work" is.

[APT]

Bionic, video showed cruise set @75mph during some shots, but unsure if that was the whole trip. The host said while he wasn't hypermiling, we wasn't driving quite as aggressively as he normally would.

Weight (at least 300 pounds of extra for LWB) does not have much impact on fuel economy. This is also aligns with people who tow RVs. 🙂

[Bionic_Man]

FWIW it’s a regular wheelbase Yukon they tested not the extended XL or Burb. Not sure how much of a difference that makes in mileage but I’m sure it is something.

I wish they would have mentioned what they set cruise control at. 70 vs 80 makes a huge difference.

That said anyway you look at it, impressive mileage in what looks like a significant upgrade vs the previous generation SUV.

I’m glad GM is putting the 3.0 in that truck. I wish you could get one in the Wagoner. Would make a great boat puller.

[APT]

$1k upcharge for the diesel on the Suburban is the lowest of any diesel in the US market today. I bet that option costs more in a few years. Also, resale and the driving experience of the diesel is different than the 5.3L. 4WD EPA estimates are 20mpg city, 26mpg highway. That's almost exactly the same as my Subaru Outback at 20/27. I cannot imaging getting 22mpg in a full sized SUV as a daily driver.

I had a diesel(gate) Passat. No mathematical analysis could justify the upcharge in that car. But I loved driving it for 80k miles which was better than almost every mid size 6-cyl car I had before (and my current Outback 3.6)..

[Grit_dog]

And anyone who gets 19mpg out of a 6 liter 3/4ton Burb, drivin miss daisy would probably get 30+ out of the baby Dirtymax.
My 1/2 ton gets 15+ avg. Low-mid 20s even, would be a significant gain.
I tried that line on my boss for my new company truck...didn’t work.

[Huntindog]

GDS-3950BH wrote:
Around here with diesel running around $0.45 to $0.55 more per gallon than unleaded consistently, sometimes more, it's a wash. 2018 Burb with 6.0 would get a consistent 19.5 highway.

20 gallons UL @ 19.5mpg @ $2.50 = $50.00/390 miles/ $0.1282 per mile.
20 gallons D @ 27mpg @ $3.00 = $60.00/540 miles/ $0.1111 per mile.

I guess if saving $0.0171 per mile gets you off, it's incredible, thats a whopping $1710 over 100K miles which pays for the $1000.00 upcharge to the 3.0, with $710.00 to spare. Just hope the difference between fuels does not increase to $0.60 or god forbid $0.70

TFL......LOL......those guys need to get real jobs. They have too much time on their hands and too many cult like followers paying them to do basically nothing providing useless info and reviews/tests such as those IKE towing comparisons.

There is always someone that wants to tout what the price difference is in their small corner of the world. It is IMO a poor way to make a vehicle decision. Gas and diesel prices are ALWAYS changing. There are times when diesel is quite a bit cheaper than gas (the gas lovers are nowhere to be found on the forums then) and their are times when the opposite is true.
There are 3 constants in this:
#1Gas proponents loudly proclaim gas advantages when the price of it is low.
#2Diesel fans do the same when it's price is low.
#3Diesel ALWAYS gets better MPGs.

BTW, We have both gas and diesel vehicles in our household. It has come in handy in times when there was a gas availability problem,,,,Diesel has always been available for some reason.But if the reverse ever happens, we are prepared for it.

[GDS-3950BH]

Around here with diesel running around $0.45 to $0.55 more per gallon than unleaded consistently, sometimes more, it's a wash. 2018 Burb with 6.0 would get a consistent 19.5 highway.

20 gallons UL @ 19.5mpg @ $2.50 = $50.00/390 miles/ $0.1282 per mile.
20 gallons D @ 27mpg @ $3.00 = $60.00/540 miles/ $0.1111 per mile.

I guess if saving $0.0171 per mile gets you off, it's incredible, thats a whopping $1710 over 100K miles which pays for the $1000.00 upcharge to the 3.0, with $710.00 to spare. Just hope the difference between fuels does not increase to $0.60 or god forbid $0.70

TFL......LOL......those guys need to get real jobs. They have too much time on their hands and too many cult like followers paying them to do basically nothing providing useless info and reviews/tests such as those IKE towing comparisons.

[Grit_dog]

They’re impressive on fuel mileage for sure. All of the baby diesel trucks are.

[Lwiddis]

With the diesel up charge and the generally diesel price above gasoline, it will take many miles to break even with a gasoline model.