Tow Report - 2004 3/4 8.1 Suburban
Hey Folks, Some of you may remember me going back and forth here about a year ago on whether or not to trade in my 2005 Denali XL on my now 2004 3/4 Suburban. Well I did. I wanted to post a qu...
Forum Discussion
ktosv wrote:
BenK, I am glad you posted those curves. When comparing them to the L96 6.0L (with the 6 speed combo) you can see why GM didn't have to offer the big block anymore.
The L96 with a 3.73 and the six speed puts more force to the ground than the 8.1L/4 speed 4.10. That is assuming the off idle performance estimated from these curves. The 8100 actually has about 15 more HP off idle...so it would really be interesting to see just how close the two are.
Yeah, I should put a disclaimer on my thoughts about the 8.1 vs 6.0. The disclaimer should be "for the money". For the money I have in this 8.1 (in that it's paid for with just over 100,000 miles) it's worth it to me to stick with this as I feel the performance upgrade would be marginal at best by going with a newer 6.0 6speed. Obviously, I'm sure the mpg would be much, much better. But I figure a comparable 3/4 Suburban with the 6/6speed would cost me between $20,000 and $25,000. $20,000 buys a whole lot of gas. Add in the cheaper insurance and taxes on this older vehicle and I don't see much reason to go newer when this one does the job really well.
Like I said before though, I probably will look into getting a little 30mpg daily driver for the wife and I so that this one can be more or less strictly a tow vehicle for the next several years.
