Chevy 2500 advise on what to buy
 

Hello, I have a young family a 7 month old and one more coming if my wife ever lets me touch her again :). We are looking at gettinng a 2500 and want something that will fit our needs. Camping (presently truck camper, and haul a 16 foot aluminum boat), camping in the next year will likely consist of a 24 foot 5th wheel and a 18-20 foot boat perhaps pontoon. thinking of getting a crew cab because like the space, like the 6 foot 6 box but not sure if the long box will manuever as easily when parking ect.

Want a 4X4. will also use it for hauling fire wood, misc stuff around home, hauling snowmobiles/quads ect.

we will likely put on about 15, 000 miles/yr or 20000km/yr.

Power plant? looking at a gas perhaps a 6.0L, but heard the 8.1 get just as good if not better gas mileage,not sure if thats true?

Not really interested in diesel becuase of the cost inititally and more so the cost of repair if something does need to get fixed. (i am pretty sure gas vs diesel is an old debate and i have heard that you will get your $$$ back in the diesel)

looking at a 2005-2007 vintage with about 150,000km, would like to think we would get about 6-8 years of life out of it.

So, any opinions on cab style? box length? engine size? what mileage do you get with a 6L and 8.1L hwy/city?

thanks for your help

Trevor

The 6.0 will get a little better mileage than the 8.1 so it just depends on your power needs. The 8.1 is a beast. Personally, that is what I would get. I had one and sold it like a dummy, but really miss the power. I am willing to give up a few MPG's to know that I have more truck than needed though. I am patiently waiting to find a deal on another one. The crew cab is a must for a family hauler and actually you might want to consider an SUV with a little yard trailer for the wood hauling and such. We went through a couple trucks to pull our pontoon and quickly found that the seating capacity of a Suburban is needed when you have a toy that everyone wants to use with you. Just my .02.

We have a 2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD Crew Cab with the 6.5' bed and I really don't think it's all that bad to maneuver. no worse than a regular cab longbox.

As far as powerplant goes, We've got the 6.6 Duramax and if you are going to be towing, I cannot possibly recommend anything else. Ours has close to 100,000 miles on it and other than a set of tires and a power steering pump (man. def.-covered) we've done nothing but change the oil and put fuel in it. We average 24mpg daily driving adn 15-16 towing a 32ft gooseneck horse trailer loaded