I just bought my first truck: A '95 GMC 2500 utility body with 5.7 V8. I turned down a cheaper Ford Powerstroke of the same year, and a slightly more expensive Ford Triton V10 for this model for a few reasons, one of which was that this was fleet maintained, with low mileage, and a look under the hood revealed a surprising degree of simplicity as if it were built in '75. That somehow equated, in my mind, with something cheap to maintain as compared to a fancy high end diesel or 10 cylinders worth of fuel injection on a giant engine.

I hope this was a better choice for something cheap to maintain and trouble free, especially given its lower mileage (120K vs. 250K) and excellent service history.

Any thoughts or links on what I might expect owning this truck after a couple of decades driving nothing both Japanese cars would be welcome.

Also, I want to maximize its fuel economy. Whatever, in addition to a light foot, might get it up to 15 MPG city would be welcome advice.

Thanks!

 

I should hope that you would get 15 overall as it sits right now to be honest with you.

The only thing i can think of is be careful with your inside door handles, bad design and they like to snap

 

About MPG's: That's good news. I passed up a 3500 '99 Vortec V8 model as well due to doubts about fuel economy. The owner said it did 12 MPG. Maybe that is just typical of trucks with heavy bodies.

It seems that although the newer trucks could be more fuel efficient than the old, much of the added efficiency seems to be applied to horsepower rather than MPG's. If I could have found a Vortec V6 utility I might have bought it since I don't need to tow, but those are rather rare.

About the bad door latches: quite obvious from models I've seen. Reminds me of the way Honda power locks go bad and screw up. There is always something to go wrong eventually.

Anyways, its been years since I have experienced that low end V8 rumble. It's fun.