service life of dmax @ 20-25K mi/yr

[typecast]

I got a '03 Chev Crew cab Duramax 4x4 back in October, and already have almost 11K miles on it. Mpg is up to 18 on my 60 mile daily commute and I'm loving the truck. Zero problems so far.

I had thought seriously about getting a 1500HD with the 6.0 before going with the Duramax. I bought the Dmax betting that I could break even when considering the better mpg over the 6.0 and hopefully longer service life of the Duramax.

I'm figuring its going to take me close to 200K miles or 9 yrs to break even on fuel savings alone over the 6.0. But how long can I expect the Duramax to last, averaging 20-25000 miles a year? Is it unreasonable to hope for 350,000 miles over 15+ years?

As far as maintenance, I'm pretty obsessive -- using Mobil Delvac 1 every 5-6K miles, tranny filter every oil change, tranny and xfer changed over to Mobil 1 ATF.

Towing will probably be around 5K miles/year, 6-7K trailer.


- Galen

[typecast]

One other thing... very pleased with stock engine performance... so not planning any performance upgrades unless they can be shown to reduce engine wear.

Galen

[WillowCreekStable]

Something to consider in your cost calculations is resale value of a 10 year old truck with 200,000 miles on it. In my neck of the woods, old diesels command a lot of extra $$$$ from the guys who pulls travel trailers only once or twice a year. 10 year gassers are pretty well depreciated. Definitely offsets the cost of ownership. The long term durability of our Dmaxes remains to be seen, but there are a few lead the fleet units out there that are racking up the miles.

[mtomac]

my 02 has 45XXX miles on it. I've only had it since March 23rd. By the time it's paid off (in 49 months) it will have 250,000 miles on it but I'll probably trade it in on an '04 or '05 if they up the Duramax's power and keep adding creature comforts to the interior like they did on the 03's.