jcmseven
Veteran Member
Fellow Posters:
As some of you know, I have a 2009 GMC 2500 truck with the Duramax diesel engine. I bought the truck new in May, 2009 and have since put a bit over 50K miles on it. It has been trouble free and done everything I have needed. Like many of us, my situation is one of nearly constantly evolving needs. When I first bought the truck, I towed a heavy 4520 JD tractor back and forth on mountainous roads to my parents' place 2 1/2 hours one way about four times monthly and towed generally about five to seven times more monthly and some distance each time. Now, with my parents selling off some of the property associated with their place due to aging, I sold my big tractor and use just a 2000 series JD and a couple of Gators, none of which weigh that much. That said, I use my truck as my daily driver--and I drive a lot. My wife drives an Acura MDX that we bought new in 2005. She drives a lot, too and has 145,000 mile on her car. We have had it regularly serviced; replaced the timing belt at 100K with spark plugs and redid brakes and tires recently. It literally runs the same as it did new, burns no oil and gets really good mileage for what it is. It is also our grunt car; we have 5 year old twins that are neat--but they are 5. We keep the Acura mainly for local driving, though it is certainly reliable enough for us to take on trips, which we do often (this weekend, in fact). I am very particular with my truck and both interior and exterior I try to keep spotless, a challenge due to it being black in color on the exterior.
About six months ago, I informally spoke with my selling GMC dealer about the new Denali 2500 pickup coming out. I had heard they were coming and wanted a chance to look at one when one came in, which it did last week. The dealer called me and I had a chance to drive a beautiful 2500 Denali Crew Cab diesel, fully decked out and unfortunately with a $64,000 sticker. It was white (not a color I generally like in trucks but this one looked great). I would have to say it drove great (I kept it overnight and put about 150 miles on it) but honestly without towing and on my usual drive it did not drive any smoother than my current GMC, but looked more flashy. I did not tow with it, obviously. I asked the dealer to work up a price for me. It is a very good price in my opinion for the truck and they offered me a more than fair price for mine if I wanted to trade. Thus, I am in the dilemma of whether this makes any sense or not. My wife and I both work and our jobs are high stress and in my case poor hours too. I have gone through the "you work hard, you deserve it" spiel to myself, but we all know this is really not true in real life. We have had the good fortune in this economy to have kept our jobs and done about the same financially as last year, but I feel a little uneasy about spending on a larger scale just yet. Can we afford such a purchase? Sure, but like everyone else I also have other obligations such as continuing to fund our retirement and the kids college fund, etc, that I could and probably should continue to fund (we already do this anyway) even more vigorously. On the one hand, that seems logical to me to be concerned about these things, yet on the other hand, we always have something I could prioritize higher upon which to spend or invest, so I keep coming back to that.
My question: the 2011 GMC has an upgraded frame, brakes, front axle, larger fuel tank, upgraded engine power, supposedly 1-2 mpg better highway economy, engine exhaust brake now, and in the Denali case a few additional bells and whistles--and a rewound 3/36000 warranty. This could be had for essentially $17,500 price difference in trade. Is it worth it given the situation noted above? Am I making a mistake looking at a truck when I have one with low miles for a diesel that has given no trouble. Should I just forget this, and run our vehicles into the ground and look for different ones then?? I am not looking to justify buying something I do not necessarily need, I am looking for input from folks who buy and use trucks as do I to make sure I am not blinded by the new truck envy and make a bad decision. On a side note, I have even considered going with a less expensive gas truck now due to my reduced towing need, but I really think I would have a hard time going away from a diesel at this point regardless so that though has not made in far in my little brain.
Thanks for the input, John M
As some of you know, I have a 2009 GMC 2500 truck with the Duramax diesel engine. I bought the truck new in May, 2009 and have since put a bit over 50K miles on it. It has been trouble free and done everything I have needed. Like many of us, my situation is one of nearly constantly evolving needs. When I first bought the truck, I towed a heavy 4520 JD tractor back and forth on mountainous roads to my parents' place 2 1/2 hours one way about four times monthly and towed generally about five to seven times more monthly and some distance each time. Now, with my parents selling off some of the property associated with their place due to aging, I sold my big tractor and use just a 2000 series JD and a couple of Gators, none of which weigh that much. That said, I use my truck as my daily driver--and I drive a lot. My wife drives an Acura MDX that we bought new in 2005. She drives a lot, too and has 145,000 mile on her car. We have had it regularly serviced; replaced the timing belt at 100K with spark plugs and redid brakes and tires recently. It literally runs the same as it did new, burns no oil and gets really good mileage for what it is. It is also our grunt car; we have 5 year old twins that are neat--but they are 5. We keep the Acura mainly for local driving, though it is certainly reliable enough for us to take on trips, which we do often (this weekend, in fact). I am very particular with my truck and both interior and exterior I try to keep spotless, a challenge due to it being black in color on the exterior.
About six months ago, I informally spoke with my selling GMC dealer about the new Denali 2500 pickup coming out. I had heard they were coming and wanted a chance to look at one when one came in, which it did last week. The dealer called me and I had a chance to drive a beautiful 2500 Denali Crew Cab diesel, fully decked out and unfortunately with a $64,000 sticker. It was white (not a color I generally like in trucks but this one looked great). I would have to say it drove great (I kept it overnight and put about 150 miles on it) but honestly without towing and on my usual drive it did not drive any smoother than my current GMC, but looked more flashy. I did not tow with it, obviously. I asked the dealer to work up a price for me. It is a very good price in my opinion for the truck and they offered me a more than fair price for mine if I wanted to trade. Thus, I am in the dilemma of whether this makes any sense or not. My wife and I both work and our jobs are high stress and in my case poor hours too. I have gone through the "you work hard, you deserve it" spiel to myself, but we all know this is really not true in real life. We have had the good fortune in this economy to have kept our jobs and done about the same financially as last year, but I feel a little uneasy about spending on a larger scale just yet. Can we afford such a purchase? Sure, but like everyone else I also have other obligations such as continuing to fund our retirement and the kids college fund, etc, that I could and probably should continue to fund (we already do this anyway) even more vigorously. On the one hand, that seems logical to me to be concerned about these things, yet on the other hand, we always have something I could prioritize higher upon which to spend or invest, so I keep coming back to that.
My question: the 2011 GMC has an upgraded frame, brakes, front axle, larger fuel tank, upgraded engine power, supposedly 1-2 mpg better highway economy, engine exhaust brake now, and in the Denali case a few additional bells and whistles--and a rewound 3/36000 warranty. This could be had for essentially $17,500 price difference in trade. Is it worth it given the situation noted above? Am I making a mistake looking at a truck when I have one with low miles for a diesel that has given no trouble. Should I just forget this, and run our vehicles into the ground and look for different ones then?? I am not looking to justify buying something I do not necessarily need, I am looking for input from folks who buy and use trucks as do I to make sure I am not blinded by the new truck envy and make a bad decision. On a side note, I have even considered going with a less expensive gas truck now due to my reduced towing need, but I really think I would have a hard time going away from a diesel at this point regardless so that though has not made in far in my little brain.
Thanks for the input, John M
