Plowtownmissile

I'll give an unbiased opinion. I've owned just about all brand of trucks (exception being a Nissan Titan) and I've been given everything from an S10 to Ford F550s to drive by companies that have contracted me to work for them.

Chevys are a 5 year truck. They seem to hold up great til they hit the end of the warranty. Bodies and chassis are built heavy. Little stuff breaks alot but I like the interiors better than the other companies. The work truck is a 6.0 2500HD crew cab 2wd long bed with 28K mile and 4,400+hours on it. Its a rattle can but does its job. I wouldn't trust it at highway speeds ever. The Duramax/Allison is a great combination but they too seem to have small things break alot after 5 years. LS platform motors are very reliable but don't get exceptional gas mileage. Transmissions usually go well before the motors are done.

Tundras are FAR more reliable but not built as heavy. I have one as a personal vehicle that has always been just for towing. Mine is a 2007 double cab short bed TRD SR5 2wd with the 4.7L/5 speed auto/9.5" rear 4.10 gears. I regularly pull 8,000+lbs with mine while averaging 13.7mpg. For instance, when we pulled to the KY lake run the other week I was pulling 7,993lbs plus 4 people in the truck/tools/props/luggage/etc and it did awesome with the cruise set at 60mph for the 4.5hr drive. I have 106K miles on mine now and the only way I would ever sell it is to buy an '06 4500 Kodiak crewcab (we pull ALOT). 5.7L Tundras get a heavier 6-speed auto/10.5" rear with 4.30 gears and they are in my opinion the best naturally aspirated privately owned 1/2 ton pulling vehicle. The downside is that they feel light while towing and the truck's sheetmetal is very thin (though less rust prone than other manufacturers for some reason). Interiors are more like a Ford than Chevy but very comfortable. I've pulled 4,000 miles in one week and felt great the entire time.
Note: while its virtually impossible to get a TRD package Tundra to squat, they ride rough unloaded. The non-TRD package trucks ride considerably nicer unloaded but do squat alot even if they are rated to pull 10,500+lbs.

Bottom Line: If your going to trade in every 5 years/80k miles, get the GMC/Chevy. If your looking to keep it for 10 years/300k miles, buy the Tundra.

rlj676

I think the thousands upon thousands of 200k plus mile GM trucks will disagree w/ this assessment.

I personally have owned a 160k mile 03 SLT 2500 a year or so ago, 05 120k mile LT 2500 3 years ago, 120k mile 1500 an '88 actually in 1996, and now my 95k mile 1500 that's an 08 and have never had a problem. Ok, I guess the 03 had a bad sender and the gas gauge rarely worked, or maybe it just wore out given how much gas that big block sucked down over 160k. Wait, I take that back the plumbing running to the heater core crumbled and it leaked coolant until I spent $3 on some new tubing connections. Maybe I'm just lucky, but a GM truck to me is just getting going at 5 years 100k miles, and judging by the cost of buying one that's 5 years old and at 100k miles the general buying public agrees, they aren't cheap!

Plowtownmissile

Don't you work for GM if I recall correctly? I wouldn't exactly call your an opinion on GM vehicles unbiased and from your past posts, your definitely biased.

I have no problem buying a GM vehicle as long as its maintenance is paid for by the company contracting me. In my industry, fleet trucks are used (often abused) for work and we find the weaknesses fast. I can personally say what certain trucks pros and cons are in a hard working enviroment. Trust me, they all have bad points just as good points. I've even seen how most are made at the factory.

My personal experience with GM vehicles... Melted plastic intakes, hub bearings going out, continued marker lights burning out, stereo button lights going out, tailgate handles falling off, rattled after 60k miles, radiator leaks due to core seperation, window motors burning out, continuous warped rotors, and the list goes on for a long time...

ar300johnson

I own two 6.2 GMC crew 4x4 trucks. I have a 2010 with 72k and it has been perfect. No repairs, just scheduled maintanence. With the 6 speed transmission, 3.73 locking differential, 403 hp, and 417 lb lbs of torque, I can tow whatever I need easily. It also is brutally fast for a 4 door, 4 wheel drive truck. Mileage is not bad: 17 mpg long trips @ 75 mph, 20 mpg cruise set on 60, 10-12 mpg towing. The transfer case also has an auto setting so that you have 4 wheel drive automatically for low traction situations. I added a 2012 because I liked my 2010 so much. The 2012 has also performed perfectly for almost 8 k miles.

I have a good friend who has owned 2 Tundra crew 4x4's and I think that the GMC rides better and is a much nicer truck. He has also spent several thousond on repairs with a similar mileage truck.

My vote is strongly for the GMC over the Toyota.

rlj676

Yes, I posted in here I was. Doesn't change my lack of issues w/ many high mileage trucks, or the number of very high mile GM trucks on the road. I didn't say "unbiased", but I very much have had the opposite experience than your claiming.

Your comparing abused work trucks to a personal use toyota? I wonder which one will have more little issues.

aquaforce

I throw a flag on this play !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My GM trucks have had excessive miles before I sold them and are still going great for the current owners.


A toyota last longer and better than a GM

Plowtownmissile

My last two new Chevy trucks I personally bought were a 98 and 00 plus a handful of other GM cars around the same years. A few were lemons to put it mildly. All the newer GM, Dodge, and Ford trucks I've had were company trucks. Yes, they are worked much harder than my Tundra but I can't imagine a my GM radio is worked any harder my personal trucks and the last 5 GM radios all the button lights have burnt out. It's little stuff like that that goes wrong on the GMs that drive me nuts. How hard is it to make a side marker light that doesn't burn out every 5 months?

Don't get me wrong, I love the Duramax/Allison driveline. I just wish Toyota made the rest of the truck

4bus

iTrader: (4)

I have to agree with you for the same issues. It's not like the GM won't last...they will. And they don't usually have major probs (like dodge) just a bunch of little crap that can drive you nuts. Running high miles in a few years is not a good gauge, my GM trucks at the 5 year mark all took a turn for the worst.

My customers are repairs shops, I used to teach auto tech clinics on the side.......the GM loyalty kills me, ask a tech and see what they say!

GM's may break a lot, good news is 1. they are usually easy fixes 2. they are almost always common issues that even a guy at a parts store can tell you what is wrong. 3. the parts are cheap, because so many are made

rlj676

You realize that anyone working on trucks will see 20 times more Ford/Chevy's than Toyota's right? They are the 2 most popular vehicles sold for the last 10+ years, so yeah mechanics see a lot of them. It's a statistical given due to the amount of each sold. Hell, before 07 the Tundra was some midsized deal that sold no volume and did no real work.

So if your opinion of reliability is because people who work on trucks work on more Chevy's (500k sold a year for over 10 years, plus the SUV's for another 200k) vs Tundra's ( avg of 100k or so a year for 5 years) than you might want to not keep spreading the gospel.

HiPerf360

Melted plastic intakes, hub bearings going out, continued marker lights burning out, stereo button lights going out, tailgate handles falling off, rattled after 60k miles, radiator leaks due to core seperation, window motors burning out, continuous warped rotors, and the list goes on for a long time...

These are all components sourced from different suppliers, the same suppliers that supply all the makes parts.