Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Traded my F150, bought a GMC AT4...

I had a 2012 F350 that was a great truck, so when I decided to drop down to a half ton (sold our fifth wheel), I went with a 2019 F150 Lariat with the 3.5l ecoboost. It was a very reliable for the 2+yrs and 29k miles that I owned it, but never really warmed up to the ecoboost personally. It got 18-18.5mpg consistently, except when towing. I only tow a 5x9 utility trailer with a Yamaha Wolverine X2 (small 2 seat side by side) - about 3k pounds total but not very aerodynamic with a windshield on the Wolverine - but mileage dropped to 10.0mpg! I just always felt like even towing that small load was really working it and obviously out of it’s efficiency range. My F350 mpg wouldn’t drop half that much towing that. Several other things that I wasn’t a fan of, including the seats (made my back hurt on drives over an hour) or Sync - my ‘17 Camaro has a MUCH better and problem free “entertainment system” and mine had lots of problems with CarPlay.

Wife wanted a new vehicle, so I ended up trading the F150 in on an Explorer ST... wow! Nice job Ford! Sporty (3.0 ecoboost with 400hp and AWD) but still comfy, and looks great in white with blacked out trim and black wheels. Sync still sucks - hard to understand how they can even remotely think that system’s layout, user interface, etc, is any good! My wife is way less OCD than me though, so as long as music comes out she is happy. Got supplier pricing, a small rebate, free oil changes, etc, on the Explorer and only $3k less than I paid for the F150 on trade, so feel it was a good move for me.

Decided to go with a truck with a big V8 (no replacement for displacement, right?!?)... and yesterday I bought an almost base GMC AT4 with the 6.2L. Found one at a dealer who would honor supplier discount pricing, and, with the $3500 rebates, I actually got a pretty decent deal on it (~12% off sticker) after arguing about all the dealer add-on crap. Major bonus is it doesn’t have the Start-Stop due to chip shortage and I didn't pay for a bunch of crap like navigation that I’d never use! Talked with a few guys that have 6.2L trucks before buying about their experience towing with it and feel comfortable I’ll be happy with it (as mentioned, I don’t tow much weight but do tow it about a third of the time).

Those 6.2L are great engines! I have two of them! Enjoy!

Research the Pulsar LT module.

Made my 6.2l exactly what I wanted in a truck!

Congrats.

Never understood the argument that I need a new truck to get better mileage. You can buy a lot of gas for what a new truck costs.

Because better mileage AND a new truck is awesome! Paying for your new truck is , however, not that much fun.

I thought that a new truck would be awesome too until I discovered that I'd been having more fun with my old one. The one with a few cosmetic issues where I could say, "Damn the berry bushes and oak brush. Full speed ahead." When you pay as much as a new one costs today, I just can't bring myself to trash it.

I never said I did it for gas mileage... said I was unhappy with the F150 overall, fuel mileage towing was one thing (among many) I was unhappy with.

And was just chatting among “friends”, not arguing or justifying.

Gotcha.

I went from a 5.4 V8 to a 3.5L ecoboost and the towing with my EB is so much better its not even fathomable.

Haven't looked at the mileage. I know I was lucky to get 8-9 mph with my 5.4L.

Enjoy that AT4.

All gas trucks drop down to 10 mpg or worse, when even the lightest trailer is towed. This should be no surprise to anyone. The worst towing fuel economy I've ever experienced, was a bull moose, camp gear and boat on trailer running from eagle Alaska to Wasilla. 7mpg. This was a 3fe powered landcruiser. A dog sht engine.

My buddies 2019 freightliner did better than that, towing over 30,000 lbs of sht through the mountains.

Best fuel economy I've ever experienced towing, was a 16 ft twin axle trailer full of windows, lumber and stove pellets. Stayed at 55-60 mph. It was a 1992 w-350 with 6bt Cummins and a five speed: Almost 17 mpg. Empty, that ugly fkn thing would pull 21 mpg.

The term for that around here is "good shape for actually using".

The secret is to keep an old truck when you buy your new one so it can do the rough tasks that would make you sick in the new one. Put mud tires on the old one and keep street tires on the new one until it gets the new worn off.

Uncle pulls a 40ft toy hauler with an older but pristine Volvo semi (N14) for the same reason. 12 mpg loaded, never has to drop a gear to pass/go up hills etc. A gasser or diesel pick up isn't likely to get the same MPG AND stop the thing with any margin of safety like that truck does. And given the cost of a new F350 these days - he likely saved 50k on the purchase price...

Purchased a used 2020 GMC Yukon Denali with 9,000 miles on the OD last December with the 6.2 motor.We are now at 17,000 miles here are the likes, nice interior,great ride decent fuel mileage 18 mpg city/highway and 22 mpg highway driving 60 mph.Dislike is the STUPID plastic hitch cover thats a PIA to get on and off and the [bleep] way you have to angle the pin for hitch install.Other than that decent vehicle..

The real jewel in the GM line is the 3.0 Duramax with the 10spd, incredible to think a guy can get car like fuel mileage in a full size truck and tons of torque at low RPMS.

You can buy a nice used semi much cheaper than a pick up too.
Just have to know trucks, and avoid the prestige crap.

And sleepers. They add value.

Of course, one must be able to drive it!😂

I have put about 25k miles on the 3.0 Duramax with the 10 speed, great combination, IMO.

1500 mile checkin...

So far, really liking this truck and happy with my choice. A couple of minor complaints, but never have found a “perfect” vehicle. Seats are really firm, but I have driven it on two trips that were about 2hrs each - it was very comfortable and no hint of back hurting/aching. Wireless CarPlay is awesome! Plenty of get up and go, but decent mpg so far (17.5ish avg, slightly less than my F150 ecoboost). 24gal gas tank (vs 36gal on my F150) is my biggest complaint so far. No towing yet, but will be next weekend.

Just for info, I have owned 2 Chevy trucks, 3 Toyotas, 1 Dodge, and 2 Fords previous. Obviously I have no brand preference/loyalty. To date, my 2012 F350 was my favorite and most reliable, and the Dodge was by far the worst (and dealers here were horrible). Way too early to tell where this GMC will rank, but happy with it so far.

Edited to add - I checked out the 3.0 Duramax. Yes, plenty of torque and great mpg, but wasn’t real happy with the acceleration personally.

Yes, the 3.0 is not a rocket off the line but plenty of grunt once you are up and rolling. I am not a jackrabbit start kind of guy so it is plenty for my use.

I'll keep my 2019 5.0L 10speed 400 hp with 18-20 mpg.best truck I have ever owned.

5.0L's are fun to drive.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Thanks... but still more than happy with my decision.

Towing update - towed my 5x9 utility trailer and Yamaha Wolverine X2 (only about 3k lbs total, but, with front and rear windshields, it is a huge windsail) to my lease Thursday and back yesterday. MPG was 1.2mpg better than my F150 averaged with the same load. This truck didn’t squat as much as my F150 (added airbags to F10 due to amount of squat) and felt a little more stable towing. It also didn’t downshift quite as much on small hills. Seats were very comfortable - no sore back or pain during the drive there or home (3hrs each way). Stereo sounds great for a factory (non-premium “branded) system - my buddy has the B&O in his F250 and said mine sounded more crisp/clear than his, just missing a subwoofer for deep bass (easy to add in this truck, and on my list).

I miss a few features from the F150 - phone app to remote start, check fuel level, etc was free (refuse to pay for access via GM app), keypad to get in without keys (came in handy several times), seat coolers/heaters returning to last position on every start, being able to lock out highest gear(s) in drive (have to shift to “L” in this Sierra), rear seats folding forward for just a bit of extra in cab storage, and empty it was just a little quicker and about 1MPG better than this truck.

Anyway, have tried to be as objective as possible in my reviews/updates. I’m not biased on brands (except Do, after the experience with the one). I even steered clear of GM (gov’t motors) for several years after their bailout. If I hadn’t have gotten such a great offer on trading in the F150 and a great deal on this GMC, I’d still gladly be driving the F150.

Agreed, if that's the only reason you're buying it. Gas is the cheapest thing you'll put into one. Each extra payment will fill the tank several times. I would consider mileage to only be a tiebreaker to help decide between 2 vehicles when you're buying one anyway.

In general, I'd agree, but there could be circumstances where it weighs heavily in decision making. This is especially pertinent if you have a high-equity trade-in and are swapping for a vehicle of close to the same value. If you drive 2k miles a month and only get 13mpg and are looking to get something that gets 21mpg, that's about $200 a month if figuring on $3 gas. Now if you are having to upgrade to a much more expensive vehicle, you better have more than just MPG to list as a tangible benefit (warranty, reliability, payload, passenger capacity, etc).