New TV 2008 Sierra 2500HD

Those that have read my posts in the past may recall that I have always claimed that with a big enough truck you don't need a WD hitch. I have towed the TM since 2005 with a 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500HD crew cab, 4wd, gas, automatic, 6 foot bed. And until the last trip this was big enough.

We added two ATVs and two motorcycles this year. This required a second tow vehicle. Fortunately, I already had a 1997 Dodge Dakota V6.

On our first trip, Memorial day, all was well. Due to my motorcycle crash previously I did not take my motorcycle. There were five of us and the two trucks did fine. One motorcycle in the Dakota towing the ATV trailer and the Chevy doing its normal thing.

On our second trip, 4th of July, we added my motorcycle and two more people. This required additional chairs, tables, food, water, drinks, etc. We had one motorcycle in each truck. This resulted in both trucks sagging more than I would prefer.

So this past Saturday we purchased a new 2008 GMC Sierra 2500HD crew cab, 8 foot bed, automatic, gas, 4wd. This will replace the Dakota. The GMC will tow the TM and carry the two motorcycles. The Chevy will tow the ATV trailer and carry freestanding awning, generator, bicycles, etc.

We startd looking at trucks on Monday and on either Tuesday or Wednesday GM announced employee pricing for all. Boy, did I have good timing.

I already have a buyer for the Dakota.

I have never sold a vehicle in my life. I always used them until they died. This is the first time I failed to predict my future needs. In 1997 I did not predict buying the TM in 2005 and the ATVs and motorcycles in 2008.

I'm pretty sure I will not need a WD hitch. I'll know by this weekend.

It was difficult to find the truck we wanted. Requirements were:

3/4 ton
crew cab
8 foot bed
gas
automatic
4wd
prefer not black and not white
prefer leather

There were two Chevys in the entire state of California. A black one in Napa and a black one and a white one near Los Angeles.

There were no Fords. There were no Dodges. I had no interest in what ever Toyota has.

There was one GMC, and it was only 4 miles away at a local dealer. So we bought it.

We would have preferred buckets with leather, but this one came with a 40/20/40 split bench in cloth. Same configuration as the Dakota.

We will replace with leather and keep the 40/20/40 split. I will also add Line-X to the bed. These two upgrades will happen after our trip this weekend.

If I had waited until the 2009s came out we could have gotten exactly what we wanted. The price very likely would be about 9K more. Who knows. I know this one had MSRP of 39,886 and we got it for 30,086, plus tax and license. I still think it was about 2k too high in this market. But the dealer would not budge and if I waited too long I ran the risk of some other buyer grabbing it and then I would have no choice but wait for the 2009s or buy used.

I thought they should have come down a little more because though the truck is new, it was built in August 2007. It is already a year old. Sorta like buying ST tires. The battery was so dead that the electric door locks and windows would not work. The truck had 48 miles. Assuming 5 miles per test drive it was only test driven about 8 times. No one wanted this truck, except me.

I need to update my sig.

If anyone is interested I will add to this thread my experience, fuel economy, etc.