First and foremost hello. I am a member over on LS1tech, and have been for a while now. Here's a little background. I currently own a 2002 Camaro SS. I've only owned the car for a few months now. Previously I owned a 00 Ranger 4x4 XLT, and previous to that I owned a 99 T/A WS.6 (spray, headers, etc) .

Here's my situation. After getting rid of the Ranger, I never really realized how much I liked, and was able to use a truck. Granted the thing would take days to get up to 60mph. It was useful. So I traded it in on the SS, and got a little upside down. (2kish) Now after coming to my senses, I am thinking about getting back into a truck. I have 5k to put down, and I just want to get a nice truck, and keep my payments below $250 a month.

Ideally I'd like to get a single cab 1500 V8 99 or newer with as little miles as possible. I searched on MSN.com and they don't give specs for a truck above a 99. I'm anxious to know the fuel consumption of the V8 vs V6. I LOVE V8's and the sound of them. I figured I could get the truck, put pipes on it, maybe some wheels, and drive it until they fall off. But I digress. Is there any year 99+ that is more favored vs another? I'm guessing the V8's are as strong as their LS1 cousins correct?

Anyhow, hopefully I will be spending a lot of time around here and become an official family member within the next few months.

 

stock for stock, the chevy v8 get just about the same mileage across the board, until you get to the 8.1 6.0HD anyway. the v6 barely gets better mileage than the v8.
v6~20-21mpg hywy 4.3
v8~19-20mpg hywy 4.8
~18-20mpg hywy 5.3
~16-19mpg hywy 6.0

These are all approximate and will vary according to location, weather and driving habits. Some people get higher, and others lower.
These are the same ls1 blocks that are used in the cars, just different inards, intakes, injectors, ect... They are very strong, reliable and moddable.
99-02 trucks are basically identical, later years may have a few more options standard eg. 4th door was introduced in 2000 as option, now they are standard
03-06 are basically the same again though, different option packages, you can get into some trouble with radios marked RDS (someone correct me if theses are not the correct letters) if you want an aftermarket system. You will find that most everyone loves their truck regardless of the year.

I hope that this helps you out, any more questions, let us know.

Jake

 

Well let me give you my 2 cents. I had a 99 5.3 ECSB before buying my SS truck. Although it gave me decent milage(~15-17 City and ~22-23 Highway) it kinda got to me that I had more mods than my buddies and they were running better e.t. at the track. If you take any advice from my post let it be this. GO 2000 or better. The 99 has a crappy pcm and only 3 doors. Stick with a 5.3. If you want a v8 I would do the 5.3 cause my buddies 4.8 didnt do much better fuel milage than my 5.3.
Oh and my new truck doesn't do any better than 16.8 mpg. That was from WA to CA and back.

p.s. does any of this make sense? I just had my 4 wisdom teeth pulled and I am higher than a kite

 

 

like outtowin Id go with an 00 or better and I would look for 3.73 gears with the 5.3 I think all z71's have 3.73 stock with a g80

 

02 or better, the 00 and 01 pcms.. still had false knock and other problems, the 02 and up pcm's are much better!

 

Welcome!