Chatty
Well-Known Member
As likely the only Sierra owner on here, I thought I would post a quick review about the first three months of owning Bob. Terminology first - the Yanks call these things trucks and I find it hard to argue with them on that branding. We might call them utes here in Oz, but these things are not utes...
Let's start by saying, the Yanks may stuff up a few things, but by crikey they know how to build a truck (ute, whatever you want to call it) - the level of finish is better than any ute, light commercial, whatever out there. It makes the LC200 look and feel like a cart by comparison (sorry LC owners - but it's the truth - I've got a mate with a 6 month old LC200 and he won't talk about it now).
The cabin is fantastic, incredibly quiet on the road (although you can still here the V8 bellow) seats are comfortable, everything works as it should and the doors close with a satisfying thud. Seats are incredibly comfortable and have about 145 degrees of adjustment - 700km a day with the van on is easy, 1,000km a day without the van just as easy.
Underneath, this thing is built like a tank - the philosophy seems to be "If it needs a 16mm bolt - use a 20mm instead". Massive chassis, the towbar is made from 100mm steel tube and bolted up with about 10 20mm bolts each side - the driveline is huge. Everything smacks of overkill and being hard to break.
On the road, this thing is a beast. When we got it, it was hard to start from the lights without the back end wanting to break traction and step out - a bit of weight in the back fixed that.
Towing is a dream - engage tow mode and our current 3.5t van feels like it isn't even there most of the time, hills simply cease to exist - going up hill it will quite happily sit on the speed limit, even on the Roller Coaster and the climb out of Adelaide on the SE Freeway, without the water temperature or transmission temperature rising (did I say it has built in transmission readout for towing?). Downhill, turn on the exhaust brake (yes, like a truck!) and it simply burbles (well, almost bellows) it's way downhill without needing to touch the brakes - all 8t or so. Overtaking with the van on - well Trish decided to overtake a road train (uphill) one day - when she got level with the prime mover she looked at the speedo which was reading 145 km/h
.
Taking off from traffic lights is hilarious - people pull up beside you in Audis, BMWs, whatever, obviously thinking "It's a ute - I'll be able to beat that off from the lights" - well, think again - it's fun watching them pulling in behind you when the left lane ends...
Parking requires some planning. It's high (about 2,100mm or 7 feet) - so a lot of undercroft car parks are out of the question. It's wide, but will fit in a normal car park width, just with a little less room each side. But it's long, very long - usually we park so that the tail hangs into the car spot behind us, but if that's not possible you have to pick a spot where the front overhanging into the traffic lane of the carpark won't be an issue.
But it's time consuming.
Park in Bunnings and there's a never-ending stream of blokes who want to come and ask about it. Pull up at the diesel pump and people have to ask about it and how much fuel it uses. Every caravan park we get people knocking at our door wanting to ask about it and how good is it as a tow vehicle.
RBTs - prior to getting Bob we were very rarely stopped at an RBT. Now? Every. Flipping. One. And it always seem to be when Trish is driving and every cop comes up and says "Gee, that's a big truck for a little lady!"
The 6.6 litre V8 Duramax (diesel) engine is simply awesome and the Allison 8 speed transmission suits it perfectly.
Fuel consumption I hear you ask? Well, most of the time it's using less than Maj the Paj. Towing 3.5t at the speed limit (none of this 90 km/h BS for us!) he's drinking around 18-22 l/100km, depending on terrain. Open road without the van - around 12 l/100km on non-freeway, up-and-down-hill country road type stuff. Freeway running, about 9 l/100km.
But, being honest, he doesn't like city stop-start stuff. In the city the numbers are truly terrifying, but then that's not what we bought him for.
Let's start by saying, the Yanks may stuff up a few things, but by crikey they know how to build a truck (ute, whatever you want to call it) - the level of finish is better than any ute, light commercial, whatever out there. It makes the LC200 look and feel like a cart by comparison (sorry LC owners - but it's the truth - I've got a mate with a 6 month old LC200 and he won't talk about it now).
The cabin is fantastic, incredibly quiet on the road (although you can still here the V8 bellow) seats are comfortable, everything works as it should and the doors close with a satisfying thud. Seats are incredibly comfortable and have about 145 degrees of adjustment - 700km a day with the van on is easy, 1,000km a day without the van just as easy.
Underneath, this thing is built like a tank - the philosophy seems to be "If it needs a 16mm bolt - use a 20mm instead". Massive chassis, the towbar is made from 100mm steel tube and bolted up with about 10 20mm bolts each side - the driveline is huge. Everything smacks of overkill and being hard to break.
On the road, this thing is a beast. When we got it, it was hard to start from the lights without the back end wanting to break traction and step out - a bit of weight in the back fixed that.
Towing is a dream - engage tow mode and our current 3.5t van feels like it isn't even there most of the time, hills simply cease to exist - going up hill it will quite happily sit on the speed limit, even on the Roller Coaster and the climb out of Adelaide on the SE Freeway, without the water temperature or transmission temperature rising (did I say it has built in transmission readout for towing?). Downhill, turn on the exhaust brake (yes, like a truck!) and it simply burbles (well, almost bellows) it's way downhill without needing to touch the brakes - all 8t or so. Overtaking with the van on - well Trish decided to overtake a road train (uphill) one day - when she got level with the prime mover she looked at the speedo which was reading 145 km/h
.Taking off from traffic lights is hilarious - people pull up beside you in Audis, BMWs, whatever, obviously thinking "It's a ute - I'll be able to beat that off from the lights" - well, think again - it's fun watching them pulling in behind you when the left lane ends...
Parking requires some planning. It's high (about 2,100mm or 7 feet) - so a lot of undercroft car parks are out of the question. It's wide, but will fit in a normal car park width, just with a little less room each side. But it's long, very long - usually we park so that the tail hangs into the car spot behind us, but if that's not possible you have to pick a spot where the front overhanging into the traffic lane of the carpark won't be an issue.
But it's time consuming.
Park in Bunnings and there's a never-ending stream of blokes who want to come and ask about it. Pull up at the diesel pump and people have to ask about it and how much fuel it uses. Every caravan park we get people knocking at our door wanting to ask about it and how good is it as a tow vehicle.
RBTs - prior to getting Bob we were very rarely stopped at an RBT. Now? Every. Flipping. One. And it always seem to be when Trish is driving and every cop comes up and says "Gee, that's a big truck for a little lady!"
The 6.6 litre V8 Duramax (diesel) engine is simply awesome and the Allison 8 speed transmission suits it perfectly.
Fuel consumption I hear you ask? Well, most of the time it's using less than Maj the Paj. Towing 3.5t at the speed limit (none of this 90 km/h BS for us!) he's drinking around 18-22 l/100km, depending on terrain. Open road without the van - around 12 l/100km on non-freeway, up-and-down-hill country road type stuff. Freeway running, about 9 l/100km.
But, being honest, he doesn't like city stop-start stuff. In the city the numbers are truly terrifying, but then that's not what we bought him for.
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