We've gotten far better service as well as fuel mileage from the GM trucks. If you don't NEED a 8' bed, the GM crew cab short bed truck is one of the very best platforms on the market. It drives well, handles well, and fits in a lot of places nicely. The fuel mileage penalty between a 1/2 ton and a 3/4 ton is about 1-2 MPG in a gasoline powered truck. The fuel mileage penalty between 4x2 and 4x4 is also about 1-2 MPG. With diesel coming back down, but with truck prices in the used market still staying low, the GM 2500HD 4x4 DuraMax diesel is a great value. Unloaded we've had them get as much as 24 MPG on the Interstate, and hold up around 15-17 MPG in the city, depending on how much traffic there is. The ONLY drawback to those trucks is that in mud or soft ground, the stock tires are too narrow in the front. We've had incredible service out of those trucks since they became available, with some approaching 500K miles. The most that has ever been done to any of them is one truck had a set of injectors and the pump replaced, the factory covered it even though it had close to 200K miles on it. Another had a rear wheel seal leak, GM put a rear end assembly in it after the first repair didn't hold up. The gas engine 1/2 and 3/4 ton versions have done well also, albeit with less fuel mileage. With the bigger gas engines, they are stout, and still get decent mileage, much better than the Dodge trucks with the same size and a little less power, and still better than an equivalent Ford. Between guys that hunt, guys that race, guys that farm, and guys in construction, we have a good cross section of truck uses and abuses, and different models. So we get a good idea of what does and does not work.