My last truck was a Z71 which would run fine on plus and do OK on regular except for a little pinging when climbing a hill. HOWEVER; I still ran premium because I got better gas mileage. Calculated over several tankfulls I found that the premium was hardly costing any more than regular.
DW

 

I'll just say this man..............for the first 3 months of ownership, the L was my daily driver...............My gas bills were only about 150 dollars less than my payment, and i'm paying upwards of 450 a month for the truck! And our premium gas here in South Fla is relatively cheap in comparison to other states (on avg about $1.60 for premium). If I still had to use it as a daily driver my sig would read STOCK, and my wallet would read BROKE! Thank god for my raggedy ann daily driving '89 Tbird. Now I use the L Fridays - Sundays, and go thru $30 worth for the weekend like if nothing! I can finally enjoy driving the hell out of the truck, without having to worry about gas and mileage.

My suggestion to you would be, if it can be afforded, get yourself a clunker that you can work on yourself if something goes wrong, get the minimum insurance required, and share time with the truck. You'll be able to enjoy the L to its full potential!! Why get a Lightning if you can't drive it hard, and you can't cruise everywhere on a weekend???

Good luck with your decision,
JC

 

I remember when I first got my truck and I was driving about 140 miles a day with work and I was spending 450 to 500 bucks a month on gas alone!!!!!!!

Luckily that job only lasted 4 months and the gas was under company expensees but still I had to get a daily driver to save money.

Now I drive a 00 grand prix gt 4 door for work and I like it. Its nice to have a car that you don't have to worry about and you can just drive the hell out of it and not care. Mines a 00 with 69,000 miles on it now with all my driving and I've only had it for about a year and a half.

If your worried about gas, give up on the L.

 

'91 Olds 88 Brougham. Piece of crap, but the air works and it costs me about $18 US a week in gas, to run back and forth between Canada (home) and work in MI. I think the L was close to $18/ day!!

 

Oh I donno about some of these comments?

I use mine as a daily driver and have a running avg of 17.3mpg so far w/93octane (@ $1.60-1.80 a gal). Now it's completely true I do drive easy most of the time. But I'm not opposed to seeing 10psi every now and then.

Also, having been "young" once, here is some advice:
It might do you some good to have to "feed" your habit. so-to-speak. It'll make you take a higher value in you pride and joy. And more importantly it'll make a young guy WORK harder or at least learn to work harder for the things in life you value.

I'm not flaming you, don't take it that way.
I'm just sharing the things in life I've learned the hard way.

Go ahead and get the truck. Work your butt off to keep it on the road, then give a little extra blood-sweat-& tears to achive the mod-money.

Keep er rubber side down, WOT

 

I dont pay 70bucks for a oil change.Do it your self and pay less than half.Maybe a good idea considering your on a fixed income being in school .

 

I THINK YOU SHOULD JUST DO THIS

ALWAYS PUT 5 DOLLARS IN. THAT WAY. NO MATTER WHAT THE COST OF GAS OR THE PRICE OF GAS. IT ONLY COST YOU 5 DOLLARS!!

PROBLEM FIXED!!

 

Gas prices here in Florida are only a 1.58 for premium, i feel bad for you boys out on the west coast.

 

My beater, take me to work, I don't care where I have to park it truck is a 92 S-10 4.3L V-6, 5-speed. It gets about 18 mpg around town.

There is no way in hell I would use a Lightning as a daily driver. I know some of you drive them everywhere, but I prefer not to. BTW, I am the nutcase guy with the Red 00 Lightning that's never been rained on other than a few drops on 2 occasions. Uh huh, that's right, wipers have never been on except during state vehicle inspections and when the wiper motor's were replaced under the recall.

 

Thanx for all the comments, I hope one day to be able to get around 17 mpg! I will put in the premium and be workin everyday after school to keep the tank full! I know I can go easy on the truck to save gas but it's going to be hard, either way thanks for all the comments.

 

Well, after I added some mods to the L I saw a 2.3 mpg increase in fuel economy, that's outstanding.

You guys that claim over 15 mpg for an L must all be PU*SY'S
and drive slower than my grandmother.

 

You'll never get 17 mpg..so don't plan on it. Not without some sort of economy mode on a chip....even highway miles extreme light throttle from NY to Detroit...I got almost 15 max.

Use the good stuff...in any car that requires it..there is a reason why it is required..the oem''s are just trying to sucker the custemor into paying more for gas.

I went through the same thing with a rich guy I know. I helped him get a discount on a brand new Navigator. Still a very pricey ride. Then he wanted to use cheap fuel...unreal.