Buying an early 3rd generation what year is better 03, 04, 04.5???

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

The thing I miss about my '03 is the towing MPG, neither of my 12-valve trucks have been able to come close to it

 

[FJfonda]

Check the Buyers Guide

I just finished reviewing the buyers guide on the home page and it does a pretty good job of laying out power options and transmission availability by model year ..... learned that the reason I could not get an '04 HO was due to sales limitations in NY.

 

[WoodChuck]

In '03 -'04 there wer three engines available. A 235 hp SO low emmisions CA model, 250 hp SO model and the 305 hp HO. The SO came with the 10. 5 " rear axle and the HO had the 11. 5". And if you wanted an HO with auto transmission it wasn't available till '04 with the introduction of the 48 RE.

 

[RVTRKN]

In '03 -'04 there wer three engines available. A 235 hp SO low emmisions CA model, 250 hp SO model and the 305 hp HO. The SO came with the 10. 5 " rear axle and the HO had the 11. 5". And if you wanted an HO with auto transmission it wasn't available till '04 with the introduction of the 48 RE.

Wow! thats right the Calif. special was a SO detuned. However then there would have been 4 available depending on were you lived, the 4th being the 04. 5 325/600.

 

[WoodChuck]

Wow! thats right the Calif. special was a SO detuned. However then there would have been 4 available depending on were you lived, the 4th being the 04. 5 325/600.

Not really. The HO "600" as it was called, 325 hp 04. 5 was 50 state legal and the only one available after Jan. 1 '04.

 

[WoodChuck]

Wow! thats right the Calif. special was a SO detuned. However then there would have been 4 available depending on were you lived, the 4th being the 04. 5 325/600.

You could say that too.

 

[WoodChuck]

Also there were 5 states that required the low emissions tune.

 

[Grizzly]

G56 came about mid model year '05 I believe.

I'm sure happy with my early 05, which has the NG5600 6 speed.