I hear you. I actually find it kind of funny. My wifes car like $25 to fill up.. mine like $70 half a tank lol. She used to get annoyed and never understood why I always prefer to take the suburban nomatter what..
With that 44 gallon tank to fill, Kroger fuel points are the bomb! At least right now I can fill it up (usually 30--33 gallons)for under $60 with my points. Going around Houston and out to Stafford and Sugar Land for work, Mom and I can usually get a week to 10 days out of a tank, try to not get below 1/4 tank. Not interested in buying a fuel pump yet!
Best mileage on our Burb 5.7 vortec is around 15 on the highway. Last road trip was last October, to Lafayette, Louisiana and back, in a little under 2 days. We were loaded up to the headliner and window to window, going to a car show to try to sell some toy cars and old car ads and such. We did, and the larger tank meant we didn't have to gas up until halfway home. My Dad's 06 Yukon XL Denali with the 6.0 only holds 31 gallons, and the way the 6.0 slurps the gas, we had to gas up in Lafayette, before the weekend was over. We'd be towing a small U haul trailer with the Denali, but that truck got bad mileage whether loaded or empty. And it goes so good it's hard to keep your foot outta it LOL!
But the vortec is pretty respectable in the performance department. This Burb, it doesn't take any effort to get it up to 75 or 80 on the freeway. And a load doesn't have much effect on it, other than needing a little more stopping distance. The Denali has the 4 wheel discs and all wheel drive, so it stops on a dime and gives you change. And when we first had that truck, it handled like something a lot smaller. Got the factory option 20s on it,with 275/55-20's on it so a good footprint. Looked badass too,all black and nice stance. But it's got a bunch of issues, chiefly transmission and oil pressure, so it's parked.