Ford took to the 2017 North American International Auto Show to one-up its crosstown rival, General Motors. While both the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado and 2017 GMC Sierra match the Ford F-150 in more ways than not, the blue oval pulled a wild card out: the introduction of a 3.0-liter Power Stroke diesel engine.
With the introduction of the 3.0-liter Power Stroke V6 diesel engine, it leaves General Motors as the odd man out. Both Ford and Ram now offer a half-ton diesel powertrain for their bread and butter pickups.
Ford Authority reports the new V6 diesel engine will be mated to the automaker’s latest 10-speed automatic gearbox, but Ford did not specify power rating at the time of its unveiling. However, matching or exceeding the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel seems like a fair guess. The Ram makes 240 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque.
Buyers looking for a smaller diesel engine within the GM lineup will have to take solace in the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado or 2017 GMC Canyon diesel. Both of these midsize trucks, hardly comparable with the F-150, offer a 2.8-liter LWN four-cylinder turbo diesel engine. But the four-banger is no V6.
It begs the question if GM could, and should, check the F-150 with a new diesel engine. GM as a whole seems to be embracing the idea of more diesel options in its lineup of vehicles, too. Both the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox and 2018 GMC Terrain will offer a diesel engine.
But the next generation of GM pickups is also on the way, which are said to use significant amounts of aluminum in their construction. It may be possible we see a smaller diesel variant then, but for now, the 2018 F-150 and Ram EcoDiesel have that market on lock.
Comments
I sell Chevy’s. I have had 0 requests for a Diesel 1500. I don’t see the demand.
I’ve been a die hard Chevy man my whole life, I now own a 1500 ram eco diesel and couldn’t be happier. It’s no duramax, but I’m ok with 32-34 mpg highway and around 20 pulling my 6500lb camper. I’ve been begging for a Chevy 1/2 ton diesel, I feel that Chevy will be left with dropping sales now that Ram, Nissan and Ford offer it.
It’s high time for the 4.5L Duramax to be revived. Where I live (the Canadian prairies) all I see is guys upgrading to the 2500 of any brand JUST to get the diesel engine. I also see a LOT of Ram ecodiesel 1500’s around these days. People here love their trucks, and a Silverado/Sierra half ton with a diesel would sell like CRAZY. If they wanted to differentiate themselves from Dodge/Ford though, they should do a small V8 diesel instead of the 3-something liter V6. Quite a few people I’ve talked to are on the fence about a 3 liter being big enough for a truck. Again, 4.5 would be ideal size, and they’ve already developed it!
Around my place, diesels sell quite well. (Northern Alberta) I see lots of the ram ecodiesels, and lots of 3/4 ton diesels driving around even if the owner doesn’t have anything to tow yet. If GM brought back the 4.5L it would solve a couple problems. One, those of us that want a diesel but don’t have $80 grand could get a good tow machine, and there is too big a performace gap in the 3/4 ton between the underpowered gas and the overpowered diesel. A smaller diesel like the baby duramax would sell amazingly well.
Ford Will use a Range Rover diesel ?
Yes. Built in blighty (England) as I understand it.
I cant wait to order a ZR2 but I do wish it went with the diesel variant more of a true Duramax V8 just missing 2 cylinders. (V6) 4.5 would be ideal for this off roader.
GM can’t even put a heated steering wheel in most of their SUV’s (including brand new SLT Acadia). How are they going to come up with a diesel. Let’s see who’s truck sales slip dramatically this month. My guess the General
Not having a heated steering wheel is your argument on reason why chevy can’t come up with a small version of a duramax engine… a 3 liter diesel engine is something to be jumping up and down to be bragging about in a half ton truck…
Guys, GM has a diesel in the Colorado/Canyon twins. Those trucks are 85-90% the size of a 1/2 ton. I’m not saying I agree, but I can see the argument of not wanting to cannibalize sales of the Colorado/Canyon.
Ford and RAM currently have no such problem. Neither makes a smaller truck. Sure, Ford has announced the return of the Ranger but it is still 2-3 years out.
Do I think GM should revive the 4.5L diesel for the 1/2 ton? Heck yes! If that were an option back in August I would have VERY seriously considered it when looking at new trucks. I bought a 2500HD with the Duramax. I didn’t need the 3/4 ton nor did I need the diesel. I wanted the diesel and the only way to get one was to step up to the 2500HD. Colorado/Canyon was not an option. My boat weighs in at 80% of their max towing ability. That is my personal point to move up to a bigger tow vehicle.
For ’18 the F-150 will have 5 engines available, 4 gas and the diesel. These are also widely available across most trim and cab configurations. GM has 3, but remember the 6.2L is still limited to the high end trims only, not available on Silverado LT or Sierra SLE. GM is getting way behind, very quickly.
If GM had kept going with the 4.5L, they would have hands down taken over the 1/2 ton truck market. I too can see that GM doesn’t want to take away from the Colorado/Canyon sales, but lets face it… the 2.8L I4 is not the most powerful engine, it seems like GM was focused on MPGs when designing it. Right now GM has an over powered 6.6L diesel that gulps fuel, and an under powered 2.8L that does great on fuel. If they could put a diesel in the 1500 (the most popular truck segment) that combines fuel economy with power, it would be the perfect recipe for success.
Henry, you had a thumbs up until you went with “over powered 6.6L diesel that gulps fuel, and an under powered 2.8L that does great on fuel”.
Both engines are competitive in their markets. I firmly believe GM lost sales of 2500/3500 trucks the past couple of years because the LML was seen as under-powered compared to the competition. I didn’t matter that the trucks won every test that every magazine/web site could throw at them. On paper, they were seen as falling behind.
Unless the engineers have been working secretly on the 4.5L diesel I don’t see GM with a 1/2 diesel offering until at least 2020 and that’s a shame.
I can agree that both engines are very competitive in their respective markets, but I feel like the 2017 6.6L is way too overpowered for both the truck, and the tow ratings. If I were GM, I would have slightly, increased the torque to say… maybe 800 lbft and worked on improving fuel mileage or HP. As you said, on paper they were seen as falling behind, but in the real world they matched, if not exceeded Ford and Ram in terms of towing/ handling a load. Another reason why I think the 6.6L is overpowered is because Ford and Ram both have 4500/F450 and 5500/F550 models and they use the same engine in all 4 trucks, GM does not have a 4500/5500 (at least not for non fleet buyers), and they specifically did not increase the tow ratings for these trucks, so there is technically no reason why they should have given the engines 910lbft of torque, when the people who are buying these trucks, will most likely never need it. As for the 2.8L, I love the engine and the truck (specifically the canyon) but the engine is capable of producing way more power than it currently does and still getting 28-32MPG. Now I understand that this is the 1st gen. of the “baby Duramax” but the truck is rated to tow about 7600 pounds with the diesel (4WD), and sometimes even at 70% load, it struggles to accelerate. Hopefully instead of reworking the whole engine (4.5L), GM will just reuse the previous design and tweak a couple of things. I wish they would put a diesel in the 1500, I absolutely cant stand the Ecotec and I wouldn’t spend the $ on a 2500 without getting a diesel.
You guys are killing me! LOL Not really, GM is killing me. I’ve been wanting a new GM truck for 2 1/2 years. I’ve had my 2005 GMC Sierra SLT 5.3 z71 xcab, since 2006 with 5800 miles on it. Now 115,980. I have been going back & forth from 2500HD SLT Crew 4×4 to a 1500 SLT Crew 4×4 Max Trailer 6.2. We had a boat & trailer that weighed in at 7500 – 8000lbs. We sold boat. Will retire in a year. Might get another boat, 5 wheel, or nothing. I don’t like the 6.0 motor. Love the 6.6, but I probably don’t need it! I like the Max Trailer 6.2, but afraid of maybe needing more truck than the 1500. And the vibration issues, scares me. We drove a 2016 Ford 150 KRanch 4×4 with twin turbo V6. My wife and I loved the interior and power. Afraid of those TT! Friend of mine is a mechanic, he won’t have a Ford. I am a GM guy, since late 70’s. Trivial but, I wish GM would put AC vents back in center console. Now I read, GM may, bring a new truck out in 2018. Wow, this may come down to a coin flip! I like all the input on these trucks, keep writing!
You can’t beat a diesel in real world fuel economy and torque. 30mpg in a half ton is real.
Last time I drove a 5.3 Silverado after an Ecoboost, I thought I was driving a Honda VTEC, peaky and no torque down low. It’s time.