Impressive ratings for GM's new diesel

Would be a game changer for sure if offered in a Suburban or Yukon.

The couple things that will help it sell is the really good MPG, decent even though not class leading tow ratings and lastly a price that doesn't go over the cost of the premium gas engine. I would guess that the cost of the diesel is being subsidized by the cost of the pickup, because I don't think they can build that motor for $2600 more than a 5.3. Buyers obviously will pay 10K more for a diesel HD engine option, but I don't think they would pay half that for a half ton diesel. So good call on keeping the oil burner option from being over priced. I am also curious to see how these half ton diesel engines do going up Ike.

Looking forward in seeing the new engine being tested by tfl. I kinda like seeing the diesel option on a 1/2 ton truck. Fuel mpgs mixed with a decent towing ability and they should sell well.

How long before it goes into a full size Blazer (ok Tahoe) or Burb?

We had a '13 VW diesel and loved it but it was part of the dieselgate scandal. Bought a '17 4 banger turbo VW which is pretty snotty and gets 26-33 mpg's. Think DW is leaning towards a hybrid or SUV for next vehicle. VW's have been very good and reliable for us and I'm kinda eyeing their Atlas SUV. However, if GM could make the lil D-max work in their SUV's and return good MPG's, hmmmmmm...........

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
But amazingly. it is third in towing capacity. Why is that.

In a word; duty cycle. (oh I guess that's 2 words)

When you do things like put electric fans to cool an engine in a pickup that tows you're going to run into things like duty cycle. It does bring up the mileage though! :B

Nailed it! Towing is rarely power limited, but cooling. I invite everyone to read the article on just how hard Jeep engineers worked on the Gladiator's cooling to achieve its tow rating, nothing was touched on the Pentastar (which has a lot less torque than the baby Duramax)

The original 6BT towed about 10 lbs with all of 160hp, and 400 lb-ft of torque. But it had a massive radiator, big clumsy engine driven metal fan, and NO intercooler dumping additional heat load.

Terryallan wrote:
But amazingly. it is third in towing capacity. Why is that.

In a word; duty cycle. (oh I guess that's 2 words)

When you do things like put electric fans to cool an engine in a pickup that tows you're going to run into things like duty cycle. It does bring up the mileage though! :B

But amazingly. it is third in towing capacity. Why is that. Says it has more torque, and more HP, but more than 1000lb less towing for the Ford, and more than 2000lb less for the Ram.

Did say it compared nicely to a BMW road car

That will certainly get people’s attention !

Getting into "game changer" territory. Awesome!

It takes approximately 20 to 30 HP to keep a car with good Cx moving at a constant 65MPH in calm air

Our TV's with brick like Cx, guessing would be about double at around 40 to 60 HP required

Engineer's know this and design to the best portion of the ICE's torqure/HP spots for each gear...and another why of todays many more gears in automatic trannies

Plus, ICE's have low fuel efficiency (gasser about 25-28 percent and diesel about 40 percent) , so there are many potential improvements