My have things changed
Over 10 years ago when people posted their new truck HP figures people were coming back with posts like: "When is the HP madness going to stop." "This HP thing is out of of control, it's madness". "Wh...
Forum Discussion
I said the same thing in a 7.3L gaser thread not too long ago. I remember when people said that they did not need more power than the 6.2L and could not justify paying for more, and then the 7.3L comes around and all that is forgotten.
In regards to diesels, what many do not understand is that unlike gas engines most of the upgrades and improvements made to diesels that increase their horsepower, also increase their efficiency. Slap a turbo on a gasser and you will make a less efficient because it will need to inject more fuel for added air. Slap a turbo on a diesel and it will increase it's efficiency significantly. However, some of these improvements do not make it more reliable as many have seen with the early CP4.
You also have the fact that you are not getting this horsepower all the time. Unlike ECM's in the past, the advanced ECM's of today allow for more programming and more functions meaning that the manufacturer can add more defueling into the maps to where they couldn't before. Think of it as a hard drive on a PC. Ten years ago, 100 GB was a lot and needed something big to hold that amount of data. Now, that ain't nothing and you can easily fit 100GB worth of data in something so small it can fit in an ECM. So while manufacturers are posting big numbers, it doesn't mean you are getting those numbers all the time.
But for those that are wanting more efficiency out of these HD trucks, it is coming. Now that phase one has finished, which focused on emissions, phase two is just starting to be implemented and it focuses on fuel efficiency numbers of these trucks. HD (8,501 GVWR and up) trucks will soon be included in a manufacturers Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency(CAFE) numbers meaning that the fuel economy of these trucks will now be apart of the manufacturers weighted average of what they sell. This also means that you will start to see fuel economy numbers on the window stickers of HD trucks as well. This is why manufacturers have been making improvement to the trucks for better fuel economy like more gears in transmissions and taller rear ratios because they are getting ready for it to hit in the next couple of years.
In regards to diesels, what many do not understand is that unlike gas engines most of the upgrades and improvements made to diesels that increase their horsepower, also increase their efficiency. Slap a turbo on a gasser and you will make a less efficient because it will need to inject more fuel for added air. Slap a turbo on a diesel and it will increase it's efficiency significantly. However, some of these improvements do not make it more reliable as many have seen with the early CP4.
You also have the fact that you are not getting this horsepower all the time. Unlike ECM's in the past, the advanced ECM's of today allow for more programming and more functions meaning that the manufacturer can add more defueling into the maps to where they couldn't before. Think of it as a hard drive on a PC. Ten years ago, 100 GB was a lot and needed something big to hold that amount of data. Now, that ain't nothing and you can easily fit 100GB worth of data in something so small it can fit in an ECM. So while manufacturers are posting big numbers, it doesn't mean you are getting those numbers all the time.
But for those that are wanting more efficiency out of these HD trucks, it is coming. Now that phase one has finished, which focused on emissions, phase two is just starting to be implemented and it focuses on fuel efficiency numbers of these trucks. HD (8,501 GVWR and up) trucks will soon be included in a manufacturers Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency(CAFE) numbers meaning that the fuel economy of these trucks will now be apart of the manufacturers weighted average of what they sell. This also means that you will start to see fuel economy numbers on the window stickers of HD trucks as well. This is why manufacturers have been making improvement to the trucks for better fuel economy like more gears in transmissions and taller rear ratios because they are getting ready for it to hit in the next couple of years.
