TFL TRK IKE
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What HP does for towing.
It's interesting that they only needed 300-350 lbs-ft to haul the trailer. Look, I've said it before and I'm going to say it again until the sun burns out - Torque doesn't haul. Power does.
Torque is a helpful tool in making power, and the lower the revs the torque happens at the better but if you put a 1500 lbs-ft diesel against a 650 lbs-ft TRX*, the TRX will haul the same load faster every. single. time
- Let's say @ 2000 rpm vs 5000 rpm.
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The 2017 Colorado V6 (308hp/275tq+8spd) vs the Canyon Diesel (181hp/369tq+6spd) was a good example of this. Both trucks only come with 3.42s and they only towed 6100lbs, so not max tow. The V6 obviously ran higher rpms, but murdered the diesel by almost 1min up the Ike. Not bad at all considering the loss of NA HP at altitude. The V6 got 4.9 vs 6.9mpg for the diesel.
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And yet down here we favour diesel powered things for towing...mostly because speed isn't everything and efficiency is important.
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@silentbutnotreallydeadly same story here, but its less common to find a diesel for anything less than 10k worth of towing. Too spendy. You can buy a LOT of gas for the 10 grand upcharge.
That's changing, but diesel is still very much the exception to the rule in light duty.
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@looseonexit exactly. Diesel - great for economy. Gas, great for power.
The trouble of course is that diesels are SO much more expensive its getting harder to justify the economy.
The whole reason for the 7.3 pushrod gas engine that Ford developed is because fleets needed a low cost motor as the diesels were proving to be too expensive to buy and maintain.
When you buy 100 trucks and they need to do work you don't need 1000 lbs-ft, you need low running costs. With gas being cheap and diesel maintence being so expensive (and upfront cost) it doesn't pan out for high power diesels anymore.
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@hammerheadfistpunch that's not really the issue here since very few tow worthy vehicles are even offered with a petrol engine. Pretty much the only exception is the current Nissan Patrol since that was never developed with this market in mind. The only other petrol offerings are base 4x2 grades of some pickups like the Hilux and Ranger. Even the American pickups from RAM and GM that come in via factory supported RHD conversion outfits are diesel engines only...
At the moment, diesel is the cheaper fuel around here too. Unleaded 91 octane is AU$1.20/litre or more (Premium98 is another ten to fifteen cents more) while diesel is upwards from around AU$1.08/litre
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When I was shopping midsizers, the 2.8 was high on my list. I didn’t want the V6, especially with the ZR2. Driving it was a big disappointment - tip in lag, lack of passing power, and then later on reading about emissions issues. There are advantages for sure (gear holding, exhaust brake, efficiency). The $3500 differential buys a lot of gas and diesel is more than gas here. The payback is really out there in miles. If they would replace it with a 4cyl version of the 3.0L Duramax, I’d be all in. Instead I’ll be happy to grab the 2.7T gasser in the future.
I quite like the diesels I’ve driven overseas. The use case in AUS certainly makes sense and I’d be all over one if I was there.
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confirmation that modern trucks are GROSSLY overpowered.
