While a midsize truck like the Ford Ranger might brag about a pitiful 2.3-liter turbocharged four cylinder, the full-size Chevy Silverado will now sport a hulking 2.7 liter, now rated by the EPA at 20 city/23 highway/21 combined mpg.
We’ve known that the big four was going into the Silverado in its popular LT and RST trims for a hot minute now, but the EPA figures are new, giving us a sense of how (relative to the market) the truck is good in the city but not all that amazing on the highway, as Truck Trend notes:
Chevrolet is quick to point out that the city number exceeds that of Ford’s 3.3L base V-6, and it matches that of the mild-hybrid Ram 1500 and its 3.6L Pentastar V-6. However, both Ford and Ram have the Chevrolet beat in highway driving, as both achieve 25 mpg in that metric, as well as combined ratings of 22 mpg.
Truck Trend is talking about base engines, I guess, because it leaves out Ford’s 325 horsepower, 400 lb-ft 2.7-liter turbo Ecoboost V6. In its best configuration with that engine, the F-150 edges out the Chevy in rated EPA numbers, though things are a bit of a wash if you don’t get the most fuel-efficient version. I pulled all the 2WD 2.7s from FuelEconomy.gov for reference:
As for power with the Chevy, you are looking at 310 horsepower and 348 lb-ft of torque, rated to tow 7,200 lbs, rated at a max payload of 2,280 lbs. Those are Chevy figures, which also claim that the turbo four weighs 380 pounds less than the 4.3L V6 in the Silverado that this I4 replaces.
What impresses me is the size of the engine itself. Toyota offers a couple 2.7-liter fours in the Sienna and the Tacoma, but those aren’t turbocharged. Even then, the 2.7-liter four in the Taco is rated at identical numbers as the Silverado. And it’s a class down in size. And it makes less power.
What will be interesting to see is how well these rated numbers match real-world performance. But we’ll have to wait and see for that one.