2020 GMC Sierra Duramax

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2020 GMC Sierra Duramax

2020 GMC Sierra Duramax welcome to our website carsauthority.com a website that discusses various types of car models that are popular in the world, we really expect our website to be your choice in speaking automotive world, I hope you enjoy our review. In the high-stakes globe of half-ton pickup, obtaining your purchasers the appropriate mix of style and also modern technology is critical. Insufficient, and also you can taste boring; excessive, as well as you run the risk of indigestion. 

The technique, it seems, for smartest pickup manufacturers is to provide various features and tastes for a wide range of consumers so they can find what they like. And that seems to be exactly what GMC is trying to do with its 2020 Sierra 1500 (all new in 2014), which now supplies an all brand-new, all-aluminum 3.0-liter turbodiesel I-6 engine, ranked at 277 horsepower at 3,750 RPM and also 460 lb-ft of torque at 1,500 RPM. Both Ford, as well as Ram, have recently introduced/re-introduced their light-duty diesel into the segment; nevertheless, this new GM straight-six appears to be one of the most solid choices of the number.

2020 GMC Sierra Duramax


We’ve currently read about GM’s all brand-new light-duty diesel in our Initial Drive piece on the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Duramax, and simply in situation you really did not recognize, the GMC Sierra 1500 shares this brand-new engine with the Chevy Silverado 1500. In our earlier drive, we suched as the engine as well as its performance feel, but we didn’t get to do much carrying, lugging, or off-roading. This time around, with the 2020 GMC Sierra Duramax, we got to do all three.

To offer a fast technological recap, the new light-duty diesel uses an all brand-new I-6 layout for tranquility as well as balance, using an aluminum block as well as head configuration with a variable consumption manifold and also modern high-pressure fuel injection. Furthermore, the engine can send out trendy or warm liquids to the block as well as head as needed, and has a variable geometry water-cooled turbocharger as well as stop/start technology– all mated to the new 10-speed transmission. 

The entire point creates 95 percent of peak torque in between 1,250 rpm as well as 3,000 rpm. A level torque curve like this means more drawing power for longer periods of time, always a good thing if you take place to be using your pick-up like a pick-up.

How does it feel on the road? In 2 words, smooth as well as receptive. Naturally, we’re presuming a great deal of that has to do with the computer software combined with the new 10-speed transmission (also newly readily available for 2020 with the DFM 5.3-liter V-8), which never ever provided us any severe shifts or hunts during our drive paths. 

Read more: 2020 GMC Sierra 2500hd Crew Cab


We played a fair bit with the selectable dial settings, too, and found everyone (Sporting activity, Touring, Off Roadway, and also Tow/Haul) to provide an one-of-a-kind feeling, altering shift factors, grip control settings, throttle feedback, and a lot more. We wound up choosing the more controlled feeling of the AT4 suspension over the comfy and also floaty feeling of the Denali, however you can always transform the personality of this truck with the different trans pick selection. Regardless of what you like, there’s a great amount of adjustability.

And also for those who tow (especially in or near the hills), this new engine utilizes its turbocharger to supply a healthy dosage of backpressure (as an automatic exhaust brake) to control downhill rates. Although none of the light-duty diesel engines in this sector provide for a separate exhaust brake switch (as is standard on the bigger HD turbodiesel), the 3.0-liter Duramax is the just one that totally integrate this feature in its Tow/Haul arrangement. 

We really felt the difference when lugging an 8,000-pound box trailer down a 6-percent grade. Our car held its equipment, keeping a continuous engine rpm to give us a great quantity of control in traffic, enabling us to function our brakes moderately.

Although we haven’t had the opportunity to do any kind of track screening with this powertrain (keep tuned for our upcoming Vehicle of the Year competitors in the following couple of months), we discovered the acceleration feel to be outstanding. Throughout our latest examination drive in the Rocky Mountains near Jackson Opening, Wyoming (at 6,300 feet over water level), we had both a new Denali and also AT4 crew taxi 4×4 with the new Duramax. Even here, we found the throttle feedback to be crisp and also precise, yet when in Sporting activity setting, the hulking pickup actually felt active and fast off the line and also rather comfortable diving in and also out of difficult corners. 

The GM designers handy informed us the whole lineup of half-tons had their suspensions (both front coils and also leaf rear springs) retuned for the 2020 version year, mostly because of customer feedback. One of the most excellent modifications we experienced was on the preferred AT4 bundle, where we noticed the Rancho monotube shocks doing a far better work handling higher-speed inputs. The high-speed desert laundry group will certainly be much better with this retune.

For those that might not recognize with the relatively new AT4 off-road plan (an evolution of the earlier All Terrain bundle), it supplies several one-of-a-kind functions that make it a strong entertainer in tough surface. When paired with the torquey efficiency of the Duramax engine, we’re presuming this will likely be just one of the most popular setups for those that like to discover remote from the northeast to the southwest. 

For full disclosure, 2020 GMC Sierra Duramax AT4 bundle is efficiently the like the Chevy Silverado 1500 Path Manager, providing an uniquely tuned 2-inch suspension lift, Rancho monotube shocks, larger wheels and also 32-inch all-terrain tires, extra skid-plating, a G80 auto-locking back diff, and also a few various other innovation details like border view cams, hillside descent control, and a shade heads-up screen that supplies ahead, back, as well as side-to-side slope readouts.

Read more: 2020 GMC Sierra Denali 3500


We had the opportunity to run a Duramax AT4 over a nasty rock-strewn course in reduced variety and also located the arrangement, specifically with the forward and surround-view video cameras, an easy no-spotter, hassle-free climb. Likewise readily available is an attribute that discovers the pitch of your incline when you take your foot on-then-off the brake and also will certainly hold it immediately until you touch the throttle. 

That hill-hold modern technology could protect against a lot of body damages in places like San Francisco and also Seattle, also. Throughout this section of our examination, we rapidly figured out cams are just comparable to their capability to shed mud and dirty water. It would certainly have been nice to have a fast squirter nozzle (a minimum of on the front and also back lenses) to provide us a suggestion of what to anticipate when we unlock.

Plainly, the off-road part of our test was the most fun, but empty and also crammed runs through the mountain roads linking the part of Wyoming and also Idaho along the Serpent River offered us a chance to allow the equines run. We obtained a pretty good suggestion that this configuration is more than efficient in multi-tasking, a particularly important information for many new-truck purchasers. 

Regarding just how this bundle (Denali or AT4 Duramax) will certainly stand up versus the Ram and Ford offerings, we can not be exactly certain, offered our altitude driving and restricted time with the trucks. But we can say GM engineers have actually done a stellar task effortlessly incorporating the engine’s power with the super-smart, selectable 10-speed transmission. We never really felt a hard shift or clumsy quest for the next equipment whatever the circumstance, which we have actually experienced in both of its competitors.


2020 GMC Sierra Duramax

Given that we’re discussing how this brand-new light-duty pickup compares with the competitors, we simply have to keep in mind there are still fairly couple of (if any) changes to the interior of the different trim degrees for the 2020 model year, Duramax or otherwise. So if you were wishing for GMC to up its game (also ahead of Chevy) for this new powertrain setup, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Both state-of-the-art Ram and also Ford light-duties (as well as even a few of their midlevel trims) appear to be doing a better job with product choices, format, and also layout. 

That stated we’re willing to provide both Chevy as well as 2020 GMC Sierra Duramax a little more time. Still, GMC is doing well with unique modern technologies like the creative Multi-Pro Tailgate and also virtually unbreakable Carbon Pro composite bed, however, you can expect more attention-getting attributes ahead.

2020 Duramax Sierra 1500s should be getting to car dealerships currently and also will be priced identically to the 6.2-liter gas V-8 engine, or a $2,495 option over the 5.3-liter DFM gas V-8, as well as a $3,890 costs over the criterion (in some cases) 2.7-liter turbo I-4. The Duramax will eventually be readily available across the schedule in all arrangements, with the exception of the entry-level Sierra trim bundle in the meantime.