Despite the fact we’ve been talking about Ford Ranger constantly—the thing is almost as big as the full-size truck I started out in—and the, gulp, Toyota “Taco” big truck news is afoot.
Motor Trend does a nice breakdown of the new big-ups gas—not diesel, to make it abundantly clear, which I needed as a basis for context while reading this—engines that are typical on the HD category trucks. Again, I needed it spelled out that HD means “heavy duty,” which in turn means ¾-ton, 250/2500.
Generally speaking, gas V-8 engines are a fairly rare order in the HD class, with the vast majority of heavy-duty trucks equipped with the more muscle-bound turbodiesel option. Still, a small number of personal-use buyers and commercial fleet buyers like having an efficient and easy-to-maintain traditional gas engine option. And after a long period of stasis, it's good to see all of the big pickup makers upping their gas V-8 game.
One of the insights I liked the most from this piece is that HD gas engines usually go to large-volume fleet owners because they’re easier to maintain, which I think is telling. Diesel, in my limited view, is already a chafe. That they’re more difficult to repair only adds to the balm required to sooth the itch.
As noted, none of the pickup makers sells lots of these engines, but when they do, they're usually to big-volume fleet buyers who are looking for a long-lasting, low-maintenance/repair-cost choice. And given their cost effectiveness, this new crop of big V-8s—producing some big power and torque numbers—will likely offer a tremendous power-to-cost ratio. And who knows? We can always hope these same engines might find their way into a half-ton specialty performance package or a full-size SUV.
I like this tip quite a bit. No need for Super.
And like all the V-8 engines in this segment, Ram's Hemi recommends 87-octane fuel.
Need to go more inside baseball, read the entire Motor Trend piece here.
