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We Drive GM’s New 8-Speed Pickups and SUVs
blog.caranddriver.com
October 15th, 2015
By: Andrew Wendler
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When news arrived earlier this year that the Chevrolet Corvette’s touted eight-speed automatic transmission would migrate to GM’s full-size trucks, the C/D office responded with a resounding, “Well, that makes sense.” Don’t get us wrong, we love trucks almost as much—more, in rare instances—as we do Corvettes, but it can be hard to make headlines in the wake of the C7 Corvette’s brouhaha. Well, now we’ve sampled the General’s eight-speed pickups and SUVs.
Although GM kept our drives to a short route of nonchallenging terrain, we did get seat time in both a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado with the Z71 package and a GMC Yukon Denali, each equipped with the 6.2-liter Ecotec3/eight-speed combo. First impressions? Low-speed drivability improves by comparison to the outgoing six-speed. Under light throttle, the shifts click off in rapid-fire succession, occurring somewhere between 2000 and 2500 rpm. Leaning harder on the accelerator elevates the shift points to around 3500 rpm, all the while remaining smooth, precise, and never busy; were we not watching the action on the tachometer, gearchanges could have gone unnoticed. Floor the pedal and the eight-speed lets the 6.2-liter V-8 spread its wings, holding each gear to about 5750 rpm, just short of the 6000 fuel cutoff.
More at the Link
blog.caranddriver.com
October 15th, 2015
By: Andrew Wendler
When news arrived earlier this year that the Chevrolet Corvette’s touted eight-speed automatic transmission would migrate to GM’s full-size trucks, the C/D office responded with a resounding, “Well, that makes sense.” Don’t get us wrong, we love trucks almost as much—more, in rare instances—as we do Corvettes, but it can be hard to make headlines in the wake of the C7 Corvette’s brouhaha. Well, now we’ve sampled the General’s eight-speed pickups and SUVs.
Although GM kept our drives to a short route of nonchallenging terrain, we did get seat time in both a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado with the Z71 package and a GMC Yukon Denali, each equipped with the 6.2-liter Ecotec3/eight-speed combo. First impressions? Low-speed drivability improves by comparison to the outgoing six-speed. Under light throttle, the shifts click off in rapid-fire succession, occurring somewhere between 2000 and 2500 rpm. Leaning harder on the accelerator elevates the shift points to around 3500 rpm, all the while remaining smooth, precise, and never busy; were we not watching the action on the tachometer, gearchanges could have gone unnoticed. Floor the pedal and the eight-speed lets the 6.2-liter V-8 spread its wings, holding each gear to about 5750 rpm, just short of the 6000 fuel cutoff.
More at the Link
