First Drive: What to expect from new four-cylinder engine in Chevrolet Silverado pickup

MILFORD, Mich. – Chevrolet has revealed the first four-cylinder engine in the history of the Silverado pickup, a 310-horsepower, 2.7-liter turbocharged version that delivered smooth power in a short drive Thursday around General Motors’ test track.

The new engine will be standard equipment on some of the top-selling models of the new 2019 Silverado pickup, including the LT and RST versions. The engine will be available shortly after the pickup goes on sale late this summer.

Built in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the new engine is 80 pounds lighter and should be more fuel efficient than the less powerful 4.3-liter V-6 it will replace in some Silverado models. The 2.7-liter is expected to account for around 10 percent of Silverado sales.

I also made a brief test of the latest fuel-saving feature in Chevy’s hallmark small block V-8 engine, Dynamic Fuel Management. DFM allows the engine to run on anything from one to all eight cylinders, depending on how much power the driver is using. It’s a major step beyond the widely used cylinder deactivation systems that save fuel by shutting off half an engine’s cylinders.

DFM will be available in 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V-8s powering top Silverado models.

During my test drive, a computer readout atop the dash showed how many cylinders the engine was using at any given moment. The number varied constantly as I accelerated, reached highway speeds, slowed, cruised at 35 and 45 miles per hour and came to a stop.

Chevy estimates V-8s with DFM will use fewer than eight cylinders 61 percent of the time in normal driving.

Other than the digital display, there was no way to tell how many cylinders I was using or when the number changed. Acceleration and vibration felt no different from the 5.3-liter V-8's usual performance.

GM engineers dealt with the major noise and vibration challenges that come with repeated, quick changes in the number of cylinders that are firing by using carefully tuned engine mounts and a clever centrifugal pendulum built into the automatic transmission.  

The 5.3-liter V-8 I tested was linked to an eight-speed automatic. The 6.2-liter V-8 gets GM’s new 10-speed automatic transmission. The 2.7-liter four-cylinder, which uses a simpler fuel-saving cylinder deactivation system that can shut down two cylinders, was linked to an eight-speed automatic.

Both transmissions delivered quick, smooth shifts.

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GM didn’t provide any information about the steering gear or chassis and suspension technology, but the 2019 Silverado felt responsive and stable in maneuvers ranging from parking lots to highway speed and jouncing over chatter-bumps on intentionally rough pavement at the test track.

The 2019 Silverado is longer but up to 450 pounds lighter than the pickup it replaces, executive chief engineer Tim Herrick said. It’s also more aerodynamic.

The 2.7-liter uses an innovative turbocharger to develop 90 percent of its 348-pound-feet of torque more quickly than competing engines, according to Chevrolet's tests. Developing torque quickly helps with both towing and acceleration.

Trucks with the 2.7-liter will be up to 380 pounds lighter than a 2018 Silverado with the 4.3-liter V-6. Chevrolet says its new engine is also about 100 pounds lighter than a 2.7-liter twin-turbo like the one Ford offers on the F-150.