Tag - GMC

Speed Read: 2016 GMC Canyon Diesel

GM shook up the dwindling midsize pickup field last year when it introduced the “rest of world” Canyon and Colorado twins to the...

Speed Read: 2015 GMC Canyon

When I drove the Chevy Colorado earlier this year, I found it to be an extremely viable alternative to the dominant Tacoma in the...

Driven: 2015 Ford F-150

Ford’s new aluminum-bodied wonder was met with equal parts optimism and skepticism when it was introduced at last year’s Detroit...

Driven: 2015 Chevy Colorado Z71

John Kucek

Reviews and Road Tests, Speed:Sport:Life Original Content

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When Chevy announced that it would bring a version of the “rest-of-world” Colorado midsize pickup to the US market in 2013, it was a move that could be labelled as either foolhardy or a no-brainer. On the foolhardy end of the scale, how would Chevrolet (and GMC) take on the juggernaut Toyota Tacoma, which has dominated the compact and midsize pickup segment so completely that all other players vacated the field long ago, save the Nissan Frontier, which soldiers on propelled only by its maker’s pride. On the other hand, the tooling for the Colorado was already done, more or less; this vehicle has been built and sold in Asia and South America for the last three years. Why not refresh it for the North American market, up the feature content, and do battle with the likes of Toyota? GM obviously went with the latter decision, and the truck that resulted is pictured here.

Driven: 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500HD 4X4 Crew Cab

John Kucek

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Chevy’s new heavy-duty line of Silverado pickups are big beasts of burden. Short of a U-Haul, there’s not a whole lot out there that’s bigger and can still be legally piloted without cdl training. Even compared to the Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, a truck already near and dear to my heart but not exactly ‘compact’ in its own right, the 2500 4×4 pictured here commands attention with another 2,000 pounds of girth, 4.5′ of height and 9.5′ of length.

Driven: 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ 4WD

John Kucek

Reviews and Road Tests, Speed:Sport:Life Original Content

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The current truck market is hot ? you can tell because I’ve heard from friends that many people are deciding to look into 4WD hire in Australia to try out all of these awesome trucks. The combined competence of my recent spate of pickup loaners can attest to that. You can also tell from the significant efforts (and development dollars) truck makers have been throwing at these “cash cows” over just the last year. The GM twins, the Chevy version of which you see before you, were brand new for 2014. Ford recently introduced an all-new 2015 F-series at the Detroit show, photos of which can be seen further down our front page. The RAM models received a light freshening, and a six-cylinder diesel was introduced for the light-duty 1500 model ? a combination capable of achieving 28 mpg on the highway, a feat considered decent even by small sedan standards not so long ago. The Toyota Tundra, which I sampled a few months ago, also benefited from a significant revamp for 2014, and to take on the stalwart Tacoma ?tweener, GM is bringing the like-sized Colorado and Canyon twins back from the dead for 2015. It doesn?t take a rocket surgeon to see that the pickup market is back with a vengeance, and there?s plenty of room for manufacturers to line their shareholders? pockets. Nothing wrong with that.

Driven: 2014 GMC Acadia Denali

John Kucek

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It’s hard to believe, but the Lambda platform architecture that underpins the GMC Acadia Denali tester seen here is now more than seven years old. As part of the product onslaught that kicked off GM’s current renaissance era, the Lambda (also recognizable as the Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and now-defunct Saturn Outlook) was ushered in just before two other heavy-hitters of the General’s new quality image: the 2008 Chevy Malibu and 2008 Cadillac CTS.

Road Tested: 2014 Toyota Tundra CrewMax Limited

John Kucek

Reviews and Road Tests, Speed:Sport:Life Original Content

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Though it may seem like an also-ran in a segment packed with sales heavy hitters like the Ford F-Series and Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra, Toyota still moves plenty of metal with the Tundra – about 10,000 units a month, in fact. Mazda sold about as many smiley-face 3s this year, and I see plenty of those rolling around. With a fresh redesign under their belts, Toyota corporate is probably hoping those numbers improve towards the second generation’s peak in 2007 of almost 200,000 (Toyota would like to call this revised 2014 model a new generation, but I’m sticking to my guns in calling it a 2nd-gen, given it’s mostly a fascia-and-interior reskinning).

Road Tested: 2014 GMC Sierra 1500 SLT

John Kucek

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Baffling as it is in a country where $4.00 per gallon gasoline is the norm, pickup trucks are increasingly called upon to serve double duty as both mobile workstations or tow rigs, and family haulers. Look no further than the rise to prominence of four-door crew cab body styles over the last fifteen-odd years – I’d wager the “crew” that occupies these crew cabs more often consists of a wife and kids than four flannel-clad roughnecks. Even as modern haulers become more and more gadget-laden and luxurious, fuel economy continues to rise. EcoBoost Fords and the high-feature naturally aspirated V6s powering the latest RAM and GM base trucks get fuel efficiency figures that would rival most full-size sedans from just a few years ago.