When GM Put a Small-Block V8 in its Compact Pickup Vehicles

There are an terrible lot of examples the place GM does one thing nice. Sadly, the automaker usually takes away these good concepts simply as swiftly as they have been launched, leaving everybody baffled. It occurred to the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon: For a number of years, GM dropped a small-block V8 in its compact pickup, giving followers a sporty little hot-rod truck. Then GM snatched it away.

Welcome to Forgotten Automobiles, the place we delve into the historical past of the fascinating automobiles that haven’t crossed your thoughts in ages. Be a part of us for an automotive journey down reminiscence lane.

It’s 2009. It’s a fairly turbulent time for GM, and the remainder of the world. The Nice Recession formally led to June of 2009, however GM declared bankruptcy that very same month. With $82 billion in belongings and $173 billion in liabilities, it was one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Whereas it was a darkish time for the automaker, that didn’t cease GM engineers from growing some somewhat great things.

On the time GM filed chapter, the GMT355 platform had been on sale for a number of years. The truck was bought because the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Isuzu i-Collection within the U.S., and supplied around the globe underneath varied GM nameplates. For probably the most half, nothing was significantly particular about these vans, which fought towards two much-loved rivals, the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma. However then, one thing modified.

For the reason that days of the primary Chevy S-10, of us needed GM to drop a small-block V8 within the firm’s compact pickups. (In truth, there was an aftermarket company that might do this actual engine swap in your S-10.) The largest engine you could possibly get in a first-gen Canyon or Colorado was a 3.5 or 3.7-liter inline-5 (a really distinctive engine for the phase) with energy starting from 220 to 242 hp. However you weren’t gonna win any stoplight races.

After Toyota launched the Tacoma X-Runner, a sports car disguised as a pickup, GM consumers actually needed a muscular compact truck of their very own. So GM delivered.

For the 2009 mannequin 12 months, GM dropped a 5.3-liter small-block V8 into the Colorado, the Canyon, and the Hummer H3T Alpha, which used a modified GMT355 platform. Whereas some folks might need hoped for a short-cab physique and a handbook transmission, you could possibly solely get the V8 on extended-cab or crew cab-models, and the V8 — which made 300 hp and 320 lb-ft of torque — may solely be paired with a comparatively historic four-speed auto.

You may inform V8 fashions other than common Colorado/Canyons by a small V8 badge on the entrance fenders, body-color bumpers, distinctive 18-inch wheels, and particular bucket seats. It wasn’t simply the run-of-the-mill pickup with an even bigger engine thrown in, although. GM really tried to make a sporty machine out of the V8 twins. Colorado/Canyons geared up with the V8 obtained the ZQ8 sport suspension bundle (which dropped the trip peak by an inch), a faster steering ratio, and 235/50 Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires on 18-inch rims.

The end result was a bundle that truly carried out. Motor Trend identified the spectacular power-to-weight ratio. “On this case, it’s 13.6 lb/hp, which is almost nearly as good as that of an Acura TL or John Cooper Works Mini Clubman,” the journal’s interval overview mentioned. And the additional energy from the V8 shaved a full two seconds off the truck’s 0-60 mph time in comparison with the 5 cylinder: It wanted simply 6.7 seconds to do the dash. The game suspension additionally gave it spectacular skidpad numbers, pulling 0.61 g, as good as a Mazda 3 or Acura TSX at the time.

Nevertheless it wasn’t all excellent news. The inside was, frankly, horrible, lined within the onerous plastics that plagued GMs merchandise of the time. And it was spartan. Motor Trend identified that there was no choice for navigation and no auxiliary enter for an iPod or different music participant. Car And Driver known as the inside “rental automobile” and was one of many causes the truck completed final out of 5 in a comparability check. “Low-cost, onerous plastic is as widespread within the Chevy as within the toy part on the native greenback retailer,” Automobile And Driver mentioned.

The largest drawback with these vans, although, was the worth. Let’s use the extra fashionable Colorado as our instance. To get the V8, you needed to spec the extended-cab or crew-cab configuration. The V8 required that you simply order the top-of-the-line 3LT trim, which began at $23,330. From there you had so as to add on the obligatory ZQ8 bundle at $3,935. For those who threw in one other $1,395 for the previous few choices, like a sunroof, locking differential, and facet curtain airbags, you have been sitting at or close to $30,000 for this truck. That was base- to mid-level Silverado pricing in 2009. Whereas a V8 on this measurement truck sounds interesting, it loses its draw when you may get a way more succesful, spacious truck for around the same price.

Whereas I at all times thought that the V8 Colorado/Canyon was solely supplied in 2009. In researching this text, I used to be stunned to search out out that the small-block was supplied by way of 2012. Really, two completely different variations of the small-block have been used within the Canyon and Colorado. To get extra data, I reached out to GM’s world chief engineer for the small-block V8, Jordan Lee. He defined particulars I had by no means heard earlier than:

The 5.3L V8 was used within the first Gen Colorado/Canyon from 2009 by way of 2012, 4 mannequin years. The 2009 mannequin used the LH8 engine however was changed with the LH9 engine in 2010. The LH9 was equivalent to the LH8 with the exception that the LH9 carried out a camshaft phaser for variable valve timing. This helped emissions in addition to drive high quality. The LH9 was utilized in 2010, 2011, and 2012 mannequin years.

The primary-gen Colorado/Canyon ended up being the one time GM supplied a V8 within the smallest truck in its portfolio. Whereas the present technology Colorado/Canyon is a superb truck, and the approaching 2023 mannequin guarantees to be even higher, it could have been good to have an eight-cylinder sendoff earlier than our inevitable EV future. When GM’s pickup line goes totally electrical, I count on values on the short-lived V8 Canyon and Colorado will skyrocket.