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Written by Jonathan Guthrie
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Monday, 03 July 2006 |
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Canyon/Colorado/H3 get more power without MPG sacrifice.
General Motors, Detroit - The plan: Give their 2007 Mid-Sized pickups and the Hummer H3 SUV more powerful engines.
Currently, the 3.5 liter I-5 in the 4,700 pound Hummer H3 is rated at 220 horsepower. The 2007 H3 which will arrive in the fall, will get a 3.7 liter I-5 with a rating of 242 horsepower, says GM.
The Colorado and Canyon pickup truck lines will also be available with the 242 horsepower, 3.7 liter I-5 as an option, as the base models of the mid-sized pickup will go from a 175hp 2.8 liter four cylinder model, to a 2.9 liter four cylinder model pasting an extra 10 horsepower, to achieve 185hp (from the 2.8 liters 175hp).
Due to lack of power, GM decided to upgrade the engines, with bigger pistons, larger valves, redesigned heads, and a new oiling system, but none of these improvements will hurt fuel economy, in fact they get the same rating as 2.8 liter and 3.5 liter engines in the predecessors.
"Our goal here has been to increase performance without compromising fuel economy. We've been able to do that with some of the technology we have in the engines" Tom Sutter, Chief GM engineer states.
H3's with a manual transmission are rated at 16 mpg city and 20 mpg highway.
The H3 has been criticized in its first year on the market for its lackluster acceleration. But sales have been strong, with about 23,000 units sold through June. "Engine upgrades didn't come about because of consumer complaints, but were part of GM's plan to continually upgrade products", claimed Sutter |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 July 2006 )
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