2008 Gmc Sierra 2500 Hd Duramax Diesel 4x4 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Could the GMC Jimmy come back as a Wrangler fighter?

Every three or four years, two cars go into heavy media rotation in stories about supposed new competitors. The headlines go something like, "X automaker working on a vehicle to fight the iconic Y." The Y cars are the Porsche 911 and the Jeep Wrangler. For this story, the X automaker is GM. And since GM already has its 911-fighter poised for debut next month, we speak here of the Wrangler. Car and Driver writes that GMC might take another shot at a Jeep challenger, this time by rebirthing a body-on-frame Jimmy SUV. For any who don't know, GMC sold an S-15 Jimmy from 1982 to 2005, a twin of the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer. Those SUVs started their lives as the Chevrolet S-10 and GMC S-15/Sonoma pickups. The Blazer name has returned to the light, albeit without its old-school rugged manners. There's still an opening on the GMC side, though, so C/D says the idea would be to work that old magic on the GMC Canyon pickup. The report is more chaff than grist for the rumormill, with liberal application of phrases like "looking to come up with," "could be," "could take," and "could arrive." Having said that, a potential Jimmy model could come in a few years, could use the same six-cylinder gas and four-cylinder diesel engines as the Canyon, and could start around $30,000. The Jimmy could wear GMC's new mud-and-guts AT4 trim name, or become a mud-and-guts trim for the Canyon just as the ZR2 is for the Colorado. It's not an entirely crazy idea, however, when a body-on-frame Trailblazer SUV based on the Colorado sells in Latin America, Asia, and Australia and does pretty well in the mud and muck. GM's been on the edge of going to war with the Wrangler for at least 12 years, when a Hummer exec said the HX concept would debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show and go on sale in 2010 as the H4. In 2015, The Wall Street Journal said GM was canvassing GMC dealers about something to get in the ring with the Wrangler. And all that was before every other automaker had to watch Jeep open a money-counting operation to handle its Wrangler profits, and dealers started charging $20,000 markups on Gladiators. In May, spy shooters caught a sensor-laden Jeep running at GM's Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported GM is considering a Hummer revival as an all-electric hardcore SUV. So we will not be surprised if GM rolls out a Wrangler fighter in the near-ish future. But we won't be surprised if GM doesn't, either.

GM opens official investigation into C8 Corvette transmission leaks

In March 2020, a month after Chevrolet began customer deliveries of the 2020 C8 Corvette, a GM dealer technician created a Reddit thread about a leaking gearbox in a Corvette with 32 miles. That car hadn't even been sold yet. Since then, as a search of "C8 Corvette transmission leak" shows, it's been tales of woe for some owners. Something in the Tremec TR-9080 transaxle in the back of the mid-engined Corvette doesn't work as it should, the fault able to cause codes that the transmission needs service, or that the driver needs to shift to park. In some cases, the battery would die because of follow-on issues after the initial transmission code, that code preventing the car from powering down. As Autoevolution reports, GM filed paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August to look into what's going on. Between forum threads and GM's investigation document, there are several issues mentioned. The most common appears to be the dual-clutch transmission leaking fluid due to gasket failures like the one suffered by one owner at 858 miles, and another for an owner currently enduring a second leaking transmission. The Midengined Corvette Forum reported that Chevy engineers redesigned the TR-9080 pan, fitting Corvettes with the new unit at some point in the 2021 model year. The original pan was stamped steel unit affixed to the engine with two studs and 13 bolts, plus "reinforcement plates." The updated pan is said to be a cast aluminum unit affixed with two studs and 17 bolts, omits the reinforcement plates, and gets a new machined new groove around its edge to seat the gasket seal. The GM paperwork now at the NHTSA mentions a P1789 code, and says one reason for it could be "debris on the park position sensor magnet causing an incorrect position reading to the TCM." This might be caused by another issue mentioned in forums, which is clogged transmission filters. GM gives instructions for returning transmission filters to the company, and a poster on one forum said the Corvette tech at the dealer where he bought his Corvette told him the automaker "requires every used transmission filter to be returned to GM."  Whatever's going on, the problems haven't stopped, and they go beyond the P1789 code. Over the weekend, a 2022 Corvette owner posted on Corvette Forums that he got a check engine light on his car after just 850 miles.

2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV output jumps to 754 hp and 785 lb-ft

A couple of days ago, GMC unleashed its 2024 Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 pickup, the luxury truck division's version of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV. As has been the case between Chevy and GMC for decades, GMC designers worked to put ample visual difference between the two pickups that share the similar underpinnings. Unlike what's been the historical case, GMC announced output figures for the Sierra EV well above those for the Silverado. Preliminary estimates for the battery-electric Sierra with the dual-motor powertrain are 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque. Chevy revealed the 2024 Silverado EV in January with 664 hp and 785 lb-ft in RST trim. We're not sure what happened after the GMC debut, but the Bowtie has updated the Silverado's output to match the GMC with 754 hp and 785 lb-ft. Chevy truck communications spokesperson Sean Szymkowski submitted a statement to various outlets explaining, "As we prepare for production of the Silverado EV, our engineering team has further refined the estimated performance specs for the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition. GM now estimates horsepower to be up to 754 and torque up to an estimated 785 lb-ft when Wide Open Watts mode is engaged." It's possible Chevrolet did so in order to forestall backlash about the disparity, or it's possible the automaker already planned to do so after the GMC dropped. On the ICE side, buyers have got used to powertrain parity, the Silverado and Sierra offering the same engines with the same outputs even with pricing about $3,600 apart on the respective top trims. No matter how the decision was made, the benefits redound to Silverado EV buyers. By the way, the "Wide Open Watts" reference refers to the driving mode required to extract these peak power figures. In the GMC Sierra EV, this is called Max Power Mode. We're still looking for clarity on the output figures in everyday driving modes, we believe those will be the same 510 hp and 615 lb-ft that's the maximum in the lower trim Silverado EV Work Truck.    With a year to wait before the Silverado RST EV reaches reservation holders, and with the Chevrolet Work Truck providing real-world feedback before the RST arrives, don't be surprised at more tweaks made to both the Silverado and Sierra EVs before they hit the market. Related video: GMC reveals the all-electric 2024 Sierra EV