Mr. Truck and I tow about 10,600 lbs with a refreshed 2024 Chevy Silverado HD 3500 Duramax turbo-diesel pickup truck on the “Denver 100” mpg loop. The EPA (government) does not rate heavy-duty pickup trucks on efficiency, so this is why we do these real-world tests. Let’s find out what it does!
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The 2024 Chevy Silverado HD trucks get several significant updates: a new interior on most higher-level models, and an upgraded 6.6L turbo-diesel V8 engine with 470 horsepower and 975 lb-ft of torque. This engine is still mated to an Allison-branded 10-speed automatic transmission. The new engine makes more power, but it is also designed for more efficiency.
I tested an unladen 2024 HD Duramax truck a couple of months ago, and it registered 18.1 MPG on a windy day. (Note: most of the new pickup trucks we test have around 1,000 miles on the odometer, so their efficiency may improve after many more thousands of miles).
This is a pickup configuration that we have NOT tested in a very long time. It’s a 3500-series HD truck with a standard bed (6’10” bed length). This truck is not a dually and it does not have a long 8-foot bed. This Silverado HD LTZ is rated at around 3,900 lbs of maximum payload and up to 20,000 lbs of towing with this configuration.
This time we are towing a CAT skid-steer loader on a utility trailer. This trailer is pushing up towards 11,000 lbs in total. The new diesel is as quiet and smooth as ever. You generally do not notice the transmission shift.
Spoiler alert: at the end of this 112-mile “Denver 100” mpg loop, we verified 11.5 MPG at the pump. Did you expect worse or better than this while towing this trailer? Let us know in the comments below.
