As the truck wars rage on, GM is firing on all cylinders. After announcing a new range of V8s for its next-generation half-ton trucks and a gigantic 8.3-liter turbodiesel for its heavy duty pickups, it’s time for the little ones to get some attention. GM’s most affordable pickup trucks, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, are getting a new engine for 2027 that puts these pickups on the midsize truck horsepower podium.
Information on the 2027 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon is officially live on GM’s publicly-accessible fleet order guide site, and there’s one big change for the new model year: The engine designation switches from L3B to L4B. It’s still a 2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four, but the other vehicles to get the L4B are GM’s new half-ton trucks, and there’s reason to believe a bump in output might carry over to the midsizers.
While the old L3B was initially available in several output levels for GM’s midsize trucks, it eventually settled on 310 horsepower and 430 lb.-ft. of torque. That was an identical match to the output of the same engine in GM’s half-ton trucks. While that precedent doesn’t quite carry through, the new L4B makes as much as 350 horsepower and 450 lb.-ft. of torque in the General’s 2027 midsize trucks. Those are some spicy figures, especially since it’s the standard and only engine option.
For context, the optional 2.7-liter twin-turbocharged V6 in the Ford Ranger pumps out 315 horsepower and 400 lb.-ft. of torque, making it the current bronze medalist of midsize truck potency. There’s definitely incentive for GM to dethrone Ford, as although the 400-horspower Ranger Raptor still takes the overall crown, third place is still a spot on the podium.
Who’s in second? It’s Toyota with the Tacoma HybridMAX. This optional electrified powertrain pumps out 326 horsepower and 465 lb.-ft. of torque, and more importantly, it’s standard on the really serious off-road trims of Toyota’s midsize truck. The Trailhunter and the TRD Pro are heavy-hitters in the same niche as the Colorado ZR2 and Canyon AT4X, and nearly catching the hybridized Tacoma’s output would make going with the General significantly more appealing.
Interestingly, the 2027 Colorado and Canyon will still feature an eight-speed automatic instead of GM’s ten-speed unit, and that’s where the big question mark arises. It’s certainly a stout gearbox, but the code “MFC” on the order guide indicates it’s a carryover unit. As far as I’ve been able to find, GM hasn’t publicly announced the official torque capacity of the 8L80, but it could fall on either side of the fence: Either it’ll take the L4B engine’s full 455 lb.-ft. of torque with no complaint, or the engine will have to be slightly detuned to keep the gearbox happy. Needless to say, I’ve reached out to GM for comment and will keep you updated as soon as I have official horsepower and torque figures.
UPDATE: Chevrolet has confirmed figures for the 2027 Colorado: 350 horsepower and 450 lb.-ft. of torque.
A boost in output certainly makes the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon more appealing, and the L4B engine has already proven that it’s capable of delivering the goods. Plus, judging by the order guide, every single 2027 Colorado and Canyon is getting the new motor, from base-spec work trucks all the way up to fully loaded examples. Power to the people? 350 horsepower and 450 lb.-ft. of torque says absolutely.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
Honestly, “More Horsepower” does not excite me one bit these days with all the overpowered vehicles out there.
Give us a plug-in hybrid version that is vastly more efficient while maintaining the same capability.
That would be far more exciting to me.
I promise this isn’t “old man yelling at clouds”, but I remember my 1994 Ford Ranger having about 98 or 99 horsepower, and it was truly gutless, but it got me around. I can’t imagine having 3-1/2 times that much power. I would have killed myself in the early 2000’s with such a beast.
My first car had so little power it actually included .5hp in the rating.
That said, weight has probably increased dramatically along with these power figures
The 2026 Colorado 2wd is rated at 21 mpg. The 2026 Silverado is rated at 20 mpg.
I don’t think more power is what the Colorado needed.
That’s because you don’t tow anything heavy.
In the past, we seemed to have no problem towing heavy things with much less power and a lower power-to-weight ratio.
The current Colorado makes more HP and torque than my dad’s 2000 Silverado 5.3L V8. (Also more than the 6.0L V8 that was in the 2500 / 3500)
As Manwich Sandwich said above towing heavy things is not a new application.
Towing on the Colorado’s already limited by payload rather than power.
Or, just hear me out, make the trucks a little smaller and lighter.
Just an idea.
And even more fuel efficient.
GM: Can we still make them taller?
And lower the beltline and height of the bed sides.
I’d take an electric one.
With lower hoods and headlights mounted lower.
The 8L80 should be okay with the torque. There’s quite a few people with whippled 1500 trucks and the 8L80 is holding up okay for them.
Its cool that GM is giving their mid-size pickups more power, but as an owner, I’ll tell you right now they don’t really need it. They are awesome trucks as is. Anyone who picks a Taco over the GM twins is just throwing money away.
I’ll get 15% more money for my used Taco than you will get for your used Canyon. My money is in good shape, thanks.
Resale value doesn’t matter to everyone if they are the type of person who buys and keeps vehicles until they are worn out.
For those people, reliability and durability matters more.
So for those people they should get… ummm… a Tacoma.
LOL
Maybe update your stereotypes, you’re stuck in the 90s.
The newest Taco has proven to be a turd with one major issue after another. But clueless fanboys are still overspending for them.
I have not researched the Tacoma or any other pickup trucks at all as I don’t own one and have no need for one. So I’ll take your word for it.
Seems like you forgot to factor in the higher retail price, higher price for parts and probably insurance.
A fool and his money are soon parted, and no one plays the bigger fool than Toyota fanboys.
And here I am thinking that they need a hybrid option to make these smaller trucks more appealing daily drivers. But I’m an idiot, I guess.
Nope, they put all their hybrid R&D into the Corvette instead.
Which is the smart move – that’s a very fuel price sensitive crowd.
So you’re saying they should make a mid-engine Colorado/Canyon E-Ray?
Iyay hinktay hattay ouldway ebay ayay reatgay ideayay!!!
The issue with all vehicles is the way human memory works.
Name your most memorable drives. It will be a list of epic drives, dangerous conditions, high speeds, and if you doing truck, stuff, epic loads and steep hills.
What isn’t in the memory bank? Today’s drive to work.
Now, when I go vehicle shopping, I based my decision on what I need on what I remember I used a vehicle to do. If I was shopping for trucks I would remember my dad carrying a ton of rock up the side of a mountain in WV, me bringing home 1500 lbs of soil from the store, the time I towed about 10 full encyclpedia sets on a trailer and smoked the brakes on my S-10 …
These sort of memories will make me think I need a REALLY capable truck. When I look at “this truck is cheaper to operate as a daily driver” vs “This truck can do everything I remember ever doing”, It’s going to be the “everything” truck over the cheaper truck every single time, because I can’t remember the daily driving stuff.
The truck manufactures know this. No truck has sold better with “yeah it can’t do much, but it’s cheap to operate” when a competitor can say “My truck has more power, can carry more stuff and can tow more”.
I’m not going to disagree with anything you said. That all makes perfect sense. And the logic applies elsewhere too – plenty of people drive around in a 4-door car or crossover remembering the days they would pack their friends in and just drive.
It does seem, though, that some people are more logical in their decision making. And I would argue that a lot of the mid-size truck market is people choosing comfort and convenience over the most truck for the money – after all these aren’t much cheaper than a 1/2 ton. So to me this seems like exactly the segment to try a more economical engine out.
If you are trying to sell people a vehicle that makes logical sense, you are going to have a small customer base (in the US at least).
For example. For my car, I need a commuter. I live close to work and various stores and rarely put more than 30 miles a day on a car. I rarely have more than me in the car and my backseat hasn’t been used in nearly a decade.. I park for 8 hours a day in a big unshaded parking lot that turns into an oven in the summer. I listen to Audible in the car all the time and don’t use my commuter for trips( I use my wife’s vehicle).
Logic says that a Slate with a Bluetooth speaker holder and a Solar Tonneau Cover is a perfect fit. It’s hard to get cheaper and I might never need to charge it in the summer.
However, a couple of things make this really unappealing to me.
Each of these are emotional responses. Logic says
But all of this logic feels FLAT compared to the emotions. A Prius just seems like a better choice, even though it would cost as much as a Slate and not be as perfect a fit for my needs.
“And I would argue that a lot of the mid-size truck market is people choosing comfort and convenience over the most truck for the money”
They also might live in the city where a bigger truck only makes it more of a pain in the ass to live with due to narrow roads and/or tight parking spaces.
“Name your most memorable drives.”
Well now you got me thinking… Off the top of my head:
-Driving my first car… a Ford Festiva… right after I installed a 900W stereo
-Going on the first camping trip with my kids (who were small at the time) in the mid 2000s in my Honda Civic Wagovan
-Driving my C-Max Energi home after buying it… with it being my first hybrid/plug-in hybrid. The drive home was in a heavy rain storm and the C-Max felt solid.
Oh and I have some truck-specific memories:
-26 Foot Uhaul moving truck that was made by International, had the DT-series inline 6 and a manual transmission with a creeper gear for 1st. My memory was that it was far easier to drive than I expected and used less fuel than I expected.
-24 Foot Enterprise moving truck that was a Ford E350 with the 6.8L V10 gas engine… and I thought “This is a gas guzzling piece of shit. I would never want to own anything with this gas gussling piece of shit of an engine”.
Why would you want a hybrid in a mid-sized truck? The hybrid in the Taco is utterly pointless. Hybrid gets a combined EPA number of 23 MPG…. the non-hybrid between 21 and 22 MPG. So a gain of about 1-2 MPG at a cost of about $4000 for the more expensive, more complicated and heavier hybrid motor. Brilliant!1!!
I don’t recall hearing a lot of good things about the GM 8 speed in their half-tons. Is it any better in the smaller trucks?
Powertrain in the mid-sized trucks has been rather bulletproof. There was some clunking for some owners of the transmission when cold, but not a big issue. Silly electrical glitches in the infotainment system in the beginning, but even those issues have mostly been resolved. Combination of buggy code, loose fuses or a low-ish battery. Don’t hear a lot of issues these days though in the forums. Great truck overall.
You forgot that the roof liked to cave in from carwash blow-dryers. It’s been fixed, but I found that funny… and I generally like GMs.
Let’s not over dramaticize it. Its not “caving in”. It can dent inward but there are still gussets and stiffeners there. Not a safety issue and there supposedly was a fix. I haven’t bothered doing mine.
The 8 speed is pretty good once they figured out the bad fluid causing the shutter. They definitely have some clunks when cold and like to do a hard 1-2 shift, but they are reliable transmissions.
I have it in a 2026 Silverado. No clunks or hard shifting when cold. I think they ironed out all those issues pretty well. Time will tell I suppose. I only have 9k miles on it right now. Zero complaints about the truck. It’s peppy around town, tows well, and overall is a great driving experience. These 2.7s can really pull!
Up until a month ago I had a 2016 Silverado with the 8 speed. I had the shutter briefly 3 years ago, but replacing the fluid completely eliminated that. I understood the cold clunks and hard 1-2 shift to be completely normal for the 8 speed truck of those years, nobody ever seemed concerned about it. From what I saw online, the 8 speed was always low on failures.
I did have the transmission temperature sensor go out, which required $1,200 of labor to replace. But that’s no direct fault of the 8L80.
If they would only offer the 2027 Colorado or Canyon with a regular-cab and a 6-speed manual, I would be at the stealership as soon as I could to place an order to replace my 2010 GMC Canyon 2WD regular-cab, 5-speed pickup.
But alas, they’re not. So I’ll probably get a Slate.
4 more likes for this comment and there will be dozen of us.
Its a bit late, but i just liked this to get us to the dozen. I would also buy a 350hp 2wd regular cab manual canyon.
I’ll be replacing my ’01 S-10 (2WD, std cab, long box, 4.3) with a REO.
IF they get produced.
I had a Ford Ranger with a 2.3 Lima that probably had 100hp. And it was plenty.
I miss small trucks.
Still expensive
Box too small
Nissan and Toyota offer long box versions even if dealerships really do not stock many of them, if at all.
Honestly I don’t think Trucks need MORE power. They just need to better utilize the power they have.
e-CVTs and series hybrids are the future of trucks IMHO
While I haven’t driven every modern pickup, from what I’ve seen I feel like Ram did it right with the Hurricane I6. It doesn’t ever feel like it’s down on power, no matter how much you’re towing, how high you’re towing it, or how fast you’re towing it.
It feels like trucks are getting to the same point CPU’s did in history. Forever it was all about the CPU speeds. Will it follow that same path of obvious unsustainable increases?
I don’t think e-CVT’s are suitable for truck duty
Do they actually ever do truck duty?
Why not? It’s a planetary gearset.
I think that’s what the Maverick hybrid has. And it’s sort of a truck.
Existing ones are obviously too small, but the design scales very well, you can just make a larger/wider planetary gearset and larger bearings, they’re components that are already used in immense semi-truck automatics.
Contrast that with belt-type CVT’s that don’t scale worth a damn; as you make the belt larger/heaver. you lose the flexibility you need to contact the edges of the variable discs so you can transmit the power. That’s why CVT’s are generally used in smaller cars only.
I’m no engineer, although I play one in my workshop sometime. But I’ve kind of wondered if there’s a missed opportunity in an e-cvt-transfer case integrated solution for hybrids. Like, considering the torque of an electric, could a committed pmanufacuter make a hybrid truck that doesn’t need a firm 4-lo, but instead uses the same e-cvt with some electronic tricks to reduce the mechanics at the center diff? It would increase usability I think, but you’d really need to be dedicated to the hybrid drivetrain.
The follow up question is will Ford ship with their performance tune built in so they can advertise higher outputs (*premium fuel recommended) of 330HP/385lb-ft and 355/433 to stay in line.
They should offer the L76 5.7L in the ZR2
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