I will chime in about my Pentastar powered 2015 regular cab long bed 2wd. It is made in Mexico, which bothered me as I have been a union member my entire working life, as were my dad and grandpa (bricklayers). What I found is that the Pentastar has plenty of power, starts and runs flawlessly, even this morning at -14F and a -30F windchill. It is smooth and quiet and there are no squeaks or rattles in the cab. The paint is flawless. It is a very well made truck.
For nearly 3 decades I drove heavy 3/4 ton Chevys. They had 350s and later the 6L motors. This Pentastar with the ZF 8 speed and 3.21 gears is as quick or quicker than the 6L was and MUCH quicker than the 350ci was. It has 115 more HP than the 350 in my '91 did and almost as much as the 6L did. It can't compete on torque, but the 8 speed has a very large first gear and it works quite well off the line, even when towing. On steep hills it can bog down at highway speeds a bit with heavy loads, but for a half ton that is empty 95% of the time, this truck is awesome! It is winter here in Wisconsin and I am averaging about 19.5 in town driving 3 miles each way to work. If I get on the highway at 60 mph I am getting 25 mpg now, but I got 29+ on a trip last summer at 60 mph and relatively flat land. My overall average since getting the truck is 23 mpg. I use Pennzoil Ultra Platium 5w20 and ethanol free regular 100% gasoline.
