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New here, 5.3 question ?


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Just picked up a bare bones 2017 RCSB Silverado Blackout package for occasional in town errands and so far pretty happy with it.When shopping me and my wife looked at two identical spec Regular cab 2wd work trucks a 5.3 V8 with 3.42 gear and a 4.3 V6 with 3.23 gear both within $1000 of each other.The 5.3 truck had a few less options but we figured the V8 would be well worth it so we drove 4 hours to pick up the truck and on the test drive were both pretty let down.The 5.3 felt like had some more torque on takeoff with the larger displacement and 3.42 gearing but after that seemed to completely lay down on its face and the power difference between the two trucks felt nearly negligible. Neither of us ended up liking how the truck drove and it ended up coming down to options being of more importance so we went back and got the better optioned V6 truck.We looked at dyno charts prior to shopping knowing there was a large power difference between the two which is what motivated the travel to get the 5.3 but it just did not feel that way in the real word in this weight of vehicle.We are frankly still kind of confused and wondered if anyones had a similar experience when shopping for theirs ?

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I'm VERY happy with the performance and economy of my 5.3 in my '17. I have performed minor bolt ons, but no tune yet. It is so much more torquey than the tuned and slightly modified 5.3 Vortec in my '13, not to mention the 2.5 MPG difference in average lifetime MPG.

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My 2016 Silverado regular cab 5.3 with 3.42 doesn't feel like a slouch to me. In fact me and my dad went on a fun run if you say and mine got up and at it quicker than his. Both trucks are very similar, both 5.3 3.42 only difference is my regular cab vs his crew cab.

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20 minutes ago, SirenRed16 said:

My 2016 Silverado regular cab 5.3 with 3.42 doesn't feel like a slouch to me. In fact me and my dad went on a fun run if you say and mine got up and at it quicker than his. Both trucks are very similar, both 5.3 3.42 only difference is my regular cab vs his crew cab.

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Yeah pretty much the same truck, only a little weight difference, about the same weight as 2 silverback gorillas

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For trucks I would not call these trucks slouches by any means and the 5.3 is dyno proven to have alot more power.This is why we were shocked that even in the lightest available configuration RCSB the 70hp & 77tq that separates the 4.3 and 5.3 could barely be considered a difference.Perhaps the lighter vehicle just helps the V6 feel adequate and there is a larger seat of pants difference to be felt when comparing both in a heavier vehicle like a crew cab but we just couldnt feel it.Hearing that a stock tune 6.2 feels barely faster than a 5.3 does not surprise me since there is a similar power difference between those two as well.Have not driven the new direct injection 6.2 but the previous generation put into the escalades honestly felt like an absolute animal compared to the new gen 5.3

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Got a 15 single cab shorty with same set up. They have decent power but throttle sensitive they are not .

 First half of throttle throw appears geared for fuel economy and our 90 year old grandfathers. Shim placed under throttle helps some on response. For around town or in city toggle to M 4 it helps , toggle to M5 for speeds under 65 . Keeps AFM off. Downside is you got to do it every time you start it . Many say Blackbear tune also helps a lot and he can tune AFM out.

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I have a Crew Cab Standard bed 4X4 with the 4.3.  My previous  truck ('09) was a Crew Cab Short bed 4X4 with the 5.3.  The only functional and performance difference has been less visits to the gas pump.  The new 4.3 is a very powerful and capable motor.  The 5.3 and 6.2 have even more power,

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6 minutes ago, pickmeup said:

Got a 15 single cab shorty with same set up. They have decent power but throttle sensitive they are not .

 First half of throttle throw appears geared for fuel economy and our 90 year old grandfathers. Shim placed under throttle helps some on response. For around town or in city toggle to M 4 it helps , toggle to M5 for speeds under 65 . Keeps AFM off. Downside is you got to do it every time you start it . Many say Blackbear tune also helps a lot and he can tune AFM out.

Your 90 year old grandfather has learned that pressing down on the gas pedal will increase the speed.  He doesn't need paint sticks or to toggle buttons on the gear selector to get between intersections.  :-)

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Dont think anyone here is talking about the previous gen engines but rather the new gen V6 and V8.There is no argument that the 5.3 has alot more power and all of the statistics agree that it is faster more powerful than the V6 but what we personally took away from the whole experience was that in the real world when the stop watch is not turned on the seat of pants feeling of both engines was about the same.The salesman left us with a 5.3 Regular Cab to ourselves so we were able to wide open at least 5-6 times from all different kinds of speeds and there was maybe a bit more torque with the 5.3 during the 1-2 shift otherwise it did not feel much different than the 4.3 V6.I dont know what to make of it all except that maybe our much faster cars are to blame for desensitizing our butt dynos LOL 

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I cant personally speak to the 4.3 performance however I would guess the jump from the 4.3 to the 5.3 would be similar to the jump between the 5.3 and the 6.2. GM seems to have used the same trans programming and throttle response in all the ecotec3 engines so while soft footing it around town or on the highway unloaded I can tell you my 2016 5.3 felt very much the same as my 17 6.2 however when you go WOT to pass on the highway or have a trailer of any sort of sizable weight hooked up behind it the large displacement motor definitely makes its presence known.

 

I imagine if you test drove the 5.3 with a trailer you would notice the difference however if this is mostly just a runabout truck and you don't plan on towing any larger sized trailers I would think the 4.3 would be a great choice especially in a lightweight RC/SB model, plus you might be able to pick up an extra mpg or two in town at least!

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After reading a few comments I have to agree that weight was most likely the main contributing factor to our findings during our buying experience and can imagine that towing would most certainly have been a different scenario all together.The V6 is very fuel efficient and extremely quiet about its business but really moves this size of truck 4500lbs around very well.Occasionally you get your little pushes into the seat from it and the six can be fun at times.Albeit if a 6.2 were ever put into a Regular Cab that would have been absolute tits on glass to own

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