GM disappointingly small fuel tanks continue

tmo · April 10, 2020

A Honda Ridgeline maybe a better fit for you it has a small fuel tank too! it will be great for you because you get to stop fill up all the time. Keep in mind a Tesla has a short range too with a long charge time. This forum is for serious truck enthusiasts you may have better luck pushing your small tank justification somewhere else. Long hauls, heavy towing, even the soccer moms likes a large fuel tank so your not wasting time at the pump. The Chevy 24 gallon tank is just too small for Truck Enthusiasts! Lets make a good truck great GM needs a large fuel tank option!

You should write GM a strongly worded letter.. they might be so grateful that you informed them of something that every truck enthusiast is wanting that they might send you a bigger tank. Lol

Like-A-Rock44 · April 10, 2020

On 4/6/2020 at 7:07 PM, swathdiver said:

Me too. I'd love a larger fuel capacity as well. But you didn't provide specifics on your wants, how many miles, how many hours?

My old truck with AT tires can travel almost 500 highway miles before refueling. Around town, she needs refueling about every 12 hours if the average speed is about 30 mph. My longest time between refueling was 18 hours and she still went 391 miles at an average speed of 22 mph. The motor used less than 24 gallons burning 1.3 gallons per hour.

How much is enough? It's too bad that the gas tanks are considered emissions devices nowadays. This is why the aftermarket won't touch them for gasoline powered vehicles.

My '88 F-SuperDuty carried an additional 80 gallons; she hauled cargo across country.

I think a 400 mile range when towing would be a minimum, your buying a truck right! Getting 10 MPG you need a 40 gallon tank to go 400 miles. The new 1/2 tons are like 3/4 tons use to be... a 1/2 ton rated at 13,000 pounds towing seems to be the new normal, it comes with a trailer brake controller these trucks are set up to tow! It seems to me GM forgot one critical peace of a towing rig a larger fuel tank! I Think a larger tank should at least be an option on any truck. A larger fuel tank should come standard with Max tow, trail boss and the 3.73 geared 10 speed off-road diesel what a sweet set up! they just forgot to add a large tank. GM down sized from 26 to 24 gal on the 1/2 tons that seems weird.

swathdiver · April 10, 2020

6 hours ago, Like-A-Rock44 said:

I think a 400 mile range when towing would be a minimum, your buying a truck right! Getting 10 MPG you need a 40 gallon tank to go 400 miles. The new 1/2 tons are like 3/4 tons use to be... a 1/2 ton rated at 13,000 pounds towing seems to be the new normal, it comes with a trailer brake controller these trucks are set up to tow! It seems to me GM forgot one critical peace of a towing rig a larger fuel tank! I Think a larger tank should at least be an option on any truck. A larger fuel tank should come standard with Max tow, trail boss and the 3.73 geared 10 speed off-road diesel what a sweet set up! they just forgot to add a large tank. GM down sized from 26 to 24 gal on the 1/2 tons that seems weird.

I think the number in their head is 200 miles while towing at maximum weight, on flat roads, not through Colorado! We're stopping more frequently anyway so they reckon we don't need to carry around as much fuel. If 400 miles loaded then we'd have a range in excess of 800 miles. Maybe I'm typical, maybe not, I have all the bells and whistles for max towing on my truck too. In three years I've towed only for about a week, maybe a day or two more.

April 11, 2020

Trump rolls back fuel economy standards and emissions standards.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2020/03/31/trump-rolls-back-obama-mpg-rules/5093643002/

There ya go, can cut out the beuqacratic bs and engineer the best truck, no excuses

swathdiver · April 11, 2020

4 hours ago, 3737 said:

Trump rolls back fuel economy standards and emissions standards.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2020/03/31/trump-rolls-back-obama-mpg-rules/5093643002/

There ya go, can cut out the beuqacratic bs and engineer the best truck, no excuses

We need to get POTUS to rescind regulations that treat fuel tanks as emissions control devices too. Then you'll see the aftermarket step in with larger tanks.

Edited April 11, 2020 by swathdiver

zelmo · April 11, 2020

8 hours ago, 3737 said:

Trump rolls back fuel economy standards and emissions standards.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2020/03/31/trump-rolls-back-obama-mpg-rules/5093643002/

There ya go, can cut out the beuqacratic bs and engineer the best truck, no excuses

While I knew arbitrary standards had been imposed I didn't realize just how crazy they were. 54.5 mpg fleet by 2025?

Jack Gillis, executive director of Consumer Federation of America, chastised the Trump administration for moving to roll back the Obama-era mileage rules during the coronavirus pandemic.

"This tone-deaf, irresponsible effort will cost consumers at the pump, cost American jobs, reduce the value of U.S. vehicles globally and further damage the environment and the air we breathe," Gillis said.

Are you kidding me?

Colossus · April 11, 2020

The rollback won't do any good. The next liberal/socialist president in office will simply re-instate them and many of the auto manufacturers are already onboard with the new tighter standards anyway in order to appear "enviro friendly" to perspective customers. It's only a small group of us grouchy always complaining never pleased yahoos who don't want the tighter standards, apparently.

swathdiver · April 14, 2020

On 4/11/2020 at 2:03 PM, Colossus said:

The rollback won't do any good. The next liberal/socialist president in office will simply re-instate them and many of the auto manufacturers are already onboard with the new tighter standards anyway in order to appear "enviro friendly" to perspective customers. It's only a small group of us grouchy always complaining never pleased yahoos who don't want the tighter standards, apparently.

They've been bouncing them back and forth since introduction. This is why there are no cars anymore, the government's regulations basically made them cost prohibitive and too ugly for the consumer to want them. Trucks are safer and better anyway.

Like-A-Rock44 · April 17, 2020

I hear a lot of you saying you don’t really use your truck for much truck stuff. Don’t really tow, its good enough for the few times I use it as a truck, I need to look cool when I get the grocery’s I like to stop a lot to move around... so the small fuel tank suits me just fine. Well as GM trucks be come more car like small fuel tanks, high gearing, single speed transfer case the brand will be know for posers driving their trucks. Remember the military Humvee kicked off Hummer H1 it was cool because it was a capable off road machine then the H2 and H3 came out what a joke no off road capability like the H1 so Hummer became the brand for Posers driving on the blacktop.

tmo · April 17, 2020

I hear a lot of you saying you don’t really use your truck for much truck stuff. Don’t really tow, its good enough for the few times I use it as a truck, I need to look cool when I get the grocery’s I like to stop a lot to move around... so the small fuel tank suits me just fine. Well as GM trucks be come more car like small fuel tanks, high gearing, single speed transfer case the brand will be know for posers driving their trucks. Remember the military Humvee kicked off Hummer H1 it was cool because it was a capable off road machine then the H2 and H3 came out what a joke no off road capability like the H1 so Hummer became the brand for Posers driving on the blacktop.

I think you’re a troll

CamGTP · April 17, 2020

He's not really wrong though.

Lots of people do own a truck just because they can and not because they need it for the trucks capabilities.

Like-A-Rock44 · April 17, 2020

Does the weight really matter... cut a little plastic off the fuel tank WTF? Extra speakers subwoofers add weight, The trailer break controller adds weight, the trailer hitch adds weight, the multi pro tailgate adds weight and it hits the trailer hitch when it goes down so really if you have the multi pro tailgate it should delete the trailer hitch, to save weight right?... The spray in bed liner adds weight. There is lots of stuff that adds weight that the aftermarket can cover and add later!! but the aftermarket cant cover the fuel tank so guess what don’t make it small. What a huge mistake and disservice to the customer shrinking the fuel tank size.

swathdiver · April 17, 2020

9 hours ago, Like-A-Rock44 said:

Does the weight really matter...

Yes! When you're competing against Ford and Ram, if you want a higher payload capacity, you want your rig to weigh less than the competition. Curb weight includes a full tank of fuel. In sales literature, the payload is based on a truck with no options. My truck has 158 pounds of options which reduces its payload capacity as much down to 1499 pounds.

LDM · April 17, 2020

11 hours ago, Like-A-Rock44 said:

I hear a lot of you saying you don’t really use your truck for much truck stuff. Don’t really tow, its good enough for the few times I use it as a truck, I need to look cool when I get the grocery’s I like to stop a lot to move around... so the small fuel tank suits me just fine. Well as GM trucks be come more car like small fuel tanks, high gearing, single speed transfer case the brand will be know for posers driving their trucks. Remember the military Humvee kicked off Hummer H1 it was cool because it was a capable off road machine then the H2 and H3 came out what a joke no off road capability like the H1 so Hummer became the brand for Posers driving on the blacktop.

Regardless of whether someone owns a truck to just drive it around like a car or use it to tow/haul, what difference does that make to you? You keep pretending GM gas tanks are small yet they aren't any smaller than the Ford or RAM offerings. 2020 RAM 1500 has a 23 gallon tank, no options for a larger one. 2020 Ford 150 has a 23 gallon tank standard with an option for a 36 gallon tank. Silverado/GMC 1500 are 24 gallon tanks. Gee, looks like GM has a 1 gallon larger thank by default than Ford or RAM. Not that 1 gallon really makes any difference.

I use my truck to tow and haul plenty of stuff yet the 24 gallon tank is more than sufficient for what I do. I don't do much in the way of long distance towing but even if I need to, its not like I can't stop at a gas station and fill up as needed. While I'm sure there are people who might use the larger tank, most people don't drive 300+ mile distances towing with a 1500 truck. If you are doing that you probably bought a 2500/3500 with a diesel. There is a lot more to designing and building a truck than just a large fuel tank. You want a big fuel tank? Buy a truck with dual tanks.

kstruckcountry · April 17, 2020

Ford shrank their base gas tank too. The big tank is optional. It is 100% lazy engineering, an easy way to cut weight when they literally go down to the gram when considering part weight cost. People who aren't bothered by it must like having long trips interrupted more often.

Agreed, my next pickup will have a tank no smaller than 35 gallons. I need the range when towing, and I like to keep my tank filled above 50% for day to day use, which is much easier with a larger tank.

PS- My 1990 had a 35 gallon tank.

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