Base Chevy Silverado 1500 Work Truck Finally Gets the Duramax Diesel

A barebones half-ton on steelies with a buttery smooth turbodiesel inline-six under the hood sounds like a pretty good combo.

While there are plenty of people who like high-end, premium pickups these days, there are others who just want the bare necessities. A cloth bench seat instead of massaging leather thrones sounds pretty good to them. Those are the folks who buy the Chevy Silverado WT—well, them and fleets. And finally, for the 2027 model year, they can get that work truck spec with the torquey 3.0-liter Duramax diesel.

Until now, the Silverado WT was only available with the 2.7-liter TurboMax four-cylinder and the 5.3-liter V8. The former is still the base engine (although it’s now paired to the 10-speed automatic rather than the old eight-speed), and General Motors’ next-gen 5.7-liter small-block replaces the latter. While we don’t have power specs for the new 350 V8, I imagine it will be the highest horsepower option, while the diesel likely offers the most twist with 495 lb-ft of torque in its current state of tune.

We still have a lot to learn about the 2027 Silverado 1500 as it just debuted on Tuesday, but we can make some informed guesses based on the outgoing model. The 3.0-liter Duramax helps 2026 model-year trucks tow up to 13,300 pounds, and it does so with the signature smoothness of a diesel inline-six. Sure, a V8 can do it, but it won’t be as nice. Additionally, the oil burner should get better fuel mileage than a small-block, and maybe even the TurboMax four-cylinder, as that thing drinks fuel when the turbo spools.

The current 3.0-liter Duramax diesel, codenamed LZ0, makes 305 hp and 495 lb-ft of torque. It also achieves an EPA-rated 25 mpg combined in 4×2 trucks. Kory Peterson

I emailed Chevrolet and asked whether the Duramax option is limited to any certain cab, bed, and drivetrain combinations. It’s only ever been available in crew cabs, and that may still be the case. But imagine if Chevy goes all out and offers the diesel in a single cab. Now that’d be something.

I’ll update this story later with the Bowtie brand’s response, but in the meantime, we can collectively appreciate a base model truck on steelies that uses the green handle at the pump. The world is a better place with more of those in it.

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