Welcome back to our 2015 GMC Canyon long-term review. To read previous updates in the series, click here.
Labeling a vehicle as slow is actually more subjective than you may think. Slow to me, someone who has been lucky enough to ride in some very fast cars, might not feel the same as slow to you.
So we got some hard data on the GMC Canyon’s acceleration to try and sort out exactly how fast, or slow, the truck really is.
To recap, the truck is offered with two engines: a 3.6-liter V6 that makes 305 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque or a 2.5-liter four cylinder that puts out 200 hp and 191 lb-ft of torque. Both engines deliver peak power at high RPM, with the V6 offering maximum HP at 6,800 RPM while the four banger tops out at 6300 RPM. Peak torque for the V6 and four cylinder is hit at 4000 and 4400 RPM respectively.
The larger V6 is fitted with a 3.42 axle ratio, while the four-cylinder comes only with a 4.10, to make sure it’s lower power numbers still provide decent torque down low.
So, how fast is the Canyon? The quickest run from our SLT-trim Crew Cab Canyon with the long box made 0 to 60 mph happen in 9.04 seconds. Breaking that number down further, from 0 to 35 mph took 4.2 seconds while 0 to 50 mph happened in 6.8 seconds.
We also hooked our data recorder up to the four-cylinder, manual transmission to see how it would stack up. My initial thought after driving this truck was that it had some gusto in the first two gears, but beyond that it was gutless. The numbers back me up.
The fastest 0 to 60 mph run we got from this version of the truck, a base Canyon extended cab with the long box, happened in 10.2 seconds. Breaking it down, 0 to 35 mph happened in 4.8 seconds while 0 to 50 mph came in 7.3.
That puts the two trucks close when you compare the 0 to 35 mph times, which are separated by 0.6 seconds, while the overall 0 to 60 MPH time is spread apart by about 1.2 seconds. This shows that top-end power is where the four cylinder drops off, though low end grunt is actually decent. My guess is with the automatic, the four cylinder would have been even faster.
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