You’re here to answer one question. You want to know which engine is better: Duramax, Cummins, or Powerstroke?
Every American truck manufacturer has some skin in the diesel game. Each one has a diesel power plant for its lightweight trucks and fights to claim superiority over the others. You’ll find a lot of leading car brands say they offer maximum horsepower, torque, acceleration times, as well as best in class features. Although the proclamations in their ads are clever and mostly true, they can be somewhat of a stretch. Each engine is excellent in its own way—we cover the three basic diesel engines.
Powerstroke – Ford
Ford’s contribution to the diesel market is the Powerstroke. In 1983, they began to develop and buy engines from International Harvester. The partnership worked well at first—the engines were decent performers but had terrible mileage. However, in 2011, Ford decided to take their diesel engines inhouse and shortly after introduced The Powerstroke. It uses a large single turbocharger and smart exhaust brake function. The 6.7L V-8 engine cranks out 450 horsepower and 935 pound-feet of torque in addition to a 21,000-pound towing capacity and a 7,640-pound payload.
Duramax Diesel – GMC and Chevy
In 1998, General Motors and Isuzu teamed up to develop the first high-pressure common rail direct injection diesel engine in the United States. Isuzu made diesel engines in Japan for years for farm equipment, marine applications, and large commercial trucks. But upon their partnership with General Motors, they were able to debut the 6.6L Duramax V-8 in 2001. It boasted a 300 horsepower and 520 pound-feet of torque. This was light years past what they manufactured in the past.
Today, the Duramax diesel engine puts out 445 horsepower and 910 pound-feet torque. It has a 23,300-pound towing capacity and a payload capacity of 6,137 pounds. Next Gen offers Duramax parts and transmissions that are compatible with many Chevy and GMC trucks.
Cummins Diesel – Dodge Ram
Cummins has been making diesel engines for almost 100 years. They first used their engines in farm equipment, and slowly began to make headway into other industries. To keep pace with GM and Ford, Dodge turned to Cummins to start making diesel engines for their Ram line of trucks. In 1989, Dodge started using this inline 6-cylinder engine in their trucks. The latest version is a 6.6L Turbo Diesel inline 6-cylinder engine that delivers a lot of power. It will give up to 370 horsepower and 800 pound-feet of torque. Its maximum tow rating is just over 17,000 pounds and can handle a payload of just over 3,100 pounds.
