Chevrolet is telling potential Silverado buyers to not pay too much attention to the EPA’s fuel economy numbers on the latest edition of their pickup.

Earlier this year, Chevrolet made a big splash by showing a revised engine lineup for the Silverado that included a 2.7-L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. The new tiny turbo replaced the old 4.3-L V6 on the lower-level Silverado trims and promised to provide better power and fuel economy in a smaller package.

It didn’t quite turn out that way. Unfortunately for Chevy, the EPA didn’t score the new engine quite as well as they would have liked.

The 2.7-L turbo does beat the old 4.3-L V6 in terms of power at least, providing 310 ponies compared to the old EcoTec’s 285, but fuel economy gains weren’t nearly as stark. According to official numbers posted on FuelEconomy.gov, the new Silverado with an 8-speed automatic and 2-wheel-drive makes 20 mpg in the city, 23 on the highway, and 21 overall.

Compare that with the old 4.3-L V6 in the same configuration, and it achieved 18 mpg city, 24 on the highway, and 20 mpg overall.

Now it seems that Chevy is doing a bit of damage control for falling short on expectations. Speaking to Automotive News, Silverado chief engineer Tim Herrick told the publication "don't look at the label" and that the Silverado is "as good or better than them in every step."

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“Them” in this case being the new Ford F-150 and Ram 1500, both of which get better EPA fuel numbers than the 2.7-L turbo-equipped Silverado.

2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2.7L Turbo
via Chevrolet

The new 2.7-L turbo V6 F-150 achieved EPA numbers of 20 mpg city, 26 mpg highway, and 22 overall, while the Ram 1500 with its 3.6-L mild hybrid got 20 mpg city, 25 mpg highway, and 22 combined.

On paper, that’s a clear win for the Silverado’s rivals. However, Herrick pointed out that real-world performance often differs from the standardized EPA testing, and that the Silverado’s fuel numbers would line up with its rivals.

We’ll have to wait for more numbers to come up before we can say one way or another how the Silverado stacks up.

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