2025 GMC Canyon: How Will Mods Impact My Fuel Economy?

Are you the proud owner of a new 2025 GMC Canyon and hope to build it into your perfect, go-anywhere truck? This midsize pickup makes an excellent foundation for an off-roader, as we’ve seen with GMC’s own Canyon AT4, AT4X, and AT4X AEV Editions. But what if you want to put one together all on your own with some official performance parts from Penz GMC of Rochester? Well, fortunately, the fine folks over at The Fast Lane Truck have already done the math, pitting a highly modified Overland Expo build against an almost completely stock Chevy Colorado Trail Boss — the Canyon’s nearly identical twin. The results were pretty eye-opening.  

TFLTruck took the “go big or go home” approach, but it illustrates pretty plainly just how impactful mods can be to your fuel economy. Put simply, the Overland Expo AT4X is a decked-out monster, fitted with a pop-up roof tent, bed rack storage system, a solar-powered camping battery, a water tank, and much, much more — enough to support an off-grid adventurer for several days at a time. All of this is on top of the air intake snorkel, winch, lifted suspension, skid plates, and 35-inch all-terrain tires, all contributing significant drag to the Canyon’s sleek aerodynamic profile.  

Pitted against this would be the host’s personal Colorado Trail Boss, wearing dealer-installed 32-inch M/T tires and packing one noteworthy upgrade: GM’s certified High Output engine calibration. This gives the host’s Colorado an output bump to match the GMC’s 310 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque. Sure, it’s a modification, but in this case, it’s simply evening the odds a little bit. Now, on to the test! 

TFLTruck is based out of Denver, Colorado, and has a test loop it calls the “Denver 100,” which follows a highway loop around the city. It’s actually a little longer than its name suggests at 111 miles, but hey, we’re not here to nitpick. They took both trucks out on the loop simultaneously to make sure the conditions were equal and measured their fuel economy by filling both tanks before and after the trip to calculate the total amount of fuel used. As an added bonus, they even compared their figures with the on-board trip computers, which were surprisingly accurate! Let’s get to the results.  

The Colorado Trail Boss, which offered our baseline, used a little over 4.6 gallons to complete the loop, returning 23.8 mpg overall (vs. 23 mpg according to the trip computer) — impressive for a mid-size truck! As for the modified Canyon? Well, it used nearly 6.6 gallons for an average of 16.9 mpg — a more than 40% increase in fuel consumption! 

So, if fuel economy matters to you, we suggest you go easy on modifying your 2025 GMC Canyon. But if you’re more concerned with exploration and adventure than thrift or efficiency, the Canyon is an excellent canvas on which to paint your off-road masterpiece! 

Come to Penz GMC of Rochester today to check out all of our official GMC parts and accessories for your 2025 Canyon!