In normal driving, i did not notice much of any difference between the 2 stock motors
I have/had 33's on both my 17 and 24 trucks. pulling the 3,000lb boat, not much difference with either.

both have the same transmission in which the last 2 gears 7 & 8 are both over drives, so they both down shift on hills when you have the cruise on.
running 70mph down the highway engine runs at the same RPM. same gearing
you may see the difference between the 2 if really loaded down, pulling max trailer weight.
or putting on 50 to 65lb tires like some do

both trucks are capable for trail running in stock form.

 

I am not actually sure if there are many folks on here with both a supercharged 6cyl and Turbomax experience.

Minus the sound, the Turbomax is a lot of fun. The low end power is a riot and it can definitely boogie from one grocery store to the next.

That said, the uniqueness of a supercharged 3.6 almost sounds more enticing. Definitely going to sound better and that extra HP might make for more fun interstate merges than the Turbomax could as its top end speed is a little underwhelming.

 

I definitely want to drive the TurboMax to see how I like it. I'm leaning towards the 23+ as I do like the upgraded styling, tech, and interior. My strong preference against 4 cylinders and turbo whistle is what's turning me away. Having previously owned a gen 2 CTS-V, I'm definitely partial to the feel of a supercharger and admittedly I do love the whine when you get on it.

 

I may be a little biased but I think the 2.8L Duramax takes the cake. But that opinion comes from experience. I'm glad you acknowledged the v6 needs revs to make torque because that was my main gripe about test driving one as well as driving other cars with the same motor. I'll admit the duramax sounds like a muffled tractor and a supercharged V6 will probably be more exciting from an audio standpoint but it makes up for it with the gobs of torque down low and unbeatable fuel mileage. I chose to stay away from the turbomax motor when shopping for a new truck just given that the platform hasn't had a lot of time to prove itself. (and from what I've seen on this forum they're showing to be pretty unreliable.) Though when I test drove the high output variant in the new ZR2 it was a fun little motor, it's just not what I want. They tried to make a gas engine do all the things their diesel already did years ago.

I know it's not one of the options you mentioned but from what it sounds like you want from a drivetrain in a truck I think it's worth considering. Either way I hope you enjoy your next truck!

 

Counter point: The Duramax is the only motor on this forum with a dedicated "catastrophic failure" thread. Not to say all of them blow-up as that's definitely the case but man they sound like a maintenance headache. Cool engines nevertheless.

 

I had a '19 V-6 Bison for a couple of years, and I bought a '24 Bison back in April. I did a fair amount of off roading and long distance road trips with my 2nd Gen Bison and I never thought it was under powered and I never had any issues with it. In almost every way though, my '24 Bison is a better truck for my use case.

There are really only 2 things I'd change about my '24 Bison. One is the turbo lag. I've never been a big fan of turbo motors, and from idle to ~3k RPM it's gutless. But, once the turbo spools up, it'll kick you in the ass. It takes a bit under 2 seconds to hit 3k from idle, which doesn't sound like a long time, but when you're in traffic that comes to a sudden halt and there's a tractor trailer with smoke pouring off its locked up brakes rapidly getting larger in your rear view mirror and you need to get out of the way quick... That 2 seconds is an eternity.

That said, when I'm in playing in the dirt in Baja mode and "Performance Shifting" engages, the computer holds onto gears longer to keep the RPM's up and the power delivery is great. It's really pronounced in 4-lo and off road mode; the turbo spools up quick, the RPM's stay high, and the diesel like torque is great.

The other thing I'd change is the infotainment system, I think the 2nd gen's is better. In all the reviews I watched and read before I bought my '24 Bison, everyone was very careful to talk about the driving and performance improvements over the 2nd Gen trucks and if the infotainment was talked about, it was to point out how there is no physical light switch anymore. If you want to control the lights, you have to do it via the touch screen. All in all, the 3rd Gen infotainment is clunky and could have used a bit more thought. I've said for a long time that printer companies (HP & the like) shouldn't write software, because they suck at it. It seems like car companies shouldn't write software either, because they also suck at it.

TL;DR, for a street truck, I'd probably go with a blown V-6 2nd Gen. For an offroad truck, the suspension improvments and (surprisingly) the turbomax in the 3rd Gen are the winner.