Chevrolet Silverado review

It’s… well, it’s trucky. The Silverado lumbers about on the road and its highway handling can best be described as ponderous. The ride is cushy but also bouncy thanks to the body-on-frame construction, and at all times, you are very much aware that the Silverado is bigger than most other vehicles on the road. Genuinely, it’s huge.

So many engines. Which one is best?

This one’s a toss-up. Part of us wants to say “go big or go home” and pick the 6.2-liter V8, because what’s not to love about eight naturally aspirated cylinders cranking out 420hp and 460lb ft of torque? Behind the wheel of a Silverado ZR2 Bison, the V8 feels right at home, powering the truck onto Los Angeles freeways with authority. But it’s also easy to tame at low speeds, and the 10-speed automatic transmission is on its best behavior. This V8 is as refined as it is powerful.

But there’s something about the 3.0-liter turbodiesel I6 that just feels right. There’s no denying the inherent smoothness of an inline-six engine, especially one that makes the brunt of its power way, way, way down low. In the Silverado, this engine produces 305hp and 495lb ft, the latter of which is all you need. There’s an efficiency play with this engine, too, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

With 310hp and 430lb ft of torque, the turbocharged 2.7-liter I4 is perfectly peppy for around-town use, and it’s nicely behaved on the freeway. Honestly, the head-scratcher of the bunch is the smaller 5.3-liter V8 engine, which is outclassed by the Silverado’s other powertrains. Its 355hp and 383lb ft of torque are nice, but the other powertrain options offer so much more character.

Surely a truck this big can’t be efficient…

No, not really, though the 3.0-liter diesel does better than you might think. With two-wheel drive, this engine should return 24mpg in the city and 29mpg on the highway, falling to 22 and 27, respectively, with four-wheel drive. The base 2.7-liter engine maxes out at 19mpg city and 22mpg highway, while the big 6.2-liter V8 is rated at 16mpg city and 20mpg highway with rear-wheel drive, or 14mpg city and 18mpg highway with four-wheel drive. 

Lots of helpful tech in this thing, I assume?

Yes, but it’s a damn shame that Chevy doesn’t offer its Super Cruise hands-free tech on anything other than the most expensive Silverado High Country. Super Cruise is one of the absolute best pieces of driver-assistance technology available in any car on sale today. It works seamlessly, and will make well-timed automatic lane changes. It’s a godsend for long freeway commutes, and you can even use it while towing.

As for other Silverado trims, Chevy packs ‘em with the full tech roster. You can get everything from blind-spot assist – that’ll account for the length of a trailer – to adaptive cruise control to an incredibly helpful 360-degree camera system and more. For real, if you live in a tight city, that bird’s eye view is a must.