Rental Review: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado

[MinisterofDOOM]

So, once again I got to borrow a strange car for a couple days and be reminded of just how much I love my LS8. This time, I was ready to get picky and demand something I could write a vaguely POSITIVE review about. Instead, when I went to pick up the car, the clerk asked me if I'd like a "free upgrade." Having noticed a Corolla and an Altima outside, I eagerly said "yes" to avoid those cars. The clerk then went on to say "I have a Chevy Silverado out there that you can take." Trucks aren't really the best road trip vehicles, and I had two employees with me, but I figured "Why not?"

Trucks have a lot of configuration options, so "Silverado" doesn't mean much on its own.
This one was a crew cab, short bed 4x4 with the 5.3 liter V8 and most of the tech goodies but no luxo goodies. It was an attractive dark metallic grey, and the wheels looked okay. It had a cheapass plastic bedliner.

I'll jump the gun here by saying that I liked it a lot. I could enjoy driving one every day. I just don't think I could justify paying what they want for these trucks, even if I had it to spare.

Now, on to why:

Exterior: 8/10
I'm among the seeming minority that likes GM's current ultra-boxy look. I don't care for all the details, but I like my trucks square and I always have. I DESPISED the late-90s droopy Fords (especially the stepside F150 with the second-worst tail lights in truck history). I hated my round Ranger's looks, even though I loved the truck itself. I can't stand any generation Tundra, and I think S10s look like they were hit with a whole forest of both ugly AND cheapass sticks. I just can't make myself like a truck with headlights that are softer-looking than my car's. I can't do droopy, saggy styling. Trucks are supposed to be utilitarian, and utilitarian has corners.

What I don't like is GM's trademark square wheel arches, or the stamped creases highlighting them. I also don't care for the tail lights. Not just the design, but the poor implementation. There are two tail lamps on each side (top and bottom), but both illuminate together. They didn't make one the brake and the other the signal. If you signal, BOTH flash, even with the brakes applied. It looks stupid and is less functional than two dedicated-purpose lamps. I also think the hood is a little overdone.

I do like the grille, and the headlights. I am a fan of Chevy's return to the stacked headlight look. The last generation's big-square design was too bland and generic-looking on the trucks (though the Tahoe's variation was a little more sensible).

I generally prefer the Sierra to the Silverado for its better details, but I like them both far better than either of the latest two overwrought bro-seeking F150 designs. The Dodge is still better executed overall, but the GMs come in close behind.

Interior: 6/10
It's a General Motors product and, as such, the interior is disappointing but not necessarily bad. It's reasonably well laid-out, functional, and comfortable. But it's also cheaper than Hell. Rock-hard plastic, huge panel gaps, with unnecessarily separate pieces giving things a weird modular look despite being nothing of the sort (A GM truck trademark for ages). Everywhere you look you find yourself asking "Why didn't they do something a little nicer with this?" The dome lights are housed in a swath of molded plastic that's 90% functionless flat emptiness and 10% dome lights, sunglasses holder, and airbag indicator. The dash is textured hard plastic with a separate insert of smooth hard plastic. The door panels are hard plastic. The trim on the center folding seat storage is hard plastic. Basically everything is hard plastic. If it's not hard plastic, it's probably a seat or the floor.
Another factor that struck me as archaic and halfassed is the steering column and all attached controls. It had manual tilt but no telescope adjust, with a column shift and ALL controls consolidated onto one stalk with very poor ergonomics (for instance: the windshield washer "wing" is located so far down the stalk that you can't spray the windshield without taking your left hand off the wheel and sort of reaching awkwardly up behind it to turn the stalk). The striking factor is that I was reminded wholesale of my 1984 DeVille. Same layout, same features, same look. That's pretty damn bad. That was 31 years ago. The only thing that has changed is that cruise control has moved to face buttons on the wheel. Hilariously, though, the stalk still has a placeholder button on the end where the old on/off button would have been, and there's empty space where the wing would have gone (and where the washer wing could be moved if anyone thought about it for half a second).

Outside the wheel/column, though, things were pretty functional.
I really like the gauge layout (tach/speedo at bottom with real-numbers voltage, coolant temp, fuel level, and oil pressure gauges along the top) and this one of very few cars in which I've found the between-the-gauges LCD to be actually useful. It could show some really cool stuff, like trans fluid temp, engine operating hours, live tire pressures, and even offroad pitch and roll indicators (which disappointingly seemed nonfunctional in 2wd). Or you could duplicate media controls or show a redundant digital speedometer.

The media and climate controls were straightforward with enough dedicated buttons for ease-of-use without being a sea of keys to hunt through. The center display was non-touch-sensitive (inexcusable, I think) but at least it was simple to use. Bluetooth pairing was easier in this truck than any other vehicle I've driven, and it also auto-played music from my phone once connected (i.e. on vehicle start) which is a tiny but very useful feature most cars omit.

A neat feature was a child lock button along with the rest of the doorlocks. Rather than a mechanical switch on the door, this this makes much more practical sense.

There are for some reason no HVAC vents for 2nd-row passengers. In a crew cab truck, I think that's sort of a big oversight. I had to freeze my a** off with full-blast AC to keep my rear-seat passenger comfortable, and it never got warmer than ~75 outside. I also thought the fan was obnoxiously loud.

The seats were pretty comfortable but lacked adjustability (just height in addition to fore/aft and seatback adjust). Once I figured out the right wheel/seat arrangement I didn't really get any fatigue. While trying to find it, though, I did get a minor case of numb-butt.

Going back to the plastickiness and fit-and-finish levels, this particular truck had a poorly balanced front right wheel. From about 76 to about 84, it created a pretty bad vibration--tolerable but not pleasant. That vibration did me the courtesy of highlighting every squeak and rattle in the truck's interior, and there were many. Many. The center arm-rest lid. The dash. The B-pillars. One a-pillar. One C-pillar. One door panel. The driver kickpanel. Not exactly a symphony of quality construction.

Powertrain: 8/10
The 5.3 is surprisingly torquey and doesn't tire as redline approaches. I was able to easily spin the rear tires (though I think that may be due to an open diff--something I wasn't able to confirm). The transmission shifts smoothly and is MOSTLY unobtrusive, though some uphill downshifts with cruise control set felt a little harsh and hesitant. Manual mode worked well but was operated by a weird rocker switch in a strange spot on the column shifter, so it was only really useful as a more awkward OD-off switch.
The V8 was of course silky smooth and sounded pleasant (though highly muffled). It idled around 620 RPM, just a touch higher than my LS8, and I rarely needed more than 2000rpm for any reasonable maneuvers.
I'd most certainly opt for the 6.2 liter instead of the 5.3. Average fuel economy on this almost-exclusively 80mph highway trip was about 19, which is pretty decent, but doubtful any better than the bigger eight would manage--especially with cylinder deactivation. However, the 5.3 is probably plenty of motor for most crew cab half-ton owners.

Handling: 8/10
It was a sharp-handling vehicle for a truck. No excess of body roll but with a supple ride. I'm not sure how it would feel with a payload attached (probably not as good in either respect), but with just 3 adults and some luggage onboard it was quite pleasant. It did what I wanted it to the way I expected it to based on the inputs I gave it. Pretty straightforward. Steering was WAY, WAY overassisted but not completely numb.
I had the opportunity to go a tiny bit offroad with it (a softpack dirt parking lot) and learned a bit about traction control. I was able to do mild donuts with TC on, and driving through soft sand still allowed enough wheelspin to maintain control without getting stuck. I turned TC off and had some fun doing tight donuts and throwing the rear around. It was all pretty drama-free and very confidence-inspiring.
An interesting feature I noticed but did not use was the "Auto" mode on the 4wd mode selector. Between 2wd and 4-hi was "Auto", which I suspect would be appealing to snowbelt buyers who don't really know how 4wd works but still want the added safety. A bit of research shows that Auto mode locks in the front axle but leaves the transfer case disengaged from the front until slip is detected, a-la most modern crossovers. An interesting compromise between real 4WD and AWD that should reduce a lot of the wear shock on the system in mixed-traction situations (like partially snowy asphalt).

Features and Extras
It had XM, bluetooth, Onstar, a decent audio system, navigation, great gauges, traction control that didn't make me want to punch kittens. Everything worked as expected. I liked that it was feature-rich but not overly luxurious. It could be used as a work truck while enjoying the convenience features. Pretty much exactly what I want from a truck.

Overall: 8/10
It's a damn nice truck with some non-critical (but also inexcusable) failings that don't manage to outweigh its strengths. I'd drive one every day quite happily.

[Bubba1]

What a coincidence. My next door neighbor just purchased a brand new Silverado crew cab pickup, still has the "nipples" on the tires. I'm looking forward to driving it as some point, but I was surprised how frigging big that beast is. It dwarfs the front the front end of my '86 Sierra flatbed. He likes it thus far, but I'm curious what his gas mileage will be.

[Jesda]

GM has come a long way with its pickups. The T400s are among my favorites, like tall Cadillac Broughams with smooth rides, solid powertrains, and gobs of torque. They've always been pretty good over uneven and rocky pavement but now they're able to handle potholes without feeling like you drove over a landline.

Between the Ram 1500 and Silverado/Sierra, I'm not sure which one I'd pick.

The 2001 F150 was the worst truck I'd ever owned. I hauled cars all over the country and it left me stranded just about everywhere.

[AZhitman]

Great review, Chris. I concur with the entire intro and your opinions on the appearance. I haven't driven one, but I think the Sierra is drop-dead gorgeous.