The 2018 Chevy Silverado is one of Americaճ best selling pickups.
The Chevy Silverado 1500 full-size pickup truck is the automotive equivalent of comfort food.
Fire up the 5.3-liter, V-8 engine on a cold Chattanooga morning and the low rumble under the hood sounds a reassuring note. Knowing Chevy has been making pickup trucks for 100 years also inspires confidence.
Need to fetch a gallon of milk in a snowstorm? Let your Silverado's four-wheel-drive system get you to Food City and back safely. Need to drive across a muddy pasture to feed the cows? Let the Z71 off-road package help you out.
More than a half-million new Silverados are purchased yearly in the United States, and that many people can't be wrong.
We spent a week in a 2018 Silverado 1500 Z71 4WD LTZ crew cab. If you don't speak Chevrolese, this translates as a five-passenger pickup with off-road chops and luxury cabin appointments.
FAST FACTS:
-Model: 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 LTZ (4WD) -Exterior color: Blue Steel Metallic -Interior color: Jet Black -Engine: 5.3-liter, V-8 -Horsepower: 355 -Transmission: eight-speed automatic -Fuel economy: 20 mpg highway, 15 mpg city -Local Dealer: Integrity Chevrolet, Mountain View Chevrolet -Price (as tested): $58,638
Our Crew cab tester has the shorter, 5-feet, 9-inch bed, which makes it less of a work truck and more of a Home Depot shopping cart. Still, the truck is so long we had to inch it up into our driveway to keep the rear end from hanging out into the road. Opt for the 6-feet, 7-inch regular bed and the work options multiply.
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Pricing is where trucks like our LTZ tester with Centennial Edition trim gets a bit rich. The test truck has an MSRP of $58,635, including more than $8,000 in options. If you are budget minded, or just need a bare-bones pickup, regular-cab work trucks with a Silverado 1500 badge can be had starting at $28,300. Within that $30,000 price range there's a trim level, cab configuration and price to fit your budget.
When shopping for full-size pickups look for deep discounts (at certain times of the year) and don't go crazy on options. Do those two things, and you'll lower your total cost of ownership dramatically.
A scan of local Chevy dealerships shows an abundant supply of Silverados on the ground this week. Combined, the Integrity and Mountain View stores here had more than 70 Silverado 1500s in their digital inventories on on Friday.
STYLING AND OPTIONS
When it comes to full-size trucks "styling" is a relative term. With body lines dictated by a truck's underlying architecture, a truck's style is often defined by its grille, wheels, stance and various bolt-on bits.
Our Silverado tester is a fine specimen of the truck-builder's art. Blue Steel Metallic Paint is a feature of the Centennial Edition, which commemorates 100 years of Chevy trucks. The ($3,480) package includes 22-inch wheels, chrome recovery hooks, special floor-liners and "heritage" bow-tie badges. The special badges were the first things my 11-year-old son noticed. Each badge has Chevrolet spelled out in a serif typeface, a classy look that Chevy should use more often.
(If you don't want the Centennial Edition, there's always the Black Out Edition, the Special Ops Edition, the Rally Edition, the Redline Edition or the Midnight Edition.)
Inside, the Jet Black interior fits a masculine motif. Seats are wide and supportive and the center console has vast storage space. The dash design is blocky, with an array of red gauge needles providing visual contrast. The touchscreen has big, legible graphics and the apps are easy to understand. Dials control the heating and air conditioning functions.
One suggestion: An illuminated ignition switch would be much appreciated. We spent a long minute one night stabbing in the dark to get the key into the hole. The shifter on the steering wheel column also feels like a throwback.
Other options on our tester include a power sunroof ($995), an enhanced driver alert package filled with safety-tech features ($945), heated and ventilated seats ($650), leather upholstery and an eight-inch touchscreen with navigation.
DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
The Silverado is available with three engine choices and our tester takes the middle ground with a 5.3-liter, V-8 power plant that makes 335 horsepower. A V-6 and a bigger V-8 also are available. We think the 5.3-liter is the right choice, although the throttle response is a bit slow. A couple of times we had to press the accelerator pedal with purpose after a millisecond failure to launch.
The Silverado's cabin is eerily quiet, and it's a truck that doesn't wallow and roam like pickups of yore. You won't want to race a Mazda Miata up Ochs Highway, but the Silverado handles well enough that it makes a relaxing commuter vehicle.
BOTTOM LINE
Truck buyers have a lot of options, and brand loyalty drives sales. For customers looking for a quiet cabin, rugged good looks and dozens of trim, cabin, bed and engine configurations to choose from, the Silverado fits the bill.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.