we're here in some of the most beautiful parts of the country the Idaho Wyoming
border where we've had our first chance to get behind the wheel of the 2019
silverado half-ton now there's a lot to talk about with this truck but we're
gonna try to keep it focused I'm going to talk about the interior the bed our
off-road impressions how it tows and what it feels like on the highway inside
the Chevy trail bus is e71 it's got the cloth interior the new
redesign Center stack which is closer to the driver and passenger to control the
nav system and any AC functions it's got a nine switch line up here depending on
what features you have and also the four-wheel drive system is now in the
upper left-hand corner both with the tow haul mode and a sport mode and
thankfully they've put the trailer brake controller down here and easy access
here at the right hand but it also has a huge center console whether you have the
storage bin here in front or whether you have the middle seat that pops up with a
hidden storage underneath the seat you still have tons of room inside for any
of your personal gear here at the back we love the dual exhausts they've also
redesigned the bumper steps to make it easier to access the bed itself here on
the tailgate push button electronic drop and also on some trim packages all it
takes is a push of the knee and it automatically closes all by itself but
the bed itself has some of the most interesting features we've seen in a
pickup bed in a long time on the floor cold rolled steel for strength also the
walls the walls themselves are made of a high-strength steel so this is probably
some of the strongest beds in the half-ton segment also 12 different
tie-down points each 500 pound capacity on every pickup truck with nine other
exterior holes to give you a total of 21 different holes that you can have for
tie-downs to keep your cargo safe but the feature we like the most
the optional 120 volt 3 prong plug right here in the bed on the off-road
course the trail boss is z71 was impressive there's no other way to
explain it this vehicle has a 2-inch suspension lift makes room for bigger
wheels and tires more aggressive treads the Goodyear Wranglers but also has
monotube Rancho shocks very good for this kind of obstacle course that we had
created here by Chevy for us we had a log run we had a hill climb over some
loose dirt rock we also had a rock-strewn area very similar to a
Rubicon Trail and then we also had a big mud pit that we were able to get up some
speed and do some very nasty splashing but this vehicle does very well it's
going to compete very well with other off-road packages it's not a Ford Raptor
but it's a very impressive when it comes to trailering Chevy is
really upping their game in fact they've created for this new half-ton Silverado
they've created what's called the advanced trailering package which is the
combination of integrated cameras along with a lot of accessible information
they haven't loaded right into the nav screen that they can get any time they
can program different types of trailers that they're going to be using and they
can keep track of the fuel economy and different connections around the truck
in fact you can even check from the driver's seat whether or not all the
lights on your trailer and your vehicle your tow vehicle are all working at the
same time now the connections here accommodate a fourth camera it has to be
hardwired but it can provide you with a view off the back end of the trailer so
when you pop it into reverse you know exactly what's behind you when you're
trailering now we had a chance to take this trailer a 6,000 pound cargo trailer
out on the road and we have to say that this is a very comfortable and confident
vehicle to tow with 6,000 pounds isn't your normal weight in
fact that's probably more than 90% of people are going to be towing with their
half-ton pickup truck but we can say with the suspension changes and also
this technology advancement with this trailer package this is probably one of
the best trailer packages we've had a chance to derive so we're out of the mud
we've disconnected the trailer we're back on the highway so this is just two
lane road where it's 6,000 feet so the powertrain feels a little underpowered
but that's okay because there's a lot of horsepower in both the 5 3 or the 6-2 v8
engines that are available for this new Silverado on the road very composed this
is probably the single biggest improvement not that the last half-ton
Silverado was bad but this one is so much better it's almost difficult to
even compare the two very composed especially into hard corners it's a
wonderful little switch that puts a little racing flag up on the information
- that to know you're in sport mode you get a
little tighter feel to the steering wheel little quicker response on the
throttle and this thing just stays hugged to the ground we're in the trail
boss so that means we're a little higher because of the suspension lift but
there's nothing about this vehicle that feels tippy or you know out of sorts
whether we're pushing it we've pushed it a few times around some corners it
absorbs every kind of corner that we could throw at it no matter what the
speed is that we're going into that corner so I mean overall this is a very
impressive feel on two-lane highways it seems like almost any of the trim
package combinations are very versatile doing moderately well if they're
four-wheel drive but also doing very very well if you want to get a little
more enthusiastic on pavement what's our biggest takeaway from our time behind
the wheel of the 2019 silverado half-ton is how far they've come now we love the
classics but this new half-ton pickup truck looks like it could be a game
changer for Chevy and we love the fact that they're requiring on every single
vehicle and this isn't a government mandate but every single vehicle on the
door jamb lets the owner of that specific truck know exactly what the
maximum trailer capacity is and maximum payload capacity is for each truck
that's about safety and we like that for more information about this truck go to
pickup trucks calm
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