First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD

MotorTrend

Contributing Editor Mark Willams gets behind the wheel of Chevys all new Silverado HD truck.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:10 Well, I'm here on a Pennsylvania highway at the GM event where they're

00:14 debuting both the Chevy and the GMC heavy duty pickup trucks.

00:18 Right now I happen to be driving a one ton,

00:21 dually Chevy pickup truck with the new Duramax diesel engine.

00:26 And I say new, it's improved.

00:29 It's got a couple of improvements that give it the most horsepower and

00:32 most torque of any vehicle of the segment.

00:35 That's 397 horsepower, 765 foot pounds of torque, class leading for now.

00:42 And I only say for now because we never know what Dodge and

00:46 what Ford might have up their sleeve now that GM has played their hand.

00:51 But regardless, this is the vehicle that's the newest on the road right now.

00:56 And it's pretty impressive.

00:58 They've gone a slightly different direction than some of their competitors.

01:02 Ford has come out this year with their 2011 Super Duty,

01:06 getting a lot of attention in the industry.

01:08 Last year, Dodge came out with their Ram heavy duty with a lot of significant

01:13 play in the media.

01:15 But right now, we're getting a chance to do a deep drive with this vehicle.

01:20 And essentially, just sitting here in the driver's seat,

01:23 getting an opportunity to take a look and see everything that's new.

01:26 The interior is the first thing that's the most striking.

01:30 So not a lot of changes, in fact,

01:32 very, very few changes in the different trim levels that they offer.

01:36 Looks very similar to the 2010 model, but where the substantial and

01:41 significant changes are on this vehicle is in the chassis.

01:45 Entirely new frame, entirely new front suspension,

01:48 heavily modified, reworked rear suspension that allows this vehicle

01:56 to do some pretty amazing things that it hasn't really done in the past.

02:01 The most dramatic of which is in the front suspension.

02:04 The new geometry, the heavier duty components,

02:08 the stronger capabilities are impressive,

02:12 mostly because of the improved ride.

02:16 Just about everybody who understands what these vehicles are about

02:19 knows that General Motors has an independent front suspension.

02:23 Where the models for the Ram heavy duty and the super duty use live axles.

02:29 Now there's trade offs and there's assets and

02:31 there's liabilities on both sides.

02:34 But essentially what we're seeing with this first drive of this

02:37 General Motors vehicle, specifically with the Chevy one time,

02:41 is that the ride from the front end, both empty and fully loaded, is impressive.

02:47 If it's not segment leading, it's going to be the bar that the other

02:51 competitors are gonna have to try to hit.

02:53 [MUSIC]

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