We loved every mile we put on the Silverado LT. It drives like a luxury car and is supremely smooth and quiet. That smooth, quiet, unified feel is largely due to the new chassis, which offers a 23-percent increase in stiffness. New mounting and isolation hardware reduces noise and vibration. A cast magnesium beam behind the instrument panel and a lateral steel beam between the magnesium beam and the right side of the dash further reinforce the stiff body. Squeaks and rattles have been eliminated. This is one strong truck, and its strength lets the suspension soak up and manage all the bumps and ruts and tar strips so well that its overall ride behavior is near-luxury. A long, 143-inch wheelbase improves the ride further and enhances high-speed stability.A massive four-spoke steering wheel connects to a new rack-and-pinion steering system (recirculating ball on 4X4 models). The steering has a fairly wide dead spot in the center when cruising, which Chevrolet says is designed to minimize steering corrections on the highway. The steering feels a bit too light, but we found it tracks beautifully and handles well on pavement, loose dirt, deep dirt and off-road. Although the 4.8-liter small-block V8 is the most popular engine for this truck, our Silverado LT had the optional 5.3-liter (324 cubic-inch) engine, rated at 285 horsepower and 325 foot-pounds of torque; those figures represent an increase of 15 horsepower and 10 foot-pounds over last year's version of this engine. That's enough torque to smoke the rear tires at will. This engine has a fat torque curve, which makes it useful for light towing and hauling, but it's also a lot of fun for commuting and touring. The new engine is a much better small-block than before, and we recommend the 5.3-liter over the smaller 4.8-liter version, which also got a 15 horsepower increase for 2000, to 270 horsepower. Brakes have been improved substantially over the previous model and it's a welcome improvement. The four-wheel disc brakes are huge and powerful and come standard with ABS. Braking force comes into play only an inch into the pedal travel, a welcome improvement over the mushy pedal on the previous pickup. A new feature called Dynamic Rear Proportioning improves stability under heavy braking whether the truck is loaded or empty. Chevrolet promises huge improvements in fade resistance, pad life and heat dissipation; we worked the brakes on our truck very hard and experienced no fade. |
