Saturday, March 1, 2014

Test Drive: Silverado's high-dollar high country

Chevrolet looked around at booming sales of $50,000 pickups and said, "Why not us?"

Chevy dealers looked at lost sales as potential high-dollar buyers walked to GMC, Ford, Ram and Toyota stores where they could get more luxurious trucks, and the dealers said to Chevy, forcefully, "Why not us?"

So when General Motors designed the new full-size Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups that went on sale last May, it baked in the pricey, well-appointed, high-dollar High Country model for Silverado. GMC has for years offered the upmarket Denali models and does good business with them.

"Selling every one we can build," says Chevy spokesman Tom Wilkinson. High Country accounts for 6.6% of Silverado sales now and is expected to level off at 4% eventually.

In its favor, High Country is at heart a workaday Silverado. It has some clear advantages, but some of them come with trade-offs.

High Country is, as Chevy advertises about all Silverados, quiet inside. No apparent trade-off on that.

Corvette engine's an option. Lets you lean on the fender casually, hoping to conceal your smugness as you tell the neighbor, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, yeah; it has that Corvette engine..."

You get a high-end truck, you want high-end bragging rights.

But it adds $1,995 to the price and guzzles fuel if you drive it the way you'll want to after spending that for the 6.2-liter, 420-horsepower Vette V-8.

We were able to keep the mpg in the two-figure range, but much more wide-open throttle time and we'd have broken under 10 mpg. Pay to play.

In the truck, the engine's tuned a little differently than in the sports car, to bring in the power at lower engine speeds where trucks typically operate.

Step-in height is low, reducing the amount of clambering needed to get aboard.

Trade-off is a passenger-cabin floor not quite flat, as it meanders a bit to clear the underpinnings, so the cabin can sit low.

Depending on what you tote in back of the crew cab when you'! re not hauling passengers, lack of a flat floor can compromise the size and shape of cargo you can carry.

F-150 crew-cab has a flat floor when the seat's folded (but pays for that with a high step-in).

Capacities are high. The $57,110 four-wheel-drive, crew-cab test truck had a tow rating of 9,500 pounds and a payload capacity of more than 1,900 pounds.

Partly due to the heft and stiffness components that provide those commendable numbers, the High Country test truck had a jiggly, overly stiff ride on suburban roads of mixed quality.

"Rides like a truck" regains relevance when talking about the High Country.

The high payload, especially, is a GM truck signature feature.

Similar rival trucks tend to hover around 1,500 to 1,700 lbs.

Entirely in the debit column, in our opinion:

Lack of luxe-level proximity ignition key and the accompanying touch-handle door lock and keyless ignition switch that a high-dollar buyer expects.

This is a truck issue, not a Chevy issue. Ford doesn't have the features, either, but will on the 2015 F-150 coming later this year.

"It's certainly something we'd look at," Wilkinson says.

Back seat in crew cab's still not a winner. GM improved roominess and entry/exit space. But it still seems to us that Silverado, including High Country, is a tighter fit in back than main rival Ford F-150.

If a Silverado were our choice, we'd opt for a model that's a step or two down the price scale, such as an LTZ that offers a package with nearly all the High Country features. We'd feel smarter than if we paid top-dollar.

ABOUT THE SILVERADO HIGH COUNTRY

What? First premium Chevrolet pickup since the 1950s. Available with rear-wheel drive (RWD) or four-wheel drive (4x4). Comes only as crew cab.

When? On sale since October 2013.

Where? Made at Silao, Mexico

Why? Rivals have 'em and make huge profits on sales.

How much? RWD starts at $47,000, including $1,095 ship! ping. 4x4! starts at $49,975.

Crew-cab, four-wheel-drive test drive with optional Corvette engine ($1,995) and other goodies was $57,110.

What makes it go? Standard: 5.3-liter V-8 rated 355 horsepower at 5,600 rpm, 383 pounds-feet of torque at 4,100. Optional: 6.2-liter Corvette V-8, tuned differently for truck use, is 420 hp at 5,600, 460 lbs.-ft. at 4,100. Both mated to six-speed automatic.

How big? Full-size crew-cab pickup dimensions.

How thirsty? Ratings range from 16 mpg city, 23 mph highway, 19 combined use for the RWD with 5.3-liter V-8 to 14/20/17 for 4x4 with 6.2-liter.

4x4, 6.2-liter test truck showed 11.4 mpg (8.77 gallons per 100 miles) in short-hop suburban driving, dropping to 10.2 mpg (9.8 gal./100 mi.) after urge to hammer the Corvette engine became overwhelming.

Overall: Dressy truck that should earn Chevy a piece of the high-dollar pickup market.

Bottom line:

Price: High, on purpose

Power: Optional Corvette V-8 is a hoot

Disappointing details: Needs luxe-style proximity key with touch door handles; back seat in crew cab still a bit tight

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