Sometimes the Stars at night, that are big and bright, (clapclapclapclap) deep in the heart of Texas… And sometimes those beautiful stars, well they shine down on a California boy.
I touched down in Austin walked over to get my rental and as I’m walking out to the garage to pick up what I am sure is going to be a teeny tiny eco shit box of embarrassment. A guy stops me and says...
guy, “HEY! Are you James?!”
Me, “allegedly”
Guy, “James The Lowered HMFIC?”
Me, “OHSHIT!! Yeah bro that’s me!”
Guy “OH COOL! How’d you like a free upgrade?!”
Me, “sure? I guess what’d you have in mind?”
Guy “there she is sir welcome to Texas!”
We had a great conversation, I got a spankin new Silverado crew cab Z71 4x4 with under 1000 miles on it. He got a fist full of stickers and my heartfelt thanks.
How is this my life?
Would you believe it gets better? Spec’d as a truck should be. Cloth seats, decent stereo, power windows heat and air. Ok so it’s got some other stuff as well. But if I’m gonna be cruising around Texas I’d say I got handed the keys to the perfect vehicle to do it in. Well almost perfect it wasn't green but hey, I am not complaining!
So let’s get to reviewin! I got to drive this thing around a few days ping ponging all over Austin and the surrounding areas. Airport to hotel to Lonestar Roundup to hotel to Austin speed shop to dinner then back to the hotel I have to say, I was starting to like it. I was getting worried. Do I need a new truck? A, but this time I’ll keep it stock… new truck? Jesus I can barely even write that with out laughing at its improbability.
The pros.
It's a spankin new Chevy crew cab! As a kid that grew up in a semi rural part of Northern California. An area that at least at that time was still largely surrounded by farm and ranch land. I am one of those guys that the pick up truck holds a sense of status for. So I was feeling pretty good to be in Texas and behind the wheel of GMs new pickemup hotness.
If you have pulled up along side one of them you know new pick ups are much larger that the previous generations. Most of you guys know Trucky Verde, my daily a 2005 GMC Sierra Crew is my daily. So I am very familiar to the previous generation of this truck. While I'd read and noticed that the new trucks were physically larger, until you sit in one its hard to quantify.
Being a Six foot Six fat dude, feeling comfortable in any vehicle is a novel thing. You regular sized dudes don't know how good you have it. Folks of my stature rarely get to enjoy "comfort" in a vehicle of any kind. So when it happens we appreciate it like few others can. How roomy is the current body style Crew Cabs? I could drop the facts and figures but let me instead say this. My normal first time get in procedure for any vehicle is to immediately move the seat to its furthest back and lowest position. So after putting all my luggage in the Truck. Moving the seat all the way down and back upon climbing in I actually had to scoot the seat back up. I know, I know this might not sound like a big deal to most folks but trust me that shit never happens. Like ever. this is such a rare event that for a moment I was genuinely confused at what was happening. My size 14s getting caught up under the pedals or my legs cramping because of a forced position is my norm. realizing I was toe tapping the pedals and had too much legroom was a mind blower. After re adjusting the seat both higher and forward. I had to get back out and look at the room left for the back seat passengers. I half expected to see I had somehow adjusted the seat clear back through the cab into the bed and against the taillights. I was amazed to see even with my seat still adjusted. A bit further back than I needed but still not all the way. There was plenty of back seat leg room for me to sit behind the driver seat. What is this magic!? Nicely done GM, Nicely done.
The dash. Theres a struggle going on in automotive interior design circles. For some reason they all seem to want cars to be like the phones in their pockets. I don’t understand why? Gauges work and look great. I expect it wont be long before some manufacturers car goes back to gauges and all the enthusiast writers talk about how much they missed them. Alas screens are now all the rage. While they do look neat, touch screens even with haptic feed back aren’t always the best. Driving and being forced to go through menus to find climate or seat adjustment is a real pain in the ass. Pun intended. I previously had an escalade rental. It's stereo had the volume as a piece of silver plastic that you had to touch and slide your finger across to raise and lower the volume. That also seemed cool at first but quickly became annoying. It seems GM, at least with this truck, has Come to their senses. Ladies and gentleman they kept a separate volume knob! Praise the lord who knew the retention of something so basic could be so good.
Yes the glass cockpit or screens replacing physical gauges and stereo sure is pretty. I admittedly myself nodding in appreciation as the truck went through its start up animations. I am sure it eventually might but at least in the time I had it I have to be honest it never got old. The initialization procedure happens fast enough that I smiled every time. Though it go me thinking. I know automotive companies are looking at ways to get in on that sweet, sweet mobile phone standardized subscription style money. But they are going about it all wrong, by charging extra to access tech or content a car physically already has. That's insanity but companies are rabid in their pursuit of profit so it's gonna happen. Call me crazy but I think stuff like optional screen animations, lighting effects or environment would be a much better way. Don’t charge me for AC when I bought a car with AC, that’s bull shit. But you know what? I might pay for a new screen saver or animation for the dash Or special lighting or start up announcements or sounds? At least then I’ll feel like I am getting something extra. Just a thought.
As a guy with a bad back and having ridden in buddies older 4X trucks I was admittedly a bit apprehensive when I saw the big Z71 badges. I couldn’t help mentally bracing myself for a rough few days. I needn’t have been worried, folks, I am here to tell you the carification of the truck is fully complete. I couldn’t believe how fantastic this thing was ride quality wise. Driving around Austin and its outlying areas over paved roads some dirt and gravel roads, long freeway blasts and twisty switchbacks with elevation changes I was shocked. How is it possible anything with four wheel drive let alone the supposedly upgraded enthusiast off-road suspension package could ride this cush?!? Did all the old Cadillac engineers get moved over to the Chevy truck division? This bitch floats, but like in the best way. Not excessively just the right amount. It had the briefest bit of wallow before rebound to it that I loved. Kind of like a tighter more modern feeling version of a late 80s or 90s Fleetwood. Don’t get me wrong it’s not quite as pillowy but like the perfect balance of comfort and control through corners. This thing was built for long distance comfortable cruising! Yes I realize that everything I own is lowered and on air suspension so granted my definition of good ride quality might be on the charitable side. Still I can’t imagine anyone complaining about spending time behind the wheel of one of these even with the Z71 off-road package.
The Cons
As I said I was really enjoying this new truck. However, because I was in and out of the truck, nearly continuously. Sadly it didn’t take long for me to come to my senses. Ok I’m being dramatic. But there were a few things that got on my nerves. And the annoyance happened fast enough that, had I actually owned the truck at worst I would have been second guessing my purchase at best researching a work around.
Let’s start with the start up procedure. This truck like most new vehicles is basically keyless. Push button start. So you walk up and tappy tap a little button on the handle to lock or unlock. Not ground breaking tech most new cars have it but if your not used to its it's still pretty neat. If you've got a bunch of stuff in your hands it's damned convenient. You don’t have to fish or fiddle with keys just walk up and boop, you’re in. So far so good. Even though this truck had cloth seats it had the full glass dash. The gauges and stereo were bright pretty screens. As I mentioned before hey have neat animations showing the bow tie and Z71 in cool graphics. I didn’t tire of them but I did find myself wondering how long it’d be before you could choose others or upload your own. Yes the full glass cockpit style dash is pretty. It's both modern and exciting, at first. Certain parts of its layout started getting on my nerves pretty quickly. The gas gauge is very thin and at the bottom right if the dash, the gear indicator is also equally small for some reason? I got a compass the size of a goddamned fuji apple on the left and a fuel gauge that is thinner than the eyebrows of the toughest Hina. That is to say the thickness of a Sharpy line. I’m takin a freshy not an old one that’s had the tip all mashed and blunted. How does that make sense? Maybe there is a way to configure it differently? I didn't take the time to look maybe there are other optional dash layouts I would have have liked better?
I was also surprised by the lag in launching Apple car play. This system seems to favor android. Like a shit salesman that keeps trying to push you to buy something you don’t want. Every single time I got in I had to wait for the infotainment system to figure out I didn't want android but Apple Carplay. The stereo screen was responsive and good looking but when it relentlessly kept trying to get me to use google maps and other google services it got annoying real quick. It was bad enough that it certainly dulled the experience. I'm not joking, it continuously asked me if I wanted to buy extra google features. No, no I don’t. While I’m admittedly an iPhone snob even if I was an android guy (yuck) I don't want commercials for features in a vehicle I already paid for. And yes I get these trucks are built in Canada home of Google but you can Lube your Google android bullshit with the finest of Canadian syrup and shove it up our ass buddies and pals. I don't want your adds! I found that even wire connected with the stereo playing content from my personal Steve Jobs pocket tombstone I still had to sometimes select car play several times before it would actually launch. That said once fully launched it seemed fast and responsive. it’s just that initial interruption of the start up and leave procedure was frustrating.
Another stereo/screen issue was the reverse camera. When I shifted to reverse it would come on immediately but when I went to drive it would linger like 15/20 seconds. Yes I times it and no that doesn’t sound like much time. But it was long enough to make me question if I was really in drive. The super small drive selector/indicator/animation thingy certainly didn’t help. Not cool. Also the back up grid deal that changes and arches to the left or right as you move the wheel to better help you line up reverse parking? It somehow changed on me from a grid to a stick and back? No idea how or why. It would just intermittently change between the two and I never understood the reason.
It’s not all bad though As I mentioned GM kept a real volume knob!! Oh man did that make me happy! Touch screen controls and haptic feedback has improved leaps and bounds to be sure. But nothing replaces the feeling of physically cranking up a great song! Conversely a slide or tap tap tap when you’re trying to turn the volume down on something annoying just isn’t satisfying either. LONG LIVE THE VOLUME KNOB!!!!
Now that I've lightened the mood back to my complaints. Have I ever mentioned how much I despise the auto start stop feature. It’s my main complaint about hybrids. This truck wasn’t hybrid yet it still had that stupid feature. I am sure I am in the minority here but I actually pay attention and feel the vehicles I am in, I can’t help it. As the son of a mechanic I was trained to feel the motor and the vehicle in general so when something changes or is about fail I can hopefully get in front of it. So I panic when I feel the engine cut out every damned stop light. I literally get physically tense again waiting for the light to go green hoping this auto start bullshit works out. Sure it’s a little thing and I’m positive most folks don’t even notice but I just can’t get used to it. Worse it auto turns on by default! So I had to turn it off every single time I got in, another addition to the start up procedure before I can go. Not cool.
How’s it drive? I already mentioned the suspension. I loved its perfect amount of floatyness. I had several 80s and 90s Cadillac flashbacks while cruising down the various freeways and a few pretty rough downtown streets and deeply rutted and pot holed gravel/dirt roads. The Z71 suspension soaked up the bumps with style and grace. Nothing that says 4x4 on it has any business riding this nice. Power wise I want to say it was good but honestly it was kind of hard to tell. The transmission was weird. Sometimes if felt great going through the gears but if I had to get on it to pass or to over take? Well it felt like I caught it daydreaming about something like it was not paying attention. Thankfully I didn’t have any emergency situations but if I had this trans flipping coins trying to decide what gear to give me could be a problem. I get that everyone is going to these eight and ten speed transmissions chasing economy but cmon guys. How many is to many?
As I mentioned this truck is push button start and like every push button start vehicle I’ve driven, I never feel confident it’s off. In fact after parking it at the hotel I found myself twice going out to check on it because the lights wouldn’t go out. Turns out they just stay on hella long for no reason? I also experienced this with the last two Fords I had as well where I would push the start/stop button and watch the screen do the shut down animation and get out only to hear the radio come back on or lights staying on. As convenient as Keyless is there's something to be said about turning off the key and knowing that shit is off. I rather like that piece of mind a keyed ignition provides its a bummer to think that its not likely to return.
The Conclusion.
All in all I have to say I like the new Silverado. While I would like to see different gauge layouts as an option to make the gas gauge and gear selections larger. My biggest annoyances were having to turn off the auto start/stop feature every time I got in and the stereo trying to sell me google products and fighting against Apple car play. Big thanks to the guys at Alamo for the hook up driving around in that new truck made the trip a little comfortable and enjoyable and I appreciate it! Would I buy one I have to say no. The minor annoyances of the infotainment fighting my apple car play preference and the the gauges coupled with always having to turn off the auto stop start feature were grating on my nerves by the end of our time together. I guess ill happily keep playing with maintaining and upgrading Trudky Verde!
James
The Lowered HMFIC
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