Silverado sports big power, quality

Faced with the darkest days of its 99-year history, General Motors rolled the dice three years ago and staked its survival on trucks and SUVs.

Even then, GM knew it was a short-term strategy that would only buy time while it got its car act together.

Short-term or not, the ploy seems to be paying off. Worldwide sales are up (GM just announced its best first-quarter global sales in history), and its new fleet of trucks can hold its own in the best company.

We recently tested a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado, the bread-and-butter of Chevy’s bow-tie lineup, and learned that GM has been keeping up with — and in some ways surpassing — the Joneses.

Our mid-range two-wheel-drive Extended Cab Silverado 1500 LT2 tester carried a base price of $28,295. Loaded with a batch of comfort, convenience and safety features, it rang the bell at a $34,429.

Paralyzed by Choice

I’ve owned one truck in my life, a compact Japanese model equipped with but a single option — air conditioning. I don’t know that I could walk into a Chevy dealership and make the choices necessary to drive away in a new truck.

The Silverado is available in three cab lengths — Regular, Extended and Crew Cab; three cargo-box lengths; and three trim levels.

Then there are the engine and drivetrain choices. Engines include a single V-6 and four V-8s that are equipped variously with cylinder-deactivation and/or “flex-fuel” E85 capabilities. Diesels are on their way, at some as-yet-unannounced date.

Five suspension packages cater to every conceivable need, from hard-core off-roading (Z71) to serious street performance (Z60). Ours was equipped with the Z85 Enhanced Handling and Trailering package.

Fortunately, Chevy standardizes the transmission choice — a pair of four-speed automatics is matched up with the various engines — and, of course, the final decision is 2WD versus 4WD.

Firm But Gentle

Time was, a truck was a truck and a car a car. If you wanted a car-like ride, you’d darn well better buy a car. But now that work boots and Carhartts are no longer required wearing, the light-truck market has cleaned up its act.

The new Silverado employs a fully boxed frame, which contributes to a 234 percent increase in torsional rigidity and a 62 percent increase in bending rigidity. Those are just numbers, of course, but they translate into a refined ride-and-handling experience.

Thanks to a well-engineered blend of coil-and-shock front suspension and Hotchkiss (solid) rear axle, our tester displayed an athletic grace on Spokane’s Spring-pitted streets. With an unloaded bed, body motions were controlled and stable even over railroad tracks taken at speed.

Steering response is firm and positive, with good on-center feel and excellent feedback — best yet on a GM truck.

Similarly, the brakes — ABS is standard — offer excellent pedal feel and excellent stability in panic stops.

Equipped with the heavy-duty towing package, the Silverado tows up to 10,500 pounds.

The Good Life

Not to put too fine a point on it, but GM would have walked away a loser had it wrapped all this engineering finery inside an old package. The good news is that the Silverado sports a handsome new exterior and a stylish and comfortable cabin.

On the outside, the Silverado bucks the trend toward the look-at-me styling that lately has beset the light-truck category. Its lines are clean and straightforward. Its windshield takes on a slippery, 57-degree slope, which is complemented by the hood’s powerdome. The jewel-look, vertically stacked headlights are moved to the body’s outer edges and the grille is wider and taller than before.

But it’s on the inside that the ‘07 Silverado distinguishes itself from its forbearers. In essence, there are two distinct interiors, one for the WT and LT trims and one for the uplevel LTZ.

On the lower trims, the instrument panel is lower by 3.5 inches and has been moved forward. Buttons and knobs are larger in those trims, making them easier to use with gloves, says Chevy, and there’s a double glovebox.

The dashboard on the more elegant LTZ trim, is lower by 5 inches than before, knobs and buttons are smaller and the glovebox count has been reduced to one, albeit large, box.

Power points and storage cubbies are scattered throughout, including one large enough to house a laptop.

The rear seating areas on extended and crew cab models are improved, with more supportive cushioning and improved legroom.

We are not at all sorry to say goodbye for good to the old mouse-gray “soft-touch” controls once used in every GM truck model, regardless of price. We can also put to rest our old complaints about lousy fit-and-finish; this interior has been designed, engineered and assembled to compete with the best, and does.

General Motors can no longer dominate the market as it once did — even as it announced its record sales, Toyota reported even better results — but if its truck gamble pays off, giving it some time to rebuild its car lines, GM’s darkest days might actually be history.