Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 2020 Review

While the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 was launched to Australian media back in early March, its $113,990 price tag (plus on-road costs) was only announced in mid-April.

The delay was wrapped up in the labyrinth-like complexities of importing from North America and the future relationship between local converter and marketer HSV and General Motors in the post-Holden era.

That price, by the way, applies only to the version in Summit White. The other eight colours on offer add $1250 to the price.

The newest and most modern full-size American ute to launch here during their recent surge in local popularity, the Silverado is an immense 5885mm long, 2063mm wide, 1915mm high and weighs in at 2588kg.

That’s about 500mm longer, 200mm wider, 100mm taller and 700kg heavier than the dual-cab version of Australia’s top-selling vehicle, the Toyota HiLux.

The Silverado is powered by a 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine – yep not a diesel – mated to a 10-speed auto and 4x4 system that can operate in auto mode, rear-wheel drive, four-wheel drive high and four-wheel drive low.

Standard Silverado comfort equipment includes dual-zone climate control with adjustable rear vents, leather trim, 10-way adjustable heated and perforated front seats (including driver memory), heated outboard rear seats, wireless phone charging, MyLink infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a power sunroof, side steps, remote start, a power-operated lift-gate and a spray-in bedliner.

Standards wheels are 20-inch polished alloys fitted with Goodyear Wrangler 275/60R20 all-terrain rubber, but options exist up to 22-inch.

Embedded satellite-navigation and the Onstar customer subscription service don’t make it across the Pacific, while a 120-volt inverter plug in the centre stack has been deactivated.

HSV has full Australian Design Rule compliance for the Silverado, which means it can build as many as it likes. It offers its customers a three year/100,000km warranty with roadside assistance included.

The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 is the first big truck to come here with a suite of the latest driver assist systems.

Most important is low-speed (8-80km/h) autonomous emergency braking. Adaptive cruise control is also standard, along with lane departure warning, front pedestrian detection, stability and traction control, proactive roll avoidance, hill descent control and hill start assist.

There’s also a bunch of alerts – lane change, side blind zone, rear cross traffic and forward collision. A DAS that didn’t make it to Australia is lane keep assist, which actively steers to the keep the vehicle in its lane.

Six airbags, front and rear park assist, a reversing camera and intelligent high-beam LED headlights are included, but don’t expect an ANCAP crash rating any time soon.

Safety features aren’t the only bit of the Silverado that’s up-to-date. Its core T1 ladder frame boasts a higher percentage of high-strength steel where it’s needed, while the body panels are aluminium to save up to 205kg.

The Aussie Silverado comes in Z71 spec which delivers a two-speed transfer case, passive Rancho off-road twin-tube shocks, underbody protection, hill descent control and a locking rear diff.

The Silverado also supplies an immense amount of information about how it is performing. Delve into various layers of digital screens in the instrument panel and you’ll find everything from a tilt meter to a log of engine hours.

One of the Silverado’s biggest assets is its braked towing capacity. The maximum is 4500kg with a 70mm tow ball or 3500kg with a 50mm ball.

The 2020 Silverado 1500 LTZ comes standard with integrated trailer brakes, 12-pin trailer plug, auto park assist, ‘hitch guidance’ with ‘hitch view’ via the reversing camera and a trailering app that includes a towing checklist, maintenance reminders, electrical diagnostics, remote light checking, and even saves different trailer profiles.

Bear in mind that if you opt to tow the full 4500kg, the Silverado’s gross combined mass (GCM) is pegged at 7160kg. That leaves a payload of only 72kg.

Also bear in mind the unimpressive 712kg maximum payload, which is outdone by plenty of smaller utes like the HiLux. However, the tray is big enough to accommodate an Aussie pallet.

HSV started work on local conversion of the Silverado in late 2018. The project involved 45 members of the engineering group and 21,000 hours of effort. They developed around 500 new parts and put them through 1600 hours of durability, rig and environmental testing. HSV rolls about four Silverados a day out of its impressive Walkinshaw Park facility.

That all adds up to millions of dollars of investment and is another big reason the Silverado costs so much.

Key outputs of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ’s pushrod V8 are 313kW at 5600rpm and 624Nm at 4100rpm. The fuel consumption claim is a pretty impressive 12.3L/100km, which equates to 286 grams of CO2 emitted per km.

Now that sounds downright fanciful. But our week of testing netted an average of 13.8L/100km. That’s proof the V8’s clever cylinder deactivation system (Chev calls it Active Fuel Management) – that runs in a variety of combinations down to just two – actually helps out, as does its auto idle-stop system.

A rider here that number was achieved without towing, only a little heavy load carrying and one short period in low range. Do any of those three consistently and the fuel consumption is going to steeple. The standard fuel tank is 91 litres, so you will be carrying extra fuel if you head too far off the beaten track for too long.

The engine’s peak outputs come quite high in the rev range, so combine that with the Silverado’s weight and you’re never going to feel completely overwhelmed with grunt.

But it’s still a strong engine. Made from cast aluminium and fitted with variable valve timing and direct fuel-injection, it is rich and creamy in its responses and furnishes a soundtrack that becomes pleasingly boisterous at higher revs.

Not that you hit the big numbers that often. The Silverado beats at a Harley-like 1000rpm in 10th gear at an indicated 100km/h.

The engine mates effectively with the auto, which can be manipulated manually via buttons on the old-style column shifter. Best leave it alone and let all those gears figure themselves out in the background, which they do for the most part.

Adjusting to the sheer size of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 does take time. It seems a mile out to the far side of the dashboard let alone the bonnet.

With its 14.1m turning circle it’s impossible to do a u-turn in the Silverado in a suburban street. Its length means it often won’t fit in just one car parking space.

While there is a reversing camera and sensors, the Silverado really does need a 360-degree camera. It’s simply impossible to see all the angles you need to when manoeuvring in tight spaces.

It’s so wide it’s not hard to drop off the side of a road – and I don’t mean an especially narrow one. Often you have to do it on purpose to accommodate traffic coming the other way.

The off-road element of this test was quickly truncated because it became obvious the Silverado was going to get dinged sooner rather than later as each tight turn required a laborious back and forth to navigate between trees, stumps and rocks.

This thing makes a Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series feel small and nimble.

Yet for all that, the Silverado still impresses. On-road its immense 3745mm wheelbase delivers a comfortable if floaty ride. Add a load – in our case 320kg of firewood – and that mostly settled down, as did a hint of initial patter.

The Silverado also steers, handles and grips with confidence. Through the steering wheel there’s very little sense of the sheer bulk you’re manipulating – that’s a stark visual experience. Switch from normal to sport mode and the steering gets heavier – lord knows why.

This is a vehicle that sets its course through a corner and isn’t super-excited about quick corrections. However, the leaf-sprung rear-end can occasionally get flighty on wet, bumpy or gravel corners when unladen.

The standard brakes feel like the weakest part of the driving package. They didn’t fail us, but they require a solid press of the pedal to pull this ute up. It’s a real reminder of the mass being retarded.

Piloting this massive beast is made easier by the comfortable cabin. Space is generous front and rear for four adults, there is an immense amount of stowage space (love the easy flip-up rear seat) and the view from up on high is pretty darn good.

Sure, the bucket seats are flatly unsupportive, the rear-seat position a little knees up, the steering wheel massive and the instrument panel, infotainment centre and other dashboard controls functional rather than attractive. But you’ll never complain about claustrophobia.

HSV has done a very good job of the conversion. There are some give-aways, like the right-side external mirror being an odd shape, but crucially, this vehicle feels direct from the assembly plant, not the chop-shop.

The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 is a vehicle so easy to love and loath at the same time.

It drives really well, it is refined and spacious to travel in and the local conversion job by HSV is top-notch. But it’s also intimidatingly over-sized, expensive and narrow in its skill-set.

If you need to tow substantial weight out in wide open spaces, then by all means consider the Silverado. But for most of us there can be little if any reason to step up in size and cost from the mid-size utes that already dominate sales.

How much does the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ V8 cost?
Price: $113,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 6.2-litre V8 petrol
Output: 313kW/624Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 12.32L/100km
CO2: 286 g/km
Safety rating: N/A