Chevrolet Silverado 2025 Tow Test Review

The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado costs $130,500 plus on-road costs (ORCs) and comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty that includes free roadside assist for that period. The first one-month inspection service is free, followed by (paid) servicing due every 12 months or 12,000km. No capped-price servicing plan is available.

First seen here in 2020, the Chevrolet Silverado had a mid-cycle update in late 2023, with a new frontal design including revised daytime running lights and a single horizontal grille bar. Other key upgrades included a new and larger infotainment screen and configurable digital instrument cluster. For 2025, the 1500 LTZ Premium is now standard with an active performance exhaust system.

The main features that will be important for those intending to tow trailers include a 4500kg maximum towing capacity of which 422kg maximum can be put on a 70mm towball. With a 50mm towball, maximum weights are 3500kg (braked) total towing weight (or 750kg unbraked), of which a maximum of 350kg can be sat on the towball (more on actual towing capacities below).

Other towing features include a standard towbar with 12-pin wiring, an integrated electric brake controller, rear camera with trailering views, in-vehicle trailering app with trailer profiles, trailer theft alert, automated trailer lighting test and gross combined mass alert.

Exterior features include 20-inch alloy wheels, chrome bumpers and side steps, rear privacy glass, all-LED lighting, power tailgate, powered tonneau cover, spray-in cargo liner, cargo bed camera and 12 cargo bed tie-down points.

Inside you get keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control with rear vents, leather upholstery, heated and cooled power-adjustable (with driver memory) front seats, heated rear seats, heated and power-adjustable steering wheel, powered sunroof, and power-sliding rear window.

Infotainment tech is covered off with a 13.4-inch centre display and 12.3-inch dashboard, wireless phone charger, front and rear USB-A and USB-C outlets, Bluetooth voice control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a seven-speaker Bose audio system with Richbass woofer.

Safety features include a 360-degree high-definition camera display with up to 14 camera views, head-up display, lane change alert with blind-side alert, lane keep assist, rear cross-traffic alert with low-speed autonomous emergency braking, front pedestrian detection, high beam assist, front and rear parking sensors, and tyre pressure monitoring with tyre fill alert.

There are six airbags. As far as crash safety goes, there is no ANCAP safety rating but for reference the US IIHS crash test gives the (left-hand drive) Silverado from 2019 on a ‘Good’ rating for most crashworthiness categories.

The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado is powered by a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 with maximum outputs of 313kW and 624Nm. The rest of the powertrain comprises a 10-speed automatic, a part-time/full-time dual-range transfer case driving through front and rear wheels, and a rear locking diff.

The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado might be a pricey ute, but against most other large dual cabs in the segment it represents good value. There’s the Ford F-150 (starting from $106,950 plus ORCs for the lower-spec XLT; the more comparable F-150 Lariat is $139,950 plus ORCs), the incoming RAM 1500 that starts at around $10K more than the Silverado, and finally the Toyota Tundra that is about $30K more expensive than the Chev.

While American vehicles are not known for supreme fit and finish, the Silverado at first blush seems well put together, with no glaring panel gaps or squeaks or rattles.

The driver-assist safety systems work well without giving constant distracting alerts. While the dash seems to be filled with a sea of buttons and touch-screen controls, it is actually a pretty easy set-up to get familiar with.

Performance is very good for a big unit like this, and while the 313kW V8 is obviously a big part of that, the fact it has 10 forward speeds to drive through and is shifting a surprisingly light 2.5-tonne kerb weight are also in play.

Even better, fuel economy at 8.7L/100km during highway cruising was very good (although exclusively city trundling would likely see 15-20L/100km at the least). Ride quality can feel a bit abrupt at times but again, for this kind of vehicle it’s pretty good.

Towing a 2900kg caravan we borrowed from the guys at RV Connection in St Marys North in Sydney, the Silverado had no problem. With about 300kg on the towball, the rear suspension sagged about 30mm and the front rose about 10mm, all within spec.

It ripped up the freeway onramp to 100km/h to merge with absolute ease, and sounded magnificent doing it. Climbing the 90km/h speed-limited test hill, the Silverado was revving at 4200rpm in third gear and with about half throttle applied – in other words, it was holding climbing speed easily.

Stability was very good, and fuel consumption at 21.7L/100km is not bad at all for a large petrol V8 shifting about 4500kg of vehicle and trailer combo.

The side mirrors are large and with the two-metre vehicle width, caravan towing mirrors weren’t necessary. A neat trick is the camera views that give you a side view when indicating. The Chevrolet isn’t the only big ute with this feature, but it does give you another perspective when you’re unsure of what’s going on alongside the relatively long ute/trailer combo.

As for the not so good, the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado does not have a long list. The Chev’s three-year warranty is very light on, especially for a $140K ute, while the lack of a capped-price servicing plan is another drawback.

This is a big vehicle, measuring almost six metres in length and two metres wide. That means inner-city car parking can be a challenge. Even driving down narrower streets requires caution, so if you are planning to use the Silverado as a tool of trade in the city, maybe don’t. You’re going to spend more time finding somewhere to park it and you’ll need to be more careful when squeezing along tight roads that are not tight at all for a regular mid-size ute.

Even though this rates as one of the better tow vehicles, the front end’s slight fidgeting with cross winds and a soft front suspension over bumps took some shine off its otherwise stellar towing performance.

The Silverado’s available payload is just 748kg, with a 2552kg kerb mass, 3300kg gross vehicle mass and a gross combined mass is 7160kg. If you’re towing at the maximum (4500kg) capacity, you’ve got just 108kg of payload remaining before exceeding the GCM.

Of course, if you’re towing ‘just’ 3500kg, then things look slightly better. However, assuming a 350kg towball download, you still only have 398kg remaining for payload to not exceed the 748kg payload maximum (and not tip over the 3300kg GVM).

All this means you can’t think of the Silverado as a ute that’ll tow anything you might want to with its 4500kg tow capacity. You must pay close attention to towing/payload weight maximums with the Silverado, just like any other tow vehicle (including most competitors).

The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado is clearly not an easy shopping trolley runabout, unless you exclusively live and shop at outer metro or country warehouse stores. But for the purpose of towing heavy trailers, the Silverado is a good thing. It has all the towing features you need straight out of the box, as well as the towing performance, fuel economy and stability and ride to make it one of the best vehicles in the segment for the job.

2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ Premium at a glance:
Price: $130,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 6.2-litre V8 petrol
Output: 313kW/624Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel: 12.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 283g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested

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