Description: Light Duty Full-Size Pickup Truck
Base MSRP Range: $20,215 - $30,295
Invoice Price Range: $18,295 - $26,508
Best-selling vehicle for General Motor happens to be the full-size Silverado LD truck from Chevrolet. The series is extensive, with pickups cast in 1500 and 2500 weight classes and rigged with various cab sizes, plus short or long box and standard Fleetside body styling or rakish Sportside on the 1500 Silverado.
New models for 2004 include a Silverado 1500 four-door Crew Cab with RWD or 4WD traction and a 2500 Crew Cab RWD or 4WD with gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) at 8600 pounds. Seating for Silverado's Regular Cab is a bench for three split in 40/20/40 sections. For the Extended Cab, bench or buckets stand in front of a back bench with padded back tilted for comfort. One four-door format has two rear-hinged doors for easy entry to the rear, while the Crew Cab puts conventional rear doors aboard for true four-door function.
Engines begin with a 4.3-liter V6 with 200 hp for Regular Cab. The Extended Cab brings a 4.8-liter V8 and 270 hp channeled through an automatic transmission. Silverado's 5.3-liter V8 reaches 285 hp, while a 6.0-liter V8 makes 300 hp. For even more power, Chevrolet offers the new Silverado SS, built off a 1500 Extended Cab Silverado with short-box bed and a high-output version of the 6.0-liter V8 kicking up 345 hp. Deluxe LT Silverado totes an automatic active transfer case -- called Autotrac -- but it's available on LS trim. Another system labeled Insta-Trac permits shift-on-the-fly switching from rear-wheel to four-wheel mode and has a 4WD low gear for off-road work.
The option of four-wheel-steering (4WS) continues for 1500 HD short-box trucks with the Quadrasteer system that dramatically reduces the turning circle of a truck and brings improved high-speed stability plus low-speed maneuverability.
Silverado's Z71 off-road package for 1500 series 4WD models adds a skid-plate package, 46-mm gas-charged shocks and off-road jounce bumpers, plus a high-capacity air cleaner.
Other Silverado options range from Bose sound systems to a Panasonic Passenger Entertainment System with DVD player and flip-down screen for Crew Cab, plus XM satellite radio service.
