2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Expert Review
Reviewed by Duncan Brady
The Silverado is Chevy's bread-and-butter pickup. Last year's truck marked a midcycle update , including interior and exterior refreshes, the addition of Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving, and a new off-roadable Silverado ZR2. For the 2023 model year, the truck sees minor updates, but an EV is on the way in the near future. The Silverado 1500 competes with other full-size pickups including the Ford F-150, Ram 1500, and Toyota Tundra.
What's New
- Revised diesel engine with more horsepower and torque
- New exterior colors available at an extra cost include Radiant Red Tintcoat, Sterling Gray Metallic, and Harvest Bronze Metallic
- Jet Black/Umber interior scheme available on High Country
- ZR2 Bison off-road model with strengthened bumpers, off-road suspension, and underbody protection
What We Think
The Silverado's engine lineup might be its strongest attribute; even the 2.7-liter turbo-four delivers strong, smooth acceleration, and Chevy's pair of V-8s and its turbodiesel I-6 option offer power and efficiency in spades. We did notice rougher throttle response in a pre-refresh Silverado with the 5.3-liter V-8, though, and Chevrolet doesn't offer a hybrid option like Ford and Ram. Our Silverado ZR2 tester with the 6.2-liter V-8 performed well during a towing test, exhibiting smooth shifts and good brake feel. That said, the Trail Boss is a good alternative for those who don't want to spend ZR2 money.
The Silverado is quite usable. Chevy provides exceptionally spacious bed options, clever rear bumper corner cutouts to ease stepping into the bed, and a six-function tailgate that isn't just a marketing ploy. In general, there's more space inside than an F-150, and the Silverado will tow up to 13,300 pounds.
We've criticized the Silverado in the past for its underwhelming interior design and dated infotainment offerings. But those issues appear to have been addressed with the 2022 update, as long as you avoid the Work Truck and Custom trims. While evaluating the 2022 truck, we concluded the new interior and addition of Super Cruise represent huge improvements over the pre-refresh truck.
Performance and Efficiency
As is typical for trucks in this segment, Chevrolet offers multiple engine options under the hood of the Silverado 1500. All four of its available engines can be paired with RWD or 4WD, and there isn't a dud among them. We're not expecting any new powertrains until Chevy starts selling the EV as a 2024 model.
- Engine: 2.7-liter turbo-four
- Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
- Horsepower/Torque: 310 hp/420 lb-ft
- Efficiency (city/highway): 17-19/18-22 mpg
- Acceleration (0-60 mph): 7.1 seconds
- Engine: 5.3-liter V-8
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Horsepower/Torque: 355 hp/383 lb-ft
- Efficiency (city/highway): 15-17/17-21 mpg
- Acceleration (0-60 mph): 6.4 seconds
- Engine: 6.2-liter V-8
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Horsepower/Torque: 420 hp/460 lb-ft
- Efficiency (city/highway): 14-16/17-20 mpg
- Acceleration (0-60 mph): 5.5 seconds
- Engine: 3.0-liter turbodiesel I-6
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Horsepower/Torque: 305 hp/495 lb-ft
- Efficiency (city/highway): 21-24/23-29 mpg
- Acceleration (0-60 mph): 7.6 seconds
Safety Ratings and Features
Chevrolet's full-size truck is a decent performer in IIHS safety testing, earning the highest possible Good rating on five of the six crashworthiness tests; it received a Marginal rating for the passenger-side small overlap front test. The 2023 Silverado 1500 gets a five-star (out of five) overall safety rating from the NHTSA, with four-star frontal crash and rollover scores and five stars in the side crash test.
The Silverado includes automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, lane keep assist, and automatic high-beams as standard. GM's Super Cruise was available on the Silverado for the first time last year.
Cab Options
One of the central advantages of a body-on-frame pickup compared to a unibody truck like the Honda Ridgeline is the capability of multiple cab and bed options. Chevrolet provides three options: Regular, Double, and Crew cabs.
Compared to the Ford F-150, the Chevy offers a bit more front legroom overall and more rear legroom in the Double cab compared to Ford's Super cab. But the Ford has a slight edge in rear legroom with each truck's largest cab option.
Technology
The Silverado 1500 got a major infotainment upgrade last year. A massive 13.4-inch touchscreen system is now standard on the LT, RST, LT Trial Boss, ZR2, LTZ, and High Country. That display offers more digital real estate than either of the largest screens in the Ford F-150 or Ram 1500. The new setup also includes Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play, plus Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. All trims with the new infotainment system also include a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.
2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV: What to Expect
Chevrolet has confirmed an electric Silverado is coming, and it has even announced a date for the full reveal: January 5, 2022. GM isn't sharing much at this point, but we know it'll have a colossal fixed-glass roof and that it'll be built from the ground up on GM's Ultium platform, which also underpins the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer EV. We know it'll have as much as 400 miles of range, plus available four-wheel steering and—get this—24-inch wheels.
Recommended Trim
How could we not recommend the ZR2? Chevy charges big money for the new off-road pickup—its obvious rival, the Ford Raptor, starts at just more than $66,000—but there's a lot of hardware here that justifies its near-$70,000 starting price. The features list includes Multimatic Spool Valve shocks, uniquely tuned springs, front and rear locking differentials, upgraded skidplates, and a special front bumper to improve approach angle. Numbers read 11.2 inches of ground clearance and approach/breakover/departure angles of 31.8/23.4/23.3 degrees. In our first drive, the Silverado ZR2 impressed us with its pervasive composure and rock-crawling abilities.
