2007 Chevrolet Silverado
The ladder frame of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck features an independent, control-arm coil-over-shock front suspension. The versatile spring rates and rack-and-pinion steering combine to provide the smoothest road feel and most confident turn-in of any full-size pickup. With harsh and soft steering inputs, the results are balanced and evenly progressive, and snap-back to center is predictable and firm. Likewise, mounting the rack to a crossmember (the steering box was previously mounted to the driver-side frame rail for 4x4 models) allows steering engineers to use bushing and torque specs to minimize (if not eliminate) play or slop in the system. Solid and easy to control are apt descriptors.
The remaining two-thirds of the fully boxed frame accommodates the specific needs of a pickup bed, and the Chevrolet Silverado uses a live rear axle. Engineers put considerable effort into tuning the three-leaf pack to run smoothly when empty and carry maximum payloads for long stretches. The rear monotube shocks are staggered (one behind the axle, one in front) and canted to control wheel hop and manage up and down forces and hard cornering. Combine this with the fact that, rather than a raised butt (like some other manufacturers use) with overly arched leafs, the Chevrolet Silverado has longer rear springs with a thickened overload spring to keep the looking level when empty or loaded. With the lower center of gravity, front and rear suspensions work more closely together during easy and aggressive cornering--the truck takes a set as flat as any modified tuner truck we've driven. And for those who want more street performance, Chevrolet is offering all sorts of choices from 17-, 18-, and 20-inch rims to several road-course-biased tire treads, as well as a mud-loving 31-inch-tall tire.
It'll be a while before all the engines in the lineup will be available, but the smallest will be the redesigned 4.3-liter V-6 (only for stripper regular-cab models), then the 4.8-liter V-8, then two versions of the 5.3-liter V-8 (one cast-iron block, the other all aluminum--eventually, they'll all be aluminum for weight savings), and finally Chevy's largest available V-8, the 367-horsepower all-aluminum OHV 6.0-liter. We drove several Chevrolet Silverados with the popular 5.3-liter V-8 that'll offer the fuel-saving system known as Active Fuel Management. The system can shut off four cylinders, depending on how you drive, to provide up to a 20-percent fuel-economy advantage over non-AFM-equipped system. The 5.3-liter V-8 is rated at 315 horsepower and 338 pound-feet of torque and has recorded an EPA fuel-economy mark at 16 mpg city/22 mpg highway (2WD). Impressive that a 300-plus-horsepower engine can get over 20 mpg on the highway.
