2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD Road Test and Review

Capability, comfort and cool are what big American full-size heavy duty pickup trucks are all about. And Americans continue to buy these big bad behemoths at record rates.

Automakers competing in the segment are cashing in. But they’re also investing in the products, designing, engineering and building the most powerful, most technically advanced and most capable pickup trucks the world has ever seen.

With a new look, new features and an all-new more powerful Duramax diesel engine, the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD brings the power, comfort, and capability heavy-duty truck buyers demand. Built exclusively in Flint, Michigan, the Silverado 2500HD competes head to head with its domestic cross town rivals, the Ram 2500HD and the Ford F-250 Super Duty, as well as the Nissan Titan XD.

Lets take a closer look at the 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD.

Chevy offers the Silverado 2500HD in a wide range of configurations. Three bodystyles are offered, Regular cab, the four-door Double Cab and the big boy CrewMax with a backseat the size of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

They’re available with two- or four-wheel drive and in four distinct trim levels, WT, LT, LTZ, the luxuriously appointed High Country (which is only available on the Crew Cab). Prices start at $34,905, including $1,295 for destination and shipping, for a two-wheel drive Regular Cab WT powered by a 6.0-liter gas burning V8. Adding four-wheel drive adds about $3,000 to the sticker price.

Prices max out at $59,505 for a Crew Cab High County with four-wheel drive and Chevy’s redesigned 6.6-liter V8 Duramax diesel that puts out enough torque to tow your house off its foundation, 910 lbs-ft.

There are no weak little V6 engines here, or manual transmissions. Both V8s are backed by a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Our test truck, a very well equipped Crew Cab LTZ 4x4 with a $70,340 sticker price, was equipped with the Z71 off-road package. It includes Rancho off-road ready shocks, a unique front stabilizer bar, hill-descent control and skid plating to protect the underside of the truck. It’s a lot of equipment for $480.

Unfortunately, our truck also showed up wearing fancy 20-inch wheels and 265/60R20 Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires. They looked great in the city, but aren’t exactly grippy in the dirt. The Silverado’s low front spoiler and side steps also compromised its off road capability.

Still, the Silverado was quite capable. In 4-wheel drive low the incredible torque of the new diesel and Chevy’s automatic locking rear differential got it up a moderately tough hill climb with just a little front wheel spin. Wheel hop proved to be problem in deep sand, but in higher-speed sections with mild whoops and bumps, the big Chevy performed admirably, with little “pogoing” from the front suspension.

With more off-road focused tires, this truck would be impressive in the dirt.

The Silverado’s standard gasoline burning 6.0-liter V8 is not slouch. The engine has variable valve timing and it’s strong, with ratings of 360 hp at 5,400 rpm and 380 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 rpm. It also runs on 87-octane regular grade fuel to keep operating costs down, and it’s E85 capable.

For an additional $9,000 you can step up to the big dog, Chevy’s redesigned Duramax turbo diesel V8. Although displacement remains at 6.6 liters, Chevy says the engine is all-new, including its engine block and cylinder head. It’s a huge improvement over the previous version with reduced emissions and improved refinement. And yes, it makes more power than before, an additional 48 hp and 145 lb-ft of torque.

Now its 445 hp at 2,800 rpm is best in class and its massive 910 lb-ft of torque at just 1,600 rpm is just 15 lb-ft shy of the class-leading Ford. And it sips fuel. Our test truck averaged a stellar 19.2 mpg which is better than any heavy-duty diesel truck we’ve ever tested.

This truck is very quick. With the new more powerful Duramax engine, 0-60 mph acceleration takes about 6.2 seconds and the quarter-mile run is over in about 14.8 seconds at 93 mph. It wasn’t that long ago that those would be muscle car numbers. And that level of performance in a four ton truck makes driving this Chevy really fun to drive in the city. 

It’s also a very comfortable truck. The seats are large and well-shaped and the seating position is perfect. It doesn’t ride quite as well as a Ram, which uses a unique coil spring rear suspension, but the Silverado doesn’t beat you up or feel overly trucky even with our truck’s 60-Series low profile tires. 

I was surprised at how responsive and easy to drive this big rig was around town. The noise levels of this new Duramax are also noticeably lower, especially out on the highway.

Thanks to its new more powerful 6.6-liter Duramax turbo diesel engine, the Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab like our test truck can tow up to 14,500 pounds and has an impressive max payload of 3,233 lbs. Standard Cab 5^th wheel towing numbers max out at 18,100 for the 2WD model.

Despite the Silverado’s big power and high tow rating, it doesn’t offer the same level of towing and safety technology as its arch rival the Ford F-250 Super Duty. Chevy does offer an Integrated Trailer Brake Controller, a backup camera and the new diesel V8 is equipped with an exhaust brake. But that’s about it.

Ford’s Super Duty, however, is the first truck in this class to offer adaptive cruise control and collision warning with brake support for heavy trailers. It also offers a trailer tow camera system which uses four cameras that offer a 360-degree bird’s-eye view of the truck, as well as a Trailer Reverse Guidance system that provides visual cues and tips to help you back up a trailer.

This is where the cool comes in. And the Silverado 2500HD is dripping with it. Our chromed-out test truck glistened like a disco ball in the California sun. This truck is big and bold, and you better get the hell out of the way 'cause it’s coming through. Not that you could miss it. Not with that grille.

There’s a swagger to Silverado. It sits tall and proud. Its wheelwells are flared like the flexed shoulders of a charging bull and its functional hood scoop feeds mass quantities of the Earth’s atmosphere to that hungry beast of a diesel. It’s menacing. It’s manly. It’s full of purpose and presence. Man, it looks good.

Some prefer the more curvateous Ram, other gravitate toward the boxier Ford, but all can agree that the Silverado, its golden bowtie running point in the wind, is a very attractive truck.

Order up a $75,000 version of the Silverado 2500HD like our test truck, and you expect an interior with high levels of space, comfort and features. You expect nice materials, impressive fit and finish and you expect an ambiance worthy of your hard earned seventy five large. The Chevy delivers.

This truck is big and beautiful on the inside. Climb aboard and settle into the large driver’s seats. Get comfortable. Turn on the seat heater. Yeah, it feels good. This interior is well assembled, properly ergonomic and perfectly functional, but it doesn’t feel plain or basic. There’s chrome trim everywhere, and the gauges look like they came out of a sports car. In the Chevy tradition, the shifter is on the steering column.

The rear seat is palatial. Billy Ray, Bobby Joe and Bubba all fit back there without any problem. Bubba even fell asleep.  

Standard features on our Silverado LTZ included Bluetooth, onboard Wifi, keyless entry, dual-zone climate control, a tilt and telescopic steering wheel, an 8-inch color touch screen and remote vehicle start. The Duramax Plus Package added navigation, power adjustable pedals and a Bose audio system. Other options included a sunroof, a heated steering wheel and a rear-seat entertainment system, where Billy Ray would watch his Scooby Doo.

The Ford’s 6.7-liter Power Stroke turbo diesel V8 still packs the most torque, a class leading 925 pound-feet. And it can tow the most, a crew cab can pull 18,000 lbs.

The Ram is powered by a 6.7-liter inline 6-cylinder turbo diesel supplied by Cummins. It produces 370 hp and 800 lb-ft of torque. The Ram is the only truck in the class available with 6-speed manual. With that transmission the engine rated 350 hp and 660 lb-ft of torque. Either way it tows less than the Ford.

Nissan’s Titan XD is also Cummins powered, but it uses the company’s smaller 5.0-liter Turbo Diesel V8 engine, rated for 310 hp and 555 lb-ft of torque. Its maximum towing capacity is 12,310 lbs for the 2WD.

If you’re shopping for a luxurious and capable full-size heavy duty pickup, the 2017 Chevy Silverado 2500HD equipped with the new Duramax diesel is an excellent package. It not only feels more responsive around town than many of its competitors, it’s the quickest heavy-duty diesel pickup on the market. And that helps make it the most fun to drive on the street.

Although our test pickup's off-road capability was sabotaged a bit by its tires, with that big diesel, this truck should be able to tow at its maximum capacity or haul and massive payload without much strain while delivering excellent fuel economy. And that’s what this truck is all about.