The stereotype of the American pickup truck has lingered long past its expiration date. Pickups are no longer big, dumb, ponderous, or cumbersome, and they haven’t been for some time. Yet the reputation endures, especially among those who have never owned a pickup.
During a whirlwind two days in Tucson, Arizona, the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and its team of designers and engineers showed how the Bowtie brand continues to fight that reputation. This new truck features advanced technology, bolder trim distinctions, and decidedly un-truck-like drivability, but it struggles with its interface and ergonomics.
Pros
Thoughtful Changes Inside And Out
Enhanced Character For Higher Trims
Segment’s Most Diverse Powertrain Lineup
Cons
Touchscreens Feel Out Of Character For A Truck
Steep Learning Curve For Tech
Convoluted Trim Walk
Trims And Trimmings
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
With five body styles, four engines, the choice of two- and four-wheel drive, and seven individual trims, there’s a Silverado for every customer and almost every use case. For this first drive, though, we’re focusing on the top-end High Country, which best demonstrates the work of Chevrolet’s team.
The range-topping Silverado was always a likable package. But relative to a Ram 1500 Limited or Ford F-150 Platinum, it felt anonymous, like little more than a collection of badges and extra equipment rather than an honest-to-goodness premium option. That’s not a problem for 2027, when “modern and athletic” character is the name of the game, according to Senior Marketing Manager Ryan Harrington.
From the outside, that new character looks subtle. The High Country alone gets a gold Bowtie on the nose and tailgate, and its updated badging, with a gloss-black finish and diamond logo, is unquestionably more sophisticated.
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Photos by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Chevy’s design work shines through once you open one of the four doors. The High Country’s interior style is a quantum leap over its predecessor. Real marquetry wood trim, soft leather, and several wild Alcantaras worth of suede (including a full suede headliner) mingle with embossed High Country decals on the headrests and center console to create a far more premium cabin. It feels as good as, or better than, any rival’s premium trim, with a cohesive aesthetic befitting a range-topping price.
Chevy, perhaps aware that every negative story about pickup truck visibility features a Silverado or Silverado HD in the lead image, sought to improve sightlines. The dash top sits 2.0 inches lower than last year’s, while the door tops are down 1.5 inches. The result is an airier cabin with new drawbacks.
The lowered dash and the steering wheel’s limited telescoping range make it hard for long-legged drivers to find a comfortable seating position, and we constantly wished the wheel telescoped out further. We also struggled to get comfortable on long drives, thanks to the seats’ firm cushioning and limited bolster and lumbar adjustability.
Work Hard, Drive Small
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
The Silverado (and its sibling, the GMC Sierra) holds a unique position with its powertrain lineup. It’s the only half-ton with diesel power. It’s the only half-ton with a standard four-cylinder engine. And excluding the absurd supercharged V8s from Ram and Ford, the Silverado is the only half-ton with two V8 options.
That 3.0-liter Duramax is a true anomaly in the half-ton segment, sticking around years after Ford and Ram pulled their respective oil-burners. The big change for 2027 is a new 34-gallon fuel tank, which enables a 900-plus-mile range. Even with today’s excessive diesel prices, that’s a hard stat to ignore.
Loaded or unloaded, a Silverado with the Duramax is impressively smooth and remarkably quiet. It needs only modest engine speeds to accelerate swiftly and even less throttle to maintain momentum. But more than anything, the Duramax sells itself when you weigh that drivability and range against its availability and towing capacity.
The 3.0-liter is available on virtually every trim (provided you choose the popular crew cab/short bed body); its performance is more accessible than the 5.7-liter’s, and it sacrifices only 1,700 pounds of towing capacity. It’s a truly compelling option.
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Loaded or unloaded, a Silverado with the Duramax is impressively smooth and remarkably quiet.
But as Ram and Ford have both realized by reintroducing or expanding V8 availability, respectively, half-ton trucks and V8 engines are a perfect combo. And Chevy never left. In fact, it has gotten better.
The Silverado’s two V8s are next-generation engines and worth getting excited about. The L76 5.7-liter V8 replaces the old 5.3-liter, increasing output from 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet to 402 hp and 428 lb-ft. The L78 6.6-liter, meanwhile, succeeds the lovable and Corvette-sourced 6.2-liter, raising output from 420 hp and 460 lb-ft to 481 hp and 501 lb-ft.
The 5.7-liter is a charming and capable base V8 for the High Country, but the 6.6-liter is revelatory. On a drive route that took us up to 8,100 feet, the 6.6-liter never missed a beat, with broad and accessible torque and a rich, burly song that its exclusive active-valve exhaust system amplifies. It’s also a pleasant departure from the turbocharged six-cylinders available from Ford and Ram, even if those engines make more usable power.
You do need to wind the 6.6 out to get the most from it, which is subjectively fun even if that approach is objectively inferior. And if we’re measuring subjective versus objective, the latter isn’t as far ahead as one might think.
A Driver’s Car That Happens To Be A Truck
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
The 6.6-liter reshapes the driving dynamics, too. It’s the only engine in the Silverado lineup that meets GM’s internal standard for a high-performance engine, which allowed Chevy engineers to fit high-performance hardware beyond the active-valve exhaust. 6.6-liter High Country models also get a next-generation version of ZF’s continuous damping control (CDC).
The Silverado has used this technology before, but for 2027, engineers moved from the previous three-channel setup (front driver and passenger corners plus the rear axle) to four-corner sensing. With the hardware upgrades and software changes, CDC delivers more agility and a better ride, with a specific focus on shake control. It also senses load: if you hook up a trailer but don’t select Tow/Haul mode, CDC still switches the damper setting for the heavy load.
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Photos by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
On the twisting mountain roads outside Tucson, the Silverado wasn’t merely capable of a good time. It was actively entertaining, carrying significant speed into corners and accelerating hard out of them, a rebuke to the idea of a ponderous or cumbersome half-ton truck. The steering was linear, with a pleasant weight and consistent behavior when we pushed hard.
We’re quite certain no Silverado customer will hustle their truck the way we did, and more’s the pity, because this is a genuinely quick, engaging, and confident vehicle that just happens to be a pickup truck. And when the road turned rougher, the High Country’s 22-inch wheels didn’t overwhelm CDC’s control of the imperfections.
Screening Room
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
A slab-style display housing is standard in every Silverado and contains both a 12.2-inch gauge cluster atop the steering column and a 16.3-inch touchscreen in the center of the dash. The High Country and ZR2 complement that layout with a standard 11.5-inch passenger touchscreen, for a maximum of 60 inches of screen real estate.
And these screens are gorgeous. Chevrolet’s use of local dimming on its LCDs produces blacks that are inky enough to challenge the high-dollar OLEDs of corporate sibling Cadillac. Response times are ultra-snappy. A new home screen is a welcome change, replacing the default grid of app tiles on older Chevy products. A shortcut bar at the top left and a fixed set of quick-access menus at the bottom left also cut down on inputs.
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
Chevrolet’s use of local dimming on its LCDs produces blacks that are inky enough to challenge the high-dollar OLEDs of corporate sibling Cadillac.
But this is still a dense system, and it hides some features that deserve physical controls. Turning off stability control or lane-keeping assist, adjusting the headlights, and handling plenty of other routine tasks all mean diving into the touchscreen. That’s not great, especially for work-truck models, where drivers often wear gloves.
That’s not to say Chevy did away with physical controls. Every Silverado has redundant climate controls and physical buttons for the drive modes and four-wheel-drive system. But those sensible choices clash with the minuscule window switches and the petite electric gear selector on the steering column, both of which feel out of place in a half-ton truck.
Verdict: Reshuffling The Half-Ton Pecking Order
Photo by: Brandon Turkus│Motor1
The Silverado High Country starts at $74,495, including the $2,795 destination charge, and nobody will call that cheap. But it lands squarely between the $70,000 F-150 Platinum and the $77,000 Ram 1500 Limited (to say nothing of the 1500 Longhorn and Tungsten, which are more expensive still).
Considering what the Silverado brings to the table—the segment’s best V8 engine, the segment’s only diesel engine, the best driving experience, and competitive capabilities—the price isn’t outrageous.
To our mind, though, the redesigned Silverado High Country is the most intriguing vehicle in the premium half-ton market. Chevrolet’s willingness to evolve the Silverado with technology, create a more approachable environment, and improve drivability doesn’t always pay off, but Chevrolet has succeeded in repositioning the Silverado within the half-ton truck market.
This is a strong redesign that Ram and Ford will have to answer.
Chevrolet Silverado Competitors
Ford F-150
Ram 1500
Toyota Tundra
| 2027 Chevrolet Silverado | |
| Engine | 6.6-Liter V8 |
| Output | 481 Horsepower / 501 Pound-Feet |
| Transmission | 10-Speed Automatic |
| Drive Type | Four-Wheel Drive |
| Efficiency | TBD |
| Seating Capacity | 5 |
| Towing | 9,700 Pounds (est.) |
| Base Price | $74,495 |
