Hank42
Well-known member
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- #1
I just did a road trip, my usual 400 mile one way trip up 87 in NY, in a Silverado 26' MAX Trail Boss.
My daily ride for this trip is a 22' Lariat ER, BlueCruising it most of the time.
Here's my experience:
The Silverado is a HEAVY GIRL, that's for sure. One can feel it compared to the nimble (cough cough) Lightning.
Ride is a bit more harsh.
Handling, well, she's big, and heavy, and she reminds you of that frequently.
Charging... So, I used EVGO Chargers and got a whopping 340KW charge rate for a good long time. Like all of 10 minutes, and that was all I needed to keep going.
You might ask, why did I even need to charge on a 400 mile trip with a 490 Mile rating on the MAX? Well, I had a lot of cargo that was about 2 feet above the cab, creating lots of drag - so, my KWm was around 1.4. NOT great my any stretch (it was better on my return trip with an empty bed - 2.2 - on par with my Lightning)
But that charging rate - yeah, that was sweet - felt like I was at a gas station, that's how fast it "filled".
Fit and finish, well, it's a Chevy, so - it's exactly what you'd expect - maybe a little nicer than you'd expect, but Ford really nailed the interior on the Lightning as well - except for that stupid shifter... Ugh - what a waste of space - The Silverado has a traditional stick on column shifter.
The nose is smaller, and the driver sits more forward - "cab forward" to borrow a horrible marketing term from Chrysler in the 80's.. With that, it was real easy to get used to where the front bumper was, and visibility up front was better... Now that's because the Ford has a nice big ass frunk. The Silverado frunk was usable, but not as spacious as my Lariat. Still, pretty decent.
My drive took me through the evening hours, and there is NOTHING ON THIS EARTH like the AWESOME glare free headlights that Ford took time to perfect. I took them for granted. The Silverado headlights are "OK". They do the job, but I liked the Swivel and adaptive glare control on the Ford so much better - Ford NAILED that.
I had occasion to drive around town at my destination - typical strip malls with tight spots. The 4 wheel steering on the Silverado really made parking a breeze - was really surprised at hoe much of a difference it made - it just felt natural.
I use Android Auto and Waze on my Lariat. I found the Silverado interface intuitive, Waze is built in(loadable as an app) and there is no need for android auto as the truck runs Android natively. The screens are super clear and smartly located. I liked that the car was "on" from the moment I opened the door - no need to wait for the silly Ford lightning animation to finish. It was just "on" and ready to go - no START (engine) button either - just press the brake and put it in drive - so long as you have the key on you.
As I mentioned, I was hauling some gear, and took advantage of the mid-gate to effectively make the bed bigger by about 3 ft(tailgate closed). I expected it to be noisy AF in the cab, but to my surprise, the noise level was acceptable. On that note, I will say, without a load and the midgate closed, the noise level in the Silverado is nowhere near as quiet as the Lightning - mostly motor-hum noise.
The Silverado allows you to customize the speedometer display, similar to the way the Lightning does, except there are more options.
For a "Trail Boss", I was surprised it was lacking some features the Lightning as - like pitch and yaw, and altitude. maybe they'll add that in a software update. Also missing was motor temperature and stats relating to the components of the vehicle.
Cruise control... This is a polarizing topic, but I have to hand it to GM for threading the needle on how to get a driver's attention. Supercruis is what Chevyt calls thier version of BlueCruise. I found, for my journey up 87, it worked quite well. Despite driving a foreign vehicle, I felt at peace when Supercruise was enabled. It is a lot more forgiving in its nags, and it has multiple methods for alerting a potentially distracted driver- from a glowing steering wheel to a gently seat vibration to eventual 'red alert' mode. During the times I was not attentive, it got my attention on the first try. I preferred the way it handled interacting with me - somehow I felt like we were driving the behemoth as a team - I feel like I'm fighting with my mother-in-law when I use BlueCruise in my Lariat - two completly different experineces, I'd say GM got it right. As I only took in on the thruway, I can't talk to all the other comparisons like road availability and maps etc..
If Ford and Chevy had a pickup truck baby, that combined the best of the two, I'd gladly sign up for that
My daily ride for this trip is a 22' Lariat ER, BlueCruising it most of the time.
Here's my experience:
The Silverado is a HEAVY GIRL, that's for sure. One can feel it compared to the nimble (cough cough) Lightning.
Ride is a bit more harsh.
Handling, well, she's big, and heavy, and she reminds you of that frequently.
Charging... So, I used EVGO Chargers and got a whopping 340KW charge rate for a good long time. Like all of 10 minutes, and that was all I needed to keep going.
You might ask, why did I even need to charge on a 400 mile trip with a 490 Mile rating on the MAX? Well, I had a lot of cargo that was about 2 feet above the cab, creating lots of drag - so, my KWm was around 1.4. NOT great my any stretch (it was better on my return trip with an empty bed - 2.2 - on par with my Lightning)
But that charging rate - yeah, that was sweet - felt like I was at a gas station, that's how fast it "filled".
Fit and finish, well, it's a Chevy, so - it's exactly what you'd expect - maybe a little nicer than you'd expect, but Ford really nailed the interior on the Lightning as well - except for that stupid shifter... Ugh - what a waste of space - The Silverado has a traditional stick on column shifter.
The nose is smaller, and the driver sits more forward - "cab forward" to borrow a horrible marketing term from Chrysler in the 80's.. With that, it was real easy to get used to where the front bumper was, and visibility up front was better... Now that's because the Ford has a nice big ass frunk. The Silverado frunk was usable, but not as spacious as my Lariat. Still, pretty decent.
My drive took me through the evening hours, and there is NOTHING ON THIS EARTH like the AWESOME glare free headlights that Ford took time to perfect. I took them for granted. The Silverado headlights are "OK". They do the job, but I liked the Swivel and adaptive glare control on the Ford so much better - Ford NAILED that.
I had occasion to drive around town at my destination - typical strip malls with tight spots. The 4 wheel steering on the Silverado really made parking a breeze - was really surprised at hoe much of a difference it made - it just felt natural.
I use Android Auto and Waze on my Lariat. I found the Silverado interface intuitive, Waze is built in(loadable as an app) and there is no need for android auto as the truck runs Android natively. The screens are super clear and smartly located. I liked that the car was "on" from the moment I opened the door - no need to wait for the silly Ford lightning animation to finish. It was just "on" and ready to go - no START (engine) button either - just press the brake and put it in drive - so long as you have the key on you.
As I mentioned, I was hauling some gear, and took advantage of the mid-gate to effectively make the bed bigger by about 3 ft(tailgate closed). I expected it to be noisy AF in the cab, but to my surprise, the noise level was acceptable. On that note, I will say, without a load and the midgate closed, the noise level in the Silverado is nowhere near as quiet as the Lightning - mostly motor-hum noise.
The Silverado allows you to customize the speedometer display, similar to the way the Lightning does, except there are more options.
For a "Trail Boss", I was surprised it was lacking some features the Lightning as - like pitch and yaw, and altitude. maybe they'll add that in a software update. Also missing was motor temperature and stats relating to the components of the vehicle.
Cruise control... This is a polarizing topic, but I have to hand it to GM for threading the needle on how to get a driver's attention. Supercruis is what Chevyt calls thier version of BlueCruise. I found, for my journey up 87, it worked quite well. Despite driving a foreign vehicle, I felt at peace when Supercruise was enabled. It is a lot more forgiving in its nags, and it has multiple methods for alerting a potentially distracted driver- from a glowing steering wheel to a gently seat vibration to eventual 'red alert' mode. During the times I was not attentive, it got my attention on the first try. I preferred the way it handled interacting with me - somehow I felt like we were driving the behemoth as a team - I feel like I'm fighting with my mother-in-law when I use BlueCruise in my Lariat - two completly different experineces, I'd say GM got it right. As I only took in on the thruway, I can't talk to all the other comparisons like road availability and maps etc..
If Ford and Chevy had a pickup truck baby, that combined the best of the two, I'd gladly sign up for that
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