The verdict: A stellar new interior adds to the Silverado’s existing outstanding capabilities, comfort and driving dynamics, fixing the one area holding it back from being world-class.
Versus the competition: There are no more excuses over at Chevy, with the new Silverado easily on par with the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 in every aspect and category.
When Chevrolet updated its big full-size truck lineup for the 2019 model year, we were about 75% impressed by what was done. The automaker focused its efforts on what customers told them they’d wanted in a revised truck, and it all related to the truck’s “-ilities”: capability, reliability and durability. The result was a new truck that was stronger and more fuel-efficient, had better towing numbers and was packed with new technology that was nothing short of jaw-dropping in some cases. But a big problem was immediately apparent: the redesigned 2019 Ram 1500 pickup, which had an absolutely stunning luxury-car-level interior swathed in rich-feeling materials that were screwed together immaculately. By comparison, the new Silverado’s interior was one area Chevrolet didn’t focus too much on, even removing content like seat belt height adjusters, with the explanation that its customers didn’t say they wanted a super-luxe interior.
The question immediately became how quickly could Chevrolet pull off an interior redesign to bring the lackluster cabin up to snuff with the likes of the Ram and the new 2021 F-150. Despite a slight pandemic-related delay, the answer has arrived in the form of the new 2022 Silverado 1500, which sports an interior that no longer relegates the Chevy to second-tier status. The new cabin goes a long way toward making the Chevy fully on par with its contemporaries.
Related: Chevrolet Updates 2022 Silverado Pickup With New Interior, Capabilities
Let’s Get Right to It: The Interior Is a Massive Improvement
The biggest complaints we had about the last Silverado were almost entirely with its cheapo-feeling interior. The cabin was littered with plastic and included really weird design details. The wood trim was down around your knees, out of view. Flashing on the backs of the interior door pulls was sharp and poorly molded. There were no longer height-adjustable seat belts, an egregious omission for a large vehicle that’s meant to accommodate all kinds of body sizes. It was especially noticeable on the top High Country luxury trim, the most expensive version of the Silverado and the one meant to counter the big-bucks luxury trims from Ram and Ford. All of that has been rectified for the 2022 model year, with most trims of the new Silverado sporting a totally redone interior that looks and feels fantastic. The base Work Truck, Custom and Custom Trail Boss trims all stick with the old interior, while the LT, LT Trail Boss, RST, LTZ and High Country get the new cabin.
It starts with the new dash design, which is much less clifflike than the old one, featuring a more horizontally oriented look and rock-solid assembly quality. My test vehicle was a Silverado High Country trim loaded with all of the latest and greatest Chevy could throw at it, and I’d now put it on par with the Ram 1500 Limited, something I didn’t think when I only briefly sat in the truck a few months ago. Under studio lights, the interior looks great, but out in the daylight is where the materials quality shines. The leather upholstery, dash and door surfaces are blue instead of black, gray or beige, which is glorious to see. The days of interiors without color seem to be receding as more automakers get a little adventurous with returning actual hues to interiors, and I’m here for it. It’s more comfortable than the F-150, as well, with seats that don’t feel oddly shaped and seat-bottom cushions that don’t feel too short — two common complaints with Ford products these days.
It’s not perfect. The climate controls are small and low on the dash, making them difficult to see, but at least they’re still buttons and not relegated to touch-sensitive flat panels. And in keeping with the “It’s too small” theme, the rearview mirror is bizarrely tiny — you can barely see the space between the rear-seat head restraint and nothing to either side of them. There’s all that back window, but it’s hard to see out of because the mirror itself is too small.
Other than these nagging quirks, it’s space galore in the Silverado — nice trim everywhere, attractive shapes and designs, and a return to glitzing up the place. Well done, Chevy.
Google’s Not Quite Fully on Board
One area that mars the grand experience of the redesigned pickup is Google Built-In, the new multimedia and vehicle control operating system that GM is switching to in its full-size trucks. The Google-based operating system ties all the truck’s multimedia functions into a new architecture, but it doesn’t seem to work as well as GM’s native system did in previous trucks. Connecting my iPhone via Bluetooth usually worked — until it didn’t, resulting in deleting the phone in both the truck’s system and on my phone before syncing again.
2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
Voice controls for basic functions also didn’t seem to work — I pushed the steering-wheel button and asked the system to change radio stations, but after telling me it was doing so, it told me it couldn’t and that I should “open the app” and try again; according to the owner’s manual, an “application” can refer to native features like audio, navigation, phone, etc. But this was a super-basic request, one that has been perfected and used since voice commands became a thing in modern vehicles. I suspect it’s a quirk of the Google-based vehicle OS, as I ran into the exact same issue with the Google-based multimedia controls in the new 2022 Volvo C40 Recharge. Other issues with connectivity popped up, as well, such as the central gauge cluster freezing on an incoming call that I’d actually sent to voicemail, requiring me to restart the truck in order to clear it. I’m not sure if this is just an early or even preproduction release of this software, or if such connectivity and functionality issues will persist as trucks reach consumers, but it bears watching as we get more seat time.
The Real User Experience
The rest of the truck is just as good as the pre-redesign model, but this is not a surprise. Chevrolet nailed the truck qualities that have traditionally mattered — it’s strong, smooth, spacious and comfortable, and it comes loaded with gee-whiz technology that’s actually useful and not gimmicky. My High Country came equipped with GM’s stout 6.2-liter V-8 engine that pumps out 420 horsepower and 460 pounds-feet of torque; it’s one of three options for that trim, the others being a standard 355-hp, 5.3-liter V-8 or an optional 277-hp, turbo-diesel 3.0-liter six-cylinder. For 2022, the big powertrain news was in the lower LT trim, which gets a standard turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine that got a massive power bump to 310 hp and 430 pounds-feet of torque, giving it more torque than the 5.3-liter V-8 (383 pounds-feet). Most of the Silverado’s powertrains come with the 10-speed automatic transmission as standard, with four-wheel drive as an option; only the base 2.7-liter four-cylinder gets an eight-speed automatic.
There’s not much to complain about with the carryover 6.2-liter engine — it’s strong and quiet, with loads of torque and plenty of grunt to get the truck moving with or without a load. I did notice some rough shifting on the 2-3 upshift under moderate driving around town, an unusual characteristic that I’m not used to experiencing with normally smooth-shifting GM transmissions. The Silverado’s ride is well damped, but the enormous 22-inch wheels and thinner-sidewall tires do let more pavement chatter into the cabin than one might expect. Handling is big-truck numb but well composed and responsive. Essentially, the Silverado is a luxurious monster truck that feels every bit as big as it is, but pickup aficionados will find it to be refined and posh for what it is.
Filling up the bed during a binge at the local garden center with a huge aluminum planter, bags of soil and mulch, and all manner of landscaping equipment didn’t faze the Silverado in the slightest. While the payload drops for a high-spec truck like this (all the weight allowance tends to get used up in things like extra sound deadening, fancy self-driving system electronics, air suspensions and trick tailgates), it’s still a highly capable rig. The payload rating for this particular truck was 1,446 pounds, known thanks to an extremely useful sticker that Chevy now includes on all of its trucks telling you exactly how much your truck can carry and tow given the equipment it was built with. Why all trucks don’t have this, I don’t know, but they should.
The only downside to this big-truck heft and big-truck engine are big-bucks payouts when you pull up to a gas pump. The EPA–estimated rating for this configuration is 15/20/17 mpg city/highway/combined, and my average of 16.9 mpg overall with a lot of highway driving meant a few fill-ups costing more than $100; premium fuel of at least 91 octane is recommended with the 6.2-liter, though the owner’s manual says when not available, regular 87 octane can be used with reduced performance and drivability. But this isn’t the truck you buy for its fuel efficiency, and there are better options within the Silverado lineup if you’re trying to eke out better mileage: Switching to the 3.0-liter diesel engine will get you a vastly improved rating of 22/26/24 mpg, and our experience with the GM truck diesel suggests that it frequently outperforms its rating.
Loaded With Features
One of the great things about American trucks is that you can have one built to such a variety of different types, with varying degrees of equipment, luxury, capability and price. The High Country is loaded and can be optioned up with all manner of spiffs, including the genuinely useful Multi-Flex Tailgate. The power-retractable running boards even have a neat feature: Tap the button on the back of them, and they slide rearward to allow you to stand on them to reach into the bed from the side of the truck. Chevy’s amazing towing technology is present, too, allowing you to see a variety of camera angles from units mounted all over the truck, and if you equip it with some optional accessories, the system will make a trailer towed behind the truck disappear on a multimedia screen rear view.
But one of the most impressive features is the optional Super Cruise hands-free driving system. This is the latest version of the technology, which not only changes lanes automatically when you tap the turn-signal indicator, but will autonomously change lanes for you without you taking any action if you’re coming up on slower traffic and the truck detects the adjacent lane is available. It will then move you back into your prior lane once you’ve overtaken the slow-moving traffic. I’d actually forgotten that it performs this function, leading to a few, shall we say, “puckering” moments while operating in Super Cruise mode, but once I realized what it was doing, I became increasingly impressed and amazed at its robustness. The system operates beautifully, inspiring confidence, but GM’s systems still monitors you closely to make sure you’re paying full attention throughout the driving experience; it makes highway cruising rather tedious, actually. It truly must be a unique 21st century complaint to say that “the new semi-autonomous self-driving system on my pickup makes highway travel boring.”
None of It Comes Cheap
Of course, as with all luxury-oriented pickups, this amazing technology, sumptuous interior appointments and flashy screen displays cost more coin than ever. The starting price for this crew-cab 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 High Country with 4WD is $61,995 (all prices include destination), but more than $11,000 in options for things like the High Country Premium Package (moonroof, all-weather floormats, painted 22-inch wheels), the 6.2-liter V-8, Super Cruise, the Multi-Flex Tailgate and more pushed the grand total to $72,870. This is not at all out of line with competitors’ luxury-trim pickups, which can easily range into the $70,000-$90,000 level, depending on equipment and amenities. These are the new American luxury vehicles now that many of the full-size sedans have disappeared, and they’re priced as such.
Of course, you can get a less expensive Silverado 1500 with the new interior, should you prefer. The least expensive model with the new interior is the double-cab standard-bed LT trim with two-wheel drive and the turbo 2.7-liter four-cylinder, which will run you $45,945, a still-considerable sum for a pickup but loaded with a lot of creature comforts and onboard tech. If the interior means nothing to you and you want the cheapest Silverado you can buy, the regular-cab standard-bed Work Truck with 2WD for $34,845 sports a cloth interior and the plastic-fantastic, old-style dash and doors.
Take it from us: That’s not really the one you want. Go for the new style and flash of Chevy’s latest interior. It’s been worth the wait.
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