First Drive Review
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The gentleman’s pickup.
Identical twins can be hard to tell apart, but it gets easier when they’re wearing name tags. Maybe that’s why GM attaches big Chevrolet and GMC badges on their pickup-truck twins, the Silverado and Sierra.
The Silverado and Sierra aren’t quite identical, but engines, transmissions, the chassis, and most of the sheetmetal are shared. What’s obviously different is the front-end styling. The Sierra replaces the Silverado’s stacked headlights with simpler, classier-looking small projector-beam units that are accented with LEDs on the top-dog SLT trim level. The grille, front bumpers, fenders, and aluminum hood are also unique to the Sierra. Black plastic trim around the fender wells and a chrome accent along the base of the side windows are more Sierra tells.
Aside from the GMC badging, the interior décor is again, nearly identical to that of the bow-tie truck. Aluminum trim replaces the silver-colored stuff in the Silverado on all versions of the Sierra, and wood accents are peppered throughout the top-spec SLT interiors.
Direct-Injected V-8
With those few differences, it’s not surprising that the Sierra acts just like the Silverado. The 355-hp, 5.3-liter V-8 broadcasts the same mellow V-8 soundtrack here as it does in the Chevy. Even without provoking the throttle, the 383 lb-ft of torque give an apology-worthy shove. We recently tested a Silverado LTZ Crew Cab equipped with the 5.3-liter and it returned a 0–60 time of 6.7 seconds. We have no reason to doubt that a comparably equipped Sierra will accomplish the task in the same time.
Cruising on the highway, the 5.3 switches to V-4 mode to help save some fuel. In two-wheel-drive guise, the Sierra V-8 returns an EPA-estimated 16 city and 23 on the highway. Four-wheel-drive versions with the V-8 manage 16 in the city and 22 on the highway. For those interested in a little more economy at the expense of some power there’s finally a credible V-6 option from GM. GMC hasn’t released any EPA fuel-economy estimates yet for the six; we’ll let you know as soon as they do.
Six Serious Cylinders
The standard 4.3-liter V-6 has been thoroughly redone. Not just a light nip and tuck, the engine has undergone a Michael Jackson–grade transformation. It may be distantly related to the Vortec 4300 that powered Chevy Astros and GMC Safaris when “Thriller” was still a hit, but the performance and refinement are in line with 21st century V-6s. The 90-degree bank angle remains—a reminder of the engine’s V-8 roots—but it has been enhanced from top to bottom with variable-valve timing, direct fuel injection, and cylinder deactivation. Power is up by 90 horsepower and torque rises to 305 lb-ft, a 45 lb-ft improvement over last year’s 4.3-liter V-6. Remember the Syclone and Typhoon supertrucks? The new naturally aspirated 285-hp 4.3-liter makes five more horsepower than their turbocharged 4.3-liter V-6s could muster.
Even lugging the heavy Crew Cab version, the V-6 provides what feels like sub-eight-second runs to 60 mph. Unlike the smaller-displacement V-6s from Ford and Ram, the 4.3-liter has good low-end grunt and consequently feels less strained than the competition. The car-derived Ford 3.7-liter V-6 and Ram 3.6-liter V-6 both make nearly 305 horsepower, but both fall short of the Sierra’s figure. The V-6 Sierra can tow 7200 pounds, which is 500 more than the V-6 Ford and 700 more than the V-6 Ram. This GM V-6 was designed from the get-go for truck use and is essentially a small-block Chevy V-8 with two fewer cylinders.
The rest of the Sierra experience is, not surprisingly, pure Silverado. No matter what engine is under the aluminum hood, both pickups have a quiet demeanor, an occasionally choppy but otherwise soft ride, and a smaller feel from behind the wheel than those big-rig emulating competitors. The steering is accurate and doesn’t require constant corrections. A firm and confidence-inspiring brake pedal is almost sports-car-like and the braking distances recorded by the Sierra’s Chevrolet analogue were class-leading.
Crew Cabs are arriving at dealers now, Extended Cab models soon will follow, and the Regular Cab version will debut by the end of the summer. Two-wheel-drive Sierra Crew Cabs start at $33,210, while the equivalent Silverado opens at $32,710, but the Chevy lacks a few features like steering-wheel audio controls and an eight-inch touch screen that justify the cost differential. Even discounting the small bump in standard equipment, the Sierra strikes us as the more attractive of the two GM full-size pickups. If you look hard enough, one twin will always be the better-looking one.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear- or 4-wheel-drive, 2–6-passenger, 2- or 4-door truck
BASE PRICE: $33,210 (Crew Cab)
ENGINE TYPES: pushrod 16-valve 4.3-liter V-6, 285 hp, 305 lb-ft; pushrod 16-valve 5.3-liter V-8, 355 hp, 383 lb-ft; pushrod 16-valve 6.2-liter V-8, 420 hp, 450 lb-ft
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 119.0–153.0 in
Length: 205.5–239.0 in
Width: 80.0 in Height: 73.7–74.2 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4700–5700 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 6.1–7.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.7–16.0 sec
Top speed 100 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 16–18/22–25 mpg
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