Helpful Obscure info contained herewithin

I'll get to the obscure info later in this review.

General info
First, I've owned my Silverado 1500 4x4 truck since November 1998. I factory ordered it and was one of the first to own one. They were introduced in August 1998 as the 1999 model year Silverado. My truck is a Silverado 1500, extended cab 4x4, short bed, 4.8L engine, 5sp manual transmission, black in color, with deep tinted windows, and aluminum wheels, and 265 tires.

Pros
This truck has been completely designed for this model year. Don’t get confused with the 1998 truck and older (and first ½ of 1999), also called the Silverado. This is the GMT800 series truck.

The redesign is from the “ground up” and includes just about everything: frame, engines, electrical system, interior, and many other components.

The engines are all new this year as well. First the 4.8L engine (my choice) has the equivalent output power of the 5.7L engine of years past. But, it gets better mileage. This engine should be the engine of choice, but it seems that everybody is going for the 5.3L engine. The output on that engine is close to the 6.0L of past model years.

The extended cab has so much room, you’ll never know what to do with it. The seats in the back are far, far more comfortable than the previous versions, and the Dodge, and Ford’s as well. They actually recline 18 degrees for comfort. The 3rd (and 4th) doors make getting in easy. This, alone was the primary reason I purchased the truck.

Towing is one of the main reasons people buy trucks. The Silverado won’t disappoint. I towed about 6000 lbs and you could certainly feel it, but the truck took it in stride.

4 wheel ABS disc brakes are standard. This is a first in the truck segment. Other manufacturers now have this equipment on some of their trucks as well, but this was the first. The flip side of this is that the ABS kicks in too soon here in the land of potholes. Braking while going over a pothole will make the ABS kick in.

The automatic headlights are really nice. The truck has a sensor that detects when it is dark outside, and automatically turns off the daytime running lamps (DRL), and turns on the headlamps and the marker / running lamps. You won't see people with their DRL's on and no marker lamps in the Chevy Truck. So many people "forget" to turn on their headlamps if they have DRL that use either the hi-beams or the lo-beams because they can see the road just fine. What they don't realize is that by not turning on the headlamps, they don't have the marker lamps on (the lights on the side of the vehicle as well as the tail-lamps).

The factory stereo system has a Speed Controlled Volume (SCV) control. When you drive faster, it automatically turns up the volume (to a level you initially set), and when you slow down, it turns it down as well. I use this feature all the time.

Since I have a 3-year old, I put the child seat in the middle of the back seat. Somehow, I feel very secure that she rides there. It seems so safe. There is the tether anchor point available if you ask your dealer to install it. It’s free.

Cons
My truck was a bit long for the garage. The truck comes in at just a hair under 19 feet. It didn’t fit by 1 ½ inches. I ended up removing the studs in the back wall around where the bumper goes, and now it fits by 1”.

Gas mileage doesn’t compare to hardly any cars, but I manage a respectful 18MPG mixed mostly city and some highway driving. That’s pretty good for a truck that weighs 4760 lbs.

My truck came with the Firestone Wilderness AT tires. I hate them. They suffer from traction problems and provide too soft of a ride for a truck. The truck has more braking power than the tires have traction. Consequently, you can’t stop as fast as the truck would allow, because the tires can’t grip the pavement enough. In “threshold braking,” I end up stopping further than my old 1991 GMC Sierra 4x4 ext cab truck. And that truck had 70,000 miles on its tires, but could stop much quicker.

Obscure Info
The frame is a hydroformed frame built in 3 sections. The front section includes replaceable crumple zone “caps” that are designed to dissapate energy in collisions, and be easily replaceable. The middle section supports the passenger section of the truck, while the rear section is built to handle heavy loads and towing.

The electrical system is the most advanced of its kind. The typical electrical system of most cars and trucks are complex beasts containing many splices and interconnects between various components within the vehicle. An example would be where the lighter plug might share the circuit with the dome light and be spliced into the same wires.

The previous versions of this truck contain somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 splices to the main harness (which is typical of most cars/trucks). The new Silverado contains just 4. That’s right, 4. That means there are less connections to work themselves loose and fail. Also, each component within the truck has its own branch circuit (i.e. lighter has its own circuit and wires, and the dome light is also separate). That makes troubleshooting much easier, and allows use of thinner gauge wire, which resulted in weight savings.

The electrical system also is based on new technology called BEC. Instead of running hundreds of wires to the fuse panel, this system puts 4 fuse panels around the truck, and runs wires to those “sub panels.” These panels can be found: underhood, left-dash panel, center-dash, rear panel near trailer hitch. New circuits can be run from any of these panels, making retro-fitting of after-market equipment easier.

These electrical improvements should add much to the quality of the electrical system over the years. I am expecting that these improvements will dramatically lower the number of electrical-related problems, as well as decrease the time it takes to troubleshoot those problems.

The driver information center has an indicator for when you should change the oil. This indicator bases its notification on samples from the oil itself. The truck actually monitors the “cleanliness” of the oil, and the duration the oil’s been in the truck to determine how often the oil needs changing. You don’t actually need to change the oil on “regular service intervals” anymore. The truck will tell you when the oil’s dirty, or its been too long.

Finally
I think I ran out of things to say…except that I love my truck.