2004 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid Truck Review November 2004

About the only way you would know this truck is different from the zillions of others that call West-by-God (as West Virginia is known) home is the "Hybrid" tag on the side and the dead silence when you stop at a red light.

The big 5.3 liter V8 engine shuts down, and a supplemental electric system keeps the radio and ventilation systems going. If demand exceeds capacity, the engine restarts by itself. It also starts immediately when you remove your foot from the brake. The idea is to try to improve gas mileage from the 295 horsepower and to give GM some ideas of how a hybrid system works in a full-size pickup in the real world.

For the record, we got just about 16 miles per gallon in our four-wheel drive, extended-cab truck. It is EPA rated at 17 to 19. A nonhybrid similar pickup gets about 13 to 16 mpg. So the improvement is not grand, but again this is a bit of a test bed for GM, and we can assure you they are hard at work on a number of ideas to improve the mileage of their trucks.

The hybrid, which had been available only for commercial use, will now be sold to noncommercial customers in six states. In addition to the mileage improvement, the system provides an auxiliary power outlet system. This will provide up to 2,400 watts of 120-volt AC power. A ground default system prevents overloads. There are outlets in the truck bed and in the middle of the floor near the rear seat. That means you would be the most popular man around in the event of a blackout, say in the middle of the Super Bowl, or a rerun of "Gone With the Wind."

In a week of driving we found our very well-optioned Silverado a most pleasant experience. The six-way leather seats were comfy, the Bose stereo cranked out good sounds, and the basic four-wheel drive system promised to take us about anywhere this rather large vehicle would fit. With the $2,500 hybrid system, and other required and optional equipment, our test truck would go out the door for $37,743.

The big V8 purred on the interstates, and Chevy said our K15 Silverado short bed would tow up to 7,500 pounds. And that's the problem GM engineers face when trying to improve gas mileage on these rigs.

Customers demand the power to tow a trailer; the power to adequately accelerate with a near capacity load in the bed -- and with lots of power-gulping accessories going. It is not an easy task to balance the Greens and those whose first read of the month is "RV Trailer Life."

So we say "hats off" to GM for offering this truck, the first full-size pickup to utilize hybrid technology. You can bet the pressure is on at GM to move full-size pickups a little further from the gas pump. It's nice to see a U.S. maker be the first out of the gate, even in a preliminary manner.

SOURCE: MarketWatch, Inc

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