2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Test: Capability, Comfort, and Style

In ancient times, trucks were tools for farmers and construction workers. The idea that they should offer amenities like air conditioning or power steering would have been questionable, and the suggestion of heated seats or ambient lighting would have been laughed off the assembly line. We live in a gentler era, though, and the 2027 Chevy Silverado 1500 reflects the mainstream popularity of pickups for both work and play. Chevy’s half-ton lineup gets a major overhaul for the coming model year with reshaped sheetmetal; redesigned interiors featuring carbon fiber, wood, and bright pops of color; and two brand-new small-block V-8s that will delight internal-combustion loyalists.

Chevy has made enough changes to the Silverado for 2027 to call it a new generation, although what generation that is depends on if you’re starting your count from the first introduction of Silverado as its own model (1998) or all the way back to the first use of the name (1975, as a trim on the C/K models). We’re going from the ’90s, which would make this new truck the fifth generation. To earn its generational title, the Silverado wears a new exterior, crisp as a starched shirt, set off by LED lights, burly wheel lip moldings, and a redesigned bumper. Underneath, the chassis will be familiar from the previous year, albeit with some suspension tweaks for more stable towing and a better ride.

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The biggest news for truck fans won’t be the body styling or the interior decorating, but what’s under the big, angular hood. Lower trims still start out with an upgraded turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder, now making 350 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque. Diesel fans get the returning Duramax turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, still rated at 305 horses and 495 pound-feet, but now with an optional 34-gallon fuel tank for a claimed (and bladder-challenging) 900-mile range.

And then there are the eight-cylinder stars of the show. These new V-8s are not bored-out versions of the outgoing 5.3- and 6.2-liter mills, but instead comprise completely new blocks, heads, intakes, and exhausts. The new engines measure out at 5.7 and 6.6 liters—or 346 and 401 cubic inches, for those speaking older tongues. Those designations were appealing enough to Chevrolet that they stamped them on the back of the aluminum blocks.

Most of our drive was divided between kitted-out High Country and rambunctious ZR2 models, both with the 6.6-liter, and we can report that the big small-block is powerful (481 ponies, 501 pound-feet), sonorous, and unexpectedly smooth, with elegant on-road manners and impressive trail performance. It’s also very quiet at idle, an effect of using newly added port fuel injection at low rpm and adding in direct injection as throttle input increases.

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Back at the C/D homestead, we spent time with the 402-hp, 428-lb-ft 5.7-liter V-8 in the lesser off-road-oriented Trail Boss trim. The Trail Boss is the light-beer equivalent of the hoppy ZR2, offering some trail tech without going all-in on off-road. A roughly two-inch suspension lift, 34-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT tires on 18-inch wheels, and optional underbody cameras give the Trail Boss gravel-road cred. On the pavement, the Trail Boss rides with a little more rear-end jiggle than the High Country (with its adaptive dampers) or the ZR2 (with its Multimatic DSSV setup). At the test track, the Boss got to 60 mph in a reasonable 6.4 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 14.6 seconds at its 94-mph top speed. But its dirt-focused rubber likely hampered its performance elsewhere. Braking from 70 mph took 198 feet and a twirl around the skidpad returned just 0.70 g of grip while fighting some unsurprising understeer.

In the real world, the Trail Boss felt quicker and more planted than its test results suggest, and the 5.7 offers nearly silent running (a mere 66 decibels and 21 sones at 70 mph). It’d better, given its $2690 option price. When combined with other options on our test truck, covering everything from multi-camera arrays to a slick coat of green paint, our mid-price model ended up with an as-tested window sticker of $76,795. That much scratch could get you into a rear-wheel-drive High Country model with the 5.7 or within spitting distance of a Duramax-equipped ZR2. Upgrading either of those trims to the 6.6-liter (not available on the Trail Boss) would require an extra $2505 for the ZR2 and $2800 for the High Country, with the latter also mandating an upgrade to 4WD. These new V-8s are slick but dear.

Even the base 2.7-liter work truck has a starting price of $40,045, but at least the lower trims benefit from some of the same features as the top-shelf models. The Silverado’s interior rework means that every 2027 truck showcases data on a 12.2-inch gauge cluster and a 16.3-inch center screen. ZR2 and High Country trims get an additional 11.5-inch passenger screen. The displays mark the return of Android Auto and Apple Car Play, but the system still includes Google built-in nav and search functions. We found the native navigation prone to directional confusion, so we’re glad GM walked back its plans to ditch phone mirroring.

The new GM UI is crisp and quick, but we had some issues with the touchscreen’s accuracy. Organizationally, the Silverado interior is scattered, with some controls on the left side of the dash, some in menus in the touchscreen, and some on hard buttons above the console. Chevy allows for menu customizations that create shortcuts to regularly used controls, but until a customer sets that up, they should be prepared for a hunt.

Dialing in the least-irritating combination of driver assist functions might take some time, but setting up for a proper truck job like towing will not. And it’ll handle a proper truck job: The new light-duty Chevy now boasts up to 13,700 pounds of max towing capacity (when properly equipped). The Silverado offers helpful setup and safety tech like a trailer brake-gain assistant for setting trailer brake proportions, as well as several split-view camera angles with overlay graphics that promise to make parking easier and prevent a jackknife. Super Cruise–equipped trucks can tow with the system running, although automatic lane changes are not available while towing.

The Silverado lineup includes everything from a regular cab with an extended cargo bed to the feature-heavy crew-cab top trims. The cabin is noticeably nicer than previous models, and the crew cab will comfortably fit a large, er, crew. Pickup trucks have changed a lot in the past century—largely for the better—but with increased comfort and capability come increased prices. No matter how good the Silverado’s two new V-8s are, there’s no way to drive around that truth.

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2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Trail Boss
Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear/4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door pickup

PRICE
Base/As Tested: $63,995/$76,795
Options: Trail Boss Premium package (8-way adjustable front passenger seat, ventilated front seats, rain-sensing wipers, illuminated and sliding front sunshades, heated and power-adjustable exterior mirrors, puddle lamps, perimeter lighting with memory, rear camera interior mirror, wireless device charging, heated outboard rear seats, power tilt and telescoping steering column, 15.0-inch head-up display, bed-view camera), $3430; Super Cruise package, $2855; 5.7-liter V-8 engine, $2690; panoramic sunroof, $1500; Assisted Driving package, $645; Multi-Flex tailgate, $595; Trillium Green Metallic paint, $395; underbody cameras, $350; driver memory settings, $200; Trailer Technology package $140

ENGINE
pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection
Displacement: 346 in3, 5675 cm3
Power: 402 hp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 428 lb-ft @ 4300 rpm

CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/live axle
Brakes, F/R: 13.5-in vented disc/13.6-in vented disc
Tires: Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT
LT285/70R-18 117/1140 M+S TPC Spec 4008

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 147.8 in
Length: 233.1 in
Width: 81.2 in
Height: 79.1 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 67/61 ft3
Curb Weight: 5616 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 6.4 sec
1/4-Mile: 14.6 sec @ 94 mph
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.7 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 3.9 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 4.7 sec
Top Speed (gov ltd): 94 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 198 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.70 g

Interior Sound
Idle: 39 dBA/3 sone
Full Throttle: 79 dBA
70-mph Cruising: 66 dBA/21 sone

EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 14/16/14 mpg

Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews. In 2020, she received a Best Feature award from the Motor Press Guild for the C/D story "A Drive through Classic Americana in a Polestar 2."  In 2023, her Car and Driver feature story "In Washington, D.C.'s Secret Carpool Cabal, It's a Daily Slug Fest" was awarded 1st place in the 16th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club.
 

Instrumented Tests