Deciding to add a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado to our long-term test fleet was a no-brainer. It's been one of the best-selling vehicles in the country for decades and it was fully redesigned for 2007.
Figuring out which Silverado was a little more difficult. There's a nearly endless list of body styles, engines and suspension configurations, not to mention several interior and trim options. We decided to look for a midgrade truck with a popular body style and typical features.
This led us to the four-door crew cab as it's the fastest-growing segment of the full-size truck category. With four full-size doors, crew cabs are as family-friendly as your average sedan and they offer plenty of interior cargo room when no one is sitting in back. Although Chevrolet offers three different bed lengths, all crew cabs get the shortest bed which measures 5 feet, 3 inches long to keep it garageable.
At that point, it was time to decide on an engine and suspension setup. GM's 5.3-liter V8 is the standard engine in crew cabs along with a four-speed automatic transmission. Although the vast majority of Silverados will have the 5.3-liter, we decided to upgrade to the top-of-the-line 367-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 for one simple reason — the Toyota Tundra.
On sale in February, the next-generation 2007 Toyota Tundra promises a tow rating over 10,000 pounds and a six-speed automatic transmission for its 5.7-liter V8. Since we plan on adding one to the fleet, we figured it was only fair to equip our Silverado with the most competitive setup available.
So along with the 6.0-liter V8 we would also need the heavy-duty tow package which gives the Chevrolet a tow-rating of 10,500 pounds. In addition to a more robust suspension, heavy-duty axle and 4.10 gears, the NHT package also adds a locking rear differential and four-wheel disc brakes. Although the locking diff would most likely provide all the traction we would need, we also decided to add four-wheel drive to give our truck maximum capability.
Once we had our specs in mind it was time to find a truck. At the time, Silverados were just beginning to hit dealers so there weren't many on the ground. Before we made any calls, we headed to gmbuypower.com. It's one of the better manufacturer sites since it allows you to search the inventory lists of multiple dealers in your area. And once you find a vehicle you're interested in, you can actually bring up the window sticker to see exactly how it's equipped.
There weren't many Silverados with the 6.0-liter engine around and even fewer with the heavy-duty tow package. We sent out a few e-mails to some Internet sales managers to see if they might have better luck finding the truck we wanted. We got a few calls from salesmen who said the trucks wouldn't be available until the spring and others who said we could order one from them right away if we came down. Yeah, thanks but no thanks.
Finally we received an e-mail from a Frank Zicker (sorry, not sure which dealership) who had a better handle on the process. He had looked through his inventory system and found a truck equipped very close to what we wanted. It wasn't going to his dealership, but he went ahead and called the one where it was headed. About two hours after our initial contact, Frank e-mailed us back and said the dealer was willing to sell us the truck for $950 over invoice if we were interested.
Despite the fact the truck had a few options we could have done without, we responded right away given the good deal being offered. Frank then put us in touch with Tim Connell, the sales manager at Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa, California. He confirmed he had the truck and agreed to the price Frank had quoted us. Turns out he was hoping to move a certain amount of trucks that weekend and the opportunity to sell our particular Silverado the next day worked for him as well as it worked for us. And just in case you're wondering, Tim didn't know he was dealing with Edmunds until he saw the name on the check the next day.
Since then, we have put over 1,000 miles on our new Chevrolet Silverado. Initial impressions have been good as it was more than comfortable on a 600-mile round-trip to Las Vegas. To read our full rundown, you can check the full road test with all the details. And of course, like all our long-termers, the Silverado will get daily updates in our long-term blog.
Current Odometer: 1,102
Best Fuel Economy: 14.1 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.0 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 13.1 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: None.
Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
Figuring out which Silverado was a little more difficult. There's a nearly endless list of body styles, engines and suspension configurations, not to mention several interior and trim options. We decided to look for a midgrade truck with a popular body style and typical features.
This led us to the four-door crew cab as it's the fastest-growing segment of the full-size truck category. With four full-size doors, crew cabs are as family-friendly as your average sedan and they offer plenty of interior cargo room when no one is sitting in back. Although Chevrolet offers three different bed lengths, all crew cabs get the shortest bed which measures 5 feet, 3 inches long to keep it garageable.
At that point, it was time to decide on an engine and suspension setup. GM's 5.3-liter V8 is the standard engine in crew cabs along with a four-speed automatic transmission. Although the vast majority of Silverados will have the 5.3-liter, we decided to upgrade to the top-of-the-line 367-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 for one simple reason — the Toyota Tundra.
On sale in February, the next-generation 2007 Toyota Tundra promises a tow rating over 10,000 pounds and a six-speed automatic transmission for its 5.7-liter V8. Since we plan on adding one to the fleet, we figured it was only fair to equip our Silverado with the most competitive setup available.
So along with the 6.0-liter V8 we would also need the heavy-duty tow package which gives the Chevrolet a tow-rating of 10,500 pounds. In addition to a more robust suspension, heavy-duty axle and 4.10 gears, the NHT package also adds a locking rear differential and four-wheel disc brakes. Although the locking diff would most likely provide all the traction we would need, we also decided to add four-wheel drive to give our truck maximum capability.
Once we had our specs in mind it was time to find a truck. At the time, Silverados were just beginning to hit dealers so there weren't many on the ground. Before we made any calls, we headed to gmbuypower.com. It's one of the better manufacturer sites since it allows you to search the inventory lists of multiple dealers in your area. And once you find a vehicle you're interested in, you can actually bring up the window sticker to see exactly how it's equipped.
There weren't many Silverados with the 6.0-liter engine around and even fewer with the heavy-duty tow package. We sent out a few e-mails to some Internet sales managers to see if they might have better luck finding the truck we wanted. We got a few calls from salesmen who said the trucks wouldn't be available until the spring and others who said we could order one from them right away if we came down. Yeah, thanks but no thanks.
Finally we received an e-mail from a Frank Zicker (sorry, not sure which dealership) who had a better handle on the process. He had looked through his inventory system and found a truck equipped very close to what we wanted. It wasn't going to his dealership, but he went ahead and called the one where it was headed. About two hours after our initial contact, Frank e-mailed us back and said the dealer was willing to sell us the truck for $950 over invoice if we were interested.
Despite the fact the truck had a few options we could have done without, we responded right away given the good deal being offered. Frank then put us in touch with Tim Connell, the sales manager at Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa, California. He confirmed he had the truck and agreed to the price Frank had quoted us. Turns out he was hoping to move a certain amount of trucks that weekend and the opportunity to sell our particular Silverado the next day worked for him as well as it worked for us. And just in case you're wondering, Tim didn't know he was dealing with Edmunds until he saw the name on the check the next day.
Since then, we have put over 1,000 miles on our new Chevrolet Silverado. Initial impressions have been good as it was more than comfortable on a 600-mile round-trip to Las Vegas. To read our full rundown, you can check the full road test with all the details. And of course, like all our long-termers, the Silverado will get daily updates in our long-term blog.
Current Odometer: 1,102
Best Fuel Economy: 14.1 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.0 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 13.1 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: None.
Edmunds purchased this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
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