Test Drive - 2014 Silverado LT Crew Cab

[2James1]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Dodge is the one that went with coils in the rear ... Sacrificing towing / hauling for ride quality.


FWIW Ram has recently announced that the 2041 2500 models will have coil springs. Lets hope they did their homework.

 

[addyguy]

IF I ever had a reason to buy a full-size truck, it would be a Chevy or GMC all the way. Really like GM trucks.

 

[danthaman1980]

Heck of a nice truck there, but pricey indeed. I'd wait until next year, when you might find it for $10k off MSRP - $40k is a lot of money.

 

[hattaresguy]

The 14's are nice trucks, when my 05 work truck starts to get tired I'm going to buy one.

 

[millerbl00]

If you are willing to buy one thats about a year old you can get it for under $20000. Mine was 11 months old and I got it for under $17000.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
I agree the Ram has the interior to beat.


They stated in the print version that the 5.3 felt just as powerful as the Ram 5.7! The new DI motor is really tough on torque, a 5.3 was not torquey before VVT and DI!


The Ram also has the suspension to beat (in the 1500 anyway) and the transmission to beat in the 8-speed ZF-equipped models. Although I think I would HATE the knob instead of a shifter.

Funny thing about the Ram... the 4.7L v8 is the entry level engine and the first for-money option is the 3.6L Pentastar with the ZF. I think you're buying the transmission there, because the 4.7- while every bit as torquey as a v6 and with the mileage of a v8 (old joke there...) has 2 more horsepower and a somewhat more low-end oriented torque curve than the Pentastar.

I would also guess that right now they can't build Pentastars to meet the demand, and there's a surplus of 4.7 production capacity. Either way its just a further orphaning of the 4.7 and moving it close to phase-out. The 4.7 has not made sense in the Chrysler engine lineup for a long time, and makes even less now. And this is from a guy who owns and likes a 4.7 Ram.

What you're saying about the 5.3 getting a boost in torque is interesting, because it had been commented that the 4.7 getting its last major revision in 2008 (up to 310 HP from 230 or so) had moved it from being ridiculous up to a notch ahead of the old 5.3 despite the smaller displacement. About time GM fixed that.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: 2James1
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Dodge is the one that went with coils in the rear ... Sacrificing towing / hauling for ride quality.


FWIW Ram has recently announced that the 2041 2500 models will have coil springs. Lets hope they did their homework.


Word from people that have put the 09-up 1500s to work is that coils were a gain over my truck (08 leaf-spring 1500) in EVERY regard, including towing/hauling.

Leaf springs have always been tough and simple, easy to make progressive. But with the computer modeling/simulation and design methods available today and the ability to fabricate a coil system with an almost unlimited variety of progression rates as well as better linkage designs, there's really more room to hit a design optimized over a very wide range of loads with coils. This aint a 67 Chevy long-trailing-arm setup here.

 

[Zaedock]

I had a chance to drive a '14 1500 5.3 and IMO, GM could improve it's power a bit. My '12 F150 5.0l feels stronger.

 

[hattaresguy]

Coil suspension isn't anything new, Mercedes has used it on the G wagon for over 40 years. Fiat finally spent some money and figured it out. But it won't really do anything that leaf springs won't do, its just a different way of doing things. Coil springs also can crack if stressed to much off road. As Mercedes found out with G wagons running 18's which most modern trucks run. To much load and not enough sidewall to absorb the impacts equals cracked coils.

What gets me with the Ram/Fiat is the use of essentially Airmatic suspension. Which if you talk to anyone who has it in and older Mercedes can be a PITA and not something I feel a cheap to operate work vehicle should have. When it works its great, but the problem is when it breaks... Come out one morning and find the front or rear on the stops and your out $1k. I can reshock a standard suspension for about $300-$400 using Bilsteins and those last over 100k miles.

If your just looking for a nice truck to buy and dump by 100k its fine, but for a work vehicle that's expected to be run cheaply for hundreds of thousands of miles no thanks.

Sorry Fiat, rest of the truck is nice though.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
What you're saying about the 5.3 getting a boost in torque is interesting, because it had been commented that the 4.7 getting its last major revision in 2008 (up to 310 HP from 230 or so) had moved it from being ridiculous up to a notch ahead of the old 5.3 despite the smaller displacement. About time GM fixed that.

Yeah, the new 5.3 has 385 ft. lbs. peak torque, and that has always been the weakness of a 5.3. They rev out nice and smoothly and last forever but are a bit weak at the low end. I would say 3.73's are the tallest gear I would want with one after owning quite a few in different Silverados.

The new DI motors are getting great mileage in real world driving. Then there's that extra 3-400 pounds you have to lug around in the Ford or Ram, that costs a LOT of money over a 5 year span of time and miles.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Coil suspension isn't anything new, Mercedes has used it on the G wagon for over 40 years. Fiat finally spent some money and figured it out. But it won't really do anything that leaf springs won't do, its just a different way of doing things. Coil springs also can crack if stressed to much off road. As Mercedes found out with G wagons running 18's which most modern trucks run. To much load and not enough sidewall to absorb the impacts equals cracked coils.

Sorry Fiat, rest of the truck is nice though.


The Ram coil suspension was designed prior to 2009... WAY prior to Fiat involvement in Chrysler. Leaf springs can crack if overstressed too. So will a solid steel I-beam. Your point?

You said it best- "its just a different way of doing things" so why the unfounded bias against it? And it actually will do one thing better than 1800's technology leaf springs- reduce NVH when lightly loaded.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Then there's that extra 3-400 pounds you have to lug around in the Ford or Ram, that costs a LOT of money over a 5 year span of time and miles.


So where IS that weight? The aluminum block of the 5.3 relative to the iron block of a 4.7 probably only saves about 100 lbs AT MOST (probably less). I still just *like* iron engine blocks, personally. And if you're comparing to a Pentastar Ram, that's an all-aluminum engine too.

So where is the other 200-300 pounds, and is it costing something that will weaken the truck relative to Ford and Dodge? Just curious, since it looks like GM has found a way to get ahead of the others- something that's really hard to do in the light-truck market since the Big 3 have been just about deadlocked for 20 years, with one brand making a gain only to be countered by the others a model later.

 

[JethroBodine]

Originally Posted By: 95busa
I gotta say, the new trucks have me priced right out of the market. When I can get older, clean used ones right at 100k for under 5 grand, getting similar mileage, the new ones don't make sense.


+1 even if you get a mint condition used one for $10k how do you lose versus 38k???

 

[coolbird101]

Beautiful looking truck, would love to own one, but as others have mentioned - ( I now have serious sticker shock ). New trucks are so much cabbage these days.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Coil suspension isn't anything new, Mercedes has used it on the G wagon for over 40 years. Fiat finally spent some money and figured it out. But it won't really do anything that leaf springs won't do, its just a different way of doing things. Coil springs also can crack if stressed to much off road. As Mercedes found out with G wagons running 18's which most modern trucks run. To much load and not enough sidewall to absorb the impacts equals cracked coils.

Sorry Fiat, rest of the truck is nice though.


The Ram coil suspension was designed prior to 2009... WAY prior to Fiat involvement in Chrysler. Leaf springs can crack if overstressed too. So will a solid steel I-beam. Your point?

You said it best- "its just a different way of doing things" so why the unfounded bias against it? And it actually will do one thing better than 1800's technology leaf springs- reduce NVH when lightly loaded.


10 years from now, a leaf sprung truck is still going to ride rough, but track well.

10 years from now, a coil sprung truck is going to have lots of control arm bushings worn out, a track-bar (chrysler's term) that is worn out and be very squirrley driving.

 

[IndyIan]

$34k is crazy for a 2wd truck, a 4 door 4wd 4.7L Ram is like $26k up here. At some point GM will have to get close in price to Ram and Ford, until then I would buy used if I needed a GM truck tomorrow.

 

[A_Harman]

230k on my Cummins Dodge, and the engine's just getting broken in. Not in the market for a new truck yet.

Still waiting for a good 1/2-ton diesel pickup.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Coil suspension isn't anything new, Mercedes has used it on the G wagon for over 40 years. Fiat finally spent some money and figured it out. But it won't really do anything that leaf springs won't do, its just a different way of doing things. Coil springs also can crack if stressed to much off road. As Mercedes found out with G wagons running 18's which most modern trucks run. To much load and not enough sidewall to absorb the impacts equals cracked coils.

Sorry Fiat, rest of the truck is nice though.


The Ram coil suspension was designed prior to 2009... WAY prior to Fiat involvement in Chrysler. Leaf springs can crack if overstressed too. So will a solid steel I-beam. Your point?

You said it best- "its just a different way of doing things" so why the unfounded bias against it? And it actually will do one thing better than 1800's technology leaf springs- reduce NVH when lightly loaded.


10 years from now, a leaf sprung truck is still going to ride rough, but track well.

10 years from now, a coil sprung truck is going to have lots of control arm bushings worn out, a track-bar (chrysler's term) that is worn out and be very squirrley driving.

I don't know about "very squirrely", but yes it could be an issue. My Tracker has a coil sprung solid rear axle, and it now does have some slight rear steering if you get on and off the gas hard. On an automatic pickup with almost twice the wheel base, it may not be noticable. Also you are still relying on bushings control the rear axle with leaf springs.

 

[Trav]

My brother and i went shopping for a car and truck a couple of weeks ago and looked at the domestic offerings. He was in the 35K class, not loaded but well equipped for a truck.

First we looked at the Tundra 4 door 6' bed 4WD 4.6 DOHC V8 fairly well equipped for 34K.
Next the Ram, not a lot of content in the same price class and it felt cheap inside so we walked away from that with no second looks.
Chevy was just white bread and over priced for the 4WD.
Ford was not in the running because of frame rust issues he, my father and myself all had with them not to mention the V6 power.

He bought the 2013 Tundra with a sticker of 34,800 for 28,550. That includes bed liner and OEM running boards, 4WD, towing package and decent equipment with a 2,500 rebate.
We debated them a few days and decided the Tundra was the best truck for the money despite what the biased US magazines were saying.
He likes the truck a lot, it runs as expected for a Toyota silk smooth and quiet, it shifts nice, rides well and has good braking power.

This was just an unemotional buy, no fan boy bias, no domestic or brand loyalty just value for money. I looked at them underneath and under the hood (except the Ford which we skipped)and found the Toyota was IMO well built and uses high quality materials.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Miller88

10 years from now, a leaf sprung truck is still going to ride rough, but track well.

10 years from now, a coil sprung truck is going to have lots of control arm bushings worn out, a track-bar (chrysler's term) that is worn out and be very squirrley driving.


I've driven leaf-spring cars, trucks and recently Jeeps for close to 40 years now. Let the bushings on the front eye or the rear shackle of leaf springs wear out, and you get "squirrelly" just like you would with coil springs if you let the trackbar bushings go bad.

But that aside- are you arguing that the FRONT IFS of a neglected leaf-spring truck with all the associated bushings up front is NOT going to be just as squirrely as the back end of a neglected coil rear spring truck? The owner would magically take care of the front end, but ignore the back end? I don't think so.

All kinds of competing technologies have their advantages and disadvantages. Personally I like the current use of coils in half-ton trucks, leafs in everything bigger. But if they go to coils in the bigger stuff, it will be up to the job, its not an automatic show-stopper. Coils and/or airbags are out there on nearly every 18-wheeler now, its getting very hard to find a leaf-spring suspension on a heavy truck anymore.