regfootball

ok, i gotta get this typed up

DRIVEN: 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 2.7 turbo four cylinder Crew Cab Short Box 4-Wheel Drive LT All Star Edition (48k +/- MSRP) This is written from the perspective of someone who is not a truck fan, hasn't owned one, loves cars, not crossovers or trucks. Looking for a daily driver with space and utility. I won't be commenting on 'truck stuff' here. I can't tell you if the four wheel drive system is boss. Or anything about trailering. Or, LOADS. This is about a truck as a transportation device. HIGHS: -Although many may disagree, I love the new design of the Chevy and GMC trucks. (I prefer the more butch GMC front end) -OMG, HUGE INSIDE! NO. LIE. Anyone. Who. Bitches about lack of space inside of this crew cab, just ...go.....now. The back seat in particular, this is the new limousine standard. -Not joking, the dash design feels like a cockpit. Truck style. Command center. All the info, right there in your face, in your crotch. And the touchscreen location is just fine. I like the dash design a lot. -Good storage all over. This particular truck has the column shifter and middle seat folding down. -Nice step in, lower than I anticipated. I don't want to 'step up' into any vehicle, just like I hate bending down to get in. There's a little step up, but get the seat where you need it and come back and check again. -Speaking of seats, well supportive, wide, comfortable. Seat cloth is cheap, like they like to make it, so you up for the leather. But lots of truck drivers spend all day in their perch, and this truck is perfect for those that need to. -So, I'm not used to sitting in trucks, predatory style on the road. But this felt great. And the thing is there is very good visibility to this truck. Large windows, large mirrors, SHORT HOOD (this is a good thing). Not at all intimidating to just get in and drive (over the top of someone ...j/k). Between the cockpit feel and the good visibility, and good seats, and good dash layout. Very easy to feel at home. -THE. BED. IS. HUGE. Again, GM breaks the mold. Wider, so much space utilized well. This one did not have a liner. I would want that. Bet you can haul lots of ass in this truck. -POWER TAILGATE RELEASE. OMG< this is so cool! -Fairly composed ride and handling as a transportation vehicle. I found the steering to be surprisingly responsive and just fine. Trucks when unloaded have a hard time with just riding quietly and not being upset by bad road surfaces; my only real frame of reference is the old trucks we had when i grew up. Obviously this new truck is much better, but more important is that is not disturbed excessively in ride by daily unloaded driving. When you try to hustle the truck around the corners like a sports sedan, you get bob and weave and shimmy and shake...and dance. But you don't typically rail on a truck in such a way (when do you typically want to stand on the throttle for the turbo boost?). -Pretty quiet inside when settled down and speed. You can seriously loaf over the highway all day in this thing. This must be why pickups sell so well. -Wait for it, because what you really want to know about this, is 'how's the engine'. I'll get to that. From my perspective.... completely fine with it, and I actually like it. I'll break it out separately below. LOWS: -A big compliant universally on the Chevy trucks has been 'cheap interior'. Ok, is it? Well, yes, but let's dissect this. I don't think the plastics are any worse than previous GM trucks. And I actually didn't mind them myself. I like the pebble texture, surface are a mix of soft and hard. A lot of this discussion is driven by two things. Can they be better? Yes. "The Ram has a better interior". Well, that I don't know. I look at pictures and I can't say I am universally sure. I don't doubt that many may think the Ram interior is nicer. I need to see it for myself. I highly doubt this interior is any or much worse than the typical junk in Fords, Nissans and Toyotas. One thing with GM is the reliance on interiors being all black death. So here I will concede, there is a lot of black in here, which is probably not helping the opinions here. -TRUCKS. ARE. HUGE. Now i remember why i end up cursing all the douchbags that can't park straight in a parking space. Or they peacock their huge truck by backing in. Well, I remember more why this shit happens. Its probably easier to back in and drive out without reverse, than it is to swing Betsy's WIDE ASS around and on a dime into a 9 foot wide stall. These things have a long wheelbase, and you gotta be dialed in and attentive on where you are going. Folks may laugh and say, well learn how to drive. But that's exactly it....so many driving trucks these days shouldn't be driving trucks. So suburban parking lot ventures are not the best place for trucks...... you get a truck and haven't had one, it's just an adjustment curve. Since the steering is good, a little time and you should learn where all the corners are. Even with Betsy's ass hanging out. -Column shifter, I don't mind having one in a truck...but OMG this one was STIFF. Maybe it needs to be loosened up over time. A bit clunky too. Do i really need to replicate the motions of using a citrus press to shift my truck into gear? Smooth it up, and it will be fine. -Hinted above....lots of shimmy and shake in aggressive driving. (UM IT'S NOT A SPORT SEDAN). Yes, but as a daily driver, those choosing between a pickup and even some of the more trucky SUV / crossovers, you may want to lean to the SUV's if the way trucks drive isn't what you are used to. OK< HERE IT IS< ENGINE AND POWERTRAIN So the thing here is ultimately a review on this new FOUR CYLINDER Silverado engine. OH THE HORROR! Well, hey it's good! But some disclaimers first.. I typically don't care much for the big v8 rumble of the GM pushrod engines. I don't care for the sound, sorry. I do like 'cammy' sounding engines. And i have no idea what expected behavior for truck engines is these days. Whether it is the Ford Ecoboost v6, or the GM pushrod v8's. I have no measuring stick as to how smooth they are, how they feel, and what their power delivery is like. I wish i had gotten more time at the 70+ mph range, but in every other way I liked the 4 cylinder. Let me start out with the sound. I have driven the new 2.0t in the XT4, which is a smooth engine but it's raspy snarl has offput some Cadillac fans. It's a cammy engine that makes itself heard when you lean on the gas. And this 2.7t, even if it is uniquely designed for truck use with a long stroke and all that.....has a similar feel. And sound. You can tell the engines are related. What is good here on the 2.7 is the throttle response. The throttle response is so good. And no turbo lag. You lean on the gas HARD, and the tranny works quickly in concert with the boost and a snarl, and it muscles you through in quick fashion. So it's responsive. When being softer with the throttle, it may feel less responsive, and there is a lot of gears it is thinking about. But it's not 'hunting'. The trans always seemed to settle into the right gear quickly. With small displacement, the power and torque sometimes merely seem 'good'....good enough for my butt. I don't know how it compared to the sometimes maligned 5.3, which is what this is supposed to be comparable to. I do know GM fans diss the 5.3 a lot. All i know is when i really kicked ass with the throttle foot, the response was right now with boost and torque. Now, how much torque is the question. But ultimately for my daily driving and i don't tow and haul anything. For what i do, it's a darn snappy truck. The response is surprising considering the small displacement and long stroke of the motor. It revs very happily, smooth and not coarse. It can just get loud and cammy for those not used to it, and those that don't like that. And again, it sounds a lot like the cousin 2.0 in the XT4. You have to decide if that's what you want in a truck or if you prefer the v8. GM did a smart thing and decided to forego a turbo v6. Why? Because Ford is doing it, and has claimed that space. Using four cylinders is Chevy's opportunity to innovate. And if we are honest with ourselves.....we'll end up in four cylinder territory eventually anyways. Out of the gate, if this is reliable, I say this engine is a win. I think the lesser than expected fuel economy is a problem. But I haven't done an interstate trip with the cruise set to see the numbers myself. Really this engine is an engine for the future, now put in some high volume models to beta test it in the real world before they put it in a bunch of other vehicles. Colorado / Canyon I am talking about you. This would be a perfect engine for those pickups. Some of the crossovers and SUV's would benefit from this engine also (Acadia, Traverse, Enclave, XT6, Tahoe). And could they even retune it and put it in a CT5 or CT6? Methinks it would do just fine in either of those Cadillac sedans. Look at how Ford, when they rolled out the Ecoboost v6's, put it in every vehicle they could think of, to test it out and amortize it. ANd now it's typical and expected in their trucks. Just think, maybe there will be an inline six derivitive of it. Or maybe they will make a 5.4 litre v8 version of it with 600 hp and 600 lb ft. SUMMARY So for the non truck guy, this was a fun ride. I think the 4 cylinder for me in this truck is just fine. I say that without trailering anything with it, or hauling anything. For me the actual hurdle is can i live with the size and handling and ride of a truck. And in some ways I could. In other ways, I love my responsive sedans. The space, comfort, and utility of this thing cannot be ignored. In that regard, I am a huge truck fan and love these new GM trucks. I honor and respect those that have issues with the interiors on these but for me I never expected much out of a truck inside anyways. The benefits of the room and space far outweigh how erotic a particular dashboard surface may feel here when i touch it. Love these new trucks, and I should drive a Ram for a real comparison. But if forced to have a truck I could surely enjoy this, and I WOULD be fine to get one with the 4 cylinder if you asked me with a gun to my head (and would need to also be thinking about price and resale). Partially because I like the SNARL and a well dialed in powertrain.

checked one out again today, sat in it, first off, the exterior doesn't generate heat for me. It's 'ok' and i am sure it will appeal to some. But the rest in this class have a new competitor, but i doubt they are scared. interior, it's tight inside (like alot in this class). Interior dash and other soft materials are not too bad. The switchgear is sort of the cheap parts of the interior. The scooped seat was good and the leather not too bad. I would for sure prefer a Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Cadillac to it. I'm cold on this thing. Not sure how it it is Motor Trend COTY. Must have been a big check written for that. A merc CLA is more interesting to me. Don't waste your $$$ on this, get a Guilia instead. Sales guy said 2 manual rear drive ones already sold....big thing in snowy / trafficky MN>

at least in these pictures it does look really cheap inside.

good point about the interior. I don't think the engine would be a HUGE deal if its at least able to crack that 6.5 second 0-60 range, then its not a two second gap in 0-60, if it's within a second or so of the 330 then it shouldn't be that big of a deal. What people don't realize in the car sales environment, numbers and specs do generate interest, and if the vehicle neither has the specs nor delivers on the test drive, then it's DOA in the market. Which for a family sedan no one cares. For a luxury car model line it will matter to some degree because Cadillac doesn't have a huge brand following anymore for sedans like the BMW does, it needs all the internet and real test drive cred it can muster because few other than current Cadillac fans will even care otherwise. My guess is no ttv6 stickers for less than say 57-58 thousand. I wish the current CTS would have had an AWD Vsport package. That would have been insane. Good points, Cadillac is to have improved the ride and comfort, has increased cabin space, and the dash layout looks user friendly. Its corrected those deficiencies of the CTS, and i think that bodes well for it that way.

that reminds of the time a few years ago when a bunch of folks here were saying that Cadillac didn't need to offer all wheel drive as an option on their rear wheel drive cars which weren't selling. and then finally cadillac gets that all wheel drive matters and that took away the impediment to the sale. luxury car buyers want a quick car and if the buff books or their butt in the seat tells them the car is slow, that is a big impediment to the car being purchased. impediments that don't exist in the competition. Cadillac had / has a chance to sell many CTS if -Cadillac improved the quaility of their interiors and leather. (not sure in this case) -if it has sexy styling (not sure it got that in this case, especially with the divergence from Caddy style and the wishbone / awkward c pillar treatment that is being universally commented on unfavorably on social media and web sites in many places. -if the car leases cheap like the competition, which cadillac still doesn't get....how do they plan to move any. -if the car has dynamic advantage or is not up to class average in either ride, handling or power. the car should ride and handle well because Cadillac did finally condition buyers to expect that but if the luxury car buyer is not getting the same power in the entry model that the competition is then, see ya. Caddy will way overprice the twin turbo six out of the market as well. if it were a standalone option for not a ton more, the 6 vs. 4 choice would help them. But they will bury the six cylinder option in a super expensive package i bet. For the CT5 the issue is solved by simply tuning up the motor to more horsepower. But for whatever reason GM screws up their new motor launches. It should have specced out with at least the same or more power and torque than the motor it replaces. They probably detuned it for CAFE reasons, which should not be a thing in a luxury marque.

That is sweet im going to look at a 4 cyl Silverado later today. Wish me luck

New BMW 330 does a 5.2 0-60 with a 2.0 liter motor and a sub 14 1/4 mile time. CT5 with its new downgraded 2.0 which has clocked out at 7.5 0-60 on a couple different tests of its similar weight Cadillac mates, no reason to expect much better than a 7.2 or 7.3 0-60 in a CT5. How do you win in the sales marketplace when you are 2 seconds behind.

Yup. What you said at the end.... no one will care

i DO LIKE THE CTS INTERIOR, BUT....

This should be popular. Good work. Not a fan of the standing up tablet but that’s getting typical. Great base engine specs. Cadillac doesn’t seem to get that. Should make this Lincoln zoom

Will probably sell more now. Love the police laptop on the dash.

Exterior is ok. The dash was mailed in, it’s like a dashboard from an old cargo van or Kia rondo

That’s a huge WTF to me.

Decent work here most Subaru’s drive like turds though nowadays. Let’s hope this is a decent drive.

Let’s hope CT5 can match these numbers https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15091317/2017-bmw-530i-xdrive-test-review/

The epa ratings for highway for CT5 (AWD) are not going to be 38. And for AWD probably not even 34. And I do love mpg but Lux marque cars should be about performance too. Even the most base bmw 3 with crap HP ratings will do a sub 6 0-60. The XT4 and CT6 with the same engine were over 7 seconds, more like 7.5. That’s good for a Chevy. The 14-19 CTS cracked sub 6 seconds I believe. To go from 6 seconds to 7.5 for the ‘sport sedan’ in your stable is not good for showroom traffic or sales.

point me to the '38 mpg highway'. What did i miss...... XT4 gets 24/30, no way the highway goes up to 38 from the XT4 with the same powertrain. Malibu with CVT and 400 pounds less and smaller engine only can manage 36 mpg highway. 10 speed tranny not gonna net 38 mpg highway on RWD or AWD version. Cadillac really should have introduced this motor in this car with at least the same specs as the older 2.0.

Nice.

nothing really egregious about the interior. Not particularly dazzling though, either. C pillar still draws ire, wish they had done that better So this does have the new 2.0. The lesser powered 2.0. I had hoped for the CT5 it would come in a higher state of tune. I don't see the 2.0 moving out very well. Pretty much means not a bargain Cadillac with verve. You may still need the 3.0 to have fun. Although, the curb weight is? Less than the AWD XT4? So maybe its quicker than that? The CT6 with the new 2.0 is a dog now.

https://www.carscoops.com/2019/03/chinas-2020-buick-encore-ii-to-sit-alongside-new-chevrolet-tracker/ if this really is a new Tracker / Trax, that will be a homerun for Chevy i wonder if they could update the regal sportback and tourx with the front end design of the orange one

62k for a mid engine sports car is an INSANELY good deal. I will guess most that end up on the showfloor will sticker at at least 75-80k. There will be versions that 100k will be easy to hit.

I think if they ever make the Camaro habitable for humans and make it so you can see out of it, give it an all wheel drive option, and style it so it’s nice looking to the majority of the population again, and they don’t overprice it, then the Camaro should sell quite well! or did I just describe the challenger

Yup, your first two paragraphs here are spot on.