Chevrolet Silverado 2019 review

HSV is approved by GM North America to import and re-manufacture the Silverado in RHD. We use the term ‘re-manufacture’ rather than ‘convert’ because this is a full-on production line process we recently inspected at the new Clayton facility.

Each body is removed from its rolling chassis and both move down parallel production lines where extensive RHD re-manufacturing takes place on each before they are reunited as a complete vehicle. This ISO-quality process requires hundreds of new components, which HSV’s Computer Aided Design (CAD) office creates in a ‘virtual’ vehicle before any hard parts exist.

Having exclusive local access to GM’s CAD software means that many parts ‘mirror’ the original LHD position, resulting in OEM appearance in the RHD location. Key challenges faced by HSV engineers were electrical system integration (again with support from GM) and mirroring of the steering system, HVAC/dashboard module, tail lights and windscreen wipers, all achieved with local tooling. Accelerated durability testing is conducted at Holden’s Lang Lang Proving Ground. The end result is OEM standard and the closest you’ll get to driving a new RHD Silverado off the Michigan assembly line. 

HSV is approved by GM North America to import and re-manufacture the Silverado in RHD. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

Needless to say, the Silverado 2500HD is huge compared to its local Holden Colorado dual-cab cousin. It uses conventional body-on-frame construction with coil spring independent front suspension and a leaf-spring live rear axle. Off-road credentials include a 22.3-degree approach angle, 22.4-degree departure angle and 21-degree breakover angle with 250mm of ground clearance.

Its 15.68-metre turning circle is almost 3.0 metres wider, its vast 3886mm wheelbase is 790mm longer, its 6085mm length is 738mm larger, its 2388mm width is 506mm wider and its 1985mm height is 205mm taller. And the Midnight Edition’s massive kerb weight of 3616kg makes it 1495kg (or 1.5 tonnes) heavier!

However, the payback for this overdose of growth hormone is a spacious and luxurious leather-appointed cabin that offers an excellent driving position with fantastic instrumentation. Big grab handles on the A and B pillars, combined with the side-steps and large door openings, make for easy entry and exit. Rear passengers have ample leg, shoulder and headroom, with the most comfortable central seating position of any ute we’ve tested. There’s also a Navara-style sliding centre rear window, which looks and works better in this larger size and is something your pooch will no doubt appreciate.

HSV does not quote any official combined figures, but after our 420km test, which included towing a caravan for a good portion of it, the instrument display was showing 17.9L/100km. That wasn’t far off our own figures, crunched from trip meter and fuel bowser readings, of 18.6L. Sounds like a lot of fuel (and it is - refilling only half a tank cost almost $130), but with the Silverado’s huge 136-litre fuel capacity you could expect a realistic driving range of around 730km.

The 875kg payload rating might sound conservative on its own, but the Silverado’s massive 9801kg GCM means that on a 50mm ball it can tow up to 3500kg of braked trailer with a full payload, and on a 70mm ball, up to 4500kg with a full payload. 

With a pintle hook you can tow up to 5310kg with a full payload, and, if required, up to a massive 5890kg (with a corresponding 575kg payload reduction). Whichever way you look at it, this is seriously heavy-duty towing that dwarfs all one-tonne dual cabs.

With a pintle hook you can tow up to 5310kg with a full payload, and, if required, up to a massive 5890kg. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

Generous cabin storage options include two bins and a bottle holder in each front door, plus an overhead glasses holder and twin-lid glove box. The centre console has two USB ports and two 12-volt plugs in a large open storage bin up front, plus two bottle holders in the centre and a huge lidded storage box at the rear with more 12-volt/USB plugs and a padded lid (complete with wireless phone charging dock) that doubles as an arm rest.

Up front there's a bottle holder in door. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

Rear-seat passengers get three storage bins and a bottle holder in each door, plus flexible storage pockets on the rear of both front seats. The rear of the console has two more storage pockets for small items and another 12V plug. There’s also a fold down centre armrest with two more cup/bottle holders, and, exclusive to Midnight Edition and Custom Sport grades, there's another large storage area beneath the rear seat accessed via the fold-up base cushions.

In the back, there's large storage area beneath the rear seat accessed via the fold-up base cushions. (image credit: Mark Oastler)

The remote-locking ‘E-Z lift and lower’ tailgate accesses a huge cargo tub with a load floor that’s more than two metres long. And with 1296mm between the wheelarches, it can easily accommodate a standard Aussie pallet. There’s also a tough spray-on tub liner, four tie-down points and a combination high brake light/work light.

There’s no ANCAP rating, as you would expect for such a low volume vehicle, but HSV has performed a barrier crash to verify airbag deployment and ensure compliance with all applicable ADRs. There are front and thorax (side-impact) airbags for driver and front passenger and full-length curtain airbags.

You'll also find proactive roll avoidance, traction control, trailer sway control, hill start assist, hill descent control, lane departure warning and forward collision alert, which, like the front and rear park assist, noisily vibrates the driver’s seat. There’s also a rear-view camera (very handy for lining up a tow hitch) but no AEB.