2014 Chevrolet Silverado High Country Review

The term ‘luxury pickup-truck’ may seem like an oxymoron, but when you consider that high-end rigs like this are often serving in a multitude of ways, well the idea makes more sense.  And Chevy is stepping up the Silverado’s game in that regard for 2014.  Consider yourself in the High Country.

To the foreman, names like King Ranch, Platinum, Laramie, Denali and more recently 1794 Edition are symbols of superiority.  But until now, Chevy hasn’t catered a Silverado to the boss man.  With a starting price of $49,975, the new High Country 4-wheel drive comes exclusively in the most spacious crew cab bodystyle, here with the smaller 5’8” box.  2-wheel drive and a 6’6” box are also available.  So what takes the Silverado from LTZ to High Country?  From the outside, there’s a unique chrome grille, body-color front and rear bumpers and special 20” chrome wheels with Goodyear Wrangler SR-A all-season tires.  The interior features exclusive saddle brown leather seats with High Country logos on the front headrests.  Luxury features such as halogen projector headlamps, chrome body trim, a power-sliding rear window, heated and cooled front seats, Chevy MyLink connectivity, Bose premium audio and front and rear park assist are standard.  My tester takes that a step further with the optional High Country Premium Package, adding the high tech safety features forward collision alert, lane departure warning and GM’s unique safety alert seat that vibrates in the specific direction of danger…just no side blind zone alert.  A lukewarm heated steering wheel , multi-zone heated seats with varying intenisity, power adjustable pedals and a trailer brake controller round out the package offerings.  Dress it up in this gorgeous White Diamond tricoat paint, add 6” chrome assist steps and LED lighting to the cargo box and you’ve got my tester.  But the biggest option you can’t see is under here.  Replacing the standard 5.3-liter V8 is the Silverado’s biggest gasoline engine – the updated EcoTec3 6.2-liter V8 producing a whopping 420 horsepower and 460 foot-pounds of torque.  It’s mated to a 6-speed automatic, good for towing 9,500 pounds with a maximum payload of 1,957 pounds.  You’d think it would be all muscle and sound from behind the wheel, but in fact this Silverado drives without any of that sport-truck fanfare, instead feeling just like the posh truck that it is – very well behaved, easily manageable and with great cruising ability.  When you lay into the gas pedal the engine roars and acceleration is brisk, particularly for such a big truck but most of the time the Silverado goes about business with similar decorum to a luxury sedan.  As I noted in my GMC Sierra drive last summer, the Silverado does lean to a slightly truckier feel both in its ride and drive than say a Ram 1500 or Toyota Tundra.  And that’s OK…it’s a truck after all, but its aforementioned competitors take big truck smoothness to an even higher level.  It feels as solid, durable and capable as any half-ton truck owner would want and by using active fuel management, which allows the V8 to step down to V4 mode, and other engine advancements gas mileage is a truck-respectable 14mpg city/20mpg highway though the fuel filler cap reminds you that premium gas would be better. 

The huge rear seats will take on 3 equally large adults and they split and flip up to create more carrying space if needed.  The new tech is really good with OnStar, MyLink and seemingly a thousand ways to connect your gear. But you may be surprised to see there’s no embedded navigation – it’s an option – just OnStar turn-by-turn.  And though I like the remote start, I expected smart key operation as well.  This 2014 High Country, priced at $55,070, gives Silverado shoppers another level of aspiration.