The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is an important vehicle at General Motors. Not only does the single model sell hundreds of thousands of units yearly, but the architecture beneath it underpins the 2019 GMC Sierra and (presumably) both brands’ full-size SUVs, the Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, plus the Cadillac Escalade.
To make sure engineers got the architecture’s ride and handling characteristics spot on, the 2019 Silverado 1500 underwent a lot of testing. And by “a lot,” the automaker means it. AutoGuide reported Tuesday that the 2019 Silverado 1500 had been under development for almost four years. During that time, the truck was subject to seven million miles of real-world testing.
That is, actual miles driven on the road. When combining every mile of testing from the real world, simulation, durability, test miles and more, the 2019 Silverado 1500 has gone about 31 million miles.
“We could hit Mars at its closest spot to earth about 31 million miles away,” Tim Herrick, executive chief engineer for full-size trucks at GM, said.
As for the real-world miles, GM had been sneaky. The automaker ran the T1 architecture under previous-generation Silverado bodies to keep the camera’s eye at bay and also wrack up precious real-world testing. Engineers also doubled important validation metric to ensure components last and last longer than ever before. The work also helped make sure warranty targets were met.
In our first test of the 2019 Silverado 1500, we found the ride and handling and the cargo bed’s functionality a generation ahead of the competition, and that marks Herrick’s job a well-done one. And the trailering technology onboard will make a seasoned tower out of any newbie that climbs behind the wheel. It’s the interior where we found ourselves having mixed feelings.
Quite a bit banks on the new Silverado’s success. It drives profits and funnels cash into GM’s future projects, such as electric cars and self-driving cars. And both are major priorities at GM right now.
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SPACE TRUCKIN
Love that truck. I don’t remember another Silverado that had so much coverage as this model. GM has done a great job of keeping it on front pages throughout the entire launch. It really works when information is trickled out slowly bit by bit instead of dropping it all out there and lose the interest by the time vehicle hits dealerships. I personally hate it because I want it all at once, but I understand why they do it that way these days.
I dont know how many trucks were tested, but I would rather have 1 truck that traveled 31 million miles than 31 trucks that went 1 million miles. I want something that lasts.
And why does everyone b*tch about the interior? I think its the best part of the new truck.
Only people that never drove previous generation trucks complain about this interior. Last gen interior is very functional, comfortable and well put together. This truck’s interior is a better version of that.
That’s equal to 59 trucks driving 60mph for 1 year without stopping.
Greg do you own a Chevy truck or are you just here batch , the new 2019 Silverado ? Because you sound like Ford or RAM guy !
I don’t care about “tech” in a vehicle. Apple Car Play and a foot long video screen does not interest me. What does interest me is an interior that gives the feeling of comfort and luxury. I prefer solid feeling knobs and buttons that “click”. The GM interiors are functional,I drive a ’14 everyday and it works fine, but the materials and colors look anything like luxury or comfort. Black and charcoal are not colors that make one feel like they are riding in the lap of luxury. I cannot for the life of me believe that nobody else in the GM world would not like a black exterior truck with red leather interior and trim? Or maybe a white with blue interior? How about a tan or two tone tan and light brown like you get in European suv’s? GM will tell you their customers want this, I say GM tells their customers what they want. Why can we not have real leather with that wonderful natural smell like in a Ram Longhorn? Why not offer two tone paint? Why not offer the 6.2 across the board? Why not offer the 2 inch lift across the board? I guess to sum it all up, why not be class leading instead at the back of the class?
Oh, the foot long video game in the Longhorn is an option. 8-inch is standard. I found that out on the test drive Labor Day.
I am sick to literal death of the all black interiors everything has these days. And the GM trucks are the worst offenders here. 99% of the trucks sitting on lots have all black lung interiors. Going over to the Ram store reveals gorgeous two tone browns, a blue and white and several grey/black combinations. The F-150 has greys, tans and black plus the Raptor which offers grey or orange interior accents.
The last gen also had “millions of miles of testing”, which apparently wasn’t enough to figure out the pig shakes and the AC condenser will fail prematurely. Or that actual adults might sit in the back seat who would need headrests.
‘Quite a bit banks on the new Silverado’s success. It drives profits and funnels cash into GM’s future projects, such as electric cars and self-driving cars. And both are major priorities at GM right now.’
I’m just so confused as to why they would take the profits from such a successful vehicle and dump it into a vehicle nobody wants. It would be nice to see them take that money and put it back into developing the most badass Silverado there was. But it seems as though they’d rather shoot themselves in the leg and continue to walk with a limp.
I love the new 2019 Chevy and GMC trucks best looking trucks out there….
I like the new 2019 trucks. However I think they dropped the ball in the interior, especially on high end 65-70K versions. The power-trains introduced so far are also a bit disappointing. The 4.3 V6 is carryover, the 5.3 AFM carry’s over on lower trims, the revamped DFM 5.3 and 6.2 engines see zero power increases and MPG mostly stays the same across the board and actually dropped on certain AFM trucks which is utterly ludicrous.
With that said I do like the styling, the bed and towing improvements and the greater attention to rear seat passengers with greater space and rear vents etc. With the way the EPA has been punishing GM on MPG ratings of late I’m not expecting any miracles with either the 2.7 turbo or the new diesel. Boy do I hope I’m wrong about this.
GM has developed this new, larger full size truck and had to incorporate as many aerodynamic enhancements as possible just to offset it’s larger size. That is why to this point the new DFM system appears to only show a small improvement in mpg, and the older AFM system appears to show a drop in mpg.
If you had two spheres of similar weight with one of them being larger. Say a baseball and softball, obviously the larger one (softball) would have more aero drag. Even if that softball had the same hardness as the baseball. No one would be able to knock it out of the park the way GM hopes that it has with these new trucks.
I like the truck very much and i really don’t care if the interior is lovely because i am buying a truck not a Cadillac…..