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The Chevy Silverado may not have the aggressive styling of the Dodge Ram or Nissan Titan or even the Toyota Tundra or the 2009 Ford F-150, but its upright design may be considered both bold and appealing to its faithful customers, and they buy hundreds of thousands of Silverados each year. We think it's quite attractive.A raked windshield (angled at 57 degrees) and careful aerodynamic and body-building engineering make the truck both quieter on the inside and more fuel efficient. GM boasts that the Silverado and GMC Sierra are the first full-size trucks to offer both 300 horsepower and EPA highway ratings of 20 miles per gallon (2WD 5.3-liter V8 on gasoline). The large, gold Chevy bowtie badge is set against a wide, three-bar chrome grille. The grille is flanked by stacked headlights sporting the latest reflector optics. The front bumper incorporates rectangular fog lights. The hood has a wide power dome. Bulging front fenders wrap over the front wheels and incorporate the headlights within their forward sweep. Likewise, the rear quarter panels are punctuated by large faired wheel wells. The rear view of the truck features stacked tail lights on either side of a tall tailgate that has a sculpted center section that mimics and inverts the shape of the fender flares. Built on what General Motors calls its GMT900 platform, the Silverado shares much of its underpinnings with the Tahoe SUV, though the pickup gets a unique rear suspension and a frame section 245 percent stiffer than that of the SUV. The current Silverado chassis is far more rigid than that of the previous-generation, helping reduce the gap between the truck bed and passenger compartment and between fenders and bumpers. This allows suspension components to be designed for improved ride and handling characteristics as well as allowing enhanced aerodynamics and fuel efficiency. The front suspension uses coil-over shock absorbers (rather than torsion bars) and the rack-and-pinion steering gear is mounted to the engine cross member to provide enhanced control and feedback. The Silverado benefits from a rear axle design featuring shocks absorbers mounted outboard and more upright for better dynamic control than that of the previous-generation models.
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