Numbers Game

Want To Make A Big Statement? Then Look No Further Than The Chevrolet Silverado.

- Fraser Stronach

WHOEVER first said, “I haven’t met a Newton metre I don’t like” probably just jumped out of a Chevrolet Silverado. When driving the big Chev you get to meet lots of Newton metres, some 1234 of them, in fact! That’s right, the Silverado claims a mind-boggling 1234Nm (at just 1600rpm) from its 6.6-litre turbo-diesel V8. It also makes a healthy 332kW and only needs 2800rpm to do so. Did someone also say, “there’s no substitute for cubic capacity?”

These big numbers are tempered by the fact the Silverado is big everywhere – and heavy. It’s more than six metres long, nearly two metres tall and weighs in excess of 3500kg, which brings its power-to-weight and power-to-drag ratios some of the way back to the field.

POWERTRAIN AND PERFORMANCE

FIRE UP the Silverado’s big diesel V8 and, sure, it sounds like a diesel and it sure sounds big, but otherwise it’s remarkably quiet and refined. Much quieter than the 4.5-litre V8 diesel in an LC79, even if the Toyota is more a familiar yardstick rather than a direct competitor.

Once underway, the big V8 continues to impress with its refinement and general civility, but even more so with the supremely effortless manner in which it dismisses every driving duty. Steep hills? In the Silverado’s playbook, they don’t even remotely exist.