– Detroit, Michigan

Vehicle segments simply don’t get much bigger than pickup trucks in the U.S. Last year alone about 15 percent of the more than 17 million vehicles sold here were trucks, and around 2.2 million were fullsize haulers like the 2017 Chevy Silverado. Even in the face of the world’s best-selling thing for seeming centuries – the Ford F-150 – the half-million-plus Silverados that Chevy will sell in 2017 make it a massively important vehicle.

Like all trucks, the Silverado comes in a staggering array of trims, capabilities, and prices. Even when just looking at the half-ton 1500 model, we’re talking about a price spread from about $28,000 up to around seventy large. So, with a base price of around $47k, and a sticker of $63k, the Silverado 1500 4x4 LTZ trim is actually pretty representative of how these vehicles are purchased.

Pros

A truck that looks the part. Chevy designers know what customers like: big bold styling that is resoundingly masculine, and doesn’t stray too far from the blocky shapes we’re used to seeing on the Silverado. The looks can change a lot from one specific model to the next, of course, but as a whole the line is much more conservative of design than Ford and Ram competitors. The flat face and horizontally oriented grille, along with those square wheel arches, harken back to truck forms we’ve seen for decades. Oh, and I actually think the chrome, 20-inch wheels work here.

The real V8. The standard 5.3-liter V8 is a decent enough truck en...