 | Positives: Powerful Duramax turbodiesel, attractive inside and out, plenty of space for cargo and storage, packed with technology. |
 | Negatives: Hefty in the turns, too big for most garages, long brake-pedal travel. |
 | Bottom Line: If you need a heavy duty work truck but also want something that can be easily used as your everyday vehicle, the Silverado 2500HD should be near the top of your list. It's packed with modern technology, has powerful V8 engine options, and a comfortable cabin. The downsides are characteristic of the vehicle type itself and not so much about this specific model. |
| View Our 2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Overview |
Driving Experience
The Silverado 2500HD is a big truck and drives like it. It feels heavy and large on the road. That being said, it is easy to maneuver around town and simple to helm on the highway. You sit up high and can see where other cars are at all times. The 6.6-liter turbodiesel V8 is powerful, too. The 910 lb-ft of torque is most handy for towing, but it also helps launch the truck off the line with gusto when needed.
Ride Quality: Because the Silverado 2500HD is designed to tow and haul heavy loads, it has fairly stiff suspension. Pair that with the big 20-inch wheels on our tester, and you get a ride that can bounce you around a bit. Still, it's way better than past heavy-duty pickups, and the ride beats much of the competition. We loaded up the truck bed at one point during the week and noticed that the ride smoothed out even more.
Acceleration: The 6.6-liter turbodiesel is plenty powerful enough for this truck. Reported 0-60 times are a little over six seconds, which is more than fast enough for a vehicle of this size.
Braking: The large disc brakes with Duralife rotors do a good job slowing down and stopping the vehicle. The brake pedal offers good feel and is progressive, but it does have long travel, meaning you have to push the pedal down more than you expect.
Steering: The steering on the truck is on the heavier side. It’s reasonably precise for a heavy duty pickup, but we thought the Ford F-250’s steering was a little better.
Handling: The Silverado 2500HD doesn’t have much body roll. You can feel the vehicle’s heft in the corners, and you have to keep your hands busy on the wheel to keep it pointed in the right direction on a curvy road. Still, it handles surprisingly well and instills a fair of confidence for something so large.
Technology
The Silverado 2500HD is like a mobile workspace. It has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, numerous outlets and USB ports, and other features accessible via buttons on the dash and a touchscreen display. Chevy did a good job integrating as much technology as possible without making anything difficult to use.
Infotainment System: The 8-inch infotainment system is easy to used and feature-packed. It’s responsive and no features are more than a few layers deep. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as Bluetooth connectivity, make utilizing your phone’s capabilities easy as well. Wi-Fi was easy to connect to and worked well.
Controls: There is a good mix of buttons and touchscreen controls. The layout is easy to get used to and the touchscreen smooth and responsive.
Bluetooth Pairing: We experienced no issues connecting. The connection re-established automatically upon re-entry, as well.
Voice Call Quality: All calls were clear with no issues or interruptions.
Styling
The Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD is one of the better-looking big trucks out there. Its boxy, muscular shape should be appealing to a wide variety of people. In LTZ trim level with custom sports edition optional equipment, the truck is a big, eye-catching package.
Front: The front features a horizontally split grille with Chevrolet’s bowtie badge right in the center. It also has horizontally split front headlights and below that, simple square fog light housings with round fog lights. Atop the hood is a big air intake scoop. Overall, it’s a powerful and attractive face.
Rear: The rear of the truck is less dramatic. It features vertically oriented taillights, Chevrolet badging and an attractive blacked out bumper with integrated steps.
Profile: From the side you can see the Silverado has a classic, boxy pickup shape to it. The truck doesn’t sit up as high as some other heavy duty pickups, and the large 20-inch aluminum chrome wheels add a little flair to the model.
Cabin: The interior keeps with the exterior’s boxy look. The rectangular shaped, chunky dash is appropriate for the segment. Chevrolet did a good job of keeping things fairly simple. The dash doesn’t have a bunch of layers and the infotainment system fits right in. This is one of Chevrolet’s better-looking interiors because it avoids gaudy chrome and too many different materials.
Comfort
The Silverado 2500HD’s cabin is spacious, the materials and seats are of high-quality, and the cabin feels ergonomically correct for the most part. The only thing that bothered us is that the steering wheel isn’t directly lined up with the driver’s seat. It’s placed a little closer to the driver’s right side. We found this annoying at first, but after a couple days in the vehicle, it was hardly noticeable.
Front Seats: The front seats in our tester were leather-wrapped, supportive, and reasonably well-bolstered. People of all sizes will be able to adjust the seats into the right position, and the seats are comfortable for hours
Rear Seats: The rear seats don’t offer adjustment, but they do provide a supportive place to sit and more than enough leg, hip, and head room. Passengers should be very happy, and you can fit three people across without any problems.
NVH (noise/vibration/harshness): We noticed no errant noises in the Silverado. It feels solidly built. There is a bit of road noise, especially at highway speeds. It’s not enough to ruin the driving experience, and the audio system easily hides the road noise.
Visibility: Seeing out of the Silverado is easy in most situations. Front, side, and rear visibility are all good. In tight parking situations, it can be tough to tell where exactly the truck ends, and the parking sensors help considerably.
Climate: The dual-zone climate control system works fast to cool down or heat up the cabin to the selected temperature. The heated and ventilated seats also help and work quickly.
Safety
The IIHS has not yet rated the Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD. However, the NHTSA gave the truck a four-star overall rating. The truck got four stars in the frontal crash test, five starts in the side test, and three-stars in the rollover test.
IIHS Rating: Not yet rated.
Standard Tech: The Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD comes with a respectable amount of standard safety equipment, including airbags, stability control with trailer sway control and hill start assist, traction control, ABS, a backup camera, and OnStar services.
Optional Tech: Our tester came with some additional safety features, which included lane departure warning, forward collision alert, and safety alert seat.
Storage/Cargo
With towing and hauling as the main purpose of a vehicle like the Silverado 2500HD, it has to have plenty of space. The truck certainly delivers, with multiple storage bins and plenty of places to put things. When compared to the competition, the Silverado doesn’t exactly do anything special, it just does a lot of things right.
Storage Space: There’s a massive bin underneath the armrest large enough for a medium-sized purse or bag. In front of that, there are two cup holders and another bin that is good for other medium-sized objects and bags. We noticed that a fast food bag fits perfectly in this space. Right in front of the dash, there are two small ledges to set your smartphone on. The right side of the dash features two glove boxes, and the door pockets are generously sized.
Cargo Room: Inside the cab, the rear seat area can be used for cargo. The seats fold up and out of the way, providing plenty of room inside the cabin for boxes or other items you don’t want to put in the truck bed. The bed is large and easy to access thanks to an easy down tailgate and steps built into the rear bumper. Our tester came with a standard sized bed, but a longer version is available.
Fuel Economy
With the big Duramax 6.6-liter turbodiesel V8 chugging along under the hood, we didn’t expect much as far as fuel economy. The Silverado surprised us, though, and delivered an extremely reasonable combined mileage number.
Observed: 17.2 mpg.
Distance Driven: 1051 miles.
Driving Factors: We drove mostly long highway trips. About a quarter of the miles covered over the course of our week with the vehicle were city miles. In the city we managed about 12 mpg.
Audio
The premium Bose audio system with 7-speakers and a subwoofer is a near perfect system for this truck. It provides plenty of range and high-quality sound to the entire cabin.
Buying Guides 
