Up Close With the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado: Finally as Nice as It Should’ve Been

When General Motors unveiled the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado a few years ago, we were impressed with its style, capability, nifty trailer technology, driving dynamics and fuel economy — everything but its interior. When asked why the cabin didn’t show any improvement in design or material quality over the last generation, I was told by Chevy truck executives that GM’s truck customers didn’t care about that — they wanted capability, durability and reliability. A luxe interior wasn’t on their list of demands, so GM didn’t deliver. But then the redesigned 2019 Ram 1500 blew everyone away with an interior that landed the 2020 model-year truck as our 2020 Luxury Car of the Year, and it made the Silverado look even more out of step. Sometimes you have to deliver a product that exceeds what the customers tell you they want, lest someone else do it before you do — exactly what Ram did. A crash program to give the Silverado a new interior was born, and for the 2022 model year, that’s exactly what we have.

Related: Chevrolet Updates 2022 Silverado Pickup With New Interior, Capabilities

A Dramatic Improvement

Let’s put it simply: This is the interior that the Silverado should’ve had at the last redesign, but hey, better late than never. At least Chevy learned a thing or two about crafting a nicer truck interior in the intervening years (the latest GMC Yukon Denali and Cadillac Escalade prove that), and the result is a dramatic improvement in the Silverado’s cabin. It feels like a fully modern cockpit with its massive 13.4-inch touchscreen. What other GM product uses a 13.4-inch touchscreen? None of them — except for the upcoming GMC Hummer EV, and I suspect, the upcoming Silverado EV as well. The entire dash is redone, and it looks dynamite with a mixture of appealing shapes in a horizontal orientation — the next step in interior design that we’d expected a few years ago. It doesn’t entirely solve the “sitting in front of a cliff” aesthetic that plagues the current truck, with a blocky and imposing dash that feels oppressively big, but it goes a long way towards creating a sensation of spaciousness. 

Material quality is up, too. There’s still a good deal of plastic inside, which is to be expected in any modern vehicle, but the touch points are all better quality; the dash feels as nice as it looks; and finally, the more luxurious versions, like the High Country, have an interior that better matches the sticker price. The real, open-pore wood on the High Country looks and feels proper, and unlike prior versions, it’s not inexplicably relegated to areas below your knees — it’s now up high, on areas like the upper glove box door where you actually see it. But there are other, smaller improvements as well, such as the return of height-adjustable seatbelts, and the replacement of the interior door latches with better-designed ones that don’t have sharp, unpleasant flashing on them. These kinds of things show that Chevy has had a serious go-through of the interior, looking for the areas it needed to improve, and has successfully executed those moves. 

Is the new interior as nice as the Ram 1500? At lower trims like the LT I sat in, I’d say it’s competitive. At the top end, while the ‘22 Silverado High Country is far better than the old one, it’s still not quite at the level Ram puts into its top luxo trucks, the urban-styled Limited and the “Wild West-themed” Limited Longhorn. It does, however, feel easily as nice as our top-of-the-line long-term 2021 Ford F-150 Limited. It does make me wonder just what GMC will do to the 2022 Sierra Denali, and if it will be as nice as the current Yukon Denali. 

Impressive Mechanical Updates

Chevy didn’t do much with the mechanicals of the ‘22 Silverado, but then, it really didn’t have to. The ‘21 model is an impressive machine with outstanding ride and handling dynamics (for a full-size truck, of course); exceptional capability with its variety of powertrains; the potential for good fuel mileage with the optional Duramax diesel engine; and some of the most amazing trailering technology we’ve ever seen. (It has a camera system that, when properly set up, makes the trailer behind you disappear in your rearview multimedia screen.) But what Chevy did update for 2022 is actually a little jaw-dropping.

First, the ability to wring 420 pounds-feet of torque out of the updated turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine is nothing short of astonishing. That’s a turbo four (admittedly, a big one) that pumps out more torque than any other standard truck engine on the market regardless of number of cylinders, and more than many optional V-8 engines as well. It beats the standard V-8s in the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra, the optional 5.0-liter V-8 in the Ford F-150 and the optional 5.7-liter V-8 in the Ram 1500. Know what would be really cool? If this engine found its way under the hood of the next-generation Chevrolet Colorado mid-size pickup, replacing the old 3.6-liter V-6 currently residing there.

Second, it upped the max towing capacity for the 3.0-liter Duramax turbo diesel engine by 4,000 pounds to a new maximum of 13,300 pounds (in rear-wheel drive configuration, with the max tow package). We always wondered why a torque-monster engine like that had such a low maximum tow rating, but we were told that it wasn’t possible (or desired by owners) to make it bigger. The engine certainly never seemed to mind towing any load I’ve dragged behind it, but apparently Chevy found a way to give the diesel a more appropriate rating. 

Finally, the addition of GM’s Super Cruise semi-autonomous hands-free driving system to the Silverado High Country is great. I’ve driven a prototype 2022 GMC Sierra with this feature and, even while towing a trailer behind the truck and on a closed, empty test track, it did quite well. We’ll see how well a semi-autonomous system works with a trailer behind these models in the real world sometime next year, so the jury’s still out.

Let’s Not Forget the ZR2

The first-ever ZR2 is not a direct answer to the Ford Raptor or Ram 1500 TRX. Those two Baja racers are still a level above the Silverado ZR2 in terms of equipment, capability and probably price (although prices haven’t yet been announced for any of the ‘22 Silverado lineup). The changes to the ZR2 are meaningful and useful, and should provide a more balanced truck than the Ford or Ram, allowing GM’s idea of “fun on Sunday, commute on Monday” theme for the ZR2 to be a more approachable one for Chevy customers. It is a bit surprising that the only powertrain available is the monster 6.2-liter V-8, especially given the new torque numbers for the 2.7-liter four-cylinder, and the fact that a Colorado ZR2 can be had with a diesel engine option (albeit a smaller four-cylinder diesel). Chevy hints that the ZR2’s 6.2-liter engine is the standard engine … for now. We’ll just have to see if it becomes available with other options in the future, after it launches.

All in all, the changes to the ‘22 Silverado are meaningful, significant and boost the truck’s competitiveness in the category. They’re an excellent response to the redesigned ‘21 F-150 in particular, and should keep the Silverado in the hunt for the next few years.

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