mrbflat

I don't post much because my life is always busy with work, family, hobbies, honey do list, etc, but I wanted to share a few thoughts on my ownership experience as I am approaching 70K miles on my 2021 Silverado RST 5.3 Crew Cab 4wd. I still love the truck!! Since I bought it, the truck has done everything I bought it to do as a truck. Towing - In the past 4 years, I have towed a 32ft 7k lbs travel trailer at least twice a year, including two interstate trips of GA to SC and GA to TN (approx 500 miles round trip each time). Even with the family and all of our luggage, the truck still performed great on the highway and even through the Tennessee mountains. Of course, I am never that guy who says "I didn't even know the trailer was back there", but I definitely always felt like the truck was perfectly capable to handle the load safely on each trip. In addition to several trips within the state, I drove to Pigeon Forge TN and Savannah GA with no issues at all. Adding tow mirrors helped, but other than that, I have not made any modifications for towing. Hauling - I have made several trips hauling various items, and as we all know, it is just one of the joys of truck ownership when you can pull up to Home depot and load bags of river rock for your landscaping project, or pick up the wife from Home goods when she finds a piece of furniture and she doesn't have to schedule a delivery date. I did add a few extra cargo tie down points in the bed, and I keep a set of rachet straps in the cubby behind the back passenger seat. 4WD - Living in GA, I am sure most people have heard the horror stories of how terrible things get with the least amount of snow. Unfortunately, it is often accompanied with ice, resulting in accidents and stranded vehicles. On the last snow event we had last month, I ended up working that day and having to traverse my way home.. approx 50 miles. This was my 1st time really putting the 4wd to the test, and it performed perfectly. It took 5 hrs to get home, but I was able to use the 4wd to get through several areas of snow, ice, hills, etc, where cars and even some trucks got stuck. Again, I actually still have factory tires approaching 70K miles, so it was not even with snow tires or chains or any changes to tire pressure. Even though I grew up in the Washington DC area, and have experience driving in snow/ice conditions, I didn't do anything to the truck except place it in 4wd HIGH and drive carefully and slowly. Accident - about 2yrs ago, I was hit by another car on my way to work. I went through all the emotions of being hit in the only BRAND NEW vehicle I have ever bought, let alone my dream truck. After getting over it and being thankful I was not seriously injured, I also endured several months of waiting for my truck to be repaired. Even after a pretty hard hit and front end damage, the truck has still given me no issues at all. Unfortunately, I am sure I took a hit in the resale value, but oh well, nothing I can do about that. No big deal (things I just accept at this point) - the dim map lights, turning off the auto stop every trip, no visor lights, door dings and rock chips, column shifter, no sunglass holder, etc Overall driving impression - I use my truck as my daily driver, commuting to work 3 days a week, 100 miles round trip, and for all family trips as well. It still drives great, with plenty of power and acceleration for my taste, especially in the SPORT mode which I typically drive in 90% of the time. I also get pretty decent gas mileage, close to 19/20 mpg on average. On the highway or in city driving, it rides very comfortably, although it does not do well over bumps/potholes, etc. Overall, I still really love the truck and it has been worth the cost.

Thanks man. That does answer my question. So, you do basically have to enable every single time you enter the truck, essentially just like I have to toggle to SPORT mode for the trans, or say, disable the AUTO STOP. I am just surprised they stay on indefinitely until the power save kicks in. (Now that you mentioned it, I just checked the manual again, and it says they stay on for 20 minutes.) I wish it was a one time enable, similar to the Auto Headlights, or say, the transfer case settings, where, once you set it, it remains until you change/disable them.

Hey guys, Until recently, I had actually forgot that my truck had the cargo lights. Looking in the manual and online, I do see the button to "ENABLE" the Cargo lamps, but I am not clear if this has to be done every single time I start the truck, or if they should stay enabled once I push the button just once. Also, how long do they stay on after exiting the truck? Thanks in advance.

Wow, these are some outstanding numbers for a full size pickup!!! I think some of my gains are from old age.... you hit 50 and things just change, haha, my driving habits have definitely progressed to the slow lane. I knew I was over the hill when I found myself riding for days without having the radio on, and I pay for XM!

OK, sure, it's just over a 25 mile range, but it's still the best I've seen in the 28k miles on the truck so far. I'm not sure what changed, but recently my mpg just seems better. Overall, I'm still at 17.9. I'm curious what others have seen as their highest recorded mpg. I hit this 32mpg on my way home from work last week, it's actually 110 miles round trip from home to the office and back, mostly on back roads and in sport mode, using cruise control at about 60mph most of the time.

I know this post is old, but I am hoping you guys get the notifications when someone replies. For the folks who have the Aierxuan seat covers, any tips on fitting the "discs" through the seat gap so they stay in tight?

Well just to circle back with an update on this... $25K in damages (but no frame damage), and my truck is still at the body shop, awaiting final reassembly. At this point, I just try not to even think about it (which begs the question... how am I writing this? haha)

Well the body shop has come back and said there is no frame damage after performing their measurements. Now it's just a waiting game for all the parts to come in. I will be lucky to have my truck back in January..smh...yes, things could be worse but it definitely sucks paying the note every month and I have not driven my own truck since October.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I feel a little better about the damage and my expectations of the hopes of getting back a truck that is as close to pre-accident as possible. The body shop still has not touched it though.. pretty big backlog at the moment, and who knows how long parts will take once the estimate is complete. At this point it will probably spill over in to 2023... smh

It was in fact raining that morning. I was in the left lane, and the other driver was merging from the on ramp. They completely lost control, probably overcorrected, and as you can see, their hood hit head on with my passenger side front bumper, then theri car slammed into the side of my truck. So, the Nissan was basically coming sideways across both lanes when it slammed into me hood first. My airbags did not deploy, but the Nissan's did ( a total loss I am sure). I am really worried that my truck might have frame damage.

Well, this is just great. The first vehicle I ever bought brand new off the lot, and one year into ownership I get hit by someone. I was driving to work Monday morning and got hit by a driver who lost control and slammed into my passenger side front bumper and then the entire passenger side. My airbags did not deploy. So now I am stuck without my truck until everything can be sorted out with the insurance claim. Life is grand!

Wouldn't you need to have a power inverter for that to work? My truck didn't have this option either, so I just bought a cheap one for whenever I need to charge my laptop while away from the office/home, and it works fine for my needs. Limited-time deal: FOVAL 150W Power Inverter 12V DC to 110V AC Converter with 3.1A Dual USB Car Charger https://a.co/d/6y70don

A few more pics

Picked up a Gator ETX roll up tonneau cover during the Amazon prime sale. Fits nice, and I swear my MPG has improved.