Live Post: May 8th/9th - 2014 Silverado First Drive

[Zane]

Mervz, did I miss these comments somewhere or just still finishing up? Thxs

Sorry, still finishing up.

[Stex]

Not rushing at all, just like your insight as you have driven the 900 model a lot. And wanted to make sure I did not want to miss it in another tread or something.

[Zane]

Not rushing at all, just like your insight as you have driven the 900 model a lot. And wanted to make sure I did not want to miss it in another tread or something.

I'll post a new thread in this forum when I'm done.

[j-ten-ner]

Did GM finally manage to put in a head light range control?

 

So many trucks out there with a trailer behind or just some stuff in the box and they're blinding the oncoming traffic so bad.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[Stex]

GMC dealer in SA has a '14 all terrain. Looked at it today but could not sit in it. I
was one of two customers. I stood by the truck for a good 15mins right in front
of glass show room. Not a sales guy/gal one even said hello, drop dead, get lost...I was dress nice (fairly
new wranglers, good boots and fresh pressed shirt???) straight from church
etc...?? This really torques me as my
dealer in Seguin is set to call me and let me drive one as soon as it gets in
next week. And these folks would not even walk 20 feet to even see if I was a
buyer or not.

Anyway, I was not impressed with the truck finish out. It was black and in the full sun. It showed strong orange peel paint covering all panels. I mean it was bad. They did put some anti-chip paint (like Toyota) on the lower door but ONLY about 2 inches up the
door sill and door bottom. It will still chip like heck up to the lower door chrome
strip that too looks cheap, as did the chrome strip on window sills.

The bed rail caps (black of course, were dull faded look
black) were too hot to touch. And will be such on a light colored truck too.
Should have left that idea with ford or as a dealer add on. The new fist in the wind air dam made the front end look massive. Will need those 5100 Bilstein to lift that front a little for sure. The black dash looked dull black with no pop. It can be a better black and still no glare. ...just did not like the all black monochrome high sitting dash. No idea how it feels inside (see above).

It had some small mud/splash guard in FRONT of the rear wheels. That looked odd. It must be an aero thing? The rear wheel well liners do not cover the frame etc like on my '09 SLT dealer installed ones. Hope they have an option for that. As you can see the muffler and the new second muffler behind the rear axle as it is set up now.

With the shorter front door and b-pillar moved forward, it
looks like the B-Pillar will be in play for the taller folks. On my '09 crew
cab, I have the seat almost all the way back (6'-3"or 4 or so) and the
B-pillar is not in my line of sight.

I am really wanting to like this truck, with the more T/Q
5.3 and better run out ride they talk about. But after seeing this example, I
think I will talk to Blackbear about my 5.3 on my '09 SLT and go back to
looking at adding a Camaro SS to bring back my muscle car memories of old.

[2018GMC]

I'll post a new thread in this forum when I'm done.

Did I miss the post? Link please

[Zane]

Did I miss the post? Link please

Nope, I've just been horrible at keeping a deadline and still need to finish. Proceed to flame away at me.

[j-ten-ner]

Nope, I've just been horrible at keeping a deadline and still need to finish. Proceed to flame away at me.

 

 

Slacker

 

loool

[Stex]

Well I will give you'all something to chew on in the meantime. I test drove a '14 Z-71 4x4 SLT 5.3 yesterday. Currently drive an 09 5.3 z-71 SLT 4x4 CC. My dealer friend was busy and just gave me the keys and said let me know what you think. They are in a rural area with the interstate going by so I got a mix of driving conditions.

 

First the powertrain. I could not really put a finger on the extra T/Q and H/P as I wanted to keep the revs below 3.5- 4 as the truck only had a few miles on it. But in easy off the line driving the shifts seemed to be quicker than my 09 SLT. Felt like less T/Q mgt. AND it did drop down to 5th from 6th with just a little accel pedal rather than the almost all the way to the floor on my 09. So I think the trk will be a little better in the engine/trans programing department. It still gets to 6th gear at 45 mph if you are easy go. But does drop to 5th much quicker than my 09. Tuning may still be required to please some.

 

Getting on the freeway required me to hurry due to the trk traffic in our oil boon area. It did get with it well but I could not tell a lot (but some) of difference over my 09. I think the 6.2 will still be a good option.

 

 

The cab is quitter than my 09 CC and the dreaded back right door/window is open road noise sound is gone. You still have noise but not annoying noise and the radio does not have to be turned up to hear it as you get to speed. The B-pillar being 2" forward did not bother me (at 6'4"). The instruments and screen and DIC will have a learning curve but I managed to find Willies place with out much trouble. $500 Bose option sounded better than my 09 Bose, which was only $350.

 

The z-71 ride on rancho shocks and Goodyear wranglers was OK. I would switch out for Bilstein 5100s and Michelin LTX right off the bat. I did that on my 09 and it rides (Firm not harsh and well controlled) much better than this trk. But the ride is good and not too harsh on rough road. Brake pedal is much firmer then my 09 and stopping is much improved.

 

Seating is good with perforated leather. The cooled seats are nice but perforated helps a lot. Shame perforated seats only come with the $650 air cooled option which is on top of the leather $325 leather seat option. And yes it did blow warm air in the back.

 

However I turned off the air cooled feature and the seats where not hot (black trk and 96 degree afternoon and dew point 74 weather). I would just go with the leather seats and save the $650. And I do not see where the seat construction will save wear and tear on getting in and out. I find them no more comfortable than my 09s or any worse.

 

The truck had the "I do not pay attention to my driving" warning package. It may be nice for some but when I backed the truck up to the bldg to park, the seat throbbing warning went off and scared the crap out of me. I would save the money on this option or put it towards the nav option (about the same money)

 

I find the controls and layout to be less ergonomic than my 09 SLT. The mirror and more forward door arm rest controls required a lean forward reach for me (my seat is well back as in my 09). The center stack is ok at best but still requires off road looks to operate. Do not care for the touch screen controls. Steering wheel controls will be much used. I still prefer the looks of my SLT light titanium dash and seats.

 

Overall the truck is good and I think once broke in the engine/trans will be better than the 900s. I did not see anything to make we want to trade today. A 6.2 double cab may do such. Will wait and see.

 

The prices are up. GM raised the base prices of the 900s about 12 months ago so that the base price of the new trucks would be close to the old ones. But option packages are changed and up in price. Where non-nav 900 SLTs 4x4 where $45000-46000. You are now looking at $48000 or so.

 

Note: The dealers biggest upset was that they had been asking for rear seat cooling and heating on the trucks. And still did not get it.

[2018GMC]

Thanks for sharing your detailed first drive of a '14!

[rbiggers277]

Excellent review STex. Thanks for sharing. I'm excited to try out these new 5.3s.