Silverado Trail Boss 10k Mile Review

[z1boss]

Having just passed 10k miles this week, I thought I would offer my opinion on how I feel about the truck so far.

 

Background:

I special ordered my LT Trail Boss back in May 2018 and picked it up in September 2018.  I have almost every option that you can order on it except the sunroof (would have delayed my production at the time).  My truck was built the very first week of production (7/09/2018) and is one of only a small handful of Red Silverados, if not the only one, to receive the Gideon/Dark Atmosphere leather interior as that color was changed to not an option for Red Silverados on the second week of production.  Within the first week or two of receiving it, I installed a custom Electronic Cutout System for my exhaust, Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ 33.5x12.5R20 mud tires, an Undercover Ultra Flex tonneau cover, and vinyl wrapped the scoop portion of my hood.

 

Review:

Honestly, I can't believe its been 10k miles already and those miles have flown by without any major issues.  I will start with the few issues I have experienced.  For the first two months, I had Bluetooth connectivity issues where my phone would randomly disconnect and reconnect multiple times a day.  This was fixed in November by software update V507 and has not reoccurred, knock on wood.  I also have had Service ESC and Service Parking Brake lights (not at the same time) come up randomly a couple of times but they went away on their own the next time I started the car.  Other than these two issues, the truck has been great.   It has 110% met and exceeded my expectations.  It drives great, its quiet (when the exhaust cutout is closed), its smoother than my K2 was, and it turns a lot of heads.  The interior is beautiful and well laid-out, with tons of room in the back seat (Crew Cab) and very comfortable seats for long trips.  The Bose surround sound with subwoofer kicks butt and delivers crystal clear, crisp sound.  The Blind Spot monitors and Rear Traffic Alert (Safety Package I) work great and have saved my butt many times already.  The 5.3 is much quicker and more agile than my K2 was and the 8 speed is a definite improvement.  The new Dynamic Fuel Management is seamless and unnoticeable.  I am averaging 14-16 mpg city and 16-18 mpg highway, with an all-time high of 21 mpg on a specific highway trip I took and that's pretty good in my book for a lifted brick with mud tires.  This past weekend I went on a ski trip in Up North Michigan (Harbor Spring, MI) and we received 10-12 inches of snow in the 3 days I was there on top of the 2 ft that was already there.  The Trail Boss handled it with no issue and made it up the steep, winding, snow-covered road to our hill-side cabin like it was driving on straight, dry pavement.  I have yet to do any major offroading but during the light offroading that I have done here and there, it performed excellently.  I did punch the gas on one little hill and got some air (about 1-2 ft off the ground) and the suspension absorbed the landing nicely.  I look forward to testing its capabilities more this summer.  The short bed is much bigger in this generation and I honestly haven't noticed any reduced space issues when loading my truck (my K2 had the standard 6.4 ft bed).  Also, the oil is much easier to change since they freed up the space around the filter and plug, making oil changes a breeze.  Overall, I am very blessed to have this great truck and couldn't be happier.  No one pressured me to write this review, nor did GM have any contact with me about it.  This is my honest opinion on how I feel about the truck and I hope this review helps anyone thinking about buying one to make the right decision for them.

 

If anyone has any specific questions at all, please feel free to ask.

Edited January 30, 2019 by z1boss

[DTB]

I like the black vinyl on the hood.  It’s a nice contrast,especially with the black front end. 

[wesd]

Great looking truck and well written review.   It's nice to hear something positive about these trucks.  Why did GM take away the brown interior for that combo?  it's a great looking combo.  

[GMC-AT]

V507 seemed to correct many tech bugs the early build trucks were having.  My truck just updated to V509 last week -  but not sure that update fixes. 

[z1boss]

38 minutes ago, wesd said:

Great looking truck and well written review.   It's nice to hear something positive about these trucks.  Why did GM take away the brown interior for that combo?  it's a great looking combo.  

Thanks!  No idea.  I found out after the fact.

Edited January 30, 2019 by z1boss

[aha1987]

Great post. Custom Electronic Cutout Exhaust... Did you do it yourself? If no, what brand and where did you order? I'm assuming you can turn on/off the exhaust?

[z1boss]

23 minutes ago, Aycock1987 said:

Great post. Custom Electronic Cutout Exhaust... Did you do it yourself? If no, what brand and where did you order? I'm assuming you can turn on/off the exhaust?

Thanks.  I had a muffler shop weld it in and it is controllable via a remote key fob with two buttons.  Here is a post I wrote on it a few months back.  Scroll down on the first page, there should be a few videos and a write up with links to the product

 

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by z1boss

[Chris walker]

I really like you Gideon/light gray interior. I've steered clear of it due to my perception that it would get dirt and stay dirty. Have you been able to avoid stains?

Edited January 30, 2019 by Chris walker

[z1boss]

18 minutes ago, Chris walker said:

I really like you Gideon/light gray interior. I've steered clear of it due to my perception that it would get dirt and stay dirty. Have you been able to avoid stains?

Honestly, if you spend about 1-2 minutes every 2-3 weeks maintaining it, it stays nice and clean.  While many people will recommend different types of products, I have been using Resolve High Traffic Carpet Cleaner (can be purchased at Walmart) for everything inside my car.  Some may think that a carpet cleaner isn't the right product for leather seats or plastic door panels, but it works great every time and does not take any color off.  I spray a little bit into a microfiber cloth and rub it into each seat, spending about 15-20 seconds per seat and it brings them right back to looking clean and new.  I do the same with the door panels, dash, etc.  This maintenance makes a huge difference and it has been working successfully for me for many years now.  I also have the GM accessory all-weather complete floor liners that cover 99% of the carpet so I never have to deal with dirty carpet, only with the floor mats.

[GMC-AT]

alright... enough about truck. Post of pic of what's really important -  the 74 Trans Am SD

[f8l vnm]

That’s a bad ass looking truck. Those tires look fantastic under that truck 

[z1boss]

4 hours ago, f8l vnm said:

That’s a bad ass looking truck. Those tires look fantastic under that truck 

Thank you!

[FirstAscent]

That’s awesome about the interior color, I didn’t realize that. That’s a pretty cool feeling.

And 10k already, good to see you using it! By tomorrow I should be hitting the 500 mile mark on mine haha.

Good all around review, thanks for the write-up!

[towdog333]

Quote

Where did you the black decal for the hood.? I got the black Chevrolet letters for the tailgate

 

[z1boss]

4 minutes ago, towdog333 said:

Where did you the black decal for the hood.? I got the black Chevrolet letters for the tailgate

That's custom.  I had a good vinyl wrap guy wrap the center scoop indent in high gloss black.