What kind of vehicle is the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500? What does it compare to?
The 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 full-size pickup truck vies for king of the trucking hill with the bestselling Ford F-150, comfortable Ram 1500, redesigned Toyota Tundra, and value-oriented Nissan Titan.
Is the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 a good truck?
Review continues below
Last redesigned for 2019, the current generation slipped in our rankings due to its cinder-block styling, uninspired interior, and a lack of standard safety features. Chevy aims to address many of those concerns with the 2022 refresh, but we’ll withhold our verdict until we drive it. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What’s new for the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500?
Quite a lot is new on all but the base Work Truck, Custom, and Custom Trail Boss trims. The five other trims—LT, RST, LTZ, LT Trail Boss, High Country—and the new off-road ready ZR2 model, spruce up their faces, update their interiors with a 13.4-inch touchscreen, add standard safety features, and offer GM’s Super Cruise limited hands-free driver-assist system.
Changes to the outside are modest. The wide, blocky front fascia remains, as if Chevy tried to stretch the upper and lower grille to the farthest corners before adding lights. The squinting headlights appear lower, and the creased hood dips down farther. Instead of twin bars framing the bow tie emblem or Chevrolet name, depending on trim, the badging sits above one bar in the slotted grille. That bar stretches like a barbell to C-shaped daytime running lights that animate upon approach, departure, or startup, Chevy said.
More significant changes take place on the interior of all LT and above models. The former 8.0-inch touchscreen that seemed to be swallowed whole by the long, horizontal dash gets swapped out for a 13.4-inch touchscreen. Unlike Ford and Ram’s portrait orientation, Chevy stretches the screen landscape-style to reflect the stretched width on the exterior of the truck. It appears canted toward the driver, like a winged cockpit, yet still in visual line with the upper glovebox and vertical vents on the passenger side. The capacious center console can be equipped with an electronic gear shifter, instead of the standard column-mounted shifter. The top High Country trim—Chevy’s version of GMC’s Denali trim—dons open-pore wood trim, leather seats with special stitching, and stainless steel speaker grilles.
The powertrains mostly carry over from 2021, though they’re streamlined. Chevy didn’t disclose details for the Work Truck and Custom trims, but the base V-6 has been discontinued and the volume 5.3-liter V-8 now comes only with a 10-speed automatic transmission. The standard engine is an uprated iteration of the 2.7-liter turbo-4 that makes the same 310 hp but torque increases by 62 lb-ft to 420 lb-ft. The turbo-4’s max towing capacity of 9,600 lb is a 100-lb decrease from last year due to the additional weight of the 2022 updates. Coupled with an 8-speed automatic, the turbo-4 promises to be more refined than before, according to Chevy.
The 5.3-liter V-8 makes 355 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque and it can tow up to 11,200 lb with rear-wheel drive, or 10,900 lb with four-wheel drive. The 6.2-liter V-8 puts out 420 hp and 460 lb-ft, comes only with four-wheel drive, and can tow up to 13,300 lb. Both V-8s come with a 10-speed automatic transmission, as does the 3.0-liter inline-6 turbodiesel. The diesel carries over, but updates to the chassis and a larger rear differential boost towing capacity by 4,000 lb to 13,300 lb, same as the less efficient gas V-8.
The biggest news for the 2022 Silverado is the arrival of the ZR2 off-road model, which first appeared on the mid-size Colorado. The Silverado ZR2 comes with position-sensitive shocks that adapt to the terrain and spool valves with three different compression profiles for higher-speed overlanding and rock crawling. Electronic locking front and rear differentials and 33-inch mud-terrain tires should keep the ZR2 from ever getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. With red tow hooks, robust skid plates, distinct 18-inch wheels, and a new front fascia with a steel front bumper that improves the approach angle to 31.8 degrees, the ZR2 might become the rescue vehicle as well as the off-road truck. It’s powered by the 6.2-liter V-8.
The ZR2 only comes only as a crew cab model. Other Silverados can be had with a two-door regular cab, four-door extended cab, or a four-door crew cab. The Silverado boasts one of the roomier crew cabs and the longest beds among full-size trucks, and its bed is also offered in three sizes. An available power tailgate goes up or down with the push of a button on the gate, key fob, or from the cabin. If that’s not convenient enough, an available six-way power tailgate creates more versatility for hauling stuff in a bed that comes with 12 tie-downs.
Safety begets comfort, and Chevrolet corrected its biggest wrong from last year with the addition of standard safety features that include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, automatic high beams, and a rearview camera mirror. A more polarizing standard safety feature is GM’s Buckle To Drive feature that will not let drivers shift out of park until fastening their seat belts.
A new optional driver-assist feature limited to the top High Country trim is Super Cruise, which enables hands-free driving on more than 200,000 miles of mapped divided highways in the U.S. and Canada. Drivers must have their eyes on the road or the system will disengage. It can be used while towing, but only with the Advanced Trailering System composed of eight cameras.
How much does the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 cost?
Offered in nine trim levels this year, the 2022 Silverado’s pricing will be announced closer to its spring 2022 sale date. The 2021 base Work truck started at $31,000 for a standard cab and long bed, while the top High Country model came up just shy of $70,000. The additional equipment on LT trims and above will likely come with a price hike.
Where is the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 made?
Chevy builds the Silverado in Flint, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Silao, Mexico.