“Bro, $72,000 and the passenger doesn’t even get a power seat!?
“For something so big, the interior is cramped, too.
“And the stitching is all off.”
At first hello, my friend was not a fan of the latest Chevy Silverado LT Trailboss.
He didn’t hide his feelings. I still drove us to breakfast. He paid.
Can't argue with his points, …
Nightmare, more like. If I cared about off-roading, it would be in something far smaller and lighter. Which pretty well sums up my attitude on vehicles in general.
I think I'm at the point where I have a hard time taking a "full-size" truck (and the owners) seriously these days. They're really just for people who want to be seen. The only off-roading that will be done with most is a gravel parking lot. The loading height is too high. Its just performative masculinity, in my opinion. An 80's C-10 is the size of a previous generation Colorado. I can put a standard pallet between the wheel wells in my Frontier and will tow more than most will ever attempt with their full-size.
If your truck has 4 doors and a 4 foot bed you don't need a truck, you need a minivan but you're too much of a coward to admit it.
Christ, are we seriously doing the "nobody needs a truck" thing AGAIN?
You know what else nobody needs? A berkeleying sports car. Stop judging other people's choices.
Yeah IMHO the wheelbase is just too long at 157" for anything much more challenging than a forest service road. Our 100 series Land Cruiser is downright compact at 112" comparatively and it doesn't exactly feel small on the trail. For reference a modern 4-door Wrangler has a wheelbase of 118", but also has much shorter overhangs than just about anything on the market now and definitely shorter than the badonka-donk rear end on our Cruiser.
Is a crew cab pickup my dream off roader?
yup
I have spent most of my "motorsport" times offroad. Trails and 4x4 stuffs was and still is my interest. Most of the time I was in one of a few different "small" nissan trucks. Crew cab and extended cab. Same wheelbase so not a huge difference. All reasonable capable with good driving. Later I got to use a 4x4 tundra. Not massively larger than the "small" trucks but certainly noticeable, not in a good way. Mostly the weight difference was noticeable. Turning radius not as good.
After the Tundra i used a f-150 crew cab 3.5 ecoboost 4x4(which I loved driving). Bigger than the tundra, heavier and way too bouncy off road. Its hard to negate the weight when you are bouncing around and have it feel good.
for my wants offroad, its gonna be a smaller, lighter vehicle.
I also feel small is better for off roading; that' why I have a dirt bike.
As for the truck in question; I still can't wrap my head around a 70K pick up truck. Whenever I've had a truck it's been a workhorse and I expect it to get dings and scratches.
I like the idea of full size trucks off road. I often dream of getting a copart F150 and adding a Factory Five XTF Stage 1 kit.
I second the Factory Five XTF package for the F-150 as well.
If you think that's big... my son just bought a 2500HD. He thinks it's awesome. I think it's insane
“For something so big, the interior is cramped, too.
That's what i say about his wife's TLX. For such a large car it has a ridiculously small interior, and useless trunk. They bought it as a family car, but if they had more than one child it would be too small.
In reply to AClockworkGarage :
If your truck has 4 doors and a 4 foot bed you don't need a truck, you need a minivan but you're too much of a coward to admit it.
That is absolutely ignorant. One, the trucks that we are talking about have beds around 6' plus or minus (the one in the article can be had with a 69" or 79" bed.) Having owned a crew cab truck with a short bed for over 20 years, I can confidently tell you that it has carried hundreds of loads that I never would have dreamed of putting in my excellent for it's intended use Sienna. I can't recall a single time that I couldn't transport anything that I needed to because the bed was too short. They make/made long bed crew cab trucks, but they didn't sell well because the trucks were too damn long. For the last 20 years the vast majority of the truck buying public has voted with their dollars that they prefer a larger cab with a shorter bed.
David S. Wallens said:
Is a crew cab pickup your dream off-road vehicle?
Nope, not even close
For offroad, I also like small. On the Utah trails, my vehicles (an XJ and an old Land Rover) can take lines that a modern lifted/widened Wranger cannot.
Example - while driving Top Of The World a couple of years ago, i was in this.
And I spend a lot of time having to wait for these guys to lumber through. They had fewer options.
If I was to drive a pickup offroad (like, really offroad, not a dirt road), I'd want something like a Comanche or an older Tacoma at most. I kinda would like a Comanche :) I definitely would not like something that's 7" longer (!) than my 2500 crew cab with a 6'4" box.
According to the Chevy site, the Silverado Trail Boss does NOT get a (standard or optional) locking rear diff. I get why it's offered and sells, but it's a 'maller-crawler special' not an 'off-road special'. Even being the size, I would not choose that trim for meaningful off-roading, and the 2" lift mostly just makes it worse for daily, towing, and hauling.
However, I also drive a full-size, 4-door, short bed truck, and I absolutely love it because it's far and away the best tool for my needs. Anybody who thinks it's an ego or image thing when they see me driving it alone with an empty bed can berkeley right off.
This is my ultimate offroad vehicle. What you need for Armageddon.
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