2023 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Bison First Drive: All the time Use Safety

Clearly, Chevy by no means meant any of the Silverado’s trim ranges—even Bison—for the sort of off-roading I subjected this poor brand-new loaner truck to at Rowher Flats. Somewhat, the ZR2 and Bison get simply sufficient of the goodies to make fast work of quick sections the place a bit of additional care would possibly show smart, whereas excelling as an alternative at higher-speed enjoyable on dust roads because of the damping of the Multimatics.

Need to tow? The ZR2’s grunting V8 and leaf springs can deal with that job. Need to roar across the ranch in easy consolation, ventilated seats and music blasting? Silverado, no drawback. Actual rock crawling? Possibly a Bison, however perhaps hedge that wager with some larger tires and a raise to associate with the AEV upgrades.

The place Ford constructed the Raptor for hard-charging dune-running and Ram doubled down on the madness with the supercharged Hemi-powered TRX, Chevrolet ticked down the record and noticed that no person supplied fairly the proper combo of a naturally aspirated V8, leaf springs, towing capability, and each entrance and rear lockers. At across the identical value as a ZR2, a poverty-spec Raptor “solely” will get a 450-horsepower twin-turbo V6. A Ram Energy Wagon truly slots extra correctly towards the 2500-series HD ZR2. And a Toyota Tundra with the I-Pressure Max hybrid seemingly bets massive on effectivity, slightly than all-out functionality.