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My first memory of a pickup truck was my fathers green 1950 Chevrolet pickup. It was one of the vehicles he used to move my family from my birthplace in Georgia to our new home outside of St. Louis. This grueling trip with two children was uncomfortable but the truck did its work of moving furniture and family. It was a great work truck with character enhanced by bulbous fenders, chrome grill and side quarter glass. But it was never a practical family car. Loud and rough, with an AM radio as the only creature comfort these trucks were made for work not play. As I recently drove the new 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, I was struck by how different this pickup was from the one of my youth. The Silverado is as plush as any luxury vehicle with better audiovisual equipment than I have in my house. A far cry from any truck of just a few years ago, the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab combines luxury with utility. But as new and fresh as the idea of adding luxury with four doors and a short bed to a light duty pickup is, Chevrolet is the last to introduce this class of truck. Frankly with market share Chevrolet and sibling GMC has in the truck world, it is surprising that the Crew Cab came only as a Heavy Duty pickup until this year. Dodge, Ford, Nissan and even Toyota have all had four-door "sedan trucks" on the market. I call them a sedan truck because people use them like a four-door sedan rather than a truck. Not everybody needs a pickup truck, but all guys want a truck. Even if we seldom haul or tow, driving a truck is often a vehicle of choice. Alan Jackson sings, "there's something women like about a pickup man". Whatever the attraction, last year light trucks outsold cars in the United States 53.6% to 46.4%. The 2004 Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab removes the excuse for not buying a truck. This is a truck you can live in. Front seats have a sofa like quality of comfort and individual fit. Everywhere you look, there is a storage place for cell phones, instruments, papers, work orders or even lunch. The interior of this truck is built for those who work, play and spend a substantial amount of their lives behind the wheel. While the rear seat area is slightly smaller than some of the competition, most families will use this truck for smaller children rather than full size adults. Can you imagine how much more enjoyable it would be to travel from Georgia to Missouri with children mesmerized by the available rear seat DVD player and wireless headphones? XM satellite radio to keep dad entertained while mom enjoys the comfort of heated leather front seats? The Vortec 5300 V8 produces 295 horsepower and 330 lbs. ft. torque providing the power to tow an 8400-pound trailer or carry over a ton and a half of supplies in the bed. Why do we still refer to this as a "half ton pickup?" With the successful new facelift of the Ford F-150 some people say that the styling of the Chevrolet Silverado is getting somewhat dated. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I like the traditional design of this truck. Two drawbacks of owning a crew cab pickup as a family vehicle, remains fuel economy and handling size. I was not comfortable trying to find a parking spot at the mall. The same challenge presented itself at the grocery store, as you need almost 47 feet to turn a circle. Side mirrors that tilt down in reverse and electric folding side mirrors are designed to make parking easier but this is still almost nineteen feet long and over six and a half feet wide. If you love trucks, but need a car the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1550 Crew Cab can be a comfortable compromise.
2004 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 2WD Crew Cab LT
5300 V8 Engine
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©2003 - Stan Risener