2024 Chevrolet Silverado HD LTZ Premium review VIDEO

Go big or go home. When it comes to tow vehicles, there really is no substitute for immenseness. In that regard, the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado HD LTZ Premium is quite peerless. It's big, with plenty of spec-sheet superiority for loading up and hitting the road.

And after our time behind the wheel, we reckon this could be the ultimate towing vehicle that money could buy in Australia.

It's likely overkill for many, and will no doubt incur the wrath of many for its footprint. But for those who are looking to tow something more than three tonnes in overall weight, this will likely do more, as well as doing it better and easier than anything else out there.

And it's not just down to the 6.6-litre Duramax turbocharged diesel V8, which has been tweaked for more output and offers significantly more torque than its arch rival, the Ram 2500. An excellent tow vehicle needs to handle the grunt through the gearbox, chassis and suspension. Plus, it needs to be comfortable and approachable as a driving experience.

In comparison to the petrol-powered Silverado 1500, this is the grown-up bigger brother. HD stands for heavy duty after all, and we've got a bigger vehicle in just about every respect. Bigger dimensions, a bigger powertrain, bigger capacities, and a much bigger road presence.

It's 6.3m long, 2m tall and 2.3m wide. The wheelbase is huge as well at 4036mm (159 inches). This makes it bigger than the Ram 2500, while also offering better value for money.

It also comes in at a lower price of $163,000 plus on-road costs. There's some variety in the Ram 2500 specification levels, but you're looking at over $170,000 for something comparable.

The Silverado is a more straightforward purchasing experience, with only one specification level available. The integrated tub storage (à la RamBox) isn't available here, but you do get the up-specced Tech Pack as standard, on top of the LTZ Premium trim level.

This bags you an excellent 360-degree camera system, 20-inch wheels, a 13.4-inch infotainment system, upgraded seven-speaker sound system, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, head-up display, heated and ventilated front seats with 10 ways of adjustment (and memory for the driver), heated rear seats, a sunroof and power rear window. There's also a heated leather steering wheel, rain-sensing wipers and headlights, and LED lighting all the way around.

Australian-delivered LTZ models also get Z71-spec Rancho twin-tube shock absorbers and a skid plate for some extra off-road prowess.

Being a shade over 6.3 metres long means the Silverado packs a big punch in terms of interior space, but doesn't have the option for six seats like you have in the Ram. So, there's room for five on board the Silverado HD.

But, the size of the tub is spectacular. It's a full half-metre longer than a regular dual-cab ute at 2089mm, and the width is equally impressive at 1814mm. There's 1317mm between the wheel arches, and there's 533mm of cargo box height available. At the risk of going into analysis paralysis, you've got a total of 1968 litres of space available in the tub.

But you'll need to cop the 16.1m turning circle, which can make for confronting U-turn, even on wider streets.

Some other details help to make the Silverado quite useable everyday, including a fancy electric tailgate, electric roller shutter (with its own keyfob no less), 12 tie-down points and a quality spray-in tub liner.

As you'd expect, the inside of the Silverado offers acres of space. The second row has an absolute overabundance of leg room, while head room is well catered for and rear seat comfort is great. There are cupholders, air vents and power outlets, as well as some useable storage underneath the seat bases. Or, you can flip the seats up to make for a more durable load space (if you've inexplicably somehow managed to fill up that gigantic tub).

Another interesting detail here is the storage within the seat backrests accessed by a small fabric pull strap. I'm not exactly sure why or how you'd use it, but it's there.

Up front, the near comical oversupply of storage and space continues. The centre console is utterly massive, and there's loads of space in the doors for stuff as well. There's a second glovebox in front of the passenger too.

The quality of the interior – which includes the right-hand-drive conversion of the Silverado – is top-shelf. There are nice materials, no rattles or loose trim pieces, and a premium feel despite all of the storage and space. It's nicely executed but also highly functional for everyday (road-tripping) use.

New for 2024 in the Silverado HD LTZ Premium is an updated infotainment display, which measures in at 13.4 inches and has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a decent-quality seven-speaker sound system. It's a high-definition system, with plenty of clarity built into the size of the screen and fast loading times.

Perhaps the best thing about it, though, is the crispy, detailed image that you can get from the 360-degree camera system. Looking ahead, overhead, down the sides and at the rear all helps to assuage any worries about the size of the vehicle. You also get a digital rear-view mirror, and I particularly liked the ability to virtually delete the trailer behind you when towing for some extra visibility. To do this, you'll need to have a trailer set up with a camera, as well as enter a trailer profile into the infotainment system.

While plenty of new models are coming out with internet connectivity, over-the-air update capabilities and companion apps, the Chevrolet Silverado HD LTZ Premium is currently missing this side of the equation for the Australian market.

Being such a large vehicle with a gross vehicle mass of up to 5148kg, the big Silverado HD LTZ Premium sits beyond the scope of what the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) covers. Therefore, it's untested and won't be tested in the future.

And being the larger heavy-duty ute in the Silverado range, this model goes untested in the American IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) as well.

There's no safety rating to reference, but this new big rig does come with a good array of standard safety equipment. There are six airbags inside the cabin and forward collision warning, but the autonomous emergency braking system only operates at low speeds.

Blind-spot monitoring – a helpful ally on long highway runs and on link roads – works in conjunction with the trailer (when the details are loaded into the system), and the adaptive cruise control can be dumbed down to the traditional style if that is what you prefer.

However, there are some gaps in the full repertoire of active safety technology, as can be seen in the below table. This is roughly on par with the only other comparable vehicles in Australia (from a factory-backed conversion, that is), the Ram 2500 and 3500.

The Chevrolet Silverado HD LTZ Premium doesn't come with any capped-price servicing program, so servicing costs will vary according to the discretion of the dealership (or wherever you take it, for that matter). Against 12-month or 12,000km service intervals, the Silverado HD can also alert drivers to requiring an earlier service depending on how hard it is working.

Unfortunately, this is all backed up by a paltry three-year, 100,000km warranty, which isn't good enough these days.

Insuring a big rig like this isn't cheap, with an online quote saying you'll pay $6079 for a year's coverage. This is a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

That 6.6-litre diesel V8 and 3.7 tonnes of unladen weight won't be a great choice for outright efficiency, but this big beast might not be as bad as you think. Improving the outputs of this fifth-generation Duramax diesel engine has also improved efficiency a little, but General Motors Special Vehicles in Australia doesn't list an official claimed fuel consumption.

How much fuel you use will depend mostly on how much you're towing. And if you're not towing, why are you driving this thing? We saw a number as good as 15.3 litres per 100 kilometres indicated on the 12.3-inch instrument cluster after some unladen highway driving, but that figure will undoubtedly head northwards as you load the vehicle up and use more of that available torque.

And don't forget about the AdBlue on this model of Silverado. A special urea fluid that reduces the level of NOx that a diesel engine produces is housed in a relatively large 26.5-litre tank. However, the consumption of this fluid will also increase as you load up the driveline with trailers and gear. So budget to top it up every now and then when you're on the road, and carry some extra fluid in the more remote areas.

If you're not used to a vehicle of this size, then there is a certain sense of trepidation when you clamber up into the cabin and look out over that monstrous bonnet. It's imposing, but you'll soon see that there is a good level of visibility from the driver's seat.

I've never been one to get excited about side mirrors, but the Silverado changed me in this regard. The ability to see is paramount when you're driving a big vehicle, and it's especially important when you are towing. These mirrors have built-in lights and cameras, and are split, with the lower portion on kerb-watching duty. But the pièce de résistance is certainly the electric sliding ability to extend the mirrors when needed.

Right, enough of that. Press down on the start button and listen to that big block of iron lazily rumble into life. It's reasonably quiet, but also a bit menacing.

Yank down on the column shifter into D and get moving. It only takes a few minutes of driving to sense a surprisingly refined steering set-up, which benefits from independent front suspension. It's a relatively simple, but proven, torsion beam set-up – something that went out of fashion in other utes years ago – but there is a clear benefit here in comparison to having a live axle up front and the correspondingly slow steering feel you get.

It's also a major point of difference to the Ram 2500, which has a solid front axle instead of an independent set-up. Traditionalists and four-wheel drivers will no doubt find the coil springs and live front axle appealing, but the improvement in steering feel and compliance is hard to go past for a rig that will likely spend most of its time on the blacktop with something hanging off the back.

Another area where the Duramax V8 has clear ascendancy over the equally loved Cummins in-line six-cylinder is overall outputs. While both have an amazing four figures' worth of newton-metre torque value, the Silverado's 1322Nm beats the 1152Nm of the Ram. There's a bigger advantage with power, though – 350kW for the Chevrolet outstrips the 276kW in the Ram.

This engine gets some changes, including a new turbocharger, redesigned pistons, new fuel injectors, higher fuel pressure and an overhauled cooling system (with better coolant galleries). On that last point, opening the bonnet shows you an enormous radiator and cooling fan. But what you won't see is a much larger separate oil cooler to keep operating temperatures in check.

Shawn Norwood, one of the many engineers behind the Silverado HD, told us in testing of the vehicle they performed a standardised test in America at Davis Dam at a certain temperature and holding a certain minimum speed. In this test, they pushed the Silverado HD LTZ Premium up to 20,000kg of gross combination mass. That's a huge amount of weight, and an incredible amount of heat to reliably dissipate.

The 350kW might sound amazing, but don't think the Chevrolet feels like a shove-you-into-the-seat accelerator. It's surprisingly rapid, but also feels kind of glacial and unperturbed as you plant the foot down. Revs stay down low and often hover just above 1000rpm as you cruise around. Because you've got 10 ratios available in the gearbox, it still revs very low when lumbering along on the highway.

The transmission is an Allison 10-speed unit, which performs in a surprisingly car-like manner overall. It's built to handle the huge amounts of torque on offer and has its own separate cooling system to manage heat when working hard. It doesn't shift quickly, but it's fast enough. And only when you really plant the foot does it downshift. Instead, it rides that huge wave of torque to maintain or build your progress.

In truth, a three-speed Torqueflite automatic gearbox from the 1950s would do the job with so much torque and flexibility on offer.

The ride quality of the Silverado HD – when unladen – feels unsurprisingly stiff overall. I say unsurprisingly because a soft and cosseting ride quality will yield no payload or towing. The front suspension is quite firm over bumps and imperfections, but also not harshly uncomfortable. And once you load up the Silverado HD with some equipment and gear, that ride quality will likely smooth out.

We did some towing with the Silverado HD LTZ Premium, and other than a bit of a hitching debacle in our test vehicle, we found the Silverado to be a hugely capable and confident tow vehicle. With 2.8 tonnes of trailer on the back, the suspension and gearbox barely broke a sweat, and the engine hardly noticed it was there.

There's more power than you'll ever need, and there was never a skerrick of tail-wagging-the-dog through hills, corners and bumps.

This speaks volumes about the suitability of the Silverado HD. While smaller, cheaper utes can certainly tow 2.8 tonnes as well, they cannot match this big dog in terms of feeling utterly in control of whatever is behind it.

For those who have a truck licence and want to tow more than 3.5 tonnes, then the Silverado could be the best choice from a limited bunch of light-truck capable vehicles. However, even if you don't max out the 3500kg braked towing capacity (but come close to it), you can understand why the Silverado is so appealing. It's not stressful like it can be in smaller tow rigs, and there's significantly less chance of being accidentally overloaded.

And with that in mind, let's crunch some numbers.

Firstly, the braked towing capacity of the Silverado can be either 3500kg or 4500kg depending on whether your towing set-up uses a 50mm ball or 70mm ball. However, there are gains to be had for those who have a light-truck or medium-truck licence. Keeping the Silverado HD LTZ Premium car licence-friendly as an NB1 vehicle means the GVM sticks to 4495kg, giving you a 733kg payload.

Tick the NB2 box and you'll need a truck licence, but your GVM blows out to 5148kg and gives you a much healthier 1386kg payload.

Even if you only tow 3500kg worth of trailer, consider going up to NB2 level for the additional available payload. This is because you'll need to account for the ball weight from the trailer as part of the vehicle's payload.

However, the jewel in the crown is the gross combination mass, which is as high as 12,474kg. You'll never need to worry about overloading the combination figure in other words, which is a potential problem with other tow vehicles.

Considering 4500kg and 5148kg doesn't come close to maxxing this number out, you'll need to invest in "third-party tow bar hardware, braking system & certification" (according to General Motors Special Vehicles) in order to increase the braked towing capacity of the vehicle. In other words, you're bleeding into Freightliner territory.

Don't forget, a truck licence also means you'll need to adhere to stricter alcohol limitations, more severe speeding fines, and pulling into the odd weigh station on the highway. But if you want the whole enchilada, that's what you'll need to do.

There are some clear advantages of this Silverado when compared directly to the American arch rival Ram. It's cheaper, bigger and packs a bigger under-bonnet punch. The solid front axle and classic inline-six configuration of the adored Cummins diesel will still be appealing to many, but the improved driving experience of the Silverado's independent front suspension would offer greater benefits for bustling on the blacktop.

The sheer majority of ute buyers simply don't need this calibre of tow vehicle. And if you get it regardless, you'll need to live with the compromises of size, manoeuvrability, and general consumption. But for those who need to actually tow big loads vast distances, I don't think there is anything else that will do it so comfortably and competently as this Silverado.

Choosing a spec level of Silverado is easy, considering there is only one in the range. There are some colours to choose between, but that's where your deliberation ends.

The Silverado HD LTZ Premium is a relatively niche vehicle in Australia, which is converted from left-hand drive into right-hook in a purpose-built production line in Melbourne. Deliveries have begun arriving at GMSV dealerships around the country, so those interested should get on the horn to their closest dealership to organise a test drive and check availability.

The next step on the purchase journey is to check the Chevrolet website for stock of your preferred variant. You can also find Chevrolets for sale at Drive.com.au/cars-for-sale.

We strongly recommend taking a test drive at a dealership before committing because personal needs and tastes can differ. We’d also recommend test-driving the Ram 2500, and also casting your eye over an Isuzu N-Series truck with similar capabilities.

If you want to stay updated with everything that's happened to this car since our review, you'll find all the latest news here.