2027 Chevrolet Silverado HD, a Gorilla-Strong Pickup You Don’t Have to Wrestle With

The lightest Atlas stone used in international strongman competitions is 220 pounds. The heaviest is nearly 500 pounds. Extremely large, frighteningly strong people lift these big orbs onto shoulder-high plinths, and just watching it will give you an inferiority complex—and sciatica. Luckily, there’s a way to feel a similar sense of broad-shouldered accomplishment without spending a lifetime in the gym. Drive the 2027 Chevy Silverado Heavy-Duty (HD) pickup, preferably with a trailer attached, and you’ll get the same rush of endorphins as 2026 World Strongest Man champion Mitchell Hooper as he lifted spheres and repped deadlifts of over 800 pounds.

While the 2027 Silverado 1500 got a full redesign for 2027, the HD is mostly carryover in body and interior. Still, it has some new delights, the biggest and most delightful being the new 8.3-liter Duramax V-8 turbo-diesel engine. This big brute belts out 555 horsepower and 1230 pound-feet of torque, is backed by a 10-speed automatic transmission, and makes light work of towing even the heaviest trailer.

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To keep the burly engine happy, the HD trucks have a revised cooling system with a four-deep stack of radiators, charge coolers, and oil coolers. To keep the driver cool when stopping a fully loaded HD pickup, 14.6-inch front brake rotors clamped by four-piston calipers replace the outgoing model’s two-piston binders. An electronic brake booster, a first for a heavy-duty pickup, gives the brake pedal a similar feel to what you’d find in a regular SUV, no heavy foot needed for effective braking.

To demonstrate the diesel’s grunt, Chevy hooked up a massive trailer loaded with construction equipment and let us rip, towing nearly 37,000 pounds down a drag strip. The new trucks are rated for up to 38,000 pounds with a gooseneck trailer (when equipped with the Max Trailering package). The NHRA won’t be adding a sled-pulling class to its competition anytime soon, but the big truck moved out with barely a shudder, and the upgraded brakes and e-booster made stopping at the far end as easy as launching. The most intimidating part of the pull was making the turnout at the end of the strip, but the HD’s smooth power delivery and redesigned steering made for a drama-free turn despite the tight corner.

The 2500 HD lineup encompasses six trims, starting with the WT (Work Truck) and topping out with the optioned-up High Country. The base engine remains a 6.6-liter gas-burning V-8 (distinct from the similarly sized optional V-8 in redesigned 2027 light-duty models), albeit updated to now develop 412 horsepower and 472 pound-feet of torque. The new Duramax V-8 is an $11,400 option, and it’s available on all trims. That’s a big jump from the outgoing 6.6-liter diesel V-8, which added only $9990 to the HD’s price. Luckily for truck shoppers, overall starting prices see a smaller price hike. The MSRP for the 2027 WT begins at $49,995 (an increase of $1000 versus 2026), and the High Country now starts at $78,195.

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Step up into the cabin—or haul yourself up with the grab handle—and you’ll find the interior is little changed from 2026 models. It’s spacious and cushy with big storage compartments, but the design and the dash layout are the same as before. What is new is some of the software available through the 13.4-inch center touchscreen. There’s an updated Tow/Haul mode that fine-tunes power delivery, shift points, and braking to make for smoother towing up and downhill. An Off-Road mode allows more wheelspin to prevent bog-downs, and off-road-oriented ZR2 HDs get the same Terrain mode as the light-duty version, a trail-focused tune that teams the throttle with automatic braking for what’s essentially one-pedal driving during off-roading. Optional camera add-ons make for up to 14 different views, including an invisible-trailer mode and a split screen when reversing. In the various camera views, the HD lacks the light duty’s helpful graphic overlays, but it’s probably fair to assume that buyers of heavy-duty trucks aren’t beginners at towing.

Another feature that has not made its way from light duty to heavy duty is Chevy’s Super Cruise hands-free driving. In the past, this was because the HD still used a hydraulic steering system, but a major change for 2027 is the switch to electric power steering. The new rack-and-pinion electric steering setup is another first for the HD, and it makes a big difference in the feedback through the wheel and consistency of steering feel even during braking and hard steering inputs. It gives the HD a more consumer-friendly feel. On a mountain road, these big rigs feel manageable, and while you still won’t want to swing a tight U-turn, there’s no fighting the wheel when changing direction. While this year’s trucks won’t offer Super Cruise, the technology is in place for GM to fit additional driver aids in the future.

That omission aside, the theme of the HDs’ changes for 2027 is ease of use. Most of what’s new isn’t visible from the outside, but it’s all designed to make the tasks of hauling and towing feel less like a job and more like a cruise in a passenger vehicle—a really burly passenger vehicle.

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2027 Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 HD
Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear- or rear/4-wheel-drive, 2-, 5-, or 6-passenger, 2- or 4-door pickup

PRICE
Base: 2500 HD Work Truck, $49,995; 3500 HD Work Truck, $51,195; 2500 HD Custom, $53,295; 2500 HD LT, $56,995; 3500 HD LT, $57,895; 2500 HD LTZ, $67,695; 3500 HD Work Truck, $68,995; 2500 HD ZR2, $77,695; 2500 HD High Country, $78,195; 3500 HD High Country, $79,495

ENGINES
pushrod 16-valve 6.6-liter V-8, 412 hp, 472 lb-ft; turbocharged and intercooled pushrod 32-valve 8.3-liter diesel V-8, 555 hp, 1230 lb-ft

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 141.5–172.0 in
Length: 235.6–266.1 in
Width: 81.7–96.7 in
Height: 79.7–82.7 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 73/53–66 ft3
Curb Weight (C/D est): 6500–9000 lb

PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 5.4–7.0 sec
1/4-Mile: 13.8–15.5 sec
Top Speed: 98 mph

Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews. In 2020, she received a Best Feature award from the Motor Press Guild for the C/D story "A Drive through Classic Americana in a Polestar 2."  In 2023, her Car and Driver feature story "In Washington, D.C.'s Secret Carpool Cabal, It's a Daily Slug Fest" was awarded 1st place in the 16th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club.
 

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