2000 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 review from North America

Last year I bought a used 2000 Silverado 1500 regular cab, long bed 2 wheel drive with the 5.3 automatic transmission. Family and friends wanted me to scrap my old 1978 Chevy C10 with 334,000 miles, 3 speed manual 305 V8 that I got as a high school graduation present in 1985 for years.

I bought the 2000 model because I didn't care for the look of the 2003+ Silverado front ends. My newer truck does have some get up and go when you push the pedal down, and I do like the look of the body. But, those years had problems with piston slap and transmission problems that my old truck NEVER had. After a cold start in the morning, the 2000 Silverado sometimes make me rethink my decision to "upgrade" trucks. Pinging when its hot, knocking when its cold. there's a noise for every temperature!

Even though the bodies are made of galvanized steel, I've seen many of the '99-02 trucks with rusting out rocker panels and cab corners, AGAIN. The sheet metal is quite thin and dents easily.

I think the old 350 was as good as it gets for durability. If my newer truck had that engine instead, along with the manual transmission, I probably wouldn't be writing this today.

BTW, the 2008 Silverados look terrible. Maybe the $30,000 - $40,000 Silverados can be prettied up more though. I guess I'll keep the old '78 going as long as I can, even if she takes a quart of oil every 1,000 miles, which next to some newer Vortecs - is pretty good.