2003 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 review from North America

Tailgate cables broke before the recall notice, and bent the tailgate. Dealership fixed the tailgate and replaced the cables, but 40,000 miles later, the tailgate drops at random while driving.

Rear disc brakes pop and clunk at stops. Dealership blamed it on my workmanship in replacing pads/ rotors. I RE-redid the back brakes 5 times following their advice and still did not stop the pads from seizing in the slides.

Water pump gasket began leaking around 45,000 miles and is getting worse.

Low speed steering clunk was "fixed" twice at the dealership and has returned. It was a recall that did not fix the problem, but they refuse to fix it again under the recall since it's been "fixed" twice and it is now off warranty.

Parking brake release cable broke around 80,000 miles. Luckily, I found a manual release lever up the brake arm that allows me to release it if I forget and set it.

Transmission has always had a noticeable clunk between 2'nd and 3'rd gear. When I complained about this, they told me there was an updated shift program that would alleviate this, but it is not a recall and would cost me $89 to have installed.

I wrote to Chevrolet about all this earlier this summer and a very polite gentleman replied to me. He was very sincere about helping me resolve all these problems, but after about 45 minutes on the phone going over all this, the only thing Chevy did was coordinate a service appointment at my dealer, where I was to pay for a diagnostic fee of $89 and then I was to pay for all repairs. Thanks, but no thanks.

Initial quality was phenomenal. I loved this truck when I bought it and still do to a much lesser degree. Most of the miles are highway miles.

The 4.8L v8 is great. It has all the power I need on the expressway and towing an 18 foot fiberglass boat. The 4.8L has never faltered.

The Firestone Steeltex tires that came new on this truck are unsurpassed in quality. I have put all my 86,000 miles on these tires and will easily get another summer out of them.