2023 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Bison First Drive: Always Use Protection – SlashGear

Clearly, Chevy never intended any of the Silverado’s trim levels—even Bison—for the kind of off-roading I subjected this poor brand-new loaner truck to at Rowher Flats. Rather, the ZR2 and Bison get just enough of the goodies to make quick work of short sections where a bit of extra care might prove wise, while excelling instead at higher-speed fun on dirt roads thanks to the damping of the Multimatics.

Want to tow? The ZR2’s grunting V8 and leaf springs can handle that job. Want to roar around the ranch in smooth comfort, ventilated seats and music blasting? Silverado, no problem. Real rock crawling? Maybe a Bison, but maybe hedge that bet with some bigger tires and a lift to go along with the AEV upgrades.

Where Ford built the Raptor for hard-charging dune-running and Ram doubled down on the insanity with the supercharged Hemi-powered TRX, Chevrolet ticked down the list and saw that nobody offered quite the perfect combo of a naturally aspirated V8, leaf springs, towing capacity, and both front and rear lockers. At around the same price as a ZR2, a poverty-spec Raptor “only” gets a 450-horsepower twin-turbo V6. A Ram Power Wagon actually slots more properly against the 2500-series HD ZR2. And a Toyota Tundra with the I-Force Max hybrid seemingly bets big on efficiency, rather than all-out capability.