There's a particularly trite and overused phrase we've heard so often we no longer respond when someone utters it: "You can't judge a book by its cover." And it's baloney, too. War and Peace is a tough read because it has so many damn pages, is old and weighs a lot. Cats for Dummies is something less than high art and will not soon become a major motion picture.
But a lesser-known corollary to this adage actually works: "You can't judge the profound changes in the capability of a heavy-duty pickup truck by the freshness (or lack thereof) of its sheet metal and interior."
Haven't heard that one? Jim Mikulec, GM's lead development engineer on the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD project, puts it another way: "Everything that's changed is under the skin. Everything that's important is under the skin."
Falling Down
Just four years ago, the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD dually defeated Ford Super Duty and Dodge Ram HD trucks in our straight-up fight of strength and towing capability. Despite an aging interior, it won largely on the strength of its 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel V8 engine and class-exclusive six-speed Allison automatic transmission. In 2007 GM gave its HD pickups a long-overdue body and interior redesign to go with these then-impressive mechanicals, and for the next couple of years the Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD twins stood atop the pile.
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