Chevy Silverado Hybrid

I was very excited when a Chevy representative asked me if I wanted to try out a car for a week. One of the options was a Silverado Hybrid truck with an extended cab. I knew that was the one for me.

The first new car I ever bought for myself was a Ford Ranger pickup truck way back in 1997. The Nissan I had been driving died one day and the mechanic said it would cost more to fix it than the car was worth. I parked it in my friend’s front yard and sold it for $500 at a garage sale along with some books and old clothes. My brother sold cars and was able to get me a bare bones new truck with a bench seat and manual transmission. My options were a white truck with a CD player or a silver truck with air conditioning. It was an excruciatingly hot summer in Southern Illinois where I was living so I chose air conditioning. It was a great truck and I loved it.

Now, thirteen years later, a Chevy pickup truck with an extended cab would be perfect for the road trip to Tucson that I had planned for my boys and on our last week of the longest summer vacation ever (LAUSD took 2 weeks of additional furlough  days during the summer to avoid layoffs and keep class size smaller). But just like at the beginning of the summer, my end of summer road trip plans didn’t work out.

We weren’t able go to Tucson, but we had plenty of adventures that week with the loaner Silverado. We drove all over Los Angeles and it was fun to be driving a truck once again. I drive a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and I always think it’s so tall, but it’s nothing compared to the Silverado. I had to hoist myself up to get in and so did my two boys.

I forgot how convenient it is to have a truck until the weekend of my son’s 5th birthday party. We used truck bed to transport wet chairs that my friend leant us and had just washed off. So convenient. The car drove well on Pacific Coast Highway and I felt very safe. It had good pickup and handled really well for a truck. I was worried about the Silverado’s size on the day we went to the Grove for the Marmaduke DVD release event. I took both boys to meet the real Marmaduke, see friends, and have lunch at the Farmers Market. The truck seemed too big for the crowded, Farmers Market parking lot, but I need not have worried. The car wasn’t as big as I thought and I made it in and out no problem.

All and all, I liked the Silverado and thought it would be perfect if I were single. I liked the bad-ass feeling I had behind the wheel  like I was on a mini adventure driving around town. I cranked the EStreet and Outlaw Country stations on the XM Sattelite Radio, a fun feature in the truck. My husband also thought it was fun to drive and thought it handled well for a truck. My kids had mixed feelings about it. My 5-year-old loved it and enjoyed climbing in and being higher than some of the other cars, but my 6-year-old thought it was uncomfortable and didn’t want to ride in it at all. I thought it was very comfortable, in both the front and the back seat, and if I still lived in Tucson or Southern Illinois I would seriously consider trying to buy one. But we’re in an urban Los Angeles and I’m not sure it would work for our lifestyle now.

But I can always dream.

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