SETUP A: no body heading element: the blog platform renders the post title as the page heading. Silverado 1500 · Buying Local Most truck test drives are too short and too flat to tell you anything. Fifteen minutes around a parking lot and a straight stretch of four-lane will confirm that the truck runs, and almost nothing else. We're lucky here: within about twenty minutes of the lot on Central Avenue you can put a Silverado 1500 through a steep climb, a tight downtown crawl, a set of real curves, and a highway merge. That's a drive that actually answers questions. Below is the route our salespeople use, what to pay attention to at each stage, and the handful of things worth deciding before you show up so you spend your time driving instead of narrowing things down in the lot. If you want the full picture on the truck itself first, our complete 2026 Silverado 1500 guide collects everything in one place. Table of contents In this post Decide two things before you arrive · The route, stop by stop · What to feel for · If you're driving other trucks too · After the drive · Questions we get Decide two things before you arrive You'll get far more out of an hour here if you walk in with two answers ready: which cab and bed you want, and which engine you're curious about. Everything else can be sorted in person. Cab and bed is the one that's hard to undo. A Crew Cab with the short bed is the easy default and it's what most families end up in, but if you're regularly hauling sheet goods or long lumber, the longer bed changes the truck's usefulness more than any option package will. Cargo space runs up to 89.1 cubic feet with the 8-foot bed, and that's a number you feel every weekend rather than once a year. Our specs and dimensions breakdown has the bed and cab measurements side by side if you want to check them against your garage or your trailer before you come. Engine is the fun one, and it changes the drive more than anything else on the list. There are four: the 2.7L TurboMax four-cylinder (310 hp, 430 lb-ft), the 5.3L V8 (355 hp), the 6.2L V8 (420 hp), and the 3.0L Duramax turbo-diesel (305 hp, 495 lb-ft). They feel like four different trucks, especially on a climb. Pick one to drive and, if you're torn, ask for a second — that's a normal request and we'd rather you be sure. The trim-by-trim comparison shows which engines pair with which trims across the nine-trim lineup, from the work-focused WT up through the off-road ZR2. Worth knowing on price so nothing surprises you: the lineup starts at $36,900 and runs to $71,800, MSRP excluding the $2,795 destination charge. If you'd like to see what that looks like as a monthly figure before you drive, the payment calculator takes about a minute. The route, stop by stop The whole loop runs about twenty minutes of driving. You can shorten it or stretch it, and if you'd rather drive somewhere specific (your jobsite, your boat ramp, the hill you actually live on), just say so. That's usually a better test than anything we'd pick. 1. Central Avenue, first five minutes. Straight out of the lot into stop-and-go. This is the least exciting part of the drive and it's where a lot of trucks quietly annoy you: how the brakes take up, how much of the hood you can see over, whether the truck creeps smoothly in traffic, how big it feels between the lines. Tourist season makes this stretch an honest test of low-speed manners. 2. The climb up West Mountain. Two minutes later you're on a real grade with switchbacks and a low speed limit. Nothing on flat ground tells you what an engine feels like under load, and this does. It's where the difference between the four engines stops being a number on the page and becomes something you can feel in your back. Coming down is just as useful: pay attention to how the truck holds its speed and how the transmission handles the descent without you riding the brake. 3. North on Highway 7. Curves, elevation changes, and enough room to let the truck settle at speed. This is where ride quality separates the trims: how the suspension handles mid-corner bumps, how much road noise reaches you, whether the seat still feels right twenty minutes in. If your commute involves mountain two-lane, this stretch is a fair preview of it. 4. Highway 70 and the merge back. A proper on-ramp and some open four-lane. Merge hard on purpose. If you're looking at a High Country, this is also where you'd want to try Super Cruise, the hands-free driving system available on the High Country, on a compatible stretch. It's a feature that's difficult to appreciate from a description and obvious after five minutes of using it. 5. Optional: bring your trailer. If towing is the reason you're buying, tow on the drive. Hook up your own trailer, run the same loop, and you'll learn more in twenty minutes than in an afternoon of reading. Call ahead so we can have the right truck hitched and ready. Properly equipped with the Duramax diesel, the Silverado 1500 tows up to 13,300 pounds (Double Cab, standard bed, 2WD, conventional hitch), and our towing capacity guide lays out the ratings by engine and configuration so you can confirm your setup before you arrive. Boat owners: the ramp backing test is worth doing here, with the camera views on. What to feel for Once you're moving, the drive goes quickly and it's easy to get to the end without having checked the things that matter daily. A short list worth running through: Seating position first, before you leave the lot. Set the seat, wheel, and mirrors like you own it. A truck that can't quite get comfortable in five minutes won't get better in five years. Getting in and out. Do it a few times, from both sides, the way you actually will. Step height and grab-handle placement matter more than almost any figure you could look up. The bed, at your height. Reach into it. Drop the tailgate. If you'll be loading alone, that's the test. Rear seat, with your people in it. Bring them along. Car seats especially: install one if you can. Phone and screen. Pair your phone on the drive, not after. Run your actual navigation and music setup for a few minutes. Parking it. Back into a normal space downtown. The camera views make this easy, and it's worth knowing which view you'll come to rely on. If questions come up mid-drive that we can't answer on the spot, the Silverado 1500 FAQ page covers most of the common ones, and we'll happily chase down anything it doesn't. If you're driving other trucks too Plenty of people shopping a half-ton drive two or three before deciding, and that's a smart way to buy. One suggestion: drive them the same day, on the same roads, in the same order. Impressions fade fast, and a truck driven on Tuesday on flat ground will always compare oddly to one driven Saturday on a hill. If the F-150 or the Ram 1500 are on your list, we've put together honest head-to-head breakdowns covering where each truck is strongest: Silverado 1500 vs. Ford F-150 and Silverado 1500 vs. Ram 1500. Cross-shopping Toyota? The Silverado 1500 vs. Tundra comparison covers that matchup, including how the available diesel factors into the decision. And if partway through the drive you find yourself thinking your trailer might be more than a half-ton should handle, say so — that's a good problem to catch before you buy, not after. Our Silverado 1500 vs. 2500HD comparison walks through where the heavy-duty truck becomes the better answer, and we sell both, so we've got no reason to steer you either direction but the right one. After the drive There's no obligation to decide the same day, and we won't push you to. If you liked it, the next steps are simple: check what's on the ground in the configuration you drove, and get the financing question settled so the number is real instead of hypothetical. You can apply for financing in a few minutes, or talk it through with our finance team, including how a trade-in changes things. If the exact truck you want isn't on the lot, that's usually solvable. The 2026 Silverado 1500 overview shows the current lineup and what we have available, and we can locate or order a specific configuration. Worth thinking about before you sign, too: what the truck asks of you over the years you'll own it. Our maintenance and ownership guide lays out the service intervals, and the same service department that preps your truck is the one that'll take care of it afterward. Questions we get How long does a Silverado 1500 test drive take? Plan on about an hour at the store, with roughly twenty minutes of that behind the wheel. The route above covers town traffic, a real grade, curves, and a highway merge in that window. If you want longer or want to drive a second truck, there's no problem with that. Do I need an appointment? You're welcome to walk in, but calling ahead means the truck you want is charged, fueled, cleaned, and out front instead of being located while you wait. It matters most if you want a specific engine or trim, or if you're bringing a trailer. Can I test drive with my own trailer hooked up? Yes, and we'd encourage it if towing is your main reason for buying. Call ahead so we can have a properly equipped truck ready with the right hitch setup, and bring your trailer's weight information so we can confirm the configuration is a correct match. Can I drive more than one trim or engine in a single visit? Absolutely, and it's the fastest way to settle a decision between two engines. Driving them back to back on the same roads is far more telling than driving them a week apart. Which drive should you ask for? A quick router, from what people usually tell us they need: Mostly commuting and family duty, occasional hauling: drive a Crew Cab with the 2.7L TurboMax. Its low-end torque surprises people on the West Mountain climb, and it's the efficiency-minded pick. Weekend boat or camper towing: drive a V8, and tow with it if you can. Bring your trailer weight and we'll match the configuration. Heavy or frequent towing, long highway miles: ask for the Duramax diesel. The torque delivery on a grade is the whole argument, and it's hard to appreciate any other way. Long highway commutes, comfort first: drive a High Country and try Super Cruise on the Highway 70 stretch. Trails, gravel, and hunting camp access: ask for a Trail Boss or ZR2 and pay attention to ride quality on pavement, since that's where most of your miles will still happen. Closing CTA band Come Drive One Book your Silverado 1500 test drive Tell us which engine you'd like to try and roughly when you're coming, and we'll have it ready out front. Bringing a trailer or a car seat to fit? Mention it and we'll plan around it. Schedule a Test Drive Browse New Inventory Hours & Directions
Moving From a Full-Size Truck to a Colorado in Hot Springs
Key Numbers A 2026 Colorado is 214 inches long, roughly a foot and a half shorter than a half-ton crew cab. Height runs 78.8 to 82.7 inches against a standard 84-inch garage door opening. A properly equipped crew cab tows 7,700 lbs; the bed is 5 feet with 41.9 cubic feet. All six trims share one engine: 310 horsepower and 430 lb-ft. EPA combined runs 21 mpg in 2WD down to 16 on a ZR2 Bison. Every spring in Hot Springs the same conversation happens on this lot. Somebody has been driving a half-ton for eight years, the kids have moved out or the business has changed shape, and they have started to notice how much of the truck they are not using. It parks badly at the Central Ave shops. It fills the carport. It drinks. And the trailer behind it on the weekend is a bass boat that weighs less than the truck's own payload rating. That buyer is not downsizing. They are right-sizing, and the 2026 Chevrolet Colorado is usually the answer. Here is what actually changes when you move from a full-size truck to a midsize in Hot Springs, based on the questions we get asked across the desk rather than on a spec sheet. You lose about a foot and a half, and you notice it every single day A 2026 Colorado measures 214 inches long on a 131.4-inch wheelbase and 84.4 inches wide including the mirrors. A half-ton crew cab is roughly a foot and a half longer. That sounds academic until you try to park both in a downtown Hot Springs space or back both into a carport poured when a sedan was the assumption. Height is the one people forget to check, and it is the one that matters most in an older Garland County house. The Colorado runs 78.8 to 82.7 inches tall depending on trim, and a standard residential garage door opening is 84 inches. Everything in the lineup clears it. A lifted trim clears it by inches rather than feet, and a roof rack spends those inches. Go measure your opening before you shop, not after; the full dimension set is on the Colorado specs and dimensions page. You do not lose the engine you were worried about losing This is the part that surprises full-size owners. Every 2026 Colorado, from the $32,400 Work Truck to the ZR2, uses the same 2.7L TurboMax turbocharged four-cylinder making 310 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque through an 8-speed automatic. Every one of them is quick. The trim ladder buys drivetrain hardware, ride height and equipment, and it never buys power. Coming out of a V8, the number to look at is torque rather than cylinder count. 430 lb-ft is real, it arrives low, and on the grade out of a boat ramp it is what you actually feel. The Colorado overview walks the whole lineup if you want the wider picture first. The honest question is what you tow, and for most people here the answer fits A properly equipped Colorado crew cab is rated at 7,700 lbs in 2WD or 4WD, and every 2026 Colorado is a crew cab, so that is the figure that applies to the truck you would actually order. A ZR2 crew cab is rated at 6,000 lbs. Set that against what genuinely goes out to Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine on a Saturday: an aluminum bass boat on a single-axle trailer, a pair of side-by-sides on an open deck, a teardrop camper. All of it sits inside the rating with margin. Where a midsize stops is a two-horse gooseneck or a car hauler with a car on it, and if that is your weekend then you want a Silverado and we will tell you so. Everything in between is worked through load by load on the Colorado towing capacity page. One thing worth knowing before you sign anything: payload counts passengers, fuel and tongue weight, not just what is in the bed. On a midsize that arithmetic is tighter than you are used to. A WT, Custom or LT in 2WD carries 1,710 pounds, and the range across configurations runs 1,445 to 2,046 pounds. The bed is shorter, and the tailgate is smarter about it Five feet, on every trim. If you have been carrying eight-foot material in a six-and-a-half-foot bed you were already dropping the tailgate, and the Colorado's mid-position tailgate stop is built for exactly that: it holds at an intermediate position rated to 500 lbs so the load rides supported rather than balanced on the tailgate edge. Around it you get 41.9 cubic feet of bed volume, up to 17 tie-downs, a built-in measurement tool stamped into the tailgate, cargo bed lighting and an available 120-volt outlet. A spray-on liner is a $475 option and it is the one most work buyers take. You gain the screen, and you gain it on the cheapest one An 11.3-inch touchscreen with Google built-in and an 11-inch digital driver display are standard on every 2026 Colorado, including the Work Truck. So are wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and so is Chevy Safety Assist, a package of six driver aids. Blind spot detection is standard too. If your current truck is eight years old, this is the single biggest day-to-day upgrade in the move, and it is worth understanding that none of it is a trim you have to climb to. Google Maps and Google Assistant run natively in the truck, so navigation works whether or not your phone is connected. The tech and safety page has the full feature grid and both sets of crash-test results, published in full. So which one should you buy? For most people making this move in this market, the Trail Boss, from $40,500 before destination. It is the one step in the lineup that adds four-wheel drive as standard, a two-speed transfer case with low range, a 2-inch lift, 32-inch all-terrain tires and a transfer case shield together, and it is what tends to be on our ground. It is also the trim that handles the thing a full-size owner will miss least: standing water across the low crossings after a spring storm, and the gravel county roads that feed both lakes. If your truck is mostly a commuter with a trailer on weekends, the LT is the better match and the ride is quieter on all-season tires. If you want the look without the off-road hardware, the Custom is $1,145 over the Work Truck. If you have somewhere real to wheel, the ZR2 adds locking differentials at both ends and 10.7 inches of clearance. All six are laid out with what each step adds on the trims and pricing page, and the Trail Boss and ZR2 are compared directly on the ZR2 and Trail Boss page. What it costs to live with Running cost on this truck is almost entirely a drivetrain and tire decision, because the engine never changes. EPA combined is 21 mpg in 2WD, 19 in 4WD, 17 on a ZR2 and 16 on a ZR2 Bison, per fueleconomy.gov. Coming from a V8 half-ton, that is the number that will make you happiest about the move. Maintenance runs off the Engine Oil Life System rather than a fixed mileage, tires rotate every 7,500 miles, and your first maintenance visit is covered in the first 12 months. Coverage is 3 years or 36,000 miles bumper-to-bumper and 5 years or 60,000 miles on the powertrain. The maintenance page covers the ownership side properly. Come drive one against what you have now The best version of this decision takes about twenty minutes. Bring your current truck, drive a Colorado, and park them next to each other in our lot at 4573 Central Ave. Most people know inside a mile. We have been selling trucks here since 1967, and buyers make the run from Malvern, Arkadelphia, Benton and Little Rock to do exactly this. Start a trade appraisal before you come and we will have a real number waiting; get pre-approved and the financing is settled before you drive anything. Call 501-881-4274, schedule a test drive, or just look at what is on the lot right now. Questions we get about moving to a Colorado Will I regret the shorter bed? Most people do not, because the mid-position tailgate handles long material and the 5-foot bed is 41.9 cubic feet. If you regularly haul full sheets flat or need a second cab configuration, that is a genuine reason to stay full-size. Is a four-cylinder enough after a V8? 430 lb-ft of torque is the figure to judge it by, and it is standard on all six trims. It arrives low in the rev range, which is where towing and merging actually happen. Does the Colorado hold its value? Resale depends on trim, condition and mileage more than on nameplate. Bring us your current truck for a written appraisal and we will show you the numbers side by side rather than guess. Which trims come with four-wheel drive? Trail Boss, Z71 and ZR2 have it as standard with a two-speed transfer case. WT, Custom and LT are rear-wheel drive standard with four-wheel drive available, and that available system is single-speed with no low range. How is servicing different from a full-size truck? The interval is set by the Engine Oil Life System rather than a fixed mileage, and it takes dexos1 full synthetic. A turbocharged engine is worth taking that indicator seriously on. You can book service with us whether or not you bought the truck here. Where can I actually use a Trail Boss or a ZR2 around here? The Talimena Scenic Drive and Highway 7 through the Ouachitas are excellent long runs with gravel spurs off them. For the national forest, check the current Forest Service motor vehicle use map before planning a route; designations change and a road on a map is not permission to drive it. Is there a Colorado question you have not answered? Probably not. The Colorado FAQ page runs to thirty-nine of them, and the Colorado research hub collects every page in one place.