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The staff on duty at Car and Driver had long known that the rugged location that bears the name of an older (and greater!) U2 album was an opportune testing place for the 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 ZR2. This barren and still very beautiful location was always appealing to us here at Chuck Hutton Chevy of Memphis as we knew fully that the 6.2-liter pushrod V8 was a prime and expertly-sourced motivational pull.
Lately the need for off-road trucks that bear true capability have been off the charts, as those seeking freedom everywhere are looking to climb boulders and ford streams further and further away with every single weekend beckoning them out of the confines of the cubicle. The ZR2 takes the Silverado’s existing Trail Boss tri level to an upper-level status with the addition of front and rear differentials, burly skid plates to protect the underside, and appropriately knobby 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory all-terrain tires properly wrapped around the standard 18-wheels.
The ZR2 was designed to be a very lethal weapon for any type of trail, and compared to its competitors, the body is overall a bit narrow. Once the Car and Driver crew got the truck into the sheer depths of the challenges that Joshua Tree has to offer, this slimmed-down profile easily cleared the surrounding rock walls that the wider trucks would have to yield much more caution while navigating. Once your differentials are locked, the ZR2 can quickly climb the toughest of rock ledges, and the hill descent control allows speed adjustments of 1 mph by using the truck’s cruise control toggle.
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When you are driving off road and really getting into the groove of things that the rough stuff offers, these can both cut down on the head-jerking motions that can stem from two-pedal off-road driving. The ZR2’s three-piece steel front bumper is a shining finish for anyone that has massive love for trail riding can appreciate, and is made possible by an approach angle of 31.8 degrees. The 3-chamber Multimatic spool-valve dampers are an upgrade here that do a fantastic job of removing the harshest qualities from the ride that some expert reviewers had complained about in the current-generation Silverado.
When this model hit the Joshua Tree’s harsh landscape to define its true and undeniably tough nature, the high-speed sections of the desert allowed for the trick dampers to really shine, softening impacts and managing wheel motions so the ZR2 never shimmies completely out of control. Boasting a maximum towing capacity of 8900 pounds, it’ll confidently tug more than both the competitors in the form of the boisterous TRX and Raptor. The ability to sneak in between foreboding rocks, get through tight spaces without breaking a sweat, and boast the all-around-best in show on dust and sand belongs to the ZR2, which we are paying close attention to for completely dominating the dedicated slick rock sector during 2022!
