Long-term Test Update: 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Trail Boss

This year’s Summer of Silverado continues, and we’re one month into our two-month long-term test of a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss equipped with a short box and the 420-horse 6.2L V8 engine. That’s a mouthful, but all of those details are...

This year’s Summer of Silverado continues, and we’re one month into our two-month long-term test of a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT Trail Boss equipped with a short box and the 420-horse 6.2L V8 engine. That’s a mouthful, but all of those details are important, as we shall learn. One development we’ve noticed on the Chevrolet build-and-price tool for this trim of Trail Boss is the elimination of any colour selection other than black, grey, or white.

This tasty Summit White paint does look good and appear high quality, though Ram offers the likes of Molten Red and Tank Green on its similarly off-road equipped half tons. Burly V8 power from the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss Whoever got this truck’s ability to retain its Sport mode after a key cycle past the snakes in GM’s legal department deserves a raise. In doing so, the 6.2L V8 awakes with an angry bark, thanks in large part to the $455 active exhaust system.

One is never left wanting for power or torque with this engine and its transmission partner goes about its business like a quiet butler. We’ll talk about price and fuel economy shortly. Are you broke yet, Matt?

Geopolitical strife may indeed be informing engine selection for a wide number of vehicle shoppers, with fuel prices sitting around $1.85 per litre at filling stations near your author’s home as this update is written. The truck’s onboard computer indicates an average fuel economy of roughly 13.5 L/100 km in mixed driving conditions over the 3,000-ish kilometres we’ve covered so far, a number confirmed with fuel receipts and technology available to Wyatt Earp (read: pen and paper). Most highway jaunts return about 10.5 L/100 km, handily beating official NRCan estimates without employing any hypermiling trickery.

We’re not convinced the smaller and weedier 5.3L V8 would fare any better than these measures for the 6.2L V8 since it would be working harder; if one can swallow its initial price premium of $3,415 over the smaller octopot, we recommend the larger engine option. Tire selection for the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss An option on the LT Trail Boss are knobby Goodyear Territory MT tires, sized LT275/65 on an 18-inch wheel.

They represent a good visual upgrade over the standard 20s but left something to be desired in terms of ride quality and overall racket being transmitted into the cabin. That’s why we mounted a set of equally sized BFGoodrich KO3 rubber, a tire introduced just last year to build on the massive success of its older KO2 offering. The tread on these new meats have interlocking elements, permitting burly sipes to stabilize the centre rib of traction blocks which gives the KO3 a far less ‘squishy’ feeling over both on- and off-road surfaces.

This is no small matter since the vast majority of KO3 buyers will drive their rigs to the trail and then home again. Goopy and sticky P.E.I.-type red mud was dealt with by small raised lines in tread gaps, ones designed to flex slightly and expel packed mud. This is a key advantage over the Goodyears, helping the tread blocks search for maximum grip instead of being covered with a slick surface.

Traversing equal off-road terrain on trails near my home, the difference was clear. First Look: 2027 Chevrolet Silverado updates engines, adds screens | Reviews 2027 Ram 1500 TRX SRT makes smooth work of big jumps | Reviews The KO3 form factor also doesn’t hurt, drawing compliments at a fuel stop from the driver of an overland-converted Sprinter van.

And as an aside, our local tire guy declared this set to be the best factory balanced BFGs he’s seen in a long time, speaking to improved manufacturing processes. We installed ours with the white letters facing out because we’re unabashed kids of the ’80s and ’90s. Toss in an ability to smoothly absorb uneven bridge spacers at highway speeds and we think the KO3s are a winner.

Bottom line: they’re highly recommended as a well-behaved and capable replacement tire for the Trail Boss when its OE rubber wears out — and maybe even sooner. Interior and cabin experience of this Chevy truck As mentioned in our intro video for this machine, buyers need to be aware there are two levels of Trail Boss on offer in the Silverado: Custom and LT. Ours is the latter and packs an interior featuring a 13.4-inch infotainment touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster which can be reconfigured in several entertaining themes.

Custom, however, gets a basic cabin introduced over a decade ago with a 7.0-inch screen and traditional gauges (comparison photos shown above). Equipped with equal powertrains there’s an $8,000 spread between the two, with even basic gear like dual-zone climate control not available on the Custom. Be aware of this if responding to what seem like impossibly low Trail Boss prices being shilled by a dealer.

Response times of the truck’s digital tools is reasonable, and customizable commands allow this driver to thumb through SiriusXM channels one at a time using buttons on the steering wheel. The wireless device charger is of excellent design and one of the few which reliably charges without overheating the phone.

Overall build quality is good but there’s no denying Ram remains miles ahead in terms of materials, even on equal off-road trims like the Rebel or Backcountry. We’ll see what the new 2027 models bring later this year — both in terms of cabin and powertrain experience since the 5.3L and 6.2L V8 engines are being replaced with a 5.7L and 6.6L, respectively. Living with it GM is the best in the (truck) business when it comes to cameras and cargo, meaning it has a yaffle of viewing angles all around the machine, though this example was opted without the handy cargo bed camera, handy for keeping an eye on gear during moving day.

The other views are critical for reversing and navigating tight spots. Speaking of cargo, the need to just ever so slightly tilt long items like mattresses and chesterfields which have been hove into this truck’s 5.5-foot cargo box underscores your writer’s opinion that the 6.5-foot option is far more practical. Such configuration doesn’t impose much financial penalty, though one will need to learn the corners of a frankly massive vehicle with 157.0 inches (nearly 4 metres) of wheelbase and a comically large 242.4-inch overall length.

That’s over 20 feet, or 6.2 metres, in colloquial measures. All that said, there is a very valid argument for the position held by our own Lorraine Sommerfeld who (correctly) espouses the opinion that people should frame vehicle purchases in their overall usage instead of buying a vehicle based on an edge case that happens once or twice a year. I’ll still buy the long box, though — just don’t tell Lorraine, please.

What’s next for the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss? Later this month, look for our Summit White pickup to perform heavy hauling, once with a trailer in tow and on another occasion with an appropriate amount of payload in its 5.5-ft box. We’ll wrap up the long-term test with a Maritime summer road trip.

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