2025 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD Expert Review
Reviewed by Alex Leanse
Chevrolet's biggest heavy-duty truck got a major refresh for 2024 , but the Bow Tie brand still gives the Silverado 3500HD some new features for 2025. Its standard gasoline and available turbodiesel V-8 engines carry over. The 2025 Silverado 3500HD is built to take on heavy haulers such as the Ford F-350 Super Duty and Ram 3500HD .
What's New
- WT and LT trims available with front and rear parking sensors
- Adaptive cruise control now standard on High Country
- Standard new 20-inch wheel for Midnight Edition package
What We Think
As it excels in so many areas, the Silverado 3500HD is a near-perfect truck. It's downright enjoyable to drive, on- or off-road, with the bed empty or a heavy load behind.
Updates made for 2024 brought better looks to the truck's exterior, but its interior remodel was more significant. On most Silverado 3500HD trim levels, the cabin is now a stylish, functional, tech-rich, and high-quality space.
When equipped with the available Duramax diesel engine, the Silverado 3500HD makes towing and hauling huge loads a breeze. Confidence would be higher if the brake pedal weren't so squishy, but the truck's plush ride persists whether it's loaded up or empty.
Some versions of the Silverado 3500HD are more worthy of recommendation than others. The standard gasoline V-8 is fine, but not as good as the Duramax. The entry-level WT trim sticks with the drab interior layout from the truck's debut. Certain competitors have more useful towing technologies, and Chevrolet's smaller Silverado 1500 offers a longer list of premium features. That said, the Silverado 3500HD High Country we tested handles and rides like no other heavy-duty pickup.
Gas or Diesel?
Regardless of which engine you choose, the Silverado 3500HD uses an Allison 10-speed automatic sending output to RWD as standard, or 4WD optionally.
The standard engine is a 6.6-liter gasoline V-8 that produces 401 hp and 464 lb-ft of torque. Acceleration from 0 to 60 mph should take about 7.0 seconds.
Offered as an upgrade is a 6.6-liter turbodiesel V-8, which raises output to 470 hp and 975 lb-ft of torque. In MotorTrend testing, a Silverado 3500HD dually with this engine hit 60 mph in 6.6 seconds, an impressive time for the near-9,000-pound beast.
Heavy-Duty Towing and Hauling
Conventional maximum towing in the Silverado 3500HD with the gasoline engine and single rear wheels rates at 16,000 pounds, while the dually model goes as high as 18,700 pounds. Using gooseneck or fifth-wheel trailering brings those figures to 19,080 pounds and 18,760 pounds, respectively.
Choosing the diesel engine raises the truck's maximum towing capacity. With single or dual rear wheels, the 3500HD can pull up to 20,000 pounds conventionally. Gooseneck and fifth-wheel towing brings maximums to 22,430 pounds with single rear wheels, or a whopping 36,000 pounds with dual rear wheels.
Maximum payload for the 2025 Silverado 3500HD is 7,234 pounds, provided by the regular-cab, long-bed, gas V-8, dually, RWD variant. With the diesel engine, payload tops out at 6,638 pounds with the truck configured in that same way.
Safety Features
Every 2025 Silverado 3500HD comes standard with driver assist features such as forward collision warning, front automatic emergency braking, a following distance indicator, and lane departure warning. Other available features include blind-spot monitoring (which can cover a trailer while towing), rear cross-traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control. Lane keep assist is frustratingly not available.
Silverado HD Bed and Cab Configurations
The 2025 Silverado 3500HD can be equipped with a standard bed measuring 82.3 inches long, or a long bed that extends to 98.3 inches in length. Either way, the bed measures 71.4 inches wide and 21.0 inches deep, providing 69.5 cubic feet of space with the standard bed and 83.5 cubic feet with the long bed.
Chevrolet builds three cab styles for the Silverado 3500HD, each offering different interior measurements for passenger space.
Technology
The base WT trim makes do with a small 7.0-inch infotainment touchscreen and smaller 3.5-inch gauge cluster display. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, but audio plays through a two-speaker system in regular cab trucks. Choosing the LT trim or higher brings a different dashboard design, which integrates a 13.4-inch touchscreen with a Google-designed user interface, all playing through a six-speaker system. These models also get a 12.3-inch digital gauge display; the High Country trim comes with a head-up display, as well. The 3500HD LT and up have a wireless charging pad and several USB ports. Exterior camera arrays can show the truck's surroundings, bed contents, and trailer hitch for easy alignment.
Recommended Trim
The Silverado 3500HD LT trim seems like the best combination of value and performance. It benefits from the more upscale interior layout that's missing from the base WT trim. It doesn't have all the niceties of the LTZ or High Country models, but many of those features can be added to the LT à la carte. With prices expected to start at about $56,000, the 3500HD LT should remain many thousands of dollars less expensive than the LTZ and High Country.
