We have spent the a few months looking for a new vehicle, well a used one. We were not in hurry to buy one but did need one. However, our 93 Chevy Blazer was on its last leg, so last in fact that Friday, June 27, 2003 it died on us.
We had been looking at Dodge’s, Fords and Chevy’s, full size trucks for about 6 weeks when the Blazer died. We thought that we had made up our minds on a used Dodge Ram, but things were not working out the way we had anticipated. So, we kept looking. Well, on this particular Friday the radiator along with every thing else broken on the Blazer went out. We decided that it was time to make a choice and fast.
What We Got
We decided on a 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4 door, 4.3 liter, 6-cylinder, with towing package, chrome wheels. LT package. It is white in color with black interior. It has power brakes and power steering with tilt, am/fm radio, air, dual air bags and you can shut the passenger air bag off if you choose to do so with a key switch. It has automatic transmission, 2 wheel drive and intermittent wipers. No power windows or locks, which is okay with us. Less expense later on. The windows are tinted. The back doors open after the front doors are opened, by releasing the lever found in each back door. The back door windows also have pop out features for allowing air in for the back passengers should they need it.
There is a large pocket in the dash on the passenger side and pockets in each front door. The back doors have built in drink holders and there is a drink holder underneath the center seat in the front, which slides out for usage.
The seats are bench, with the front’s seats having the ability to adjust forward or backward depending on the legroom needed. And they are cloth. There is no carpet in the floorboards, which I am going to really love with these boys coming up and getting involved into sports now. Less mud stains is less clean up for me. You can store things underneath the back seat if you need to. Also, the jack is underneath the back seat, which lets up in order to get to the jack.
Of course there are the lights, which can be set to come on automatically or not. There is a cargo light and an inside light. The inside light can be overridden if you choose to do so. I don’t know why anyone would want to by pass that light, I like being able to see at night when I go to get into a vehicle! The bright lights are really bright! Which is cool because you can see the entire road and not just some little area!
Chevy makes some of the best air conditioners I think for cars. The one in our new truck gets really cold and fast. There are five speeds to it and you have the options to make the air blow, as with any car, through the floorboard, the vents or the dash. You can also choose to have a total flow of air, which is best I think. Now I have to say here that you actually have to push a button to make the air work. I don’t really care for this feature because I am use to the air coming on when I turn it on, but I will adjust!
You will also find just underneath the air controls a 3-plug system that can be used for cell phone chargers or radar detectors and of course the cigarette lighter is already there. There is a small ashtray that we will use for loose change.
There are 4 speakers, 2 in the front and 2 in the back. They are not the best speakers in the world but they will do. We can always change them later. The am/fm radio was nothing to sing about either, in fact, I told the salesman that it would not do. So they took the stereo out of our Blazer and put it in the Silverado at no charge.
The brakes are great! Front and rear anti-locks. Always a great thing I think. And we have already found out that the brakes will stop on a dime!
There are chrome bumpers front and back, and there are lights for pulling a trailer and a ball as well. The rear bumper is made to pull heavy loads, which is great because our boat is a 17-footer.
The bed is a long bed and has a spray in liner as well as a regular liner, which I really like! My fishing poles will fit nicely there. The spray in liner allows more protection to the bed of the truck.
How I Feel
Well, I like my new truck! It has so much room in it! Six people can sit very comfortable in it. And as a family vehicle it suits our needs just fine. The dash is huge as well! And the legroom is to die for! Everyone has legroom! We have three children, in which 2 are teenagers. Our 13-year old son is 6’1 and 220 pounds and he has lots of room to sit and be happy! Our 17 year old daughter is 5’8, long legged and she too is comfortable. And she says it drives well! And it does! It is so easy to handle. Quiet! I cannot believe how quiet this truck is. Like riding in a car but with truck features. Just what we wanted!
This truck is going to be mine, hubby will pay for it! Isn’t that way it’s supposed to be? Of course it is! I will, however let him drive it sometimes. We filled up with gas, which by the way the tank is 26 gallons, and it took 33 dollars to fill it with these high gas prices, but we checked the mileage and we are getting around 22 miles to the gallon, which was great! In town we are getting around 17, which is a plus as well. There is one key for both the door and ignition. And the same key will unlock the spare tire, which is found underneath at the rear of the truck.
Quiet! Did I say this already! It is so quiet and so roomy! I can’t get over having all this room! There was not a console with the truck, so we bought one to put in the front seat. No console, means NO armrest, and a center armrest is a must. The console will do just fine and I also have a place to store my CD’s. I did find it rather odd that there was not a center console or much storage place for CD’s, but as hubby says the pockets in the doors are huge enough for such. But, I don’t want to store my music there in case they fall out. However, the pockets are good for my umbrella and small broom.
The truck only had 43000 miles on it and we paid 13, 000 for it, with a resell of 16, 900. I think we got a great deal. We are very happy with our payments and very happy with the truck and was very happy with the dealership. I am a hard person to do business with when it comes to purchasing a vehicle. I only got burned once in my life and in the 25 years I have been buying vehicles, that was the ONLY time. We got 1000.00 for our Blazer and we were very happy with that. It was 10 years old and had 183000 miles on it. And was starting to have some problems. It was great for us while we had it and we were certainly happy with it.
I hope that this has helped in some kind of way.
God Bless!
©LKD 2004