When you’re truck shopping, it’s easy to get distracted by all the exciting new technology of today’s pickups and big manufacturer claims about towing power and payload capacity. But those aspects of a truck probably matter less to the average owner than something much less flashy: the warranty.
Shocking repair bills can do more to add stress to your monthly budget than Apple CarPlay and massaging seats do to ease it.
Related: Car Warranty Guide – Everything You Need to Know
But most truckmakers offer the same predictable warranty terms – a 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. Shoppers know there’s no difference between the financial protection a Ford F-150 offers you and what you’d get with a Chevrolet Silverado. So it’s not a factor in choosing a truck.
But maybe it should be.
Chevrolet just changed the math for many shoppers with an announcement: Buyers of the 2024 Chevy Silverado can count on a 5-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Related: What is a Powertrain Warranty?
Move Applies to 4-Cylinder, Diesel Engines
The catch? It only applies to certain engines.
This isn’t entirely new. In 2023, Chevrolet offered a 5-year/100,000-mile powertrain plan to buyers of trucks equipped with diesel engines.
What is new is that the extended powertrain plan applies to the base model Silverado. The 2024 truck comes equipped with a 2.7-liter turbocharged powerplant Chevy calls the TurboMax engine. It now qualifies for the extra 40,000 miles of coverage.
A Chevrolet spokesperson tells us the offer “is exclusive to the 2024 Silverado 1500 TurboMax,” and “matches the warranty applied to Duramax-diesel-powered Silverado pickups – including the only light-duty pickup available with a diesel engine, the Silverado 1500 equipped with the 3.0-liter Duramax diesel.”
Four-cylinder engines were once widely considered inadequate for full-size trucks. They’re not anymore. Manufacturers have put a lot of research into developing more powerful, reliable 4-cylinder engines as fuel economy regulations have grown tighter. Today, the TurboMax puts out 310 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque – figures unheard of in truck-mounted 4-cylinders not long ago.
Don’t Let 100,000 Miles Make You Miss the 5-Year Limit
We should note that this doesn’t quite match the best warranties in the automotive industry. Hyundai, Kia, and Mitsubishi all offer powertrain warranties good for up to 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. Chevy’s new plan covers the same mileage but just half the time.
So it’s best for those who plan to drive their new truck a lot. If you’re not going to put more than 60,000 miles on your truck in the first five years, it doesn’t matter whether you have a 5-year/60,000-mile plan or a 5-year/100,000-mile plan – it’s expiring after year five.
