5 New Things We Love About the 2022 Silverado ZR2
The 2022 Chevy Silverado ZR2 is a brand new addition to the long-running Silverado nameplate. Chevrolet has decided to ramp up the Silverado's off-road capabilities, which included adding one of the most popular off-road trims to the Silverado's lineup: the ZR2. This brand new trim for the nameplate is filled to the brim with all sorts of amazing technology, and it's designed to have you searching for a "Chevy Silverado dealer near me" so that you can get your hands on the all-new ZR2.
It's time to down 5 new things we love about the 2022 Silverado, and in particular, what the ZR2 brings to the table when it comes to turning the popular Chevy Silverado into an off-road machine for truck enthusiasts. Many former owners of the Chevy Colorado may already be familiar with the ZR2's capabilities, but believe it or not, there are actually some specially tuned configurations that have gone into the Silverado that you won't even find on the Colorado. And this is what makes the team here at Jay Hatfield Chevrolet so excited about what the 2022 Silverado has to offer off-road enthusiasts.
One: Functional Flow-Tie Badge
Badges are usually a signature of aesthetics; they're perfect for helping to give shoppers a reason to opt for one trim over another. You see a specific badge; you know it means that a trim has a certain value or worth. In some cases, people simply like seeing the company logo plastered on certain parts of the vehicle. It can make some people feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
All of that being said, the bow-tie badge that represents Chevrolet has been iconic for more than a century. You see it on a Chevy, and you know exactly what you're getting. For the Silverado, it's been used as a signature of the full-size pickup's alignment in the light-duty and heavy-duty segments, but in the case of the 2022 Silverado ZR2, the bow-tie badge is actually a flow-tie...and it's functional!
The badge has the traditional bow-tie shape, but the center is hollowed out. In place of the solid gold emblem, you have an empty space that leads into the engine bay's intake. What this means is that the ZR2 trim's emblem is actually designed with aerodynamics in mind to help with airflow. It's not often that we see functional badging on vehicles, but in this case, it's not just functional but flowing.
Two: One-Pedal Rock Crawling
Rock-crawling has typically been a battleground fought over by various other trucks and SUVs out there. It's an enthusiast venture that few vehicles are truly capable of handling, and a lot of it has to do with how torque is utilized, how well the suspension has been designed for wheel travel, and how the chassis has been set up for ground clearance. Simply put, rock-crawling is not an easy feat for just any vehicle to manage, and it requires a certain kind of vehicle with a certain kind of gusto to accomplish such a feat. The Silverado ZR2 is designed to provide exactly that.
In fact, the 2022 Silverado ZR2 is designed to do more than just rock crawl; it's literally designed to handle one-pedal rock crawling. Thanks to the 6.2-liter V8 pumping out 460 pound-feet of torque, you can actually climb rocks by simply holding down the accelerator, or you can lift off the accelerator to stop. The way the truck is designed, as long as you have this feature engaged, when you stop holding down the accelerator, the truck automatically applies the brakes.
This form of rock crawling gives you complete control over the truck. Instead of trying to two-pedal your way over inclines, you can concentrate on picking the right line while simply holding down or letting off the accelerator. This not only makes the Silverado ZR2 an off-road truck for hardcore enthusiasts, but if you were just getting started with the world of off-road racing, driving, or rock-crawling, having access to an easily selectable one-pedal rock-crawl mode makes it much easier for newbies to handle.
Three: Race-Ready Off-Road Chassis
The one-pedal rock crawling is only made possible thanks to specific calibrations made to the 2022 Chevy Silverado's chassis and suspension. The ZR2 trim has had some key changes made to reinforce and buffer the Silverado's frame. This allows the Silverado ZR2 to take big bumps, large jumps, and mean shunts without cracking under pressure, surely giving the competition a lot to handle both on and off the road.
The suspension modifications extend to more than just the durability of the Silverado; it also includes how the truck is capable of dealing with the off-road challenges the Oklahoma prairie can throw at you. This starts with a lifted suspension with an approach angle of 31-degrees. The front bumper has also been modified for high-approach angles and reinforced to take all the punishment enthusiasts can throw its way.
You also don't have to worry about the ZR2 taking a lot of damage to the undercarriage thanks to the 11.2-inches of ground clearance, made possible thanks to the 18-inch wheels wearing 33-inch mud-terrain tires. The undercarriage is also further protected thanks to the skid plate package, so even if you scrape and scuff the underbelly of the Silverado ZR2 while crawling over rocks or climbing up hills, the vital components are very much protected from any sort of damage.
Four: Dual-Axle E-Lockers
E-lockers are electronically locking differentials. You'll find that most off-road vehicles have locking differentials, which are essential for gaining and maintaining traction. Anyone who wants to get serious about off-roading needs a truck that can lock the differentials. But while many trucks and SUVs have rear locking differentials, if you need the absolute best traction control available, you want lockers on both differentials.
What the 2022 Chevy Silverado ZR2 offers is dual-axle e-lockers, meaning that you have electronically locking differentials on the front and rear axles. When you need traction in the rear, you can get it. When you need that traction in the front, you can get it. The best part about it is that you can engage or disengage the locking differentials right from the console of the Silverado within the cabin.
You have easy access to real-time traction, where you need it, and when you need it. This is a pretty big step up from what you might typically expect from a production truck, especially when you take into consideration all of the other special features that the Silverado ZR2 comes packed with. The added ability to make full use of the 6.2-liter V8's torque across all four wheels puts the ZR2 in a rare category of consumer-ready racing trucks.
Five: Multimatic DSSV Dampers
Multimatic may not mean much to you, but it means a lot in motorsports. Heck, motorsports may not mean much to you, but it's an important pastime to a lot of people and actually influences a lot of what ends up on the street in a number of capacities. Multimatic is a parts company that has been contributing to the motorsports arena for many years, and it only rarely puts its expertise to use with production vehicles. The 2022 Chevy Silverado ZR2 is one of those rare production vehicles that received attention from Multimatic.
If every other entry on this list doesn't have you asking where you can find a Chevrolet dealer near you, then the Multimatic DSSV dampers should be a good enough reason to start pondering the thought. The dampers are designed to offer multiple tuning curves using spool valves and fluid reservoirs to dynamically adjust how the dampers respond and react while on or off the road. Multimatic's recent relationship with Chevrolet's trucks started with the off-road racing edition of the Colorado ZR2.
Later, the engineers decided to take what worked in motorsports and apply it to the production version of the Silverado ZR2. So essentially, what you're getting is a racing iteration of the Chevy Silverado, utilizing Multimatic's DSSV dampers but designed to handle off-road challenges, from rock climbing to desert running. Multimatic's engineering breakthroughs have helped a lot of top teams score victories on the track, and now you'll have access to that tech while driving a 2022 Silverado ZR2 around Vinita. How exciting is that?