When it comes to pickup truck reviews, we at Cars.com can’t outdo our partners at PickupTrucks.com, whose reviews of the GMC Sierra Hybrid and its sister, the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid, are comprehensive. What we can do is put a truck through the urban test, which is useful when that truck is a hybrid. Our thinking was that a city test would be a great trial of the 2-Mode Hybrid system’s efficiency during a stop-and-go urban commute. In reality, however, driving the Sierra Hybrid in the city for a week consisted of three main activities:
1. Offsetting any hybrid fuel savings by driving around looking for a parking space.
2. Sneaking up on pedestrians and scaring the crap out of them.
3. Explaining to city dwellers that “hybrid pickup” isn’t an oxymoron.
I deny implications that I enjoyed any of these tasks.
As for the truck’s performance in city driving, I was disappointed initially. First, my plan to crawl to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic was quashed: Though I intentionally waited for peak rush hour before leaving home, I met unprecedented light traffic. Most days — when I’m in a hurry — every slowdown, every pothole, every sprinkling of rain, every eyeful of bright sunshine brings out the weenie in motorists. But on this particular day, the interstate was a freakin’ drag strip. The trip computer read 20 mpg the whole time — as advertised for my Sierra Hybrid 4×4.
Next time around, it looked like I was in for the same until I came upon an apparent weenie convention, after which the speedometer stayed below 7 mph for around 10 minutes. The average mpg decreased to 19 mpg, then gradually but continuously fell below 18 mpg as I crept along — sometimes on electric power, sometimes not. Once the weenie convention broke up, the rest of the commute ranged between 25 and 45 mph, and the average mpg climbed again — this time above 20.
The slow-and-go definitely delivered better numbers than the stop-and-go, but unfortunately the challenges of finding street parking in the city led to a lot of the latter, as well as a lot of wasted time and, it seemed, a lot of wasted gas. Once I thought it through, however, I recognized how easy it is to see 15 frustrating minutes seeking out parking, or 10 minutes in a traffic jam, as offsetting any higher-speed advantages, yet how little those things mean in terms of overall consumption. In short, regardless of the time spent in gridlock, 14 mpg over the course of an eighth of a mile isn’t the same as 14 mpg over eight miles. The issue is miles per gallon, not miles per minute, and a truck with an engine that can stop and go along with the traffic is still better than one without.
Anyone who owns a full-hybrid car knows what it’s like to accidentally startle a pedestrian by coasting noiselessly to a stoplight or turning a corner powered by the electric motor alone. I now know that there are different levels of startle: There’s the Prius level, in which someone stops short, wearing an expression of mild surprise, after almost walking into or in front of your car. Then there’s the stealth-pickup startle, in which a cell-phone impaired pedestrian steps off the curb, glances to the left, sees nothing but grille, freaks, and drops his phone, which then tumbles into a sewer.
I recognized that an unexpected faceful of grille could be hazardous to, say, a tourist who’s dodgy on the heart, so I went out of my way to avoid silent approaches … after doing it a few dozen times more in Chicago’s business district. (No additional mobile phones were harmed during this experiment.)
A cyclist illustrated just how quiet the cabin of a Sierra Hybrid is by sneezing when I motored past her. My passenger rolled down the window and said “Bless you” — a courtesy that seems to befit a hybrid more than a pickup. I don’t actually believe in intimidating other motorists with a truck, but I fathom there are advantages to hypermiling in one. The practice — whereby you maximize your mileage by accelerating very slowly, braking gently and even driving at or below the speed limit — has been known to provoke road rage among the drivers behind you. You’re more likely to get a nine-iron through the windshield of a Prius than a GMC.
In terms of noise, the Sierra Hybrid wasn’t perfect. The 2-Mode system at work occasionally sounds like an approaching siren; it’s muted and it comes from no clear direction, but that’s exactly what a fire truck or ambulance sounds like in the urban jungle, so you do a lot of looking around and creeping cautiously into intersections.
But that’s nothing compared to the sound it makes when you turn the ignition off. A bizarre combination of swirling, whooshing and chattering emanates from the dashboard for about 30 seconds. I have no idea what’s going on in there, but it sounds like the chipmunk olympics.
Thankfully, here in the Midwest people aren’t under the mistaken impression that “no one wants to buy American cars,” and overall I think Chicago is pretty chill for a metropolis, but a lot of city dwellers don’t understand pickup trucks. These are people who think of pickups as wasteful, unnecessary image vehicles. One person told me you only need a pickup “if you live on a ranch.” I should mention these are invariably the same people who magically recognize — when it comes time to relocate or buy some furniture or antiques — that pickup trucks are mighty useful, and, Hey, look at that! Their dear friend Joe has one for the weekend!
What’s even harder to understand is why anyone thinks hybrid technology belongs only in small cars. Why is making a small, efficient car more efficient better than making a large, guzzly vehicle less of a guzzler? The ranks of casual pickup buyers definitely has swelled over the past few years, but that trend is on the wane. The truth is — as it has always been — pickups are purchased overwhelmingly by people who truly need them, or at least are dead-set on owning one. Consequently, any hybrid pickup purchased is taking the place of a non-hybrid. In other words, someone’s driving a more efficient truck than they otherwise would. How can that be bad? Apart from producing less carbon dioxide, hybrids cost more than equivalent non-hybrids, and that’s good for the economy and the embattled manufacturers. GM’s 2-Mode Hybrid system provides a not-insignificant increase in overall mileage and roughly 50 percent better mileage in city driving.
A rancher or a contractor who drives high-speed rural roads from jobsite to jobsite might not be able to justify the hybrid’s higher price, and you’re definitely better off with the gas-only version if you need full towing and hauling capacity. But the Sierra Hybrid should help cut fuel costs for any city- or suburban-based tradesman. It certainly can’t hurt.
