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I drove without music. I wanted to hear the truck. It was the 2001 GMC Sierra C3 pickup, and it seemed to be moving without squeaking. This was odd. A pickup truck usually squeaks, partly because its cabin and cargo bed are attached separately to the same frame.

The frame portion supporting the cabin twists one way while the section beneath the cargo bed twists in opposition. The discordant flexing produces squeaks. But the C3 was free of squeaks, rattles, rumbles and other truck-like noises. It was tight.

Tightness is a sensation born of many things done to make a vehicle feel solid, or rich. It involves the use of high-quality components and materials needed to reduce what automakers call “noise, vibration and harshness.”

Take the matter of bushings, rubberized or nylon components that bear loads and act as cushions between metal surfaces. General Motors Corp. uses the more compliant nylon bushings along the C3’s frame, which itself is formed into three sections to increase rigidity and reduce flexing.

The company also endowed the C3 with a firm suspension system in a bid to reduce body wallow and roll, especially when towing trailers.

I towed nothing in the test truck. But I ran the highways and cruised a variety of curvy Virginia back roads, and I was thoroughly delighted by the C3’s behavior. The truck was fast, nimble — equipped with a 6-liter V-8 engine that develops 325 horsepower at 5,000 rpm.

But I got nowhere close to peak horsepower. I drove at the top of posted speed limits — fast enough to get some idea of what the C3 could do, slow enough to stay out of jail.

I yearned for snow, just enough to test the C3’s all-wheel-drive system. A chilled rain fell, instead. That was good enough, especially along Interstate 95, where just a little wetness turned traffic into a slam dance.

But the C3 did okay. Its all-wheel-drive system automatically transferred power from wheel to wheel, depending on which one was slipping or gripping. There were no buttons to push or levers to shift. Computers and sensors did that work.

It all goes against what pickups have been, and what some people believe they should remain — simple, utilitarian lorries made for hauling and towing and little else. But pickups have moved beyond servitude. They’ve become image leaders, chutzpah-mobiles, in much the same way as sports cars or fancy sedans. They’ve attracted the attention of the ruling class, though they’ve also become more democratic in the process.

Consider the C3’s interior. It accommodates five adults, thus allowing more friends and family members to come along on what traditionally have been trips for one or two people. And, yeah, the thing is plush to the max. It has dual-toned leather-faced seats, full carpeting, a six-speaker sound system, an OnStar communications and navig ation system, power windows and door locks, and enough storage bins and cup holders to start a mobile juice bar.

But mostly, on lightly traveled back stretches, in the damp grayness of a fall day or the beauty of a perfect sunset, it has peace and quiet — no squeaks, no rattles, no rumbles of any kind. I really like that.

Nuts & Bolts

2001 GMC Sierra C3 Complaint: In the past, people seemed to think nothing of dumping lumber or other stuff into the bed of a pickup; they cared little about tossing a piece of machinery or whatever inside the truck’s cabin. That wasn’t the case with the C3. We were getting ready for a run to the local Home Depot. But my wife objected to using the C3. “We can’t mess up that truck,” she said.

In fact, people were saying things like that all week. “Nice truck. You don’t want to haul anything in that truck.”

Praise: It is, indeed, an exceptionally nice truck. If you’re going to haul stuf f on a regular basis, buy something else, or get a cargo-bed liner. You really don’t want to mess up this truck, especially the leather seats or the carpeting.

Ride, acceleration and handling: You have to drive it to believe it. Very smooth acceleration. Excellent handling, even in congested urban traffic. Stops nicely, too. Brakes include power-assisted discs front and rear with standard four-wheel antilocks.

Engine and mileage: The C3 is equipped with a normally aspirated 6-liter V-8 designed to develop 325 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 370 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. It swallows 87-octane gasoline at the rate of about 16 miles per gallon.

Capacities: Payload capacity — the maximum amount of cargo weight a vehicle can carry — is 1,787 pounds. Trailering capacity is 8,700 pounds.

Price: Expect to pay about $38,000, an estimated $10,000 more than the Sierra SLE four-door pickup with two-wheel drive and a 4.8-liter V-8.

Purse-strings note: Compare with Ford F-150 Super Crew, Nissan Frontier 4WD pickup crew cab, Toyota Tundra 4WD Access Cab and Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab.