It may have finished at the bottom of the pack, but the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado wasn't so much a bad truck as it was a victim of old age. Now into its sixth year on the market, the Chevrolet Silverado is still a solid performer, but the competition has clearly passed it by in several key areas. There are still some elements of Chevrolet's popular pickup that make it worth considering, but if you're looking for best-in-class attributes, the Silverado forces you to look harder than ever before to find them.

Given our test truck's lofty sticker price, we weren't expecting such a treasure hunt. At well over $41,000, our Chevy Silverado Z71 crew cab was the most expensive truck in the test. The inflated entry fee guaranteed just about every option and feature in the GM arsenal, but even that wasn't enough to dig the truck out of fifth place.

So what was it that sunk the Chevy Silverado to the bottom of the order? For one, its marginal interior design looks and feels older than ever. For 41 big ones, you would expect an upscale cabin, but the Silverado still wears layer upon layer of mediocre plastic trim. "Functional, familiar — and ugly," was the not-so-complimentary summation of one editor. "You might not think that the Chevy Silverado is the oldest truck on the outside, but sit in the driver seat and there's no doubt about it," wrote another.

It's not the prettiest pickup on the inside, but given that most buyers are looking for function over form, the Silverado isn't a total loss. The front seats were judged the best of the five trucks and extensive steering wheel satellite controls allow you to control everything from the radio to the trip computer without taking your hands off the wheel. The center console has large cupholders, plenty of storage room and a flat top that's useful for keeping a cell phone or notebook handy. The dual-zone automatic climate control works well and even the well-spaced buttons for the XM-equipped radio are a snap to use.

Rear-seat room in the truck is generous and the well-formed seats provide solid comfort for adult-sized passengers. It's not the biggest rear cabin in this segment, but most editors found the Silverado plenty comfortable in back. Additional radio controls and a flip-down DVD player made it all the more passenger-friendly.

The lack of competitiveness in the interior design category was hardly a surprise, but where it really fell behind was in the performance category — an area it dominated in years past. With its standard 5.3-liter V8 rated at 285 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque, the Chevy Silverado is now outgunned by the Dodge, Ford and Nissan entries, all of which post horsepower figures above 300 and maximum torque levels well above 360 lb-ft.

At the track, the Chevrolet Silverado posted competitive 0-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times of 8.6 and 17.1 seconds, respectively, but when loaded with a 6,000-pound trailer and three passengers, it quickly fell behind the front-runners. Its 22.6-second 0-to-60 time put it two seconds behind the Ford and a full second behind the Toyota. Out on the highway, the Chevrolet struggled to maintain its acceleration up a steep grade and made a considerable racket while doing so. A big factor in its disappointing perfomance was its four-speed automatic transmission, as it had problems trying to find a gear that could keep the engine in its optimum power band. Like the Ford, a five-speed gearbox would do wonders to help close the performance gap.

In addition to falling behind when it came to overall speed, the Chevy has also lost much of its edge in the ride comfort and handling category that it used to dominate. It still feels nimble in day-to-day driving, but the steering that was acceptably numb in previous years now feels hopelessly vague compared to the sharper setups in the Dodge and Ford trucks. The ride quality isn't rough by any means, but more than one editor noted that it seemed to bounce and hop over bumps more so than the other trucks. Braking was also a sore point, as the pickup turned in some of the longest stops of the group at the track.

During our off-road excursion, the Chevrolet Silverado sucked up the rough terrain better than we expected. The optional Z71 package adds heavy-duty shocks and sturdier bump stops, but there were still times when it bounced uncontrollably over washboard ruts. We liked the fact that it offered an "Auto" mode for the transfer case for varying terrain, but we would have liked to have better compression braking on downhill sections when in low range. Ground clearance was never an issue as it tackled our rock-strewn hill-climb course without scraping its skid plates.

It might seem hard to believe that the Silverado's fortunes could fall so fast, but consider it a testament to the improved competition more than a combination of glaring deficiencies. The 2004 Chevrolet Silverado isn't seriously lacking in any one area, but it doesn't excel in any, either. If you drove this truck and nothing else, you probably wouldn't have much of a problem with it, but our reality was much different. Drive it back-to-back with its peers and this Chevy's age becomes all too obvious. A redesign is on the way for 2007 and there's no doubt that the Chevy Silverado will come back bigger and better in every way, but until then, it will have to suffer in the face of more modern and powerful rivals that make it feel like the 20th-century pickup that it is.

Second Opinions:

Editor in Chief Karl Brauer says:
This truck came in a strong second during our 2000 Full-Size Truck Comparison Test, but like most automotive segments these days, four years might as well be 40 years. Since that test, the Ford and Dodge entries have been redesigned, Toyota has introduced a Tundra crew cab and Nissan has flashed onto the scene with the Titan. The Silverado has seen only modest upgrades in those four years.

Not surprisingly, of all the trucks in the test, the Chevy felt the oldest and least refined. The steering is too slow and too light for my taste. The brakes feel like something from the last millennia (which technically they are), and even its drivetrain — usually a GM strongpoint — couldn't compete with the Titan or Ram. When loaded with our 6,000-pound trailer, the Chevy pulled the slowest quarter-mile times, even slower than the Tundra's.

Other items, like the interior materials and exterior styling, didn't add to the Chevy's desirability, though it does have a better rear seat than the Dodge and it performed relatively well off-road. Bottom line, the segment has gotten more competitive while the Silverado has simply gotten older. Time for a redesign.

Road Test Editor Brian Moody says:
This truck has long been my favorite. The Silverado has always been my "go to" truck when it comes to comfort, power, styling and value. It's hard for me to admit it, but I think the Silverado has slipped. I firmly believe that trucks like the Titan and F-150 are now better in many ways.

I still like the Chevy's engine for its powerful refinement, but the Titan's feels stronger. In everyday driving conditions, the Silverado feels stronger and faster than the F-150, but under a heavy load or more demanding circumstances, it's the Ford that comes out on top. The F-150 also offers a more carlike ride and is better-looking. One thing the Silverado does well is offer ample rear-seat room. Although the overall length of the Silverado makes it cumbersome in some driving situations, as well as off-road, the extra room in back is appreciated.

Ford's recent redesign of the F-150 improved that truck by leaps and bounds. Let's hope Chevy can do the same. The current Silverado is still a fine truck but newer versions of the Ram and F-150, plus the addition of the Titan, make the Silverado seem a bit behind.