On a regular basis, the GM pickup owner will most appreciate the new instrument panel, since it has been vastly improved and ''now accommodates the many new and upgraded features made possible by our advanced new electrical system.''
The center bottom of the instrument panel cluster provides a standard new driver information center reporting (depending on the truck's equipment content) on the status of up to 34 vehicle functions, which White said is nearly twice as many as the previous driver message center, and uses an easy-to-read, one-line, 22-character vacuum fluorescent display.
Switch controls, such as those used for the four-wheel-drive selection and Quadrasteer's four-wheel-steer system, also have a new look, and most Silverado and Sierra models use a black background, with white backlighting and orange pointers in their cluster.
Standard on extended cabs now and optional in regular and crew cab models is a new dual-zone manual climate-control system, which allows the driver and front passenger to adjust the temperature individually.
The pickups always had extra controls for the stereo and stuff on the wheel, but they're from the Casa di Fromaggio catalogue and are attached to the side of the steering wheel. The new controls are integrated into the wheel and much slicker.
Pickups with buckets get a standard center console that flows up into the instrument panel and has a seamlessly integrated, single-piece design and, White promised, a much classier look and feel.