1997 Chevrolet C1500 Silverado Tough as a rock. By Don Fuller, New Car Test Drive .com

A passenger-side airbag that can be deactivated

with a switch heads up improvements to the Chevrolet and GMC C/K pickups

this year.

Thanks to the tough-guy look of the new Dodge Ram pickup and the rounded

mod-squad shape of the even-newer Ford F-Series pickup, the Chevrolet and

GMC C/K full-size pickups are suddenly looking like the old kids on the

block. Yet, in truck years, the General Motors full-size pickups aren't

really that old. The design was first introduced in 1988 as a completely

new offering inside and out, and even today it looks clean, crisp and contemporary.

Stylistically, it offers truck buyers an alternative to the newer Dodge

and Ford models, an alternative that is traditional without necessarily

being out of fashion. And in a market segment where product cycles are

often measured in decades, eight years tallies up as just getting started.

In 1992, the line was rounded out with the addition of a Crew Cab model

and a 6.5-liter turbodiesel V8. In 1995, the interior was redone, including

the addition of a driver's airbag.

GM's recent introduction of the Vortec engines added a lot more power

under the hood. In horsepower, the 4.3-liter V6 has more than the previous

5.0-liter V8, the 5.0-liter V8 has more than the previous 5.7, and the

5.7 has more than the previous 7.4. The 7.4 is also way up. Across the

board, torque figures are up about 10 to 20 lb.-ft.

This year, GM has improved the power steering and revised the transmissions

for improved operation.