2023 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Bison Review: A Modern, Mighty 4x4 for People Who Hate Raptors

General Motors clearly doesn't believe that every off-road pickup needs to be a Ford Raptor fighter. If it did, it would have built one years ago. Instead, it teams up with companies like American Expedition Vehicles to build trail-armored trucks like the 2023 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Bison. It doesn’t have a widebody or forced induction—just front and rear lockers, a 6.2-liter V8, and plenty of steel underneath.

I feel the same way as GM, which might be why I tried thinking of a few side hustles I could pick up so I could afford one. It’s really that good if you’re less into theatrics and more into rough-and-tumble four-wheeling that takes place on a wooded trail instead of wide-open desert. There’s definitely a rub, though, and it doesn’t come from the meaty Goodyears.

It’s the $85,900 price tag. With a sticker like that, you almost have to hate the F-150 Raptor at its core to spend more money on this Chevy, which admittedly isn’t as attractive on paper. There are real reasons to choose the Silverado ZR2 Bison over Ford’s turned-up F-150—that V8 is chief among them—but I’m not sure they’re enough to sway many people who are cross-shopping the two.

2023 Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Bison Specs

• Silverado ZR2 Bison base price (as tested): $81,240 ($85,900)

• Powertrain: 6.2-liter V8 | 10-speed automatic | four-wheel drive

• Horsepower: 420 @ 5,600 rpm

• Torque: 460 @ 4,100 rpm

• Seating capacity: 5

• Max payload capacity: 1,520 pounds

• Max towing capacity: 8,800 pounds

• Off-road angles: 32.5˚ approach | 23.4˚ breakover | 23.4˚ departure

• Ground clearance: 11.2 inches

• Quick take: A traditional 4x4 that's made for modern-day wheelers who can (hopefully) afford a top-shelf rig.

• Score: 8/10

The Basics

The Silverado ZR2 Bison is the absolute top dog half-ton in Chevy’s lineup. It offers a short list of advantages over the non-Bison model, including steel front and rear bumpers, steel skid plating front to back, and steel rocker guards to protect everything on the truck’s bottom half. It stays true to the regular ZR2’s ethos and adds the features that true wheelers usually spring for first.

It takes a trained eye to spot the Bison’s exterior design differences. There are no corner cutouts on the front bumper like you find on the normal ZR2, as it now houses LED fog lights there. Out back, there are super solid tow hooks that encourage you to use the truck as intended, as well as turn-down exhaust pipes which sit nearly flush with the rear bumper. Those come in handy—I’ll explain why later.

Inside is the same great cabin with a crispy 13.4-inch infotainment display that acts as the truck’s command center. There are quality-feel toggles everywhere, and when you aren’t messing with those, you can flip through the various screens on the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster. AEV’s logo is embroidered onto the headrests, but aside from that, it’s largely unchanged.

Finally, the powertrain is completely identical to that of a regular Silverado ZR2. The 6.2-liter V8 makes 420 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, and having driven one with a Borla exhaust at the truck’s press launch, let me just tell you–it ought to come standard. Anyway, it’s a proven package that should keep going for a long time, even though it won’t win every drag race.

Driving the Chevy Silverado ZR2 Bison

While I put quite a few highway miles on my grey-and-black test rig—including some with a trailer—it feels right to focus on the time I spent off-road. That’s what you’re here to read about, isn’t it?

The Silverado ZR2 Bison and I headed to Rush Springs Ranch, an expansive 4x4 park that’s only eight minutes from my house in the Missouri Ozarks. The trails there range from mild to way-too-wild-for-a-truck-that’s-not-yours, so I stuck to the green and yellow routes marked here on the map. They still provided plenty of opportunities to test out the truck’s traction, articulation, and ground clearance.

I quickly found a mud pit about 100 feet long. If you’re from the middle of the country like I am, this is the type of wheeling you grew up around. That said, you probably weren’t raised with a truck this fancy with cooled seats and a TV screen capable of running OnX Offroad. Still, the Silverado ZR2 Bison plunged right in and never struggled for grip, even as I forged through water that reached the bottom of the doors.