2001 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD

If you've ever borrowed a Snap-On socket wrench and had to give it back to your buddy, you'll know exactly how we felt when we handed the keys to our One-Year Test Silverado HD back to the folks at GM. We've been hard pressed to find another work tool that makes toil so effortless and our libidos feel "manly" in the process. Over the past 12 months and nearly 16,000 miles, we've thrown everything we could at our Duramax-diesel-motivated HD, and it never flinched: We've attached our tow-test trailer with 8000 lb of water in the tanks; a bed full of crushed rock; a month's supply of hay; and a 25-ft sport boat. The ride may have been a bit bouncy when unladen, but add a couple hundred pounds of gear or concrete blocks in the bed, and it rides like a Cadillac.

Before saying buh-bye, we paid a visit to our local Chevy dealer for the 15K-mile service (oil and filter change, tire rotation, front and rear differential fluid change), which cost $265.95. Other than the scheduled maintenance, our HD was virtually trouble free (with the exception of a brake warning light recall, fixed gratis by our dealer) and quite satisfying to drive.