1994 Chevy K1500 Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Do you ever get stuck behind a guy

[00:01] holding up the line at Wawa? He's got a

[00:03] lidless cup of black coffee and fingers

[00:06] covered in honey barbecue flavor twist

[00:08] Frito dust and he's going back and forth

[00:10] with the cashier because he's pointing

[00:12] at the smokes he wants, but she's not

[00:14] getting the smokes he wants. And then

[00:16] when she finally gets the smokes, he

[00:18] tells her, "You know what? Let me also

[00:19] get this thing of Cow Tales and a couple

[00:22] of Zynns. Oh, and a scratch-off ticket.

[00:24] Actually, make it five scratch-off

[00:26] tickets. Direct deposit just hit. And

[00:29] let me get 1750 on pump Oh, I don't

[00:32] remember. Just put it on the pump with

[00:33] the Chevy truck." He tells her as if

[00:36] that narrows it down. And then he

[00:37] realizes he left his wallet in the

[00:40] truck.

[00:41] >> [laughter]

[00:41] >> Of course he did. So he says, "You know

[00:42] what? I'm just going to leave this

[00:44] coffee here real quick. Hold my spot."

[00:46] And then he gets in his truck, pops in

[00:49] his CD of Custody Rock, and drives off

[00:52] to his job at the Kids These Days Don't

[00:54] Know How to Do Anything Factory.

[00:57] The 1994 Chevrolet K1500 isn't the

[01:01] official truck of a guy holding up the

[01:03] line at Wawa.

[01:05] It is the guy holding up the line at

[01:08] Wawa. It's a stubborn old mule that

[01:11] makes your day longer and is always

[01:13] threatening to tender its resignation

[01:16] from this mortal coil. Yet it's somehow

[01:19] still going. Never pleasant, never even

[01:22] efficient, never functioning well enough

[01:25] to feel good about driving it, never

[01:27] functioning poorly enough to justify the

[01:29] expense of replacing it. A GMT400

[01:32] era backroad battle wagon with the

[01:35] downcast face of an unsmacked ass and

[01:38] body roll that tells the world my field

[01:40] sobriety tests come pre-failed. 11

[01:44] minutes with this handling and I was

[01:46] more anxious than a giraffe on a

[01:47] helipad. But I'll tell you this, a man

[01:51] who owns a truck can reasonably presume

[01:53] that his choice in vehicle explains him

[01:55] to the world on his behalf.

[01:58] But a K1500

[02:00] forces us to question,

[02:02] is a work truck actually useful when the

[02:05] work is keeping the truck alive in the

[02:07] first place?

[02:09] And more pressingly,

[02:12] will this make my bottom five?

[02:14] Honestly, who even cares? I'm the Roman.

[02:17] This is Race to the Bottom. Let's make

[02:19] like a tree and go. I don't like this

[02:21] truck. I [music] don't like this truck.

[02:23] This truck made me sick and I said I

[02:25] don't like this truck.

[02:27] There are vehicles you respect because

[02:29] they're good and they make life better.

[02:32] They make life happier. Maybe they make

[02:35] life easier.

[02:37] And then there are vehicles you respect

[02:41] because they refuse to die.

[02:44] This is the latter.

[02:47] You would never know it from any of the

[02:49] reviews I've actually done,

[02:51] but I love trucks. I'm jealous of truck

[02:54] guys because I harbor a deep-seated

[02:56] desire to be a truck guy. To one day be

[03:00] the type of guy who's not only seen as

[03:02] rugged and useful, but actually is

[03:05] rugged and useful as opposed to

[03:07] soft-handed and easily startled. But

[03:10] what I realize now is that liking

[03:12] trucks, hell, even owning a truck

[03:15] wouldn't make me a truck guy because I

[03:17] don't have the patience required of an

[03:19] actual truck guy.

[03:22] Look, I like the GMT400 platform. I like

[03:25] trucks, but I

[03:27] hate this truck.

[03:30] This truck made me sick. Literally, the

[03:34] ride was so unpleasant I actually got

[03:36] motion sick. I'm getting motion sick now

[03:40] just remembering it, and that's never

[03:43] happened to me before as a driver. Oh,

[03:45] it's happened plenty of times as a

[03:47] passenger, but how bad does a drive have

[03:50] to be for you to control the tempo of

[03:52] the experience, yet still feel like you

[03:54] got on the teacup ride during a

[03:56] hangover.

[03:58] Even going nowhere, this truck is rough.

[04:02] This is one of the only vehicles I've

[04:04] driven where it felt like the engine was

[04:05] still trying to turn over once it was

[04:07] already up and running. It's a 6.5 L

[04:10] diesel, hot turbo, so not intercooled,

[04:14] and the tune gets you an extra 50-ish

[04:16] horsepower. So, with this setup, you're

[04:18] going from around 180-ish

[04:22] stock horsepower to about 230 to 240 at

[04:26] peak, and roughly 400 lb ft of torque,

[04:29] according to my magnificent volunteer,

[04:32] Gabe, who's thrown in some additional

[04:35] quality of life modifications on top of

[04:37] this.

[04:38] >> Well, we're just starting at the

[04:39] beginning. The first thing that was

[04:40] replaced was the injection pump. '94 was

[04:43] the first year of the electronic DS4

[04:46] injection pumps, and what usually goes

[04:48] bad on them is something called a PMD,

[04:51] which this one's been relocated right

[04:53] here. Um the GM in their infinite wisdom

[04:56] decided to put it right on the side of

[04:57] the injection pump, which is underneath

[04:59] of this intake manifold, and gets nice

[05:02] and hot, and cooks the electronics.

[05:04] Uh transmission was rebuilt. Uh it has a

[05:06] 4L80E

[05:09] uh transmission

[05:11] just overheats whenever you try to tow

[05:13] anything with it.

[05:15] Uh I put a deep pan and a double row

[05:17] cooler on it, and that keeps the heat

[05:19] down to around 190° when I'm towing.

[05:23] A buddy of mine bought a an old Willys

[05:25] Jeep

[05:27] out here in Pennsylvania. I towed it out

[05:28] to Colorado for him, and uh when I was

[05:31] pulling into the into his driveway, it

[05:33] blew a turbo.

[05:35] Uh

[05:35] so, I bought a 2003 Dodge diesel,

[05:39] and towed this thing back with the brand

[05:41] new, well, new to me Dodge. So, it's the

[05:44] most expensive turbocharger I ever

[05:45] bought.

[05:46] >> It honestly breaks my brain trying to

[05:48] imagine how much worse this would have

[05:50] been without Gabe doing all of this. I

[05:53] don't care what the platform is. Keeping

[05:55] a rust-eaten 32-year-old truck alive is

[05:58] something you should be able to put on a

[06:00] resume.

[06:01] With that said, none of it really makes

[06:04] this truck good. It just makes it

[06:06] functional. Yet, I still have a kind of

[06:09] grudging respect for this truck because

[06:12] while it's true that Gabe is the reason

[06:14] this is running at all, the fact that so

[06:16] many of its factory components are still

[06:19] functioning speaks to the overall

[06:21] durability and resiliency of the GMT 400

[06:25] platform. But, it also speaks to how a

[06:28] company with its back to the wall is far

[06:30] likelier to build value out of nothing

[06:33] than a company who's rolling in green

[06:35] like the Toxic Avenger.

[06:38] Basically, in 1994, GM was still

[06:41] recovering from some hard years at the

[06:43] start of the decade that led them to

[06:46] cutting some 70,000 jobs as they

[06:49] restructured and turned towards trucks

[06:51] to dig themselves out of a hole so deep

[06:54] you'd think they were pinning their

[06:55] financial future on striking oil.

[06:58] The GMT 400 platform debuted in 1988 and

[07:02] it was huge for the company because it

[07:04] helped streamline engineering.

[07:07] Light trucks, heavy-duty trucks, even

[07:09] SUVs could be spun out from this single

[07:13] modular platform that was arguably more

[07:16] versatile than the square-body CK trucks

[07:19] of the previous generation. But, it took

[07:22] until 1994

[07:24] for the GMT 400 to show just how

[07:27] valuable it could be because in 1994, GM

[07:32] launched their value pricing strategy as

[07:35] a way to cut down on dealership haggling

[07:38] and simply get people out the door in a

[07:40] GM product. The strategy meant that for

[07:43] select models, GM limited standalone

[07:46] options and grouped the more desirable

[07:49] features into just one or two option

[07:51] packages.

[07:53] And then set lower, non-negotiable

[07:55] sticker prices as a compromise.

[07:58] Dealers hated it because the sticker

[08:00] prices dropped, but the wholesale prices

[08:03] stayed the same.

[08:05] But customers loved it.

[08:07] The LA Times noted in 1994 that

[08:10] value-priced vehicles accounted for more

[08:12] than 70% of all GM sales that year,

[08:16] despite fewer than half of the cars

[08:19] available for sale that year being

[08:21] value-priced.

[08:23] And I've got to believe that this had a

[08:25] hand in GM putting out a more reliable

[08:28] truck than they might have otherwise,

[08:30] because these GMT400 trucks were

[08:33] manufactured with fewer options, meaning

[08:36] they were less complex. And the end

[08:38] result was fewer reported build quality

[08:42] errors, at least from what I could find.

[08:45] Now, that still doesn't mean these

[08:47] trucks were necessarily good, but they

[08:50] were reliable and sometimes that's

[08:52] better than good. Granted, you were

[08:54] still fighting an uphill battle on fuel

[08:56] economy, but even then, while Gabe tells

[08:59] me that he might get 14 miles per gallon

[09:01] on a good day, that's honestly more than

[09:04] I was expecting on a three-decade-old

[09:07] truck.

[09:08] But really, the best thing you can say

[09:11] about the K1500

[09:13] is that it refuses to die, despite

[09:17] Gabe's best efforts to kill it.

[09:20] Gabe learned maintenance by wrenching on

[09:22] this truck, and I like when a vehicle

[09:25] essentially teaches you how to keep it

[09:27] alive, because there's virtue in a truck

[09:30] so mechanically straightforward that it

[09:32] can be the equivalent of a donor body in

[09:34] a medical college. Actually, that

[09:36] analogy doesn't work because those

[09:38] bodies aren't living. Never mind. I look

[09:41] at this truck and I'm manifestly

[09:44] unsatisfied with it. But as with

[09:47] everything, I feel like it could be so

[09:51] much worse, right? At the very least,

[09:53] this isn't one of those modern Cummins

[09:55] diesels for guys who never tow anything.

[09:59] They just drive to an office job and hop

[10:01] on restricted internet to jork it to

[10:04] prank invasion kissing videos. And then

[10:06] he gets fired and has to find out how to

[10:08] break the news to his girlfriend who's

[10:10] now left to wonder, does it reflect

[10:12] negatively upon me to be the most

[10:14] important person in the world to someone

[10:17] who sucks? Chevrolet K1500

[10:21] the anti-Cummins.

[10:24] A K1500 owner will justify and defend

[10:27] why they continue to drive it and why

[10:29] they continue to keep it alive against

[10:31] all reason. And it's for the same reason

[10:34] you don't get rid of a tube of

[10:35] toothpaste just because it's flatter

[10:37] than a moron's conception of Earth.

[10:40] There might still be a little bit left

[10:43] and it's worth finding out how much

[10:44] longer you can stretch it.

[10:47] But a Cummins owner will behave like

[10:49] their engine is a get out of maintenance

[10:51] free card. Like, I have a Cummins. I am

[10:54] your superior and also can I borrow a

[10:57] few hundred dollars till Friday? And

[11:01] then they drive like the medication for

[11:02] their personality disorder is

[11:04] distributed through exhaust fumes. Just

[11:07] out here on the road manspreading their

[11:10] undercarriage across yellow lines.

[11:13] I think it was Confucius who said, "The

[11:16] man explains a K1500 to his community."

[11:20] A Cummins

[11:22] explains the man to the world.

[11:26] Can you tell I've had a lot of obnoxious

[11:27] encounters with modern Cummins owners?

[11:30] '89 Dodge Ram, you're fine. I'm mostly

[11:32] talking about tailgaters in modern Rams

[11:35] who love to hog the left lane and have

[11:37] headlights brighter than God's

[11:39] eyeshadow. But hey, I'm sorry if you

[11:41] drive one. I'm sure you're an absolute

[11:43] gem. But keeping it squarely within the

[11:46] confines of what the K1500 signifies, I

[11:50] think it feels a lot more honest than

[11:53] some modern trucks out there. And I'm

[11:56] certainly not going to say all modern

[11:59] trucks because this isn't really a case

[12:01] of the past being better, just

[12:03] different. But I call these honest

[12:06] because at no point did I think that

[12:07] what I saw was not also going to be what

[12:10] I got. On the one hand, it's better in

[12:13] overdrive and getting up to 70 miles per

[12:15] hour is enough to smooth out the ride so

[12:18] you don't feel like a pile of socks

[12:20] loaded into the spin cycle. But then

[12:22] once I get up to 70, visibility is a

[12:25] problem because the side mirror gets

[12:28] blown out of position anytime you're

[12:30] going faster than 40 miles an hour. And

[12:32] the steering is all over the map. It's

[12:34] like I have to make these big dramatic

[12:37] cuts to the wheel to make a turn because

[12:39] it only ever wants to go straight. And

[12:40] while I understand that this is not

[12:42] going to be a problem on every K1500,

[12:46] I do think it's emblematic of the types

[12:48] of things you put up with when you have

[12:50] a truck of this vintage. And I do think

[12:53] a lot of the people who own these trucks

[12:55] recognize and understand that and it

[12:58] informs their decision to continue

[13:00] owning them. But for me personally, I

[13:03] don't think I'm a patient enough person

[13:06] to put up with a truck like this because

[13:08] it's like dealing with the guy holding

[13:10] up the line at Wawa every single day. Oh

[13:13] great, he's jumped the queue to complain

[13:16] about the automatic soap dispenser in

[13:18] the men's room because those things

[13:20] don't give you enough soap. They just

[13:21] give you an octogenarian money shots

[13:24] worth of hollow suds and then you try

[13:26] and wave your hand underneath the thing

[13:29] for more soap, and you end up looking

[13:31] like air traffic control just to end up

[13:34] activating the hand dryer by mistake.

[13:37] And by the way, those things are way too

[13:39] loud, he says to no one in particular.

[13:42] Oh, just spill some gas on your hands

[13:45] and try to wash it off, your

[13:46] equilibrium's going to be [ __ ] for a

[13:48] week. And now he's asking for a

[13:50] Powerball ticket and then a receipt

[13:52] because he's going to write this off as

[13:53] a business expense. What business? A

[13:56] lucrative little venture known as none

[13:59] of yours. And then he adds another play

[14:01] to the Powerball ticket because his

[14:02] failure to achieve any of the dreams he

[14:05] had in youth has led him to outsource

[14:08] those dreams to the National Lottery.

[14:11] And yet,

[14:13] because there is always an and yet,

[14:16] for as much of an inconvenience as this

[14:18] truck can be to one's daily life, a

[14:21] thing doesn't lose value simply because

[14:24] it makes your life stressful.

[14:27] As we've established, Gabe developed the

[14:30] confidence and knowledge base to wrench

[14:32] on vehicles through this truck. That's

[14:36] valuable. And even though it ran like

[14:38] garbage at times, it still ran, even as

[14:41] it consistently overheated due to all of

[14:44] the modifications, even as parts broke

[14:46] down and costs mounted, it still ran.

[14:51] But then, what's the point in keeping

[14:53] something alive when it has one foot

[14:55] permanently in the grave? As Gabe

[14:58] himself told me, if you're looking for a

[15:01] truck to use as a truck, look elsewhere.

[15:06] And I understand that, I really do. On

[15:09] the one hand, it's rewarding to keep it

[15:11] running because it reinforces that not

[15:14] only are you skilled enough to do that,

[15:16] it validates getting this truck in the

[15:18] first place as the right decision.

[15:22] But the decision to get this truck is

[15:24] only the right one if you're willing to

[15:27] do the work. And there's every

[15:29] possibility that it'll stop being worth

[15:32] the effort long before it actually stops

[15:35] working.

[15:36] Yet I think overall, you can hate a

[15:39] thing and still acknowledge it has

[15:42] value.

[15:44] I hate this truck.

[15:47] Yet I deeply admire its mechanical

[15:50] resiliency.

[15:52] In that sense, the K1500

[15:56] is worth preserving.

[15:59] Even if I wouldn't say it's worth

[16:01] recommending.

[16:08] Okay, so before I get to the ranking, a

[16:10] new 2-hour episode of RCR stories is now

[16:14] live and ad-free on Patreon detailing a

[16:18] unique piece of automotive adjacent

[16:21] history that's part of American history.

[16:24] It's genuinely one of my favorite things

[16:26] I've ever made, right up there with the

[16:28] NASCAR history and the 2,000-mile race

[16:30] around the world, my two favorite things

[16:33] I've ever done. So I'd love it if you

[16:35] check them out. Now onto the ranking.

[16:38] This is in my bottom five, obviously,

[16:40] and I hate putting it there because we

[16:42] already have a Chevy truck. And this is

[16:44] what I mean. How can I say I like trucks

[16:47] and virtually every truck I drive ends

[16:49] up in the bottom five? And what can I

[16:51] say other than that I ask people to give

[16:53] me bad trucks and they come through for

[16:55] me? Ironically or coincidentally,

[16:57] whichever, because I didn't hate this as

[17:01] much as my bottom two, the Chevrolet

[17:03] K1500

[17:05] takes the number three spot from the

[17:08] other Chevrolet truck on this list,

[17:10] which means after 2 years, we finally

[17:13] bid adieu to my brother's Dodge Journey.

[17:17] Now, after 3 years in the bottom five,

[17:20] the Nissan Sentra is close to graduating

[17:23] the list as it sits at number five,

[17:26] followed by the 2001 Chevrolet Silverado

[17:29] 2500 at number four, the 1994 Chevrolet

[17:34] K1500

[17:36] at number three, the Mercedes-Benz E320

[17:40] Wagon at number two, and at number one,

[17:44] celebrating a full calendar year in the

[17:47] lead of the race to the bottom, the 2013

[17:50] Ford E450.

[17:52] I've linked each of these reviews in the

[17:54] description, so you can learn more about

[17:56] why they're in those spots, but please

[17:58] remember, this is not a judgement of the

[18:01] entire model line, just the specific

[18:03] model I got to drive. It's all one guy's

[18:06] subjective opinion, and it's all in good

[18:08] fun, so please don't take this seriously

[18:10] because I sure as hell don't. I'm just

[18:12] looking to have a good time, and I did

[18:14] have a good time shooting with Gabe and

[18:17] his wonderful wife who offered me an

[18:19] anti-motion sickness pill to help me at

[18:22] the end of the shoot when I struggled to

[18:24] regain my bearings.

[18:26] Now, if you have something interesting

[18:28] we haven't done before that you think

[18:29] Brian might like to review, like a

[18:31] Hummer or

[18:33] Volkswagen Scirocco or something, or you

[18:36] have a car so completely awful you think

[18:39] it could win the race to the bottom, and

[18:41] you'd like me to review it, please email

[18:44] me at regularcars [email protected].

[18:49] That's [email protected].

[18:53] And please specify whether it's for RCR

[18:56] Race to the Bottom or either. Be

[18:58] forewarned that we can only accept those

[19:00] willing to come to us in southeastern

[19:02] Pennsylvania, but if that sounds like

[19:04] you, please reach out. If you'd like to

[19:06] support us, then like the video,

[19:08] comment, subscribe, tap the bell icon to

[19:11] be notified for every new video. Check

[19:14] out the merch links in the description

[19:15] or join us on Patreon for just a dollar.

[19:19] Thank you so much for watching and have

[19:22] an outstanding

[19:23] rest of your week.

[19:26] >> This truck made me sick. This truck made

[19:28] me want to ralph. This truck made me

[19:30] want to go home just so I could ralph.

[19:32] This truck made me sick. This truck made

[19:35] me sick. This truck made me want to go

[19:37] home just so I could ralph, I guess. I

[19:40] guess [music] that's what just one way

[19:41] to do it. I don't know what's going to

[19:43] happen.

[19:44] I don't

[19:45] >> [music]

[19:46] >> Nick, my name is Nick. I'm a really

[19:49] corny person and my name is Nick. I'm a

[19:50] really corny person and my name is Nick.

[19:51] Uh