When purchasing a new or used vehicle, one reasonably expects to spend some money on oil changes, tire rotations, and other regular maintenance measures. Unfortunately, some cars are known for leeching more money out of their owner’s thanks to low reliability and frequent repair costs just to keep it running, while others have superior reliability and cost very little to maintain. The 2011 Chevy Silverado isn’t a perfect truck, but it’s one of the most reliable vehicles on the road, costing owners very little each year to keep it going.

Learn more about the 2011 Chevy Silverado, its fuel economy problems, and its overall low maintenance costs below. 

An overview of the 2011 Chevy Silverado

The 2011 Chevy Silverado is an overall great truck even 10 years later after its release. The reviewers at U.S. News even gave it an award for being the Best Full-Size Truck for the Money in 2011. Reviews at Consumer Reports were also impressed with its ride and towing capacity, though they didn’t appreciate its somewhat bumpy or unresponsive braking. 

Consumer Reports also gave the 2011 Chevy Silverado good or excellent predicted reliability ratings on almost every parameter, and it received a four or five out of five stars on every crash test from the NHTSA or IIHS.

CR found through their surveys that the 2011 Chevrolet Silverado didn’t provide as much owner satisfaction as one might think, giving it an overall owner satisfaction rate of two out of five. CR calculates this score by asking real owners whether they would purchase the vehicle in question again if given the chance. When more people say yes, it gets a higher score.

Only about 50 percent of respondents said they would purchase the 2011 Silverado again. The biggest complaints from customers are the poor acceleration, noisy interior, and poor gas mileage. 

The 2011 Chevy Silverado struggles with poor fuel economy

Trucks usually aren’t known for having excellent fuel economy, especially compared to small sedans or hybrid cars. At the same time, truck owners still don’t want to spend thousands of dollars per year fueling their trucks if they don’t have to. Perhaps the biggest downfall of the 2011 Chevy Silverado is its very poor fuel efficiency, coming in with an overall mileage of 14 MPG. 

Consumer Reports estimates that it costs the average owner almost $2,000 to fill their 2011 Chevrolet Silverado’s tank per year, which is definitely not ideal. CR gave the truck a one out of five rating for fuel economy, and owners definitely notice the poor gas mileage on a daily basis. 

Despite high fuel costs, however, the 2011 Silverado really shines when it comes to reasonable maintenance costs. 

Low maintenance costs 10 years later

Consumer Reports recently released a list of the Least and Most Expensive Cars to Keep on the Road, and it looks at how much money owners of cars and trucks that were released 10 years ago spent on repair and maintenance costs in the past year.

Some vehicles cost as little as a couple of hundred dollars to keep running, and others are closer to several hundred or even over a thousand. 

The 2011 Chevy Silverado only costs owners about $200 per year to maintain, which is tied with the GMC Sierra for the lowest cost of any other truck. The 2011 Ford F-250, for example, costs about $275 per year to maintain, while the 2011 Ram 1500 sets owners back about $300 per year. 

Of course, these scores don’t mean that all owners pay this amount of money per year for maintenance, but it’s still a good indication of how reliable a car or truck is 10 years after buying it.