Chevrolet Silverado Black Widow Only Needs a New Engine to Become GM's Raptor Rival

What follows is just an opinion a lot of you might find controversial, but we feel as though the Chevrolet Silverado is the most aggressive-looking half-ton truck on the market as far as basic trim levels are concerned. That huge grille and pointy headlights give it a predatory appearance that other vehicles, particularly the Ford F-150, lack. Compare any Silverados to the Raptor, on the other hand, and things get turned on their heads. We guess that's what a widebody kit - among other things - will do.

A widebody kit is exactly what this limited-edition Chevrolet Silverado Black Widow is missing - that and a sportier engine. The truck can come equipped with GM's bread-and-butter 6.2-liter V8, but even in that configuration, it still lacks punch. However, the truck in the video below gets even more agricultural by employing a 3.0-liter straight-six Duramax turbodiesel engine good for 277 hp and 460 lb-ft (624 Nm( of torque.

Not hating on the diesel, but it doesn't feel like a particularly apt match for this truck's appearance. Everything about it, save for that lack of a widebody kit we mentioned, screams extreme off-road capability, with the six-inch (152 mm) suspension lift deserving special mention. To go with it, the Black Widow also gets a set of Fox Adventure Series shocks that, due to the gap in the wheel arches, are more exposed than ever.

What else goes into those arches? That's right, wheels - in this case, a set of custom rims wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain 35s (other Widows might get Toyo Open Country tires in the same size, but the BFGs appear to have a more aggressive tread pattern). There are few real-world situations for which a 35-inch tire is too small, but from a visual point of view, due to the Black Widow's massive lift, they do appear to be a little lost in those high wheel arches.

That being said, there aren't that many other negatives about the exterior appearance of the limited edition Silverado, if any. The matte grey paint looks awesome, helped by the bright orange details scattered all around the truck's body (but not too many). The badge at the rear tells you this truck is number 016 of the limited run, and while that's not exactly 001 (or 007), it's still one of the earlier builds.

Overall, it's definitely a more exciting combination than the orange one with a glossy black roof we've seen previously, but the important thing is there are choices.