Chevy City Express vs. GMC Savana

You work hard enough. Finding a car to help you get the job done shouldn’t be tough.

Fortunately, it’s not.

When it comes to comparisons, it’s easy to see why the Chevy City Express trumps the GMC Savana. While the GMC Savana has more to offer with respect to horsepower and torque, the Chevy City Express is still a better all around package.

No business is complete without one of this year’s commercial Chevy trucks and the 2015 Chevy City Express is a capable, cost-efficient choice.

Why the Chevy City Express Wins

As a business owner, you have enough expenses and are likely concerned with finances, especially expenditures. You want to turn a profit, but it would be nice to find what you need and still manage to save a buck or two.

In that case, you can’t beat the MSRP on the Chevy City Express. Ranging between $20,857 – 22,339, the Express is far more economical than the GMC Savana, which starts at $27,465 and runs up to $40,325.

The GMC Savana is a serious expense. It’s true that you get what you pay for. But the thing is, the Savana doesn’t offer much more than the City Express, besides power. The GMC Savana is more powerful and has a higher torque than the Chevy Express; however, if you don’t need the extra oomph, save your money. You can always put the savings towards growing your business in other ways, or leave it for a rainy day fund because you just never know what the future has in store, especially when you’re your own boss.

The Savana’s serious sticker price reflects not only more power, but also slightly larger size. Now, depending on your professional needs and where your business is located, you might want to go with the Chevy City Express.

As its name implies, the Chevy City Express is ideal for urban environments. It has a slimmer, narrower body and a much smaller turning radius, which makes maneuvering into tight spots a whole lot easier compared to the bulkier GMC Savana.

Despite its svelte size, the Chevy City Express is actually roomier when it comes to driver and passenger comfort. The front seat in particular has more headroom and legroom than the Savana. Depending on the nature of your business and how often you’ll be the one behind the wheel, this extra space alone might be reason enough to purchase the City Express.

The only thing the City Express and Savana share in common is the same basic warranty of three years or 36,000 miles.

Aside from that one similarity, the differences continue to stack up rather quickly. And those differences are what make the Chevy City Express worthy of your purchase.

The Chevy City Express in Detail

Based on the Nissan NV200, the Chevy City Express comes in two trim levels: the LS or LT.

Choosing the LS model gets you the following standard equipment:

• 15-inch wheels
• height-adjustable driver’s seat
• power front windows
• sliding rear doors
• 40/60 split rear cargo doors
• fold-flat passenger seat
• tilt-only steering wheel
• cloth and vinyl upholstery
• air-conditioning
• two-speaker sound system
• CD player
• auxiliary audio jack

You can also opt for the available cruise control on the LS, especially if your work requires a lot of highway driving and you want to avoid incurring the expense of a speeding ticket.

For an upgrade in convenience and technology, check out the standard features on the LT. In addition to the everything the LS has to offer, the LT comes standard with:

• keyless entry
• power door locks
• heated power mirrors
• extra 12-volt power outlet
• rear parking sensors

Customize your City Express with either of two available packages: Glass or Appearance.

For additional privacy, go with the Glass package which gives privacy glass to the back and passenger-side windows, and adds a rearview mirror and rear defroster.

Want a more sophisticated look to match your professional profile? The Appearance package equips the City Express with wheel covers and chrome grille. Body-colored bumpers, mirrors, and door handles also feature as part of the Appearance package.

If your business requires a lot of regular driving, or driving to new or unfamiliar destinations at the drop of a hat, you’ll want the LT model for its Technology package, which will afford you a Nissan-exclusive navigation system, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity, satellite radio, USB audio jack, and a rearview camera which displays on the 5.8-inch touchscreen display.

The LT with Technology package is the perfect cargo van for deliveries.

Under the Hood of the Chevy City Express

You already know that the Chevy City Express doesn’t have as much power as the GMC Savana. Let’s look at what it does have.

Standard powertrain comes in the form of a 2.0-liter four cylinder engine, generating 131 horsepower with 139 lb.-ft. of torque. Operated by a continuously variable transmission (CVT), this front-wheel drive compact cargo van gets a fuel economy of 24 city and 26 highway, or the EPA-estimated 25 mpg combined.

Compare this to the GMC Savana, which only gets 10 city and 15 highway miles per gallon on average.

Power, as they say, comes at a price. Not only is the Chevy City Express priced cheaper, you’ll be saving money every time you need to fuel up. Depending on how often that is, you could be saving yourself a considerable chunk of change.

The Chevy City Express has a maximum payload of 1,500 pounds and, according to Edmunds testing, took ten seconds to get from zero up to sixty miles per hour. This is sluggish compared to other competitors, but it’s a van. You weren’t planning on racing it in the first place were you? I didn’t think so.

Vans are utility vehicles, not performance-driven machines. The Chevy City Express is no exception. But with such impressive fuel economy, the Chevy City Express could be just the thing your business has been missing all along.

Keeping You and Your Employees Safe

When you drive the Chevy City Express, you are surrounded by side curtain and front seat side-impact airbags, with antilock brakes, and stability control at your service.

Now, if you work in a bustling metropolis or plan to do a lot of city driving, I recommend that you opt for the rear camera and rear parking sensors. Not only do they boost your visibility and alert you to sudden and unexpected things behind you, which you may otherwise have a hard time seeing, they also assist with practical tasks like parking.

Although the City Express is very maneuverable, feeling like you have eyes in the back of your head, thanks to the rearview camera, makes squeezing into a tight spot even easier.

And isn’t that the whole point – to make your work day easier?

Cargo Space in the Chevy City Express Cargo Van

While it might be a compact cargo van, the City Express still offers plenty of space for storing and transporting your goods and services.

On the passenger side, you’ll find a storage tray beneath the seat, and the entire seat actually folds down to give you more room or a table top-like working space.

Total cargo space is 122.7 cubic feet and the entire area is accented with tie-down points and mounting spots if you need to incorporate racks or shelving units for your business needs.

Let Chevy shoulder some of your work load. Go places and work better with the help of the 2015 Chevy City Express cargo van. Your business will thank you.