The brand-new Chevy Colorado Z71 that arrived in our driveway was a screaming scarlet that would make most women I know either want to play firefighter or find a lipstick to match (or possibly both). My spouse and I were testing the truck for a week courtesy of Joe LaMuraglia, the LGBT communications manager at GM (see my previous post), since we needed something to pull our new camper. With the Colorado, we’d found a vehicle that made us want to throw on our flannel shirts and haul around some lumber.
The Colorado (and its near-identical sibling, the GMC Canyon) had been out of production for several years, but were completely redesigned for 2015 to fill the mid-size truck spot in Chevy’s fleet. That seems to have been a good move—the Colorado was named Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year (across all sizes) and ranked first among compact pickups in U.S. News & World Report.
Smaller than Chevy’s full-size Silverado, the Colorado still has plenty of room and power. The 305 horsepower 3.6L DOHC V6 engine of the Z71 model offers 7000 pounds of towing capacity, along with an off-road suspension and an automatic locking rear differential for added traction. It can hold 1,590 pounds of cargo in the 49.9 cubic feet of its long-box bed. At an EPA estimated mileage of 17/24/20 (city/highway/combined), it’s also more fuel efficient than its bigger cousin—and, according to Motor Trend, more than all others in its segment.
The cargo bed comes with a CornerStep rear bumper—a handy boost for climbing up to the bed—and an EZ Lift-and-Lower tailgate to raise and lower it more easily with one hand. There are 13 standard tie-down locations in the bed for use with available, movable cargo tie-down rings. The Z71 version comes standard with a spray-in bed liner to protect cargo from dings; it’s optional with other trim packages.
Despite its impressive hauling credentials, the four-door club cab feels car-like inside, with a full-size back seat and almost identical amenities to the Chevy Traverse that we tested earlier — remote start, 8″ diagonal touch screen display, navigation, Bluetooth, four USB ports, Sirius XM, and OnStar service (the latter two for a monthly fee after a trial period). It adds a 4G WiFi hotspot (again, for a monthly fee) that the 2015 Traverse doesn’t yet have. The rear-seat infotainment system of the Traverse’s LTZ model, however, don’t come standard even on the top-of-the-line Z71 package.
Unlike the Traverse, which offers full-leather seats, the leather seats of the Z71 have a hexagonal-patterned cloth covering down the center—presumably to protect the leather if you get in wearing your tool belt or covered in grime from flinging logs around. This is no luxury car masquerading as a pickup, but rather a nicely appointed but still supremely functional workhorse truck. The seats still come with heat to keep you toasty if you’re driving in a winter like we just had, though.
I was a little hesitant about driving a truck after many years of driving my little VW Golf—but found the Colorado surprisingly well mannered and maneuverable, perhaps even more car-like than the Chevy Traverse we were also considering. It’s no sports car, but accelerated easily into traffic without feeling sluggish. Alas, we tested it before the great Snowpocalypse of 2015, but Autoweek drove it during that time and was pleased with its performance.
The Colorado has an overall four-star safety rating (out of five) from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It comes with a rear-vision camera, forward collision and lane departure alerts, along with dual-stage front, head curtain, and seat-mounted side-impact air bags.
For anyone who isn’t a contractor or a farm owner (and even many who are), the mid-sized Colorado is a truck worth considering, especially as other brands have eliminated mid-sized trucks from their lineups. It didn’t feel like we were rattling around in too much truck for our needs, while it felt fully capable of pulling our camper, hauling brush to our town dump site, or making an epic trip to IKEA.
Which vehicle did we finally choose to pull our camper? Stay tuned for my next post in this series, Part IV.
