REVIEW 2015 Chevrolet Colorado Z71
The Chevrolet Colorado returned in 2014 after being gone from the U.S. market since the 2013 model year. It came back onto an American truck scene in which Ford and Ram had no midsize players.
It also arrived at a time when its competitors, the Toyota Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier, were long in the tooth. Simply put, the Colorado showed up at the right place at the right time.
However, Chevrolet needs this pickup to be more than just a case of good placement and timing. The automaker needs the 2015 Colorado to be the right truck. I had a week to determine if a crew cab Z71 model ($36,710 as tested) felt that way to me.
Exterior Styling and Dimensions
I originally laid eyes on the new Colorado early last year, but it wasn’t until I saw it sitting in my driveway that its design truly registered with me. It looked alien and familiar, all at once. It didn’t resemble its big brother, the square-jawed and block-bodied Chevrolet Silverado.
The Colorado looked as if it were a truck that was sold anywhere but in the United States. That’s because the Colorado’s upswept headlights, tall bedsides, and curves remind me of those on the Ford Ranger – which is no longer available here.
Although the Colorado’s styling isn’t what I was expecting, it’s easy on the eyes. A restrained use of right angles up front gives it a modern, aerodynamic appearance. Chrome fog light surrounds add a tasteful amount of brightwork. The two-tone Dark Argent Metallic cast aluminum wheels project an image of strength and trail-readiness.
The Colorado’s dimensions made it well prepared for city streets and parking lots. I love full-size trucks, but they’re absolutely massive these days, especially considering my daily driver is a small sedan. I found the transition into driving a pickup the size of a Colorado to be an easy one.
Whipping into a parking spot without worrying about my ass hanging over one of the white lines was a cinch. I credit the Colorado’s length (excluding the rear bumper) of less than 18 feet and 6’2″ width. A Silverado 1500 Crew Cab with a 5’8″ (short) box is almost a foot and a half longer and approximately six inches wider.
Engine and Transmission
My tester came with GM’s 3.6-liter V6 under its aluminum hood. Its 305 horsepower and 269 lb.-ft. of torque hit the sweet spot. You could say their levels were “just right.” If I put my foot into the direct-injected six, it responded with a reassuring amount of force and speed. The Hydra-Matic 6L50 six-speed automatic with which that DOHC power plant was paired was unflappable.
My review vehicle was capable of traveling an EPA-estimated 17 city, 24 highway, and 20 combined miles per gallon. When I zeroed out my trip computer at the 334-mile mark, I was getting an average of 19.5.
Hauling and Towing
My Colorado had a base payload rating of 1,590 pounds, but the most I ever hauled in its 5’2″ short bed was a few 30-pound bags of cat litter and some six-foot fence planks. Doing so allowed me to discover the convenience of the truck’s 34.5-inch load floor height.
After I let the EZ Lift-and-Lower tailgate down, I only had to carry the big yellow sacks a short distance from the bottom of my shopping cart to the surface of the $475 spray-on bedliner. Plucking things out of the cargo area was as easy as raising one of my feet and putting my toes in one of the rear bumper’s CornerSteps.
Tow figures for 4WD Colorados with the 5’2″ box range from a minimum of 3,500 to a maximum of 7,000 pounds.
Interior
Visually, the cockpit of the Colorado was underwhelming. The colors were drab and somber. The shifter looked as if it were from a mid-2000s vehicle. Fortunately, what the interior lacked in eye candy, it made up for in content.
After I remote-started the truck, I could get in, turn on the heated front sport cloth/leatherette seats, charge my smartphone with one of four USB ports, and jam out to the $500 Bose premium audio system on my way to a destination I entered into the navigation system using the eight-inch touchscreen.
En route, I could hear my Bluetooth-connected phone’s text messages being read out loud to me. Onboard 4G LTE Wi-Fi allowed me to check my email on my phone while waiting at a stoplight.
Ride Quality and Back Seat Space
After seven days of driving the Colorado Z71, I thought to myself, Wow, for a truck with an off-road suspension, it rides pretty smoothly. It turns out that’s because I was so busy concentrating on traffic signals and speed limits when I was behind the wheel.
As a passenger in the same vehicle a few weeks later, I was jostled and shaken by the suspension’s interactions with bumps and dips in the road, especially in the back seat.
While sitting there, uncomfortably elbow-to-elbow with a fellow writer in the middle spot to my right, I realized the crew cab Colorado’s 56.2 inches of rear shoulder room left a little something to be desired.
Off-Roading
In October of 2014, I took a Z71 Colorado through a short off-road course at the Knibbe Ranch in Spring Branch, TX. Its Goodyear Wranglers kept their grip on muddy, rutted uphill sections and the G80 automatic locking rear differential helped me climb up steep, rocky grades. Approach and departure angles of 17.3 and 22.1 degrees, respectively, allowed me to return the truck in one piece.
Overall, I think the new Colorado Z71 is the truck Chevy needs it to be: the right one. It’s attractive, conveniently sized, powerful, user-friendly, and capable of tackling rough terrain.
Chevrolet is working on making it righter, though. It’ll be dropping a 2.8-liter Duramax turbo-diesel into the engine bay in 2016. It looks as if the ZR2 concept will make it to production, too. The bow tie gang definitely doesn’t want to make a wrong move because the redesigned Tacoma and Frontier are coming.
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