Tom warned me about this one when he handed over the fob: There’s a giant spare tire blocking your rear view.
Hey, he’s right. Someone mounted a giant knobby tire upright in the front-left corner of the bed, perfectly blocking the world behind.
More about that tire: a Goodyear Wran…
Hey, he’s right. Someone mounted a giant knobby tire upright in the front-left corner of the bed, perfectly blocking the world behind.
Reading the first two lines then seeing the picture of the spare in the bed gave me an audible snort-laugh.
Does it have the camera display for a rear view mirror feature?
At a time when it's fairly easy to see a new truck at a dealer with a MSRP of $70,000-$90,000+, this strikes me as a bit of a "deal." It seems like it has a lot of serious bits and pieces added that a DIY person may have added via the aftermarket, plus it's warrantied from the manufacturer.
I'm surprised I like it because I'm really cheap.
But I see actual value added...unlike companies like Mazda that find a new paint and a wooden shift nob so they can charge more for a SpEciAL eDiTiOn Miata.
edit to add: and it only weighs 3,600lbs? That's less than a good number of cars, sporty and otherwise. One more reason I can respect it.
The only problem is the Ranger raptor is significantly more powerful, more capable, and 8k cheaper
Coniglio Rampante said:edit to add: and it only weighs 3,600lbs? That's less than a good number of cars, sporty and otherwise. One more reason I can respect it.
Oh thank you for catching that, I'm not sure how that slipped through.
Curb weight is actually 5298 pounds.
Pfffff, (spits out coffee) it went from being the lightest small truck I've heard of in years the the heaviest! What the hell.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Thanks. I was wondering how they achieved that magic. I was thinking of a fictional press release: "... and to save weight, the entire structure is made from aluminum... foil, that is."
Rramirez said:The only problem is the Ranger raptor is significantly more powerful, more capable, and 8k cheaper
Yeah there is no compelling reason to buy this over the Ranger. Add another 800$ for the factory tune on the ranger with a factory warranty maintained and it's almost comical the difference.
It's cool to see that OEMs still make crazy stuff like this for niche markets. For my money, if I was in the market for a Colorado, I'd probably go for the Trail Boss, which is basically the base truck with some 4x4 goodies like a skid plate and better wheels/tires.
That spare tire mount though... WHY???
Mount the spare on the bed floor. Compromises.
Nice truck - out of my league but I appreciate GM putting quality parts on it.
Available payload isn't great on the 1500 trucks with the AEV kit, have you run the numbers for the Colorado Bison ZR2 with the AEV parts added on?
In reply to JMcD :
I'm not sure if this totally answers your question, but here's the info Chevy offers:
I expected a few more driving impressions. It was cool and composed on "the trail". Was that the smooth dirt shown in the picture or something else? Was it only driven at a manufacturer event with 5 minutes of seat time available along with a spec sheet?
These kind of baby desert racers look like a lot of fun, but I don't know how compromised they are as trucks.
I have been pretty impressed with my H3T. I bought it for off-road and it excels there. It does pretty good at truck things as well.
I can only imagine that improvements have been made in the past 16 years but the stories about engine and transmission failures are worrying.
Colin Wood said:In reply to JMcD :
I'm not sure if this totally answers your question, but here's the info Chevy offers:
So it's an extra 600lbs of bumpers, tires and dampers for a mere ~20k over an LT? Neat.
RacetruckRon said:Colin Wood said:In reply to JMcD :
I'm not sure if this totally answers your question, but here's the info Chevy offers:
So it's an extra 600lbs of bumpers, tires and dampers for a mere ~20k over an LT? Neat.
That's the thing - the base ZR2 may have 1151lbs of payload (although GVWR minus curb weight doesn't agree), but I'm suspect of the Bison package eating into that even further to the point of barely accommodating a full truck of people + gear, let alone a trailer. Towing with a base ZR2 might be somewhat doable, but probably not a bison.
JMcD said:RacetruckRon said:Colin Wood said:In reply to JMcD :
I'm not sure if this totally answers your question, but here's the info Chevy offers:
So it's an extra 600lbs of bumpers, tires and dampers for a mere ~20k over an LT? Neat.
That's the thing - the base ZR2 may have 1151lbs of payload (although GVWR minus curb weight doesn't agree), but I'm suspect of the Bison package eating into that even further to the point of barely accommodating a full truck of people + gear, let alone a trailer. Towing with a base ZR2 might be somewhat doable, but probably not a bison.
Those are similar to H3T numbers and actually better in the towing department. It's why the H3T is not my primary tow vehicle.
Payload Capacity 1,090 lbs.
Towing Capacity 4,400 lbs.
Curb Weight 4,911 lbs.
It's not that it can't tow, it's that it sacrifices towing capabilities to be better off-road. This is probably a little over 4400 pounds.
If you are buying an off-road rig you have to expect a loss in towing capacity that goes with the big tires, higher weight, and softer suspension.
Toyman! said:I have been pretty impressed with my H3T. I bought it for off-road and it excels there. It does pretty good at truck things as well.
I can only imagine that improvements have been made in the past 16 years but the stories about engine and transmission failures are worrying.
Tell me more about this. I'm thinking about getting a Colorado Z71; love the specs but I don't know much about reliability.
Is there more of this article somewhere? Would be nice to get the rundown of actual driving impressions, interior stuff, etc. These are interesting trucks to me even in standard form, and these and the GMC version always catch my eye going down the road much more than their competition.
In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :
Grrr! I'm a manly truck. Grrr! Who knew Hummer built a smallish truck.
It's basically a Colorado with bumpy fenders and a heavy-duty chassis. It's probably the stiffest chassis I've ever experienced in a truck.
They are thin on the ground and tend to demand a premium. Especially the Alpha with the V8. I ended up with the 3.7 I5 because the Adventure package with the 4:1 transfer case and the locking differentials was more important to me than the V8.
Colin Wood said:In reply to JMcD :
I'm not sure if this totally answers your question, but here's the info Chevy offers:
I think I can make more sense of this after looking at a couple Motor trend articles as well:
This motor trend has the base ZR2 at 4974lbs:
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2023-chevrolet-colorado-zr2-first-test-review/
If the GVWR for the ZR2 (regular and bison) is 6200lbs, that gives payload of 1226lbs for a base ZR2 (close-ish to the table).
Per this motor trend review (and GRM's # above) the Bison package adds about 347 lbs to a regular ZR2, for a curb weight of ~5300lbs (matches the table):
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2024-chevrolet-colorad-zr2-bison-first-test-review/
My simple math would say the Bison then has a payload of only ~900lbs. Put a 200lb driver, a 200lb passenger, and 200lbs of gear in it and we're down to 300lbs left for tongue weight on a trailer before you hit GVWR. I think its fair to say that you shouldn't pick the Bison package and plan to tow very much weight behind it.
When I think of a bison I think of a large lumbering beast.
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