What do we think about GM's Colorado/Canyon diesel?

After several days of fervent car shopping, and driving Mrs. Boosted crazy, I decided to settle in and just go into research mode, learning about different models and figuring out what to look for when I started shopping. This would also give me more time to pile up cash and either increase my budget or build up my down payment.

Going to work this morning, I got behind a late model Colorado, and it got me to thinking about the diesel models. I have a 100 mile round trip commute, and lots of sources say that you can get 30mpg out of them if you're nice to them.

Combine that with real world towing capacity and the thought is very intriguing.

Most owners I had seen really liked them, and even after a year or two of ownership still spoke highly of the truck and it's capabilities. Those trucks were also mostly ZR2 models.

I found several locally that are approximately 20 to 25k, and all are crew cab and 4wd, which is ideal.

Anyone here with first (or, I'd settle for second) hand experience? Are they a money pit? Are they a decent buy? What's the verdict?

I like diesels but they are increasingly complex, they have emissions systems that have not yet been fully sorted, and the new gas powered counterparts are very close in fuel economy. So unless you need a bunch of towing torques (unlikely in a Colorado) you are paying more money for less reliability I think.

The previous owner of my Miata had one. It was bought back by Chevrolet, I think as a lemon. I don't know the details except that it was electrical. 

My buddy's wife has one. Nothing but good things to say about it. I'm pretty sure it's the same basic truck as the Isuzu D-Max that always seems to impress me on the Aussie 4WD 24-7 YouTube channel.

In reply to BoostedBrandon :

I believe the 7000lb towing capacity is only for V6 gasoline models equipped with the towing package. Not sure if that'll change your opinion on anything, but something to be aware of.

I can look into failures on these tomorrow. If there's a specific model year you're looking at, it gets easier for me to find, as "common" failures frequently come in batches of failed parts or processes before they get caught.

Too expensive for me to justify over the gas V6, so I didn't even consider it.

I bought a new 2016 CCSB GMC Canyon SLT Duramax 4WD in January 2017. Researched heavily online, YT and forums before going to look. I knew exactly what I would need to do after I bought it. The 2.8L Duramax was a $3700 option at the time.

There was a distinct dead spot in the factory throttle pedal. Pedal Commander fixed that, I could now feather the throttle resulting in smoother kickdowns, downshifts and increased fuel mileage. I know the snipers here will say 'it doesn't do what you think it does', you go berkeley off, it fixed the dead pedal and that's all that matters.

I was commuting 40 miles one way on old hilly SW PA four lanes with a dozen traffic lights, 45-55 mph zones. 75% highway, it was pulling a consistent 30 mpg measured on the truck computer and backed up with calculations at the fuel pump. Guys on the forums were getting 34+ mpg w/o a tune on flat lander interstates, I can believe that. Mostly city driving, lower speed limits and winter fuel pulls it down. My later 45 mph two lane state road commute was around 24 mpg. My GMC app reports 27.6 mpg lifetime at 19.6K miles. The mpg sweet spot for this engine is 60-65 mph IMO.

The DPF regens are not alerted on the DIC but you will know it if you watch the instant fuel economy, mpg's will drop significantly from normal. At highway speeds it will take about 20 or so minutes. More frequent regens with short hops and mostly city driving. I went through five 2.5 gallon jugs of Blue DEF in roughly 20K miles.

No major issues with my '16 Canyon. One recall for a transmission reflash. Transfer case actuator was replaced under warranty after driving through 4 inches of rushing water during a storm. Service manager said this is common on FS trucks as well. Shortly later had a fuel injector replaced under warranty, no problems since. 

There was wiring harness chafing/ electrical gremlins on some earlier models resulting in buy backs. That has since been corrected. Early models had some HVAC blend door issues, since corrected as well. There have been diesel engine failures, mostly due to a fuel injector stuck open. Nothing outstanding though versus other engines of any other manufacturer.

Best information on these trucks and engine is at Coloradofans.com. Good/ bad/ ugly, it's all there. Do the research. There are several FB groups also.

My Canyon SLT had soft touch dash, heated leather seats, NAV, Bose and factory side steps. The heated seats kicked butt, Denali's got ventilated seats and heated steering wheel. Bose is nice upgrade but not uber-fantastic, rear sub is available for CCSB in GM parts. Side steps are for elders, women and kids, not needed for me at 6'-1". 

I added a leveling kit, Hellwig rear sway bar, hard folding tonneau and bed extender. Factory, the rear will lean on ramps and sweeping turns, sway bar fixed that. Bed extender made the short box more useful for hauling lumber etc.

Coming from a full size LTZ Silverado the Canyon drove nice but still let you know it's a truck. Shorter WB and track width. All good though. 4WD Auto was cool also, just set it and forget it. 

I traded in my '16 Canyon on a '22 Colorado gasser one week ago today. I absolutely loved that diesel, that torque grows on ya. Only reason to trade in was I valued the longer bed vs short bed. I passed on a Unicorn of a '21 Colorado Duramax ECLB in my color, trim and options this summer after the dealer offer on my truck was $4K+ short on trade in. I would own another Duramax, if I could find one in ECLB.

Again, best bet: Coloradofans.com for all your answers.

Good luck !

edit: Tow capacity for 2WD Duramax is 7600 lbs., 4WD is 7500 lbs. Towing package has integral trailer brake controller, receiver hitch, 7 and 4 pin connectors on rear bumper.

I know 5 people that have one, they all love them. That's all I got. 

Customer has one. He's never said anything bad about it.

That's all I got.

Had a 2017 Colorado Z71 Duramax and it was ridiculously unreliable. Id call it a total piece of E36 M3 at this point. GM had no clue how to repair the thing, parts were scarce and the way GM treated me ill never get another GM. The only saving grace it had was it towed great(when it worked) for a midsize truck. It also got 30+mpg on cruise on the highway. Good mileage for a truck for sure.

The emissions system wasnt the biggest problem....thing had suspension issues - clunking, shudder and the dreaded body lean, transmission problems - hard shifting, slam shifting and shudder, fuel related issues GALORE which caused random stalling/no-starts/hard starts which GM could never find out. They had the truck for more than a month diagnosing one of the two high pressure fuel pumps. The tech wrote on the ticket that he sees the problem but cannot get it to happen all the time. They then wouldnt pay for my rental car because " we cannot identify a failed part". 

Parts were also unobtainable. When the DPF failed, it took them nearly 3 months to replace it because they couldnt get parts. When they finally got the DPF back exhaust section the tip was nearly completely destroyed. They then wanted to wait another few months to get another one. They wouldnt put me in a rental truck either, so i missed a few race events due to not being able to tow my car up to the track. Lost the money for those events because the truck was always in the shop for longer than they stated.

I have service tickets from 2017-2021 which amount to 30 times at the dealer NOT including oil changes. I spent 4 years trying to make it work and got fed up. Got rid of it at 50k miles and got into a 2021 F150 XLT 302a package Ecoboost and have never looked back. berkeley GM and berkeley that stupid truck.

My POS. 1.5" level, 265/65R17, ZR2 sliders and sumo springs out back.

and it towing the Elantra

 

It seems the general story on newer GM trucks (from people I know owning them) is either they're fine, or the truck is a total POS with all kinds of electrical issues and GM is completely incapable of figuring out what's wrong or fixing something without the problem coming back in a month.  It's very hit or miss, it seems. 

I really want one of these but the prices are fairly high, and as Kevin illustrated ^, owner experiences are all over the board. Most of the trucks under $30k have over 140k miles in my area. One of my champcar teammates had one briefly and used it to tow his ZL1 a couple thousand miles to Denver, I think he said it got 23 or 24 mpg towing the Camaro. He was also really happy with the creature comforts and features that truck had, but he bought his new and had no reliability issues.

In reply to dannyp84 :

It seems to me that the majority of owners have good things to say, but they ones that have had bad luck, have had REALLY bad luck.

I'm trying to figure out where the balance is, and if it's worth the price of admission.

I've generally heard good things, but it's obvious from the responses that bad experiences are also not uncommon. This place is generally unbiased so I trust opinions here more than the GM pages where people tend to be more biased. 

The lesson is always don't go for the obscure, unless you enjoy pain.  With age, some people get this, but others only find purpose in life with certain kinds of pain . . .

Anyhoo, a diesel is not a diesel anymore.  Don't apply Cummins 6BT values to anything modern.

IIRC, the little Dmax is the same VM Motori in the Jeep Liberty and a few other applications.  From what I hear, it's a great thing.

The EcoDiesel V6 VM Motori they put in Rams?.... not so much unless you like your blocks ventilated with broken rods.

I will agree that anything starting in around 2008 and up isn't really a diesel anymore.  They're complex little bitches these days.  Having said that, the little Dmax so far has proven pretty reliable.