New Chevy Colorado mega-thread

My eyes! They burn!

 

Car and Driver rated the Tacoma 3rd behind the Colorado and Canyon, no way I'd own a GM product!
http://www.caranddriver.com/chevrolet/colorado

One could make an argument that part of the Toyota Tacoma’s stranglehold on the not-quite-full-size truck market can be attributed to its easily condensed name: “Hey brah, sweet Taco. We should totes take it on a recon mission to spot some tasty waves.” Difficult to say without affecting a SoCal drawl. It’s no coincidence that, by Chevrolet’s estimate, the Los Angeles area alone accounts for more Taco sales than 48 other states combined (Texas is the other exception).

 

^Chevy obviously hasn't been to Hawaii, where even a casual glance would lead you to think 30% of Tacos are sold.

 

Do they say "Hey brah, sweet Taco" in Hawaii? For the record (could be because I am old) no one has called me brah! lol Though I do get complements on my Taco! lol

 

Chevy Cruze and Jeep GC have diesels too I think.

 

Dang where are you buying homes at? I need to find some of that action..homes where Im at are crazy expensive. But as stated above car/truck prices are getting crazy! I just read a review for the 2015 f150 platinum, 61k!! If gm only offers the diesels on the upper models and the price gets into the 40k range I don't think it will be the big hit that everyone thinks it will be.

 

That is true. The EcoDiesel seems to be a great engine.

Ram's are seeing 24-28mpg while the GC is nearly 30. Definately a great step for domestic makers.

The Cruze.. All I hear are reliability issues. Definately not where I would put my money, but good on a chevy for trying.

 

If reliability and cheap repairs are of concern, I'd take the Cruze over the VW cars. The Cruze does 1200 km on a single tank according to Car and Driver testing: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/2014-chevrolet-cruze-20td-page-2

 

I'm an old guy.

And I bought ones needing repair.

Some of these 'mansions' I've seen, worked on, if you gave me one I'd sell it.
I'd rather have a 20k trailer on big acreage than a million dollar house on a postage stamp lawn.

 

2002 TDI my best tank was 1450KM on 62L I can say it probably was one the nicest cars I ever owned but it also was the most expensive one to maintain.

 

Older VW diesels, pre-Mexican built, were kickass for reliability. It's no secret that they've had trouble maintaining quality coming out of there Mexican facility though. I know of multiple instances among friends where they've had to fix the clutch multiple times (~$1000 each time) or had electronic gremlins move from one end of the car and back to the other (over $2500 spent by one guy on several different components of the EMU) on Jetta TDI's. Neither one of them was able to claim the repairs under the new car warranty. They both traded off there GDI's, one on a Fusion AWD and the other on a Hyundai Sonota 2.0T. Both of them are happier with those cars a few years out.

Personally, I wouldn't touch a newer model Jetta until there reputation improves, I'm not going to pay 20% more for a car that could cost me a few K before it's even off warranty due to "wear items" self destructing over and over again.

 

It's really odd that a chevy truck is getting more attention on this forum than the Tacoma. Especially since this particular chevy is pretty damn weak, and fugly.

 

For those who test-drove the new Colorado/Canyon, how do you like the electric power steering? In my opinion, it didn't feel any worse than the hydraulic power steering systems in the Taco and the Frontier. So there's that, one fewer maintenance item.

 

To me its very sensitive, but something you would probably get accustomed to after logging miles on the vehicle.

 

I agree it seems sensitive at first. My 1500 chevy work truck has it, and I don't notice it anymore (30K miles) unless I jump in the taco after driving the work truck all day. I kind of like the EPS, and wish I could figure out the ECU side of the house so I could swap one into the taco. Apparently it reduces power as you increase speed, and provides max power at parking lot speeds.

 

^Speed-sensitive power steering is present on most cars nowadays. The rack has a variable valve and the pump is variable-displacement, typically achieved by tilting the swashplate. Variable-ratio steering is less common, though I'm not sure if the Colorado has it.

 

It helps that the tacoma's HPS system is tuned terribly, no effort build at all and numb on center in typical Toyota fashion.

EPS really is the way to go on a truck, you get less feedback yes, but who cares, it's a truck. The FE benefits are worth it alone.

 

I tune EPS systems at work, getting one to work in the taco and actually feel decent would require you to have access to all of the many tuning maps in the ecu, and they aren't exactly readily available lol.

It's a TON of work tuning these systems to feel natural, that's why so many eps systems feel like dog poop (take any newer Nissan eps system for example).

 

^Unless there's been a big improvement in the steering system design between 1st gen and 2nd gen, I don't think the Taco's steering feel is all that bad compared to passenger cars like the Camry. This is with the stock truck. Mine worsened noticeably after the All-Pro UCAs went in with the high-friction 1.25" uniballs.

Don't the S2000, RX-8 and FR-S all have electric power steering? Three of the best handling cars in recent times.

 

To be fair my moms second gen feels a lot better than my truck, probably due to the small lift on mine.

And the Camry isn't exactly an example of good steering feel haha.

All that aside, I would like eps on my truck, I'm sure the third gen will apply it.