New Chevy Colorado mega-thread

I'll skip the complete quote for space reasons...

First, we are/were (in my case) the consumers. Yes, you'd want the company to not go under, to back your warranty and produce your next vehicle be it 1 or 10 years down the road, but other than that who cares?

Second, this is a message board where most members already have or surely will do something to jeopardize their warranty, and while I'm glad you find comfort in your vehicle in its current state being covered, it's not the path that the majority on here will choose/stick with over the length of ownership.

On to the argument of OME leaf spring squeak, or any leaf spring squeak, that's a pretty common thing with many leaf packs and I haven't said a word about it until now. I'm not really sure why you brought that up - I have to assume you don't have any noises from yours. Neat? You seemed to have missed the point I was making, and it was beyond Toyota - it's that buying any company's 'offroad' version is going to cost more than the other trims, and for the price difference you could install superior components that offer greater capability. Most of us could do this in our driveway following a youtube video. Factory warranty? No. And UCAs aren't a big deal... Mentioning that while claiming that your truck handles like a sports car ruins your credibility

Why did you think I was implying that a Ram was more 'fun' to drive than a Tacoma? The only thing I've said that's truly Ram specific is the fuel economy, the rest was more general commentary pertaining to the full size vs mid size discussion.

 

I'm not going to knock the new diesel 1/2 ton Rams. I test drove one and if it wasn't for the rediculous amount of useless options you have to take to have a diesel then it'd be on my families list for our next truck. Up here dodge financing is way to expensive. They tried to weasel us into a 96 month term at nearly 9% when there was a 72 month term available at nearly 0%. That's nearly criminal IMHO.

The only guy I know who has one has had his in the shop several times for computer related transmission issues. He still feels it's a good truck considering he gets about 25 mpg.

 

Well, I peed in my own cornflakes. Chrysler != GM? And 2009-2015 != 2005-2015. But yes, I'm skeptical of this concept ZR2 becoming a reality, or closely mimicing the images we're seeing. How often does a concept go to production and maintain the defining characteristics of the promo images?

I think you're validating my point in saying a group of engineers can bring out the potential of almost any vehicle, if people want to buy TRD Pros that's cool, maybe their pockets were deep enough, or the warranty was appealing, or they just didn't feel like wrenching on their vehicle. For everyone else, they can buy the regular flavor and slap on quality aftermarket parts and have a great deal of cash left over. Again, not make specific, I'm pointing a finger at the idea as a whole, not Toyota's strategy.

But when you say Toyota will respond, I was trying to get to that in my earlier post. How quickly can Toyota or any manufacturer respond to competition. You can't change but so much in the home stretch without delaying the entire thing.

I haven't heard of any transmission related issues. I know/fear CEL's related to emissions equipment and that sucks. Mine was produced towards the very end of the 2014 run, 7,000 miles without a forced regen or any lights. Guess I lucked out (for now)

 

As long as the truck is body on frame, suspension and clading changes can be made pretty quickly. That was one of the historical reasons most cars built in the US were body on frame. It made model year changes quick and cheap to do.

Edit: I mentioned GM in my comments because this is a Colorado discussion. IMHO a Dodge Ram is not worth comparing to a Tacoma or Colorado. It'd be like comparing towing numbers between a V6 Sierra and a full ton diesel dually and saying why the fuck would someone not get a dually. I mean the dually only gets a few less MPG's than the 1/2 ton and you can tow a house with one right?? Yes they're both trucks but there are tons of reasons why one or the other will fit better with someone's needs and/or lifestyle. It doesn't make one better than the other by default.

 

But testing? I don't think anyone wants rushed changes in order to remain competitive, that could result in problems. I feel like Toyota would be exceptionally cautious about that (which is commendable). While the 2014 4runner wasn't redesigned from the ground up, it was unveiled in April of 2013... April '15 isn't that far off, though the Tacoma may not follow the same pattern.

The second part, perfectly understandable and agree 100%.

 

My friend/customer was told his transmission issues are caused by the adaptive programming native to the 8 speed transmission. Basically because he drives his truck on long distance vacations than drives it around town a few days the transmission feels clunky because it's not learning his driving style well. The 1000 mile+ trips are basically making the transmission lazy.

It could be a BS excuse, but the dealer is owned buy his brother so I doubt they'd shovel him shit. He still likes the truck but is slightly disappointed that there's no fix for him to have the same drive he had with his 2013 gas job.

 

I don't think Toyota will need to make any changes to be competitive with the current Colorado offerings. Honestly the Colorado is more efficient and modern than a 2nd gen Tacoma, and I'm sure Toyota already has there bases covered on those aspects on the 3rd gen Tacoma. I was saying they could come up with a ZR-2 killer pretty quick if they felt it would protect there sales. You don't need much testing to throw a limited release out there if all you do is throw some better shocks, tires, and Offroad equipment on the trucks. Honestly most people expect the new Tacoma to get better mileage, have all the latest interior gadgets, and remain highly customizable. Those things Toyota will likely deliver on.

 

Lots O speculation over a concept truck. The regular Colorado kind of looks like a mini me Silverado. The concept is snappy looking, but GM/ China Motors has a way to go to prove they can come close to competing with Tacoma's (warts and all) popularity and sales. Tacos are all over central Oregon, Colorados are rare.

 

^The concept is also the first public showing of the diesel powertrain installed in the Colorado.

The main thing I see wrong in that picture is the diesel Colorado won't have room for a spare tire. In the diesel Cruze, the DEF tank also displaces the spare tire. Better keep that AAA membership handy once the factory roadside assistance runs out...

 

So the first Canyon showed up at my local GMC dealer this week. I noticed it today as I drove by to go grab some Coolant to top up my Tacoma from the nearby Toyota dealership. I did a walk around and spent about a half hour with a sales guy going over the truck. Here's a few of my thoughts organized simply. Keep in mind I could not test drive the truck since it had not been PDI'd yet:

Pro's:

• The dash screams quality materials, whether or not you like the stitched leather, and all of the controls are in matching black.
• The dash panel and radio screen layout are very functional and seem to provide all the useful info without searching or taking your eye's off the road.
• The information panel is a full LCD with the normal dial temp and fuel gauges and should give some useful information without a bunch of aftermarket gauges.
• The seats feel much more truck like due to the higher driver position versus the Tacoma.
• The seats are slightly soft for me but the material and finish is excellent.
• The truck is a real looker from all angles (minus comments below that can be fixed simply).
• The extended cab is actually useful for a small family with a real bench seat that has some decent room, versus the AC Tacoma which is not very useful and extremely cramped.
• The one piece driveshaft looks tough and should be much smoother the Tacoma's two piece design.

Cons:

• PRICE!!! The Canyon I looked at was a 4x4 extended cab and the sticker was over 38K CAD before taxes. That's more than 4K over what a similar Tacoma is worth sticker wise. The sales guy mentioned that had a well equiped club cab away at a hockey game that was over 45K . That's the same price my buddies pary for F150 FX4 Crew cabs . WTF will the diesel be worth?
• The air dam is fugly. So are the badges. Actually this Canyon had crummy chrome 4x4 badges that looked to be from walmart stuck where my Tacoma says TRD. TACKY. Both looked easy to remove though.
• Underneath it seems like the air dam set the clearance of the truck. It is much lower than my Tacoma was stock overall. They may be the same from the lowest point, but on average it seemed like the entire drive line was set much lower than on the Taco.
• The front CV drive shaft and differential look like they were made at the same factory as tinker toys.
• The 4x4 switch and the switch for your lights are the same size (extremely small, the size of a radio knob) and are very hard to reach on the left side. People will be fumbling for them.
• The gauge panel display and gauges seem to be awkwardly arranged. While it's functional it isn't appealing to the eye from the drivers angle IMHO.

Here's a picture of the truck beside a similar Sierra. They are nearly the same length and the Canyon is only slightly narrower. It's definately far bigger than the Tacoma:





I think this Colorado will sell extremely well to commuters who want a smaller, more efficient, and easier to park version of the Sierra. That is if GM will move 4-8K on the price. I paid 37K CAD taxes in for my TRD double cab a few years ago. This extended cab truck was worth 1K more than that and the dealer didn't seem eager to move on his price.


He also spent 10 minutes trash talking my Tacoma... but that's another story.

 

I priced out the Canyon a few weeks back and you can get a fully loaded DCLB 2WD for 32K. So, it's about the same price as the Taco.

 

Is it me or do those leafs looks flat? I wish manufacturers would get off this kick of making trucks ride great so they can sell them to car people..put some arch back in the springs.

I also don't understand why so much hate of Toyota running with the Tacoma platform for so long. All manufacturers to this to and extent..Gm with the s10 ran 82-03', Colorado 04-12' before they gave up because Tacoma was stealing there lunch and that thing called bankruptcy and ford ran the Ranger for a long time unchanged as well before they left the small pickup market.

 

1st Quote: Has nothing to do with what I was saying.

2nd Quote: You are correct, but why bash people who choose the other route - that was my point.

3rd: I brought it up because you said any cheap ass Amazon lift is better than the Pro. The UCA's I'm referring to is added cost to your superior lift that is supposed to cost less. And yes, my truck handles like a sports car. If you've never driven a Pro or Baja and I own one but your telling me I'm wrong and have no credibility - ??? Ok then.

4th: I didn't say you were implying the Ram is more fun to drive. I was saying the Tacoma is more fun to drive than a Ram.

You completely missed the point of my entire post and everything I said.



Anyway, I'm out on this one. Enjoy the thread.

 

Not in Canada. I'm hearing the USA is closer to the same but there are still some models where the price of the Colorado is significantly higher on the sticker. Take a browse around, most guys on here paid around 30K for a very well equipped TRD Tacoma, which is a big difference IMHO from what you'll find z71 colorado's being advertised for. Maybe on more base model vehicles they are closer but Chevrolet is pricing these trucks awfully close to there full sized cousins, especially considering the amount of rebates you can get on a full size GM truck. To me that's a really big negative of buying this truck. I would never pick one up for any more than I payed for my TRD. I want a Z71 DC for around 38K if GM wants to get my wife in one, and it sounds like that won't happen.

 

I did price out a Tacoma. A 2wd DCLB limited has a MSRP of 34.7K but Toyota would sell to me for 32.5K. The Canyon has a 37K (fully loaded SLT) sticker price but GM usually prices high and will take a lot off of MSRP. GM was willing to sell the Colorado for 32.2K. So the OTD price is the same (or close) for both of them.

The difference between a loaded Colorado and loaded Silverado is about 6k or so. To some people, it's worth the money to upgrade to a full size.

I didn't pull the trigger because I'm waiting for the diesel option. I refuse to buy a new Tacoma when it's mechanically the same as my 11 year old 4Runner.

 

If you compare the package equivalent of a TRD 4wd, it's closer to $38,000.

 

There's some decent arc in the stock model, as seen in the photo I took. I wouldn't read too much into suspension travel in the concept truck, since those King shocks are probably off-the-shelf and slapped in there without any development.

 

My problem with the new Colorado is that the manual transmission is only available on base 2wd, no manual with the 4x4 at all. And, I say this as a former ZR2 owner who loves the concept of the new one, but the ZR2 should not have to be totally loaded out with every gadget and toy to get the ZR2 suspension and setup. The diesel sounds cool as hell but given what others are charging for diesels it would likely be too expensive to be justifiable given the expected level of fuel savings and higher cost of diesel fuel.

The fact is that few people would buy that (probably) US $45,000 truck and do anything off road with it. Whatever capabilites it does have will be wasted because the people who would actually use and appreciate its abilities won't be able to afford it or, if they can, they'll just use it as a commuter and grocery-getter to preserve its resale value so they can trade it in to get the next big thing whenever someone comes out with it.

 

^Here's the thing - the Ford Raptor is expensive and sacrifices some 500lb of payload relative to the normal F150 to get flexible rear leafs, yet more than 10,000 people line up every year to buy them. A lot of those get wheeled and jumped.

 

What is your point? I don't want or need a 4x4.

The fact is that the Colorado is the exact same price as the Tacoma. Yet, for some reason everyone complains about the price of the Colorado but happily sign up to buy a Taco with technology from 2003 for the same price.

I have no brand loyalty and as long as I can get 200k or 10-12 years out of a new car then I don't care what brand it is. I want the best value. Some people talk about how their Taco will go 500k miles but how many of us plan on owning our car for 20+ years?