Just got a Chevy Colorado...

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...for a work truck. I had a 2001 Ram V6 that was very weak. The Colorado is lower to the ground and does have a bit of a drone from the 3.5l I-5 on hard acceleration, but it is a much more civilized feeling truck. I'm quite impressed actually. It's a good basic little truck. I thought I'd never buy a Chevy truck but this things got me thinking 'bout a nice Colorado crew cab.
 
Congrats! They are a nice riding & handling truck. GM thru a garbage can sized resonator at the end of the exhaust on the trailblazer 4.2L to cancel out the noise. I guess the inline 6 version drones badly without it.

G/luck
Joel
 
I should say YOU got me a new Colorado. I work for the US Forest Service so it's your nickel.
 
quote:

Originally posted by BrianWC:
I should say YOU got me a new Colorado. I work for the US Forest Service so it's your nickel.

Then, take good care of our truck
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Really, it's not bad at all. I could do with a center console, but otherwise.....

It will get 3k oil changes (fleet manager's orders) but on Citgo oil at the local full service gas station.
 
So give us a real unbiased real person review, comparing it to the RAM and whatnot...

Surely it isnt as poor as the ridgeline lovers would have you believe...

JMH
 
Well, the ram had more room, of course...but the ram's V-6 was geared really weird. Anytime I went up a hill (and these are tiny Louisiana hills) the thing dropped 2 gears and raced up to 5k rpms. I was the third driver of the truck (we keep trucks until they hit 80-90k miles or so) b/c everyone else hated the transmission.

The Colorado has a drone to it at full throttle from about maybe 2.5-4k rpms but it's certainly tolerable. It's a tad plastic-y but not annoyingly so.

It rides really well except on the roughest roads. It seems softly sprung but has less body roll than my saab. The bed is of decent size, there is an amazing amount of footroom. I despise the fact that there is no real armrest (my ram didn't have one either) and feel a tad shortchanged in this department, but it is the small truck. Gas mileage seems pretty good as well.

I'm not typically an American car person but this thing isn't bad. If I didn't regularly have to pick up the kids from daycare, I'd have one of these ASAP. They are made here in Shreveport with the H3 so maybe I am a tad proud of the hometown guys, but I never, ever have had this thing on my list.
 
Hi

Our 4x4 C/C has an armrest. You just got the el cheapo base seat.

Pillow time for your elbow.
 
Yeah, I got on the website and saw that. Plus it lkooks like the Canyon has a nice little storage tray.
 
quote:

Originally posted by BrianWC:
Well, the ram had more room, of course...but the ram's V-6 was geared really weird. Anytime I went up a hill (and these are tiny Louisiana hills) the thing dropped 2 gears and raced up to 5k rpms. I was the third driver of the truck (we keep trucks until they hit 80-90k miles or so) b/c everyone else hated the transmission.

A friend told me the same thing! He traded his Dodge andbought a Chevy extended cab with the 5.3L and a 4speed Auto. He says he gets better MPG with the Chevey because it's not downshifting so often to go up hills like the Dodge did.
 
Dodge puts a Extremly High Overall gear ratio for their trucks. Most new ones have a 545RFE tranmission with a 5th gear OD of 0.67 and the common Rear Gear is eitheir 3.92 or 3.55 so with 3.55's you have a overall gear ratio of 2.37 Which keeps the RPM's extremly low for the engines dodges uses all of which love to rev up. Most people go to 4.56's and reports better fuel economy and a much more powerful feeling truck.
 
I have a 2001 Dodge with the 3.9 also but it's the 5-speed manual transmission and 3.21 gears. I'm sure glad I didn't get the automatic now as the weak V-6 is tolerable with the manual tranny. Been thinking about a new Colorado but for now gonna keep the Dodge since it's paid for. I was looking at the 4 cyl. 5-speed regular cab and was impressed with the legroom.
 
It is crazy to compare a 1/2 Ton full size pickup truck with a small V6 to a Compact(some say midsize) pickup truck with a simalar sized engine. You might as well compare a 68 VW Bug to a 427Yenko Corvette!

Glad you like your new truck though!
 
My dad has an '04 Colorado Crew Cab Z-71. He loves it!

Personally, I like it a lot too. It drives very nice, handles good, gets good MPG, and is NOT underpowered like some people seem to think (just b/c it's a 5 cylinder). The interior could definitley use some work though. It's a little too plasticy for me. The leather seats are much better than the horrible cloth seats.

Overall though, it's a great little truck. For 2007 they have bored out the 3.5 I5 to a 3.7 I5. Power goes from ~220hp to ~240hp. Should be a nice little boost for the Colly!

I'm running Pennzoil Platinum in my dad's Colorado and he says it's running better on it than it did on the previous fill of M1. I love M1 for it's durability and cleany ability, but for a quiet & smooth engine, Platinum is where it's at!
 
I personally don't get these mid-sized trucks with the v6's.

I was reading a great review of midsized v6 frontier in off-road magazine and they reported something like 16mpg and a worst tank of 11mpg.

I read the same things about tacoma v6's and various ford/dodge and chevy v6's (I'm talking about 4x4's here).

Comparing epa mpg figures the full sized trucks with v8's, even the larger of the small-blocks like the chev 5.3L can easily turn in these mpg numbers.

If a full sized truck is maybe only 10-15% more money, and if the fuel economy is a wash on the 4x4's, why are people buying the downsized trucks? Same thing with the toyota tundra, basically a 7/8th truck with a 4.7L v8. Gets pretty much identical epa mpg ratings as a chev full-sized equivalent with th 5.3L

The full sized trucks can pull more, haul more and are more comfortable.

Can some of the owners of tacomas/rangers/frontiers etc. fill me in on the choice of down-sized trucks with v6's? Since it doesn't appear the the large v6's in these trucks offer a fuel economy advantage, I wonder what's the incentive to buy one?
 
Jim,
My New 4 door Tacoma gets 20 while the 4 runner I got for my wife gets 22 on the spot(I have been keeping a log book in each and they are both very new, te 22 on the 4 runner is unbelievable
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), they both share the same engine and transmission, the truck being a bit heavier and having a 6500 pound towing capcity instead of the 5k that the 4runner has. For my household/camping andpossible modest boat towing needs it is plenty of truck. As far as comfort goes it's a matter of preference. I will concede that the larger newer Tacoma is more comfortable than my previous 2002 smaller tacoma. But at what point do you go from comfortably spacious to cavernous?
Another reason I prefer small trucks is that I like going off road or down narrow trails to river banks to put my Kayaks in the river. A fullsize cannot fit where I go. Another positive is I could not fit both a Tahoe and a Silverado in my garage but I can fit both a Taco and a 4runner.

This class of vehicle is more friendly in many ways. I have no issues with fullsize trucks. I simply have no need for them at this time. Heck I could have got a Tundra for less than the Taco but it felt like wearing a suit when I am a shorts and sandals kind of guy.

Reported MPG on Media vehicles has to be taken with the consideration on what they are doing during these test. Acceleration , breaking and several drivers getting a "feel" for the vehicles performance over the test period is not how you are going to drive your trck. Of course they are going to use a lot of fuel, it's a performance evaluation WEEEEEEE!
burnout.gif
 
quote:

Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
It is crazy to compare a 1/2 Ton full size pickup truck with a small V6 to a Compact(some say midsize) pickup truck with a simalar sized engine. You might as well compare a 68 VW Bug to a 427Yenko Corvette!

Glad you like your new truck though!


Well, it's comparing a 3.5 I-5 to a 3.9 V-6.

Anyway, I know that's not direct, I'm just saying it's great to go from that lethargic Ram to this little thing. Anyone who wants to call the Colorado midsize needs to try out the regular cab. It's not very big....
 
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