Chevrolet Colorado (US) review

The Chevy Colorado starts at $32,190, including a $1,495 destination charge, and goes as high as $49,790. The base number gets you the Work Truck, which as discussed, is kind of a stripper model, but shelling out close to $50,000 lands you the mega-off-road-capable ZR2.

In the grand scope of mid-size pickup trucks, the Colorado is competitively priced, but the fact that you have to step up to higher trim levels to get basic features like HID headlights and a steering wheel that doesn’t feel like it’s wrapped in lousy-ass urethane is kind of annoying. Even a smaller Ford Maverick comes with many of these convenience features standard.

So which Colorado should I get?

If you aren’t going to off-road this thing, we’ve got to recommend the Z71, which starts at $42,890 including destination. This one has the best loadout of features but is still relatively affordable – as in, the super-sparse Trail Boss we tested costs about the same price, but isn’t half as nice inside. Sure, the Trail Boss gets you some nice off-road upgrades, but the Z71 will be just about all most people need, and you can get it with good engine, towing, and payload combinations.

Want to have a good time off road? Shell out for the ZR2. The Multimatic shocks alone make this trim level worth the nearly $50,000 starting price, since the ZR2 will embarrass just about anything else shy of a Ford F-150 Raptor out on dusty trails. Chevy really did a heck of a job with this one. Here’s hoping the company zhuzhes up the less-expensive Colorado trims.