2023 Chevrolet Colorado Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Featuring a factory suspension lift, box-flared fenders with charcoal gray trim, a deeply sculpted hood, and a popular blacked-out look, our Radiant Red 2023 Chevy Colorado Trail Boss looked the part of a rough and ready off-roader.

The new Colorado’s styling is expertly penned, displaying a proper stance, visual balance, and expressive detailing that doesn’t go too far overboard. That goes for the interior, too, where hints of Camaro are evident in a handful of dashboard toggle switches and round outboard air vents. Overall, the Colorado is a good lookin’ truck, inside and out.

However, in the base Work Truck (WT) and the tested Trail Boss trim levels, the relentlessly gray front fascia and depressingly cheap interior dampen enthusiasm for the design. At least the Trail Boss has a purposeful front skid plate the WT lacks. But inside, the plastic-fantastic interior lacks any sense of colour contrast unless you count the varying grain and gloss levels. Other Colorados (the LT, Z71, and ZR2) get some body colour paint wiped across their noses and nicer cabins.

If you want a Colorado with rear-wheel drive (RWD), in Canada you’re looking at the WT trim only. Four-wheel drive (4WD) is optional on the WT and standard on the LT, Trail Boss, Z71, and ZR2. The latter three trim levels also have more powerful versions of the 2.7-litre turbocharged engine (optional with WT and LT trim). Prices range from $37,229 to $58,929, including the $2,095 destination charge and other fees.

Our Colorado Trail Boss came with several options, including its red paint job. Additionally, it had a spray-on bedliner, the Advanced Trailering Package, the Skid Plate Package, and the Trail Boss Convenience Package II. These extras brought the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) to $50,844, including the destination charge.

Every 2023 Chevy Colorado has a turbocharged 2.7-litre four-cylinder engine. With WT and LT trim, it makes power specs of 237 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 260 pound-feet of torque from 1,200 rpm to 4,000 rpm. In the Trail Boss and Z71, the engine supplies 310 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 391 lb-ft at 2,000 rpm. Colorado ZR2 models have a turbo high-output version that matches the 310-hp rating but boasts 430 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm.

An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard. With WT and LT trim, the optional Autotrac 4WD system features a single-speed transfer case with 2WD Hi, Auto 4WD, and 4WD Hi settings. The Trail Boss, Z71, and ZR2 have an Autotrac 4WD system with a two-speed transfer case that adds 4WD Lo.

In addition, the Colorado Trail Boss gets a 5-centimetre suspension lift, and the ZR2 boasts a 7.6-cm lift. They both feature a wider front track, while the ZR2 gets exclusive Multimatic DSSV dampers for superior off-road performance. Colorado Trail Boss and Colorado Z71 models have all-terrain tires, while the ZR2 has standard mud-terrain tires.

Chevrolet also provides up to five driving modes for the new Colorado. They include Normal, Tow/Haul, Off-Road, Terrain, and Baja. That last one is exclusive to the Colorado ZR2. Hill descent control is standard, starting with Trail Boss trim.

With that detail to set the stage, our Trail Boss test truck is the second most capable version of the Colorado when you head off-road. And that’s exactly what we did, picking and choosing our way across a rutted and rocky surface with the truck in Off-Road mode and the Autotrac 4WD system in Auto mode. We knew 4-Hi or 4-Lo would work well for the task, but we wanted to see how the Auto 4WD would manage the terrain.

As it turned out, quite well, with a minimum of rear-wheel slip. Credit also goes, in part, to the all-terrain tires, and the Off-Road driving mode must have contributed something to the truck’s ability to maintain forward momentum.

In this environment, traversing deep ruts, the Colorado Trail Boss was unyieldingly stiff, and even when taking care to avoid contact, on one occasion, we smacked the underbody skid plate despite the model’s impressive 24.1 centimetres of ground clearance. Nevertheless, our experience in this Trail Boss leaves us confident in the truck’s ability to travel well off the beaten path. And remember, the Colorado ZR2 is even more capable.

Fortunately, the Colorado shines brightly on pavement, too. The truck is remarkably quiet, even at speed on the highway. That’s unexpected, given the Trail Boss model’s height, shape, and all-terrain tires.

In addition, its robust suspension and thick tire sidewalls shrug at crumbling infrastructure, rolling mercilessly over broken concrete, patched blacktop, speed humps and bumps, and other surface anomalies. When driving a Colorado Trail Boss, you won’t worry much about parking blocks or curbs, either. It is liberating.

In all situations, you might marvel at the Colorado’s structural rigidity. The truck rarely wiggles, shakes, or shimmies, and the only creak we could perceive within the cabin was the flexing driver’s door panel whenever we braced a leg against it.

A comfortable steering effort level and a responsive brake pedal make the Colorado easy to drive. In addition, though the tires lack grip on pavement, the truck’s relatively flat cornering attitude and predictable handling allow you to hustle quickly enough on a mountain road.

That brings us to the powertrain, which provides satisfyingly swift acceleration. However, though the Trail Boss’s 2.7-litre turbo boasts 310 hp and 391 lb-ft of torque, it doesn’t feel or sound as zesty as a Ford Ranger’s 2.3-litre EcoBoost turbo, which supplies far less power at 270 hp and 310 lb-ft. The Chevy’s engine note isn’t as engaging, either, and the Colorado Trail Boss doesn’t reward you with a deeper push into your seat despite the peak torque’s arrival at 2,000 rpm.

The fuel economy is disappointing. The official Natural Resources Canada fuel economy rating for the Colorado Trail Boss is 12.4 litres per 100 kilometres combined, but we averaged 13.8 L/100 km on our testing loop. We drove in Normal mode with Auto 4WD, except when using Off-Road mode in the dirt.

Climb aboard the Colorado Trail Boss (and it is a climb for short-statured people), and you’ll find comfortable seating for four people. You can squeeze a fifth passenger into the middle of the back seat, but we don’t advise doing so on a regular basis unless all three are pre-teen children.

Our test truck had the standard cloth upholstery, which seemingly magnetizes pet hair to its surface. As part of the Convenience Package II, it also had an eight-way power driver’s seat with adjustable lumbar support, ensuring a proper driving position. The front passenger’s seat did not offer a height adjuster, which, considering how hard it was for shorter people to get in and out, wasn’t a problem.

Overall, the Colorado’s power driver’s seat is comfortable, and the cloth upholstery means they’re warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. However, we discovered that wider people may feel pinched at the hips in the Colorado’s front seats, leading to fatigue on longer drives.

The back seat provides just enough headroom for six-footers. The legroom is somewhat snug, but the softly padded front seatbacks make this a non-issue. The seat cushion offers good thigh support, and all Colorados except the WT have standard rear air conditioning vents.

Speaking of, during a roasting hot summer testing week, the Colorado’s air conditioning cooled the cab to a blissfully cool temperature in a matter of minutes. Not only that, in the Trail Boss, it is a manually adjustable system, a refreshingly old-school regression from the increasingly common automatic climate control systems.

In the Trail Boss, soft-touch surfaces are hard to come by. Aside from the seats, they include the door panel armrests and the centre armrests. That’s it.

Storage space is lacking, too. The door panels contain small trays and bottle holders, there is a useful tray located ahead of the transmission shifter, and the glove compartment is generous in size. A deep but narrow storage compartment bin lives under the centre armrest and is awkward to use. Large cupholders stand at the ready for oversized drinks and contain vertical smartphone storage slots. With the extra two located in the rear-seat centre armrest, a Colorado has more cupholders than it does seat belts.

The 1,186-litre cargo bed is just over 1.5 metres or five feet in length (1,567 mm or 61.7 inches, to be precise). With the Convenience Package II, it comes with an EZ-Lift and Lower tailgate with Chevy’s new StowFlex storage panel. Drop the tailgate, unlatch the StowFlex panel using tabs that seem susceptible to failure in the future, and you’ll find a 114-cm wide and 10-cm deep compartment.

Chevy also touts the Mid-Position tailgate feature, which allows you to carry long items with it partially raised. It can support 225 kilograms (500 pounds) in that position.

Chevrolet equips every 2023 Colorado with digital instrumentation and an 11.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Google Built-in technology. Yep, even the Colorado WT gets these features. The instrumentation displays on an 8-inch screen except in the Colorado ZR2 trim, which boasts a larger 11-inch screen.

Considering how inexpensive and basic the Trail Boss’s interior looks and feels, the two digital screens are unexpectedly refined and sophisticated. In addition, Chevy’s use of Google-based tech adds natural voice recognition through Google Assistant, regularly updated navigation through Google Maps, and access to a variety of apps through Google Play. The infotainment system also supports Bluetooth, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, SiriusXM satellite radio, OnStar and Chevrolet connected services, and access to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

C’mon now. That’s undeniably impressive. In addition, wireless charging is available in the Colorado, and the standard six-speaker stereo is decent. (The Colorado ZR2 has a seven-speaker Bose audio system.) You can even view off-roading data in real-time using the infotainment screen or the digital instrumentation.

However, if you’re familiar with the previous Colorado’s Chevrolet Infotainment 3 System and its excellent voice recognition technology, using Google Assistant takes some acclimation. For example, during testing, some voiced queries and commands produced unexpected responses and, in some cases, the Google-based tech forced a more rigid user experience. You will get used to it, but it might cause some confusion and distraction at first.

Another upgrade with the 2023 Colorado is added trailer-towing technology, including high-definition cameras to make hitching a trailer easier. The cameras are part of a network of camera views that can also provide a surround view of the truck and front and back underbody views when off-roading.

The 2023 Colorado has an impressive list of standard and available safety features, too. For example, OnStar provides SOS emergency calling and automatic crash notification. A Teen Driver system gives parents a report card summarizing how a young family member drove while in possession of the truck, and a Buckle to Drive function prevents the truck from moving if people aren’t buckled up.

Chevy Safety Assist is the standard collection of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). It includes forward collision warning with pedestrian and cyclist detection, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, and automatic high-beam headlights. The forward collision warning system provides audible alerts, and an LED reflective windshield alert system adds a visual component.

Optional ADAS includes adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring with active steering assist (Blind Zone Steering Assist), rear cross-traffic and pedestrian alert with automatic braking, and rear parking sensors. Our test truck did not have any of these upgrades.

Whether the Colorado has adaptive cruise control or not, there is a button on the steering wheel that gives the driver access to a gap adjustment. If you buy a Colorado, set that to the shortest of the three gap settings. Why? If you don’t, the forward-collision warning system is going to aggravate you to the point where you’ll want to return the truck to Chevrolet.

Our test truck arrived with the gap adjustment on its longest gap setting. As such, the forward-collision warning system erupted in false alerts with every drive, apparently seeing phantom threats or hallucinating that shadows cast by trees were actually walls ahead. When it happened multiple times on a gently winding suburban boulevard featuring a grassy median and lined with trees on both sides of the pavement, and without another vehicle in sight, we were ready to park the truck until the weeklong loan was over.

However, after adjusting the gap, the forward-collision warning system quieted down. Not entirely. It still produced far too many false alerts, enough of them that we would either need to turn the FCW off (bad idea) or buy a different truck (better idea).

It’s too bad Chevy didn’t get this right, and we’re not alone in complaining about the problem. Google something like “2023 Colorado forward-collision warning problem,” and you’ll find some pretty unhappy owners of this truck.

The redesigned 2023 Chevrolet Colorado is a fundamentally appealing midsize-pickup truck with an attractive value equation. However, within the Trail Boss’s cab, it is too easy to see why the price is relatively low. And considering the observed fuel economy was more appropriate for a full-size Silverado 1500, it appears you’ll be plugging any savings compared to rival models into the Colorado’s fuel tank over time.

Unfortunately, the forward collision warning problem is likely a deal-breaker. The feature’s inexplicable hyper-sensitivity will ultimately convince you to turn the collision warning system off (bad idea), teach you to ignore it (bad idea), or cause so much aggravation that you may demand your money back or join a class-action lawsuit (a real hassle).

Chevys have had cheap interiors for years, an issue the brand occasionally addresses but not in a consistent way. Pickup trucks, even midsize models, are not fuel efficient without a diesel or a hybrid powertrain. Expecting otherwise is foolish. But that safety feature problem is a major fumble that could ruin the Colorado’s prospects, especially after the redesigned Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma go on sale for the 2024 model year.

Note: Images show a US model.