The Original Chevrolet Colorado Was Way Cooler Than You Remember: GM Hit Or Miss

Appearances can be deceiving. Take the honey badger, for example. It looks cute and demure, but it’ll absolutely rip your nuts off. On the other hand, baseball isn’t the most exciting sport to watch on TV, but being at a game is properly exciting. The original Chevrolet Colorado is yet another great example of having more than meets the eye. It might not be the most exciting-looking truck, but it features some neat ideas that simply haven’t been tried on small trucks in America since.

Launched in the third quarter of 2003 for the 2004 model year, the original Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon are prime examples of first-mover disadvantage, in that they came out right before everyone else redesigned their midsize trucks. In 2004, Car And Driver said of the GMC Canyon, “Right now, though, the Canyon stands as the gotta-have in the compact-truck class–tops in ride, fit and finish, solidity, impact isolation, and general driving refinement.”

By 2005, however, the climate changed, and the Colorado placed dead last in a five-truck comparison test against the redesigned Dodge Dakota, Toyota Tacoma, and Nissan Frontier, along with the then-new Honda Ridgeline. Here’s just a snippet of why, as per Car And Driver.

Everyone commented on the plain-Jane interior, the least inviting of the crowd, and if you like industrial-grade plastic, you’ll love the dashboard. The brake pedal is positioned too high off the floor. The front buckets feel flat and flimsy, as if they were providing the bare minimum of support but nothing more.

The rear seat isn’t any better since the backrest is uncomfortably close to vertical. Worst of all, that backrest simply folds down on top of the bottom cushion, leaving an angled, high shelf that reduces the usability of the space. The other trucks all have better folding solutions. One tester commented, “It’s as if Chevy were looking for ways not to compete.”

Ouch. It’s easy to forget just how much sub-full-sized trucks improved in the mid-aughts, and the Colorado and Canyon were not on the receiving end of those creature comfort improvements. However, look a bit deeper and something interesting happens — despite being one of the most conventional, old-school compact pickup trucks of its generation, GM’s entry-level trucks for the 2000s were deeply, endearingly weird.

Chevrolet Colorado Ls Z71 Crew Cab 2004 Hd 887f2d3c1b8f46fccad3531055f8801e5667f3c8b

The Colorado’s predecessor, the S-10, came standard with a little 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine making a measly 120 horsepower. This clearly wouldn’t be enough for the next-generation truck, so GM went with something bigger. Much, much bigger. Standard at launch was a 2.8-liter four-cylinder engine cranking out 175 horsepower and 185 lb.-ft. of torque. It’s worth noting that 2.8 liters of displacement is absolutely huge for a four-banger, and it only got bigger from there. In 2007, capacity grew to 2.9 liters, making it the largest gasoline-powered four-cylinder engine sold in an American-market light-duty vehicle since the Titanic three-liter unit in the Porsche 968.

Chevrolet Colorado Ls Z71 Crew Cab 2004 Engine Bay.d93404f8

That’s an interesting footnote in engine history, but what if you wanted more power? Well, in the beginning, the Colorado also offered a twin-cam 3.5-liter inline-five with dual balance shafts. Essentially a Vortec 4.2-liter inline-six minus one cylinder, the initial 3.5-liter version of the Vortec 3500 pumped out a somewhat mediocre 220 horsepower and 225 lb.-ft. of torque. Not hugely impressive output for the displacement, but not only did it line up nicely with what many competitors offered at the time, it also had a wide power band. Peak torque kicked in at just 2,800 rpm, peak power arrived at 5,600 rpm, and this engine didn’t hit redline until 6,300 rpm. Starting in 2007, this five-banger was bored out to 3.7 liters, and output climbed to 242 horsepower and 242 lb.-ft. of torque at a peakier 4,600 rpm.

With Car And Driver clocking zero-to-60 mph in 8.9 seconds from a 3.5-liter crew cab four-wheel-drive automatic GMC Canyon, these five-banger Colorados and Canyons won’t blow anyone’s socks off. However, the unusual choice of an inline-five does have an edge when it comes to the time-honored shitbox truck tradition of, uh, chopping the muffler off. Uncorking a five-cylinder Colorado actually results in something that sounds borderline exotic. Paired with the standard five-speed manual gearbox, this could be a fun little parts hauler. However, if a deeper note is what you’re looking for in a compact truck, Chevrolet made buyers wait. The wait was worth it.

Chevrolet Colorado V8

For 2009, Chevrolet pulled the gloves off and dropped a variant of its 5.3-liter V8 into the Colorado. Called the LH8, this 9.9:1-compression, rather basic motor relied on sheer displacement to pump out 300 horsepower and 320 lb.-ft. of torque. For 2010, the LH8 was replaced by the LH9, which gained variable valve timing. How about that? Output stayed absolutely steady, but the updated engine could run on E85, and power even stayed steady for 2011 through 2012, when the LH9 saw a slight drop in compression from 9.9:1 to 9.7:1.

Mind you, the only transmission Chevrolet paired with the V8 was the infamous 4L60E, a four-speed automatic unit that might suddenly decide to have six neutrals if you get a bit too spicy with the loud pedal. Still, when in operable condition, it didn’t do much to hamper acceleration of the V8 Colorado, with Car And Driver running from zero-to-60 mph in 6.7 seconds. Even by today’s ludicrous standards, you wouldn’t exactly call that slow. Oh, and V8 models also got ZQ8 sport suspension, a faster steering ratio, and some cosmetic sundries like badges and body-color flares. If that wasn’t quite enough for you, you could even get a Sport trim with body-color bumpers, 18-inch alloy wheels, and a color-keyed grille. However, the sportiest-looking package didn’t quite live long enough to see the heyday of the V8, which is a shame. It was glorious.

2006 Chevy Colorado Ls Xtreme Extended Cab

Aww yeah, it’s time to talk about the 2005 to 2007 Colorado XTREME. God, I love street trucks. This package took a regular Colorado and threw on 18-inch wheels, a mesh grille, chromed headlight housings, a full body kit, unique gauges, and — on two-wheel-drive models — the ZQ8 sports suspension. It also deleted all the chrome and added some badging, and the result was a street truck that looked the business. Sure, it wasn’t any quicker than a regular Colorado, but it gave off the right image.

Chevrolet Colorado Ls Z71 Crew Cab 2004 Interior.d93404f8

Were the original Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon perfect trucks? No. Early 3.5-liter inline-five models did have issues with their valve seats, teething issues were common during the inaugural 2004 model year, and every complaint about interior materials is 100 percent accurate. At the same time, while models like the Toyota Tacoma and Dodge Dakota grew in width, the Colorado and Canyon kept things compact, with a width excluding mirrors of just 67.6 inches. However, in the context of today, there’s something appealing about the size of a true compact truck, particularly when you factor in the passenger-hauling ability of an optional crew cab.

Chevrolet Colorado Ls Z71 Crew Cab 2004 Hd Ddcef2701b8f98b814c4ed3f7928108b5dde38c89

In hindsight, the original Chevrolet Colorado and its GMC Canyon twin were hits, even if they never quite achieved the ubiquity or model longevity of the Ford Ranger. They were common sights, from fleet-spec regular cab work trucks outside auto parts stores to crew cab Z71 4×4 five-bangers in suburban driveways, and for the most part, they seem to hold up okay. Perhaps best of all, they’re still reasonably priced on the used market, so if you find one with a clean body and frame for a reasonable price, it seems like a decent option for a cheap compact truck.

(Photo credits: Chevrolet)

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