Photography by David S. Wallens
Tom warned me about this one when he handed over the fob: There’s a giant spare tire blocking your rear view.
Hey, he’s right. Someone mounted a giant knobby tire upright in the front-left corner of the bed, perfectly blocking the world behind.
More about that tire: a Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT sized LT315/70R17 that sits some 34.4 inches tall.
Both that tire's package and the mount for its spare are part of a $11,700 ZR2 Bison package that also includes Multimatic shocks, 17-inch bead-lock wheels wrapped with the knobby tires, and a bunch of parts from AEV: full skid plates front to rear, stamped front and rear bumpers, floor mats, head restraints and fender flares.
Total price for the truck as delivered after adding in that package? $64,340.
Let’s stay there for a few. Seeing new vehicles prepared for niche audiences is kind of our jam. We love things like GT3 Porsches, 1LE Camaros and ACR Neons. These are vehicles built for the pointy end of our market.
Is a truck like this any different? It has the power plus off-road gear one would likely add before hitting the trail–where, we found, it felt cool and composed.
But then that begs the follow-up question: Are you going to take a $64,340 truck that far off the road? Or is this one built for the follow-up owners?
Hey, he’s right. Someone mounted a giant knobby tire upright in the front-left corner of the bed, perfectly blocking the world behind.
Reading the first two lines then seeing the picture of the spare in the bed gave me an audible snort-laugh.
Does it have the camera display for a rear view mirror feature?
At a time when it's fairly easy to see a new truck at a dealer with a MSRP of $70,000-$90,000+, this strikes me as a bit of a "deal." It seems like it has a lot of serious bits and pieces added that a DIY person may have added via the aftermarket, plus it's warrantied from the manufacturer.
I'm surprised I like it because I'm really cheap.
But I see actual value added...unlike companies like Mazda that find a new paint and a wooden shift nob so they can charge more for a SpEciAL eDiTiOn Miata.
edit to add: and it only weighs 3,600lbs? That's less than a good number of cars, sporty and otherwise. One more reason I can respect it.
The only problem is the Ranger raptor is significantly more powerful, more capable, and 8k cheaper
Coniglio Rampante said:edit to add: and it only weighs 3,600lbs? That's less than a good number of cars, sporty and otherwise. One more reason I can respect it.
Oh thank you for catching that, I'm not sure how that slipped through.
Curb weight is actually 5298 pounds.
Pfffff, (spits out coffee) it went from being the lightest small truck I've heard of in years the the heaviest! What the hell.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Thanks. I was wondering how they achieved that magic. I was thinking of a fictional press release: "... and to save weight, the entire structure is made from aluminum... foil, that is."
Rramirez said:The only problem is the Ranger raptor is significantly more powerful, more capable, and 8k cheaper
Yeah there is no compelling reason to buy this over the Ranger. Add another 800$ for the factory tune on the ranger with a factory warranty maintained and it's almost comical the difference.
It's cool to see that OEMs still make crazy stuff like this for niche markets. For my money, if I was in the market for a Colorado, I'd probably go for the Trail Boss, which is basically the base truck with some 4x4 goodies like a skid plate and better wheels/tires.
That spare tire mount though... WHY???
Mount the spare on the bed floor. Compromises.
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