Lern Me: 2015+ Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon Edition

For what seems to be about 5 years now, I've been thinking about moving on from my trusty 2012 Mazda 3. It's got 169k miles on it now and still trucking along. 

Wanna know what's NOT trucking along? My truck. 

My 1997 Dodge Dakota has been a royal PITA this year. Maybe it's revenge for nearly selling it back in the spring, before a deal on a 1998 Ram 1500 fell through. Every time I've gone to use it lately, something catastrophic breaks. When I had to pull an old water heater out of my basement a few months ago, I blew a brake line that has already been replaced once. Then, when I needed to go get gas a few weeks ago to fire up my Trans Am for the first time in years, the alternator cracked its case and seized up, taking the belt with it. And just last weekend, when I needed to use it as a parts runner and to drop some scrap off, a front caliper seemingly seized up AND the rear brakes (with just 10k miles on them, maybe even less!) started making ungodly noises. 

After complaining to the wife, she said, "Why don't you just replace both of them with a newer truck when it's time to get out of the Mazda?"

I've thought about this before, and I've started threads in the past about the Tacoma, thinking that might be a good option. Then, I started seeing crazy cash on the hoods of Colorados recently. I'm talking a Z71 4x4 with the V6, brand new, for $27-28K. They are usually about $36k. That's cheaper than USED ones!

On paper, these look like decent trucks:

-Faster than my Mazda! Runs the 1/4 in 14.8

-Can actually tow things (not that I do, but it would be nice to have the option)

-Gets 24mpg highway on regular, which isn't bad for a truck

-They look decent (I prefer the Colorado personally)

-Can get an extend cab with the long bed easily with the options I want

Not set in stone that I'm buying one, but they have certainly piqued my interest. Anyone here actually have one? Are there common issues that I should be aware of? 

I would look into the 3.6 nd see if they made any changes to the timing chains. I've heard that they can be a problem on the previous ones.

I will likely buy one but it will be a 4cyl. 6 spd manual

My brother inlaw has a 2017 crew cab with a 3.6 V6. He loves it. I was helping them close the cottage this weekend and it pulled his 24' boat with ease. Nice interior and a nice ride. His only issue has been a rearview camera that died in the first couple of weeks. Fixed under warranty of course. I understand they changed the 3.6 for the 2017 model year and corrected the timing chain issues.

There is no love here for the GMT-700's

https://www.coloradofans.com/forums/ will answer any and all questions you might have. 

In reply to Suprf1y :

Never heard of timing chain issues on these truck engines (15-16 LFX or 17-18 LGZ), much earlier 3.6 LLT engines yes but that has been resolved (supplier/ heat treatment issue). 

fasted58 said:

There is no love here for the GMT-700's

https://www.coloradofans.com/forums/ will answer any and all questions you might have. 

I actually like the GMT 700s and it clicks the boxes of what a lot of people want on here, but as usual, someone makes something GRMers want and no one wants to drop coin on one. 

AnthonyGS said:

I wish I could the double cab with a 6 ft bed and 4wd.....  then it’d be my next truck.  I miss my jeep’s abilities but I need a real 6 ft bed and like to camp in remote locations.  My Jeep couldn’t tow or haul and was too slow.  My ram is too fast, not roomy enough, too big to park and can’t go offroad well.  Fast truck = fun but crap camping.

I know you can get them that way, rarer but they definitely exist. There’s at least three in my town. You can get the Tacoma double cab with a 6ft bed as well. 

I looked at the Canyon briefly before I bought my Tacoma. I didn’t like the seating position personally, didn’t like my local dealer, and comparing MSRPs the Tacoma’s are priced better. Plus Tacoma’s still have insane resale value. 

My 2017 double cab short bed Tacoma v6 4x4 averages 20mpg in 50/50 miles city to highway. 

If I weren’t buying immediately I’d be waiting for the Ranger personally...

They drive realllly nice. The feel more solid and well put-together than the big trucks. Haven't seen any timing chain issues on the Colorados with the 3.6Ls yet, but haven't seen any with crazy miles. We have seen torque converter issues with the 8L45E. They develop a shudder while cruising and at low throttle tip-in. Whereas on the 8L90E, that concern can be fixed by flushing and replacing the fluid, the Colorados require torque converter replacement.

I've been around several guys running them in the light offroad / overland community and all of them are happy. On the last run I did there were 2 ZR2s (1 gas, 1 diesel) and one gas Z71. Seem pretty capable from what I've seen.

I've looked them over and I'm pretty impressed. Haven't driven one because I'm afraid it would give me the hot wants.  I could see a day in the not too distant future where I'm test driving a Z71, a Ranger FX4, a Tacoma, and a Bronco on the same day.  I love my old ZJ but if the day comes I want something shiny and new, the "little" GM is definitely on the short list.

I'm not planning on sleeping in the back, so a 5' bed would be fine by me. I had an 8' bed truck and it was cool but I never once REALLY needed it.  Although, if I was in the market and found a good deal on a used 6' bed 4dr I might consider it. Getting kind of long for trail use though.

Coincidentally, I saw a Z71 coming to work today on a big lift with big flashy rims and tires. The bed was just above my eye level as I'm driving a ZJ with 2.5" of lift on it. Talk about making a good truck useless....

I love the way they look. If I needed something new they would be on my radar, probably in Work Truck trim. Even though that only brings the 4 cyl.

I wasn't aware of the timing chain or torque converter issues, and neither are something I'd want to deal with (I mean, who would?). I'd likely be getting a 2017+ truck, so at least one of those things seems to have been fixed. 

The Frontier and Taco are still on the list as well. The Frontier would likely be the cheapest, but gets the worst gas mileage of the three (I drive 25k a year, that adds up), not to mention it's basically a 2005 Frontier built in 2018. The Taco is the best looking IMHO and would probably hold its value the best, but has rear drums (I HATE DRUM BRAKES) and doesn't have the power the other trucks have. The new Ranger is going to be like $36k the way I would want it, so that's out. Then, there's the upcoming Jeep truck, but I'm guessing that will be $40k+ because Jeep. 

I'm starting to like them, they look pretty good and seem to be just the right size.  What's more impressive is 7k tow rating w/ the 3.6.  

There are a lot of high mileage 3.6's out there but also a lot that have been repaired under warranty. I would give it some time. It's apparently been a problem for a long time, and I've read that they've offered extended warranties to some owners.

What about the diesel? IIRC it gets like 30 mpg and tows 7500 lbs.

Apparently there are some side curtain airbag issues on the ZR2's....

java230 said:

Apparently there are some side curtain airbag issues on the ZR2's....

From what I've seen online, that's primarily come from people taking them off-roading. Not saying it should happen, but it doesn't sound like it's happened to people hauling scrap or coming back from Home Depot

Furious_E said:

What about the diesel? IIRC it gets like 30 mpg and tows 7500 lbs.

I usually go off of Fuelly's averages when trying to guestimate MPG, and it shows an average of ~24mpg for the colorado diesel and ~19mpg for Tacoma's and v6 Colorado's.  With my local current gas/diesel prices, that's a difference of about $850 a year or $70 a month. If you could actually get and average 30mpg, it would be closer to $130/month savings... 

None of the GM techs I talk to have any love at all for the little diesel. I like the looks. 

That's all I got.

Tony Sestito said:

The new Ranger is going to be like $36k the way I would want it, so that's out.

I mean according to your first post, the Colorados you're looking at should be 36k trucks too. Trucks always end up less than MSRP. If you're in no big hurry, wait and let the newness of the Ranger fade a bit and you'll be seeing them priced comparably to Colorados.

In reply to STM317 :

True. I don't know if I can wait that long though; probably talking about 2 years at minimum for that to happen. Also, not 100% sure I want the Ranger. 

On the diesels...

I'm not seeing many of them out there in my area unless they are installed between the fenders of a $40k+ ZR2. I have a friend who is sort of a diesel nerd, and he recently test drove one and came away unimpressed. He has a 1996 VW Passat TDI and a 2005ish Duramax pickup for reference. 

2017 Colorado Z71 crewcab short bed 2.8L Duramax here. Love the truck but a few glaring issued i have had in 22k miles of ownership:

1. Front suspension noise. Sounds like either the steering shaft is loose and clunks or the strut tops are junk. Clunks like crazy going over rougher roads. I work on a construction site and each day pulling in sounds like the front end is going to drop out at any moment. I have taken it in to the dealer 3 times without any resolution. I have a set of chassis ears that im going to put to the front end and see if i can hear anything while my wife drives it.

2. Fuel filter housings crack. On my 3rd one. I asked the dealer to replace the fuel filters at 20k mile and they found a stripped housing at first and then the truck started to have idle issues. Took it back and they found the bowl cracked. Installed another one and so far(2k ish miles) it has been ok. When the filter housing leaks it causes lower fuel pressure which in turn causes a rolling idle, hard starts and terrible fuel mileage.

3. Transmission shift points. It is a very clunky transmission and is quite lazy. It will hold gears on the highway instead of shifting into 6th gear so it really pulls the motor into the upper RPM's. I would think it would want to shift earlier since it has almost 400 ft-lbs of torque. Had GM reflash it twice with some improvement but it gets lazy again after a few thousand miles. I have heard a tune helps quite a bit so we will see once the warranty period is up.

4. DEF fluid and the dash reading. Fill up the 2.5 gallon DEF reservoir and it shows "full" on the in dash gauge. A week goes by and its down the 29%. Cant tell if the truck just needs to regen all the time or does it in HUGE bursts of DEF fluid. $25 per fill isnt killer but damn it will add up if its every week or two. I find that its less when the truck is run for longer periods of time. The last fill up happened at 18k and im now at 22k with "full" still showing on the dash.

4. Mileage in stop and go is never above 15-17mpg. Full highway driving and it will tick 28-30mpg but any sort of take off and stopping causes the truck to just dump fuel to get it moving. Hoping a tune will help with the around town stuff and add a bit more pulling power. The truck has a good amount of power but a bit more with some transmission tuning is needed to refine it.

So far its been a good truck. Once the few things are iron out for me it will be perfect.