GM's ['04 Colorado & Canyon] small pickups built for lifestyles, not work

[Paulson]

Sounds like a cool pickup to have... (as a replacement to my 96 blazer)

 

[Evadman]

I wonder how smooth the 5 cyl is. a V6 is naturaly balanced, and there has been a ton of advancement with 4's. a 5 just makes me worry. Just because I have never driven one I guess.

I can't believe the GVWR went down when the truck got bigger. WTF is up with that? Must be the power ratings of the engine, not the chassis.

Well, with a longer engine length of the 5 cyl, it should be easier to swap in a 350 or another V8. Hell, if a 350 will fit in a s-10, this may fit a 454. Hmmm... I see a future project vehicle.

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: tm37
they aren't built to be trucks

they are mearly cars that look like trucks

That's beside the point. EVERY vehicle in EVERY market when revamped gets larger, gets more fuel efficient engines, gets faster, has more safety features, tows more, gets better fuel economy, etc.

To go backwards just boggles the mind to me no matter what kind of spin they try to put on it.

All I can say is......thats good ole Chevy for you...

 

[LAUST]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I wonder how smooth the 5 cyl is. a V6 is naturaly balanced, and there has been a ton of advancement with 4's. a 5 just makes me worry. Just because I have never driven one I guess.

I can't believe the GVWR went down when the truck got bigger. WTF is up with that? Must be the power ratings of the engine, not the chassis.

Well, with a longer engine length of the 5 cyl, it should be easier to swap in a 350 or another V8. Hell, if a 350 will fit in a s-10, this may fit a 454. Hmmm... I see a future project vehicle.

the 6 liter will fit in it no prob 🙂

 

[LAUST]

Originally posted by: Chadder007

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: tm37
they aren't built to be trucks

they are mearly cars that look like trucks

That's beside the point. EVERY vehicle in EVERY market when revamped gets larger, gets more fuel efficient engines, gets faster, has more safety features, tows more, gets better fuel economy, etc.

To go backwards just boggles the mind to me no matter what kind of spin they try to put on it.

All I can say is......thats good ole Chevy for you...

So do we pay you the $.02...

 

[Ladies Man]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I wonder how smooth the 5 cyl is. a V6 is naturaly balanced, and there has been a ton of advancement with 4's. a 5 just makes me worry. Just because I have never driven one I guess.

I can't believe the GVWR went down when the truck got bigger. WTF is up with that? Must be the power ratings of the engine, not the chassis.

Well, with a longer engine length of the 5 cyl, it should be easier to swap in a 350 or another V8. Hell, if a 350 will fit in a s-10, this may fit a 454. Hmmm... I see a future project vehicle.

All inlines are very smooth, i wish they would offer the inline 6 in these though, they should have room for it.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man

Originally posted by: Evadman
I wonder how smooth the 5 cyl is. a V6 is naturaly balanced, and there has been a ton of advancement with 4's. a 5 just makes me worry. Just because I have never driven one I guess.

I can't believe the GVWR went down when the truck got bigger. WTF is up with that? Must be the power ratings of the engine, not the chassis.

Well, with a longer engine length of the 5 cyl, it should be easier to swap in a 350 or another V8. Hell, if a 350 will fit in a s-10, this may fit a 454. Hmmm... I see a future project vehicle.

All inlines are very smooth, i wish they would offer the inline 6 in these though, they should have room for it.

V6s aren't naturally balanced. I6s are. I5s? I don't see how they could possibly be balanced.

 

[Pocatello]

If you want to tow, there are the Chevy fullsize pickups. I rarely see any Silveraldo put to serious work either. Most Chevy fullsize pickups, I see, haul one overweighed owner.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
V6s aren't naturally balanced. I6s are. I5s? I don't see how they could possibly be balanced.

That's what I meant. My bad.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

S10s aren't used for towing. This is reality. They are just adjusting the specs of the vehicle to conform to real world usage. Cars aren't supposed to get bigger. They are supposed to get better, and GM decided their small pickup would be better this way. I'm disturbed by the cars getting bigger trend though.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Originally posted by: Pocatello
If you want to tow, there are the Chevy fullsize pickups. I rarely see any Silveraldo put to serious work either. Most Chevy fullsize pickups, I see, haul one overweighed owner.

Or are lowered with bling bling rims 🙂

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
S10s aren't used for towing. This is reality. They are just adjusting the specs of the vehicle to conform to real world usage. Cars aren't supposed to get bigger. They are supposed to get better, and GM decided their small pickup would be better this way. I'm disturbed by the cars getting bigger trend though.

We are doing more and more with our vehicles every year. A vehicle used to be for going to work. Now it is used for work, vacation, play, and most of all as a status symbol. For all of those, the vehicle generaly has to get bigger in one way or another.

 

ypically, new cars/trucks grow marginally on the outside and grow a little bit more inside from generation to generation.

'92 --> '97 --> '02 Camrys grew a bit bigger inside/outside with each generation and got more powerful engines as the generations progressed.

Inline-4 went from 125HP to 157HP and got better fuel economy
V6 went from 192HP to 210HP to 225HP and got better fuel economy with each upgrade.

Safety features of course inmproved with each generation as well as well as performance.

Similar trends (slightly larger size, better fuel economy, more powerful) can be seen with other cars (Corolla, Civic, Altima, Maxima), pickups (Ram, Silverado, Ram, Dakota), and SUV's (RX330, Explorer, Trailblazer, etc.).


In fact, the new Colorado/Canyon are now MID-SIZE vehicles which puts it in the company with the Dodge Dakota. So these new trucks have managed to get significantly larger and less capable during 10 years of "advancement"

Heck, my dad's V6 powered Frontier even manages to pull 5,000 lbs vs 4,000 lbs for these "new" trucks.

OK? I guess I fail to see how your response fits in with my post. No matter what the "trend" is, GM is obviously not going with it, or making their own.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
S10s aren't used for towing. This is reality. They are just adjusting the specs of the vehicle to conform to real world usage. Cars aren't supposed to get bigger. They are supposed to get better, and GM decided their small pickup would be better this way. I'm disturbed by the cars getting bigger trend though.

Umm, just about every car when it gets redesigned gets bigger; it's been this way ever since the 80's. The Prius went from compact to mid-size with it's 04 redesign. The wheelbase is usually the first thing that is stretched with a redesigned car (while the overall length changes just slightly). The current Civic is larger than the Accord was back in the later 70's early 80's. Old Altima vs current Altima. Bigger and better. Old Maxima vs old Maxima. Bigger and better. Same goes for the new '04 Subaru Legacy. Both the new Chevy Malibu and Pontiac Grand Prix are larger and more powerful than their predecessors.

 

[NFS4]

OK? I guess I fail to see how your response fits in with my post. No matter what the "trend" is, GM is obviously not going with it, or making their own.

The point is that vehicles get BETTER with each generation. It's just a simple application of newer technology, better manufacturing processes and better manufacturing facilities.

I just fail to see how 10 years worth of advances in technology couldn't have AT LEAST brought out a Colorado with equal towing capacity to the S-10.

 

[ElFenix]

who tows with those little toy pickups? its not like i've ever seen someone attach a trailer with 40 head of cattle in it to one.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: NFS4

OK? I guess I fail to see how your response fits in with my post. No matter what the "trend" is, GM is obviously not going with it, or making their own.

The point is that vehicles get BETTER with each generation. It's just a simple application of newer technology, better manufacturing processes and better manufacturing facilities.

I just fail to see how 10 years worth of advances in technology couldn't have AT LEAST brought out a Colorado with equal towing capacity to the S-10.

I can't see how this truck is worse than the S10 because it can tow less? The S10 is not used to tow with, at least the people I've seen having one don't so GM just cut the towing capacity.
But we can't blame GM for not hiring the car guru_in_the_couch.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser

Originally posted by: NFS4

OK? I guess I fail to see how your response fits in with my post. No matter what the "trend" is, GM is obviously not going with it, or making their own.

The point is that vehicles get BETTER with each generation. It's just a simple application of newer technology, better manufacturing processes and better manufacturing facilities.

I just fail to see how 10 years worth of advances in technology couldn't have AT LEAST brought out a Colorado with equal towing capacity to the S-10.

I can't see how this truck is worse than the S10 because it can tow less? The S10 is not used to tow with, at least the people I've seen having one don't so GM just cut the towing capacity.
But we can't blame GM for not hiring the car guru_in_the_couch.

I'm not saying that it's worse b/c in so many respects it is so far superior to the S-10.

But for this truck to move into the mid-sized class (which it is) competing with the Dakota, I don't see the point in going backwards on key specs. It'd be like Nissan putting the VQ35 in the Titan as the only engine option and then saying that it would just be used a commuting vehicle so there's no need for a V8 (which is the same mistake that Toyota made with the T-100).

Pickup trucks sales/marketing is a game of numbers. Ford originally quoted the max tow capacity of the F-150 as 9400 lbs. When Nissan came out with an equally potent 9,400 lbs, Ford upped the number to 9,500 in press documentation.

And as the article stated, Ford may start touting the Ranger's V6 as being "superior" to the Colorado since it has 6-cylinders vs 5 for the Colorado/Canyon even though the I-5 is a more powerful engine in theory at least.

 

[LAUST]

The curb weight is only around 3500lbs..

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: LAUST
The curb weight is only around 3500lbs.. toss a 5000lb trailor on there and go down I-80 through Nebraaaaska.... it's your funeral "Superman" 🙂

I have seen many a N00b have to go 40mph down a 75mph speedway cause they were all over the place because they didn't have the weight to anchor the b!tch.

F-150's are in the 5000lb range... last I was on the scale my Silverado was 5300lbs at Bandimere with me in it, I go down 70 @ 95MPh with 9000lbs on her and I don't budge.

But this is all from personal experience 😉

To be honest I don't even count anything less then a 1/2 ton as a real truck.. thats fine for the Home Depot haulers and and maybe a SeayRay 180 on the weekends, but if you are coming to play with the big kids you better ATLEAST show up with a 1/2 ton 😉

Exactly, small & mid size trucks are not intended for heavy duty use @ all anyway.

I don't see contractors driving S10's, Rangers or Frontiers, I see them all in 1/2 ton-3/4 FS trucks.

 

[vi edit]

Sounds to me like GM is just making the reason to move up to a full size all the more tempting. Smart move on their part IHMO. Most tricked out compacts are running $25,000 and some of them are even upwards of $30,000! :Q For a truck that does less than a full size.

They are simply making two distinct options
1. Cheap, efficient home depot runner in the form of the Colorado/Canyon
2. A truck that does everything else - Silverado/Sierra