A New 2024 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Dirties Our Yearlong Review Fleet

With desert racing DNA, the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 is no stranger to the podium. It’s bagged the Four Wheeler awards, won a MotorTrend comparison test against the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro and the Jeep Gladiator Mojave, and in 2024, the Bow Tie’s midsize pickup earned—for the third time—the MotorTrend Truck of the Year award. The Colorado covers the midsize truck field well with its LT and Trail Boss trims, but the trail-dominating ZR2 won the hearts of our judges, so it only seemed natural we bring the Colorado ZR2 aboard for our long-term evaluation.

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What Is the Colorado ZR2?

You get a lot of hardware by opting for the ZR2 trim, starting with a 3.5-inch increase in track width and a 3.0-inch suspension lift over the base Colorado. Multimatic spool-valve dampers live at each corner, meaty 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler MT tires occupy the wheelwells, and both differentials sport an electronic selectable locker. Stout steel rock rails keep obstacles from nibbling on the truck’s rocker panels, the undercarriage is armored with a host of skidplating, and the transfer case gets a true full-time four-wheel-drive setup. Among the drive modes, Baja mode is a ZR2-exclusive setting that can be enabled in both two- and four-wheel drive for more off-road thrills and fewer interventions from traction control.

Ground clearance for our Colorado ZR2 is 10.7 inches, while suspension travel is 9.9 inches up front and 11.6 inches in the rear—enough to smooth out all but the gnarliest desert whoops and deepest back-road potholes. The Colorado ZR2 presents a unique front styling with LED foglights lower on the face, a cut-out Chevrolet “flow tie,” and a front bash plate where lower trim levels wear their air dams. No matter the Colorado you pick, all you get is the crew cab and 5.1-foot bed. Don’t worry; nobody will mistake this pickup for a pavement prince with its pair of red recovery hooks.

Inside, the ZR2 benefits from the recent restyling with an 11.3-inch center display capable of wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, and the 11.0-inch digital gauge cluster is crisp with a wealth of data readouts and configurations. Seats and soft-touch surfaces are trimmed with leather and ZR2 badging and reflect the truck’s transit into the modern age.

No longer is there a V-6 or a Duramax diesel option for Colorado. Instead, both the Chevrolet Colorado and the half-ton Silverado now share the Turbo Max 2.7-liter turbocharged I-4 engine and eight-speed automatic transmission. The new turbo-four makes 310 horses and 430 lb-ft of torque—that's more power than the old V-6 and more twist than the baby Duramax diesel. The Turbo Max just about matches the efficiency of the outgoing gasser with its combined 17 mpg, but it falls behind the diesel Colorado ZR2’s 19 mpg. 

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Our Truck

In addition to all the standard Colorado ZR2 fixings above ($48,395 to start), we opted for a handful of extras. The $1,490 ZR2 Convenience package gave us a heated steering wheel, leather seats (ventilated in front; heated seats are standard), wireless phone charging, a storage pocket on the back of the driver’s seat, a rear center armrest, and memory settings for the driver’s seat position. Among a handful of other options, we also added the $950 Technology package, which comes with adaptive cruise control, rear pedestrian alerts, and a suite of digital camera views Chevrolet calls HD Surround Vision. Our Colorado ZR2’s out-the-door price was a reasonable $52,830; we thought briefly about opting for the $11,750 AEV Bison package but decided on a Colorado ZR2 because it is a stylish way to satisfy our off-road needs while maintaining high standards of ride quality and comfort on the highway during the week.

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Goals for the Year

Our plan is to put each of the Colorado ZR2’s strengths to work over the next handful of months and ponder a few questions. For starters, what do we gain with the Turbo Max and lose with the loss of the older V-6 and Duramax diesel? Is the ZR2’s off-road equipment worth the weight and cost? Are we going to regret not getting a Bison? And how well does the ZR2 handle its truck duties while still playing rough in the dirt?

You can expect our thoughts on living and commuting with a thoroughbred off-roader, impressions on comfort and fuel economy after grinding out long highway miles, careful looks at ZR2’s off-road features, and much more.