5 Things You Need To know About The New Chevrolet Colorado 4X4.
On the 20th of November 2016, Chevrolet Malaysia launched the new second generation Colorado pick up truck. This truck was one of the last model to had a refresh as all of its rival like the Hilux, Ranger, Navara, BT50 and Triton all had been updated or completely new for this year. The question is, are the changes made to the Colorado enough to make it stand out in a surprisingly crowded market. Here are some of the changes you need to know.
*New Exterior – Starting out with the obvious, the Colorado this year has a bolder new front end. The old one was still a handsome looking thing but compare to all its new rival it was starting to look dated and bland. The new face of the Colorado feature a more stylish headlight equip with LED DRL. The twin port grille has also been slightly restyled as they are now connected to the headlights. Lastly a new bumper completes the overall look. Elsewhere the design is still the same with changes only made to the rim design and size. For your information The ASEAN market Colorado front looks different from the US spec Colorado where theirs are boxier in design.
*New Interior – The dashboard of the Colorado is all new and looks closer to the one US market are getting apart from that we are driving on the right hand side. It now has more horizontal segments throughout and better material qualities. It also has more soft touch material now is always a welcome. On higher trim you do get leather seats and an 8 inch touch screen infotainment system called “MyLink”.
*More Variants and Engines – The Colorado now has a total of 5 variants over 3 engines and 2 transmission choices. The based one is the 2.5 LT manual. It uses 2.5L Duramax Diesel engine with FGT (Fixed Geometrical Turbo) making about 161 HP with 380 Nm of torque. It is only mated to a 6 speed manual. Next up, the 2.5 LT auto and 2.5 LTZ auto is fitted with a new engine for our market. It is the same 2.5L Duramax engine but has been upgraded with a VGT (Variable Geometrical Turbo) and is Euro 4 compliant. It makes 177 Hp with 440 Nm of torque. All engines from here are only mated to a 6 speed automatic. Lastly the 2.8 LTZ and High Country variants are fitted with a carried over 2.8 L Duramax Diesel VGT engine that makes 193 Hp and 500 Nm of torque. Prices for the Colorado ranges from RM 100K all the way to RM 133K.
*Improve Safety - Upper trims of the Colorado (LTZ and up) offer a host of range safety features like 3 airbags, ABS, EBD, BA, ESC, HDC (Hill Decent Control), TSC (Trailer Sway Control), HSA (Hill Start Assist) and ARP (Anti Roll Protection). On top of that it also received some next generation safety tech like Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Alert.
*Updated Infotainment System – Available in all the Colorado variants (7 inch in LT and 8 inch in LTZ and up) Chevrolet’s touch screen infotainment system “MyLink” now support Android Auto and Apple Carplay. First seen making its way to Malaysia in the new Honda Civic the 2 systems allows you to pair your smart phone with the car’s infotainment system. This allows you to control your phones function like making a call, text messages and playing your music feed without needing to touch your phone while driving. It also gives you the ability to access you phone apps like Google Maps and music podcasts. All this demand and tasks can be done by a simple voice recognition that is already built into the cars infotainment system.
