Matthew DeBord/BI
It's a scary lookin' pickup!
- The 2019 Chevy Colorado Z71 is a bold and aggressive mid-size pickup truck.
- At $42,000, the Chevy Colorado Z71 is not exactly cheap.
- But the pickup is every bit as good as its siblings, the base Colorado and the offroad-optimized ZR2.
With its Colorado mid-size pickup, Chevy basically revived the small truck segment in the US. I first sampled the pickup back in 2015 when it was first rolled out and have since enjoyed the ZR2 top-trim level, and more recently, a $42,000 Chevy Colorado Z71.
There's an argument to be made that of all the pickups, big and small, on the road today, the Colorado does the best job of serving the needs of most non-professional pickup owners. I'm talking about the weekend warriors who need to haul mountain bikes to trails, or home-improvement obsessives who have VIP status at Home Depot. These people need a truck bed and a back seat, but they don't need the scale of a full-size truck.
The Colorado fulfills their needs while adding an excellent, modern infotainment system and a compliant ride that isn't too carlike.
The Z71 "Midnight Edition" package I tested brings edge and aggression to this vibe. The base Colorado is a versatile contemporary mid-size pickup, and the ZR2 is at home offroad. But the Z71 gets you noticed.
And noticed I was in the New Jersey suburbs while putting the Colorado Z71 through its paces. Read on to see how it went.