2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison Opinions - Best In Class In Surprising Ways

A number of years ago, while I was working at GM-Trucks.com, the folks at Chevy announced an advanced off-road version of the Colorado. It seemed groundbreaking then, and we can report that the truck is real, as good as Chevy promised, and even better than expected in some important ways. Here are the opinions I formed while testing it on paved and unpaved roads for a week. 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - Powertrain Rocks
I’ve become a big fan of the 2.7-liter Turbomax engine. It offers a diesel-like experience. Huge torque very low in the rev band. And it feels capable of anything one might want to tackle off-road.

While testing it on normal roads and driving like an adult, the engine barely ever goes above 1,500 RPMs. It chugs along silently, and the 8-speed auto with paddles keeps it in the most logical gear. 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - EPA vs. Real-World MPG
Over about 250 miles of suburban, urban, and rural driving, plus about 50 miles of highway, this very special Colorado returned about 25% better fuel economy than the EPA-estimated 16 MPG. We observed just over 20 MPG averaged over the full week. Pretty impressive, given the shape and tire style this truck wears. It uses regular unleaded and has an EPA range of 342 miles, but at our mileage that would expand to well over 400 miles between fill-ups.

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - Absolutely Perfect Infotainment
Our tester had GM’s outgoing system, which combines Google's built-in with Android Auto. You can use it either way. We used wireless Android Auto and found it to be quick to load, flawless in its operation, and perfect in all ways using our Samsung Galaxy S24. The screen is large, extremely clear, and the folks at GM pulled many of the HVAC controls out of the screen and put them where you can actually touch them. It even has a big and very useful volume knob to augment the volume controls behold the 3-o’clock position of the wheel. An ideally-shaped wireless charger coddled our phone while we drove. Perfection is available at your local Chevy dealer. 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - It’s Hillarious That The DIgital Mirror Is Missing
Our test truck had a fifth full-size matching wheel behind the cab for quick changes on the trail. It blocks most of the rear view, and the truck didn’t have a digital mirror. Which we just think is funny. 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - The Tires Work Amazingly Well
The ginormous Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT off-road tires look the part, but they also work. The truck handles very well on twisty mountain roads, tracks straight ahead on the highway, and only above 65 MPH does the tire hum become evident (and it was not really annoying). 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - Price
The truck we tested had a price including the Destination Charge of $65,175. That’s about $2,300 less than a similar GMC Canyon we were lucky enough to try last month. 

2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison - The Final Word
The 2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison is the real deal. This truck is like Batman and Bruce Wayne. It has superpowers, and it can also be a refined gentleman when you wish it to be. If you read about the Bison and wondered if it was as good as it seemed, take it from us; it's better. 

All images by John Goreham. Did you spot the bison behind the Bison in the top of page image?
 

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John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.