When you picture Colorado it’s hard not to think of a vast and impressive terrain full of rugged Rocky mountains and arid deserts, with snow capped ski slopes in winter and dusty ranches, cattle trains, horse treks and campfires in summer – although Denver has its fair share of progressive and modern cities, it really is predominantly the great outdoors. With such a huge and impressive countryside to benchmark against the New Holden (with the same moniker) has a lot to live up to.
Holden gave me the keys to their top of the range Z71 (Zee Seveny One). With SUV’s and UTEs/Trucks becoming more commonplace in the city, the Z71 fits in nicely. In pure as the driven snow white, ‘Zee Seveny one’ decals, chrome accents, 18” Arsenal Gray Alloys, LED daytime running and tail lights, manual leveling headlights, Sailplane sports bar/siderails and colour coded hard flatbed cover; it adapts well to the urban environment. And even moreso when you look inside.
The double cab will seat 5 with the Driver and passenger seats being the most comfy (6 way adjustable) and most cosseting (bucket seats). Leather seats throughout with ‘zee seveny one’ embroidered headrests for the front two however the rear passengers shouldn’t feel left out though, they do have some underseat storage to play with. The rest of the cabin has a ‘carlike’ feel about it. MyLink infotainment system with a powerful stereo (for zee zee top rock tunes) Apple and Android app connectivity, inbuilt navigation and reverse camera all presented on an 8” colour touchscreen. It has plenty of modern car assist too – Like; lane departure warning (but no blind spot alert), forward collision alert and adaptive cruise control, but no keyless entry or push button start. However, the 2017 Colorado has another trick up its sleeve, you can start it and open the windows remotely using the keyfob!
From a safety point of view, on and off the road the Colorado wants to keep you in control. Hill grade braking comes on automatically as you descend any (steepish) gradient, it also has hill start assist, electronic stability control, Trailer sway control and electronic brakeforce distribution.
Under the hood is a 2.8L Duramax Diesel, which in ‘Merican terms is not immense but in reality it drives the Colorado exceedingly well. Plant your foot down hard and the 500Nm of Torque and 147kW of power runs through the 6 speed Auto box, past the Helical Limited Slip Diff to the rear wheels (or all 4 if selected) and truck pulls off the mark like a bull out of the gate – thankfully it’s much easier to stay on top of though. It’s got the range too – 7.9L/100k’s with a 76L Tank, the needle was stuck in full for ages.
I unfortunately missed the launch (which had an ‘off road’ component) but I am reliably informed that it more than lives up to its namesake and heritage as it hits the rough stuff and to be honest it feels powerful and solid on the road so I’d hazard a guess that the reports were correct.
Now call me a traditionalist if you like but I still get the feeling that having a UTE or Truck in the city is like domesticating a feral animal. It would be great to let the Colorado loose in its namesake town and run amok or with the diverse landscape we have on our own doorstep there is plenty of room to get adventurous with this truck, I wonder if Holden would let me bring it back very dirty?
It’s a good looking truck that has a lot of street appeal but like I said, I get the feeling it would love (and maybe even prefer) to run free OFF the asphalt. So although the Colorado ‘Zee Seveny one’ fits in wonderfully to urban surrounds, from its own point of view John Denver sums it all up perfectly – from Rocky Mountain High to Take me home country roads – Thank God I’m a country boy.
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