Also a toughie

We ran out of paved roads in Tuburan but that wasn’t a problem with the Colorado.

Chevrolet Colorado LT 4×2 can get down and dirty, too

When we talk about off-road driving, it’s always a given that four-wheel drive pickup trucks are the best to bring.

Last weekend, we tried to prove that a 4×2 truck can take on the challenge too.

So we took one of the toughest 4×2 pickup trucks in the market today — the newly face-lifted Chevrolet Colorado LT — and brought it to the mountainous barangays of Tabuelan town, northwest Cebu. It was a perfect venue to test the Colorado.

Driving the Colorado is easy with its light steering and comfortable seats.
Brian J. Ochoa

From the main highway, the barangay road went from concrete to asphalt, to just dirt and then to almost no more road. It was tough and scary.

But the rear-wheel powered Colorado didn’t disappoint.

The upgraded 2.8-liter, 16-valve DOHC diesel engine backed with a variable geometry turbocharger was very capable of carrying the huge pickup frame over the mountains.

We weren’t surprised, actually, since we already knew that this Duramax engine produces a whopping 200 horsepower and 500 newton meter of torque. That’s just quite enough to get the job done.

There’s huge space in the rear to accommodate even tall people.
Brian J. Ochoa

The suspension passed with flying colors too.

This is because major changes were made to the new Colorado’s suspension system to deliver improved body control and ride isolation to cope with the variety of challenging roads in the region.

The changes included improved damper technology and hardware upgrades, and revised spring rates to provide more control.

The vehicle also has new engine and transmission mounts, while some body mounts have been changed from compression to shear mounts, providing a more composed ride with better isolation and control.

With those changes, going through the bumps weren’t that painful and the frame seemed so composed all throughout the off-road drive.

It also helped that the new Colorado also upgraded its interior. Its redesigned center console boasts of an easy-to-use, intuitive layout featuring an 8-inch color touchscreen that houses Chevrolet’s latest MyLink infotainment system, useful to keep my passengers busy while I maneuvered through the rough terrain.

That, plus the huge rear leg and head room, made my passengers survive the bumpy ride until we found our way back to civilization.

At the end of the day, we realized that the 4×2 Colorado, retaining the same serious off-road capability of its 4×4 counterpart, is indeed a capable go-anywhere pickup truck. So if we were to get lost in the mountains again, we’d be fine if we were in the Colorado LT.