The same aggressive approach in the more straightforward Off-Road mode leads to frequent ESC interventions, less fun, and stinky rear brakes. In addition to the more aggressive shift action, Baja also runs with traction and stability control off, which let us hang the tail out and rally the truck through tighter bends. The Baja mode we relied on is exclusive to the ZR2, and you can engage it in two- or four-wheel drive. This new singular ZR2 powertrain is miles better than both predecessors in all respects, and its EPA rating of 18 mpg combined (17 city/19 highway) is 1 mpg better across the board than last year's V6. No one should mourn the discontinued diesel, which only gave up 369 pound-feet and a meager 181 horsepower and saddled you with a six-speed automatic. The ZR2's high-output tune makes 310 horsepower versus the old V-6's 308 horses, but torque is the big differentiator, with 430 pound-feet of the stuff on tap at 3000 rpm versus the old model's measly 275 pound-feet at 4000 revs. The new-to-the-Colorado turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four engine was a welcome surprise, because it pulls strong and sounds powerful–especially in Baja mode, where the eight-speed automatic transmission willingly holds onto gears under power and downshifts when braking. What's more, the spare tire is positioned some 2.5 inches higher and no longer looks like someone forgot to crank it all the way up, letting it drag ass through ditches. The wide-track ZR2 has the right answer: Its rear Multimatic DSSV dampers now live outboard of the leaf springs and the frame rails, and the lower mount is tucked up tight against the brake backing plate, like on a Tacoma. Normal 2023 Colorados position them closer to the leaf springs, but they're still inboard. You had to cope with three points of potential contact when straddling rocks, not just the differential in the middle. The last ZR2's lower rear shock mounts were positioned extremely inboard and low down. The front fascia retains the ZR2-signature cutouts ahead of the front tires to make the approach angle in that crucial area even more aggro, but they're more cleanly integrated into the overall design because less cutting is necessary when you have a stubbier nose to work with.Īdditional significant changes are found in back. Up front, the approach angle improves from 30.0 degrees to a healthy 38.3 degrees because the transformative wheelbase stretch was offset by a similar reduction in front overhang to keep the truck's overall length in check. Extra travel equals less bottoming out and an enhanced ability to progressively absorb uneven terrain, but it also leads to better crawling articulation on boulders-and our RTI ramp. In back, total travel increases from 9.8 to 11.6 inches, with compression and rebound sharing the bounty. There's also a significant gain in suspension travel the front's total increases from 8.7 to 9.9 inches, and the entire surplus has been allocated to the compression side. The rest comes from a suspension lift, but it's more than rejiggered springs. Larger tires allow the new ZR2 to roll over cross-grain gullies that would snag smaller tires, and the extra inch of tire radius also amounts to one inch of the new truck's 1.8 inches of extra ground clearance, now 10.7 inches instead of 8.9 inches. It's enough to bring a Tacoma owner to tears, because the dubious "body mount chop" is necessary to fit similar-size tires on that truck. The last-gen ZR2's 31-inch rubber looks puny next to this year's standard 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler Territory Mud Terrains, but the magnitude of this change will also allow for the fitment of 35-inch tires on the ZR2 Bison prototype that Chevy teased at trail's end. GM essentially moved the front axle forward by that amount relative to the front door hinge line and nearby body mount, and that created space for much larger tires.
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