The Chevy Colorado is an excellent compact pickup truck. Technically speaking, though, the Colorado is more midsize, which is a good thing if you’re looking for a reasonably priced truck that is great for hauling, but if you’re looking for something really hardcore and industrial, you should probably stay away from the Chevy Colorado. It’s very easy to maneuver, but that doesn’t take away from its aggressive attitude. The Colorado’s handling is pretty sweet both on-road as well as off it. It’s not as powerful as some would like their truck to be, and that’s the fault of its engines which are four and five cylinders. Through the years, the engines have increased in power, and you can even get a V8 engine now. After the praise comes the criticism. The Chevy Colorado, many agree, could have done without the plethora of in-cabin hard plastics, build quality that’s anything but consistent, and style is not a word you can use in the same sentence as ‘Chevy Colorado’.

Presently, the Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck is available in standard cab, extended cab as well as in crew cab configurations. The cargo beds of the regular and extended cab models are 6-feet-long, and the one in the crew cab version is 5-feet long. The regular Colorado seats three persons, the extended cab ones seat five and the crew cabs seat six, although it’ll be quite a tight fit in the latter two models.

Another great thing about the Chevy Colorado is that you can get it in three different trim levels, which are ‘Work’, ‘VL’ and ‘LT’. With the first two, you get features like tilt steering, automatic headlights, air conditioning and cruise control. The more expensive LT gets you more options, materials that are upgraded and a stereo that’s nicer than the one in ‘Work’. You can get the LT trim only for the crew cab models, but ‘Work’ and ‘VL’ you can get in both, regular as well as extended cab models. The Colorado comes with your choice of drive system – two-wheel or four-wheel plus dual-range transfer case. You have multiple options for suspension – Z85 heavy-duty and Z71 off-road packages, both of which add a torsion-bar front suspension that has heavier duty shock absorbers. Another option is the ZQ8 which gets you a lowered, performance tunes suspension, performance tires, exterior mods and 18-inch wheels. We’re done with the antipasti, let’s get to the meat – the engine.

When it comes to engines in the Chevy Colorado, you get to choose between these three options: a 2.9-liter, 185-horsepower four-cylinder, a 242-hp, 3.7-liter five-cylinder and a 5.3-liter V8 that puts out 300 hp and 320 lb-ft of torque. Only with the 2.9-liter do you get to choose between five-speed manual or automatic transmission, while with the others, you get a standard four-speed transmission. The overall impression that the Colorado leaves you with isn’t all that great; this is not a truck you can’t do without. On the plus side, the Colorado has more room and handles better than the one that came before it, but alas, there are the negatives to consider too.