When awards matter: The Motor Trend Truck of the Year

What do you trust when you buy a vehicle?  If you are looking for a truck that has won an award and comes back into a segment it left a few years ago the Chevrolet Colorado is the truck for you.  For 2015 the Colorado comes in as the Motor Trend Truck of the Year giving us a truck that is a great size and has nice power but isn’t oversized, taking up massive amounts of space.  The Colorado has been completely redone and updated to come back into the midsized truck segment and be able to take over; with an award like this it certainly is on its way.

The Colorado is a great choice for the weekend warrior.  If you want a truck, but you want to be able to drive it every day without having to pay for more gas than you would in a sedan or crossover SUV.  By leaving the full size trucks to those who need them for work the Colorado makes the right choice for someone who needs some hauling ability, some truck power and some versatility, but don’t need a massive amount of any of the three of them.

Why a midsized truck?  One of the main reasons is value; the midsized truck is much less expensive overall than any full size and gives you the power and performance you need.  With a price range that stays under $40,000 overall, a fleet of Colorados could be purchased before you get to have very many of the massive F-450 work trucks in the yard, but the Colorado isn’t all about being a fleet truck, it’s a great truck for the average working person to have the right vehicle to give them the power, versatility and performance they need.

Even at the lower price for the Colorado, the interior doesn’t feel cheap or lacking.  In many cases when you purchase a vehicle at the lowest model you see button blanks or other places where features and equipment were intended to go, but because of your choice you have to drive the vehicle around always wishing you had whatever appears to be missing.  That is not the case with the Colorado, there is good value and a full set of great features even at the base model to let you know you made the right choice.

As for engines, the two found on this truck include a very nice 2.5-liter four-cylinder which can take you where you want to go and make sure you have good fuel mileage and there is the much more powerful 3.6-liter V6 engine that offers the power and towing you want for completing the “honey do” list.  Next year we will see a 2.8-liter turbocharged diesel inline four-cylinder engine added to the mix which will give us a variation with even more truck ability as it comes with a great low end torque for use to make full use of and turn into a great midsized work truck.  For the two current engines, the four-cylinder is rated to tow up to 3,500 and the V6 can reach double that number to have plenty of ability to offer.

The midsized truck are now larger than they were twenty years ago and some experts are concerned about this larger size making them feel like their full size cousins.  Not to worry, the Colorado feels nimble under your driving and gives you a great steering system to make it an easy and smooth truck to drive.  One of the key benefits to driving a midsized truck is the fact that it can feel like you are driving a small SUV or sedan rather than a vehicle that left comfort behind in the design process.

As a truck that gives you everything you want, great fuel efficiency, good work capabilities, excellent off road manners, even better on road performance, and the drive and feel of a smaller truck in a size that is much larger than midsized truck of the past, it’s really no wonder the Colorado is the Motor Trend Truck of the Year.  Isn’t it time you went to your Chevrolet dealership and got your own?