Johnson Valley, California, a sunny October day, and we have the keys to six Chevy ZR2 Trucks. We started out at Lasertown, a desert oasis surrounded by some of the most popular off-road terrain in the United States. This is where King of the Hammers happens every year. The lineup included three 2024 Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bisons and three 2024 Silverado 2500 HD ZR2 Bisons. The day was all about putting these trucks through their paces and learning about their capabilities.
These types of invitational test drives are common in the automotive industry, but the team of Chevy engineers and designers made this one exceptional. There was a general idea of where we were going and which trails we were going to drive. Their team had pre-run them to ensure they were drivable, but they did not manicure or modify them to ensure a perfectly canned driving experience. Just one or two journalists per truck, some radios, and a few skilled spotters to help guide through the sticky spots. The trails were raw and unpredictable, rocks rolled under tires throwing off drivers’ chosen lines, and trucks slid sideways as the sands and loose gravel beds shifted. We drove these trucks on real trails in real conditions and experienced everything they had to offer.
Highway Drive Impressions
It was about an hour of highway time from Palm Springs to Lasertown and back, a great opportunity to have the tires at street pressure and get up to speed on the interior fit and finish, buttons, controls, and the user interface from both the driver and passenger seats.
The Colorado’s interior is compact but comfortable. There is plenty of room for gear in the back seat and ample storage in the center console area. Both the driver and passenger seats are fully adjustable, cooled, and heated. The dashboard layout is intuitive, and most information is accessible through steering wheel controls at your fingertips. A large flat display in the center cluster offers mapping, phone, music, and more in-depth vehicle feature adjustments. The headlights on/off control has been moved to the upper left corner of this display and is always present and available. High beams are still controlled through the lever on the steering wheel column.
The hood on the Colorado is raised in the middle, which makes the truck look strong but reduces visibility. I found myself raising the driver seat nearly all the way in order to improve sight lines, especially in technical terrain or situations requiring tighter, more detailed maneuverability. The mirrors, however, provided a full view and clean transition from the side view to the rearview to the other side view mirror.
At highway speeds, the Colorado was impressively stable. It has great lower-end torque and is quick, but once up over 60 mph, heavy acceleration, as if passing, was a bit slow to come on. The information display indicated that the average MPG was 14 mph, and the best-recorded average was 17 mpg, but this was after a few days of random people driving the vehicle. Braking is big and efficient. Slowing from 65 to under 10 for a right-hand turn off of the highway was stable and shorter than expected with what I’d consider regular brake pedal engagement.
The Silverado 2500 HD interior is really big. The back seat has twice the legroom as the Colorado and the front seat experience for driver and passenger is spacious while, at the same time, everything you need access to is right there for you. The Silverado is torquay on the low end and still pulls strong up at highway speeds. Again, the big hood meant working the seat adjustments to find the best visibility, but even when towing a 30-foot trailer, the overall driver position allowed for easy driving.
Off-highway Driving Experience
We took both vehicles to places I’m not sure I would take them if I owned them, and they performed without issue, doing more than everything they were asked.
On the valley floor with sandy whoops and soft gravel sections, the Colorado’s lightweight and nimbleness allowed it to charge hard. Its Multimatic suspension and jounce dampening system helps the driver to maintain control without too much hobby horsing or wheel lift, and we could maintain speed while hunting through the terrain for a preferred line without getting knocked or pushed away. The engine can seem a bit soft, but once the turbo spools up, it gets quite peppy. In deep wallowy sand, the Colorado ZR2 Bison was impressively responsive to steering and throttle input while providing more than enough power to maintain momentum.
On the big climbs and rocky sections, the Colorado did well, keeping its tires on the ground and maintaining traction. The tires were at 22 psi and rarely spun. However, some of the deep angles and the dry loose ground did create moments of side slip. There were two occasions that really impressed me. As we neared the top of a long steep climb, the kind where you can only see the sky out the windshield, the trail degraded into a loose collection of jagged rocks held together by thin dusty sand. The rear differential of the Colorado was locked, but the front was open; for a minute, the dust ploomed as the front wheels slipped deeper into the trail, but with a flick of the front differential lock button, it immediately found purchase and pulled its way up over the crest.
The other was as we turned off the desert floor to ascend a steep chute of rocks so big that you could not see the trail’s path from the bottom. Once into it, about halfway up, there was a rock face with about a 3- to 4-foot tall shelf to climb up. Just about a wheelbase length in front of the shelf was a large rock that was loose enough to move and shift. The only line was to go up and over the rock, and it was just tall enough to touch the sill guard slider. As we drove forward, it touched and slid along in a few places. I’m not a big fan of contacting the terrain with anything other than the tires, but I looked over to see a big grin on the spotter’s face. He is also a designer and commented boastfully about how strong the skid plates and slider designs are.
Shifting over to the Silverado 2500 HD ZR2 Bison, we chose a few wider routes that still provided all of the scenarios we had the Colorado in. The Silverado is a big truck with a strong stance, and we took it through a few areas that surprised me. In the whoops and loose gravel, it was important to remember that the truck is 8,500 pounds and has a big heavy diesel in the nose. It managed all of the terrain with little effort and never even suggested getting bogged down in the deep sand. The Silverado shined on the long steep climbs and descents thanks to its long wheelbase. With its rear locker and 35-inch tires, it instilled confidence.
Most notable was the descent just above an area called Chocolate Thunder. It was steep, held-into-your-seat-by-the-seat-belt-steep, rutted into bedrock, and loose with a coating of sand and shifting rocks. Looking at it from above, you would think it’s only a good idea for buggies; from the bottom, it actually displayed a nice clean line to drive. The Silverados, which looked big and out of place, gingerly picked their way down with only a wheel lift here and there—no drama.
At the end of the day, I’d say that the Colorado ZR2 Bison is great for a faster and lighter approach for a more spirited driving experience, while the Silverado 2500 HD ZR2 Bison is a heavier and stronger workhorse that you can thoughtfully take into terrain you wouldn’t expect.
Read more: 2023 Chevy Colorado ZR2: Moving up in the Midsize Market
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