THE COLORADO COMEBACK

The 2023 Chevrolet Colorado Z71 & Trail Boss Showcase All-New Appeal With Tip-to-Tail Makeovers

- MERCEDES LILIENTHAL

After nearly nine years on the market, the midsize Chevrolet Colorado pickup gets a revamp — and it’s a major one. The 2023 Colorado lineup boasts an exterior redesign, a more powerful engine, new technology, and significant updates throughout its new crew cab/ short box body style. We took Chevy’s new Colorado Z71 and the first-ever Colorado Trail Boss out for a day of soggy, cold on- and off-road testing near La Jolla, California, to see if they’re setting the bar high for other manufacturers.

Basic Statistics 

The all-new 2023 Colorado features five models: the WT (Work Truck) and LT for on-road use, and three off-roaders, the affordable Trail Boss, the fully loaded Z71, and their flagship ZR2. The Colorados include three different chassis: the standard chassis for WT, LT, and Z71 trim levels, a two-inch factory-lifted, ultra-wide stance for the Trail Boss, and a high-performance three-inch OEM lift kit and a wide stance for the ZR2.

The new third-gen Chevy Colorado offers an enhanced 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine that powers the lineup with three turbo-output variants. It’s the same engine already proven in the full-size Silverado; all three available outputs surpass the current Colorado’s horsepower and torque to make the refined pickup powerful for its size and responsive to throttle changes.