Julio Bombachini-the ZR2’s Vehicle Dynamics Performance Engineer-is one of the people who decides how to make it handle on land and in the air (more below). They’re a passive system, which Chevy says is simpler and more reliable than a computer controlled damper like the Fox Live Valve.

The DSSV dampers themselves are completely different from those on the previous-generation ZR2. According to GM, at WOT, the transmission can upshift eight-hundredths of a second quicker than Porsche’s PDK. Though the gear count remains at 8, GM replaced the last Colorado’s 8L45 transmission with the beefier 8L90. It’s still 100 ponies shy of the Ranger Raptor’s engine, although the two trucks make the same amount of torque. Gone is the last Colorado’s 3.6-liter V-6, replaced with a turbocharged inline-four that makes 310 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque, a gain of 2 hp and 155 lb-ft over the V-6, respectively. Not one to be left out in the aging cold, Chevy’s Colorado ZR2 is all-new for 2024 and the changes to it are substantial. The Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro is also all-new for 2024, with a torquey hybrid powertrain and shock absorbers built into the seats. Ford is bringing the Ranger Raptor here and fitting it with Fox’ Live Valve adaptive suspension you find on the Bronco Raptor. Ford hatched its Ranger Raptor in 2019 but didn’t sell it here, despite Americans consuming 351 million cans of Monster Energy annually.Įverything changes in 2024. It was wider and taller than previous Colorados, and listed off-road shocks from Multimatic ( the engineering alchemists who built the new Ford GT, suspension for F1 cars, and other small projects like that) among its many features.

Thankfully, smaller options became available: in 2016, Chevy put the Colorado ZR2 on sale. Returning to town from a desert trail felt like maneuvering a ship through the Panama Canal. As such, the Raptor’s “huck on Sunday, commute on Monday” ethos should jive with me perfectly. Desert racing sits high on my bucket list. I was one of the people excited by the Raptor because I love driving on loose surfaces. Ford’s wide-body money-printer was and is an impressive, exciting machine. We owe some of this overlap to the original Ford Raptor, which was as comfortable around town as it was galloping across a sandy desert. Small trucks like the Colorado can now deliver incredible performance off the road and- in Work Truck trim-tow 7700lbs, nearly equal to a Silverado from 20 years ago. Fortunately, OEMs use the latest technology to give us trucks with overlapping skill sets. Do you want to go fast or go far? Haul ass or a trailer? Energy drink or energy efficient? There’s a truck for everything these days.

As with cars, what a person wants from these trucks is often very different from what a person needs in a truck. Last year, Americans bought around 2.1 million Ford F-Series, Silverados, Rams, GMC Sierras, and Toyota pickups combined.

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