2023 Chevy Colorado Enters 3rd Generation, Goes Full Four-Cylinder

• The 2023 Chevrolet Colorado grows in size with a completely new and wider exterior design and a vastly improved interior.

• Chevy has added a Trail Boss trim level for the 2023 Colorado, but the mid-size pickup's previously offered V-6 and Duramax diesel powertrains get the boot, replaced by the Silverado 1500's turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four with output varying from 231 to 310 horsepower with 430 pound-feet of torque.

• Chevy says its third-generation Colorado will begin production in the first half of 2023 at GM's Wentzville, Missouri, assembly plant where the current Colorado and GMC Canyon are built.

If it were possible to use an Easy-Bake Oven to cook up the perfect mid-size pickup, we'd hope the recipe would include the following fixings: the fun factor from the Jeep Gladiator, the ride and bed-storage tub of the Honda Ridgeline, the distracting good looks of the Toyota Tacoma, and the friendly starting price of the Ford Ranger. A dash of garlic salt wouldn't hurt, either.

The new 2023 Chevy Colorado is striving to be something like that. This all-new third-gen pickup, which goes into production in the first half of next year, fights to have all the best ingredients, starting with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine that has as much horsepower as the V-6 in Nissan's new Frontier.

Missouri's First Megalodon

Chevy has streamlined the bulk of its configurability for the 2023 Colorado based on the popularity of the previous-generation truck, offering this new unit exclusively as a four-door crew cab with the shorter five-foot-two-inch box. From base Work Truck (WT) trim up to the dust-busting ZR2 off-roader, Chevy has opted to offer what most people want, even if that means giving some people more than they need by dropping short-cab and long-bed options.

Proportionally, the new Colorado is 2.3 inches wider than the previous pickup. The new Colorado also uses a 3.1-inch-longer wheelbase across all trims, and a shorter front overhang to help improve approach angles. The new ZR2's 38.3-degree approach is more than an upgrade from the last truck's 31.8-degree angle; it's also better than the current Tacoma TRD Pro's 35.0 degree approach. In this segment, the Gladiator wins this metric with a gnarly 43.6 degrees of approach angle.

Colorado wheels now use the full-size Silverado 1500's 6.0-by-5.5-inch bolt pattern, which opens up aluminum wheel options from as early as 1999. With bigger hubs come larger brakes. The four-wheel discs on the 2023 Colorado are now over an inch larger up front, and nearly an inch bigger on the solid rear axle. It's grown 200 to 300 pounds heavier in 4WD configuration, but the biggest increase is for ZR2 models. The last crew-cab ZR2 we tested had the soon-lost 3.6-liter V-6 and weighed 4749 pounds, but the new ZR2 is up in pant size to 5298 pounds, the largest increase we noticed from the specs provided.

Goodbye Glow Plugs

The old Colorado and GMC Canyon were once two of just three mid-size pickups to offer a diesel powertrain, but not anymore. The 2023 Colorado will be powered exclusively by Chevy's turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four engine bolted to an updated eight-speed automatic transmission. Power varies between trim levels.

Base WT and LT trims come standard with 237 horsepower with 259 pound-feet of torque. This powertrain's max towing capacity is 3500 pounds. The midlevel Z71 and new-for-2023 Trail Boss trim come with a 310 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque with 7700 pounds of max towing. That's the highest in the segment. This powertrain is also available for WT and LT levels. Finally, the big-daddy ZR2 has the same horsepower as Z71 and Trail Boss, but with 430 pound-feet of torque at 3000 rpm. That's a 121 horsepower and 61-pound-foot improvement over the outgoing diesel engine. Chevy says any trim can upgrade to the high-output engine through their Limited Production Option (LPO) preorder offer.

Fuel economy ratings of the 2.7-liter have yet to be published by the EPA, but Chevy told us it's roughly the same as the last-gen 2.5-liter pickup's 19 city and 25 highway EPA rating. The turbocharged 2.7-liter engines are equipped with stop/start technology and active cylinder management that will drop combustion to just two cylinders when appropriate to save fuel.