Yahoo Autos The GMC Canyon AT4X Does Everything
There's an off-roader for everything. The Raptor jumps dunes. The Wrangler crawls up rocks. The Land Cruiser handles endurance overlanding. Few vehicles can handle all three well, but the 2024 GMC Canyon AT4X can, then get you home in comfort.
I had just a half day in the Canyon, on a GMC-organized drive through Big Sky, Montana. But we've also jumped the Canyon's sibling, the Chevy Colorado ZR2, on desert runs in California. I've also wheeled a previous-generation truck through the backwoods of the Pacific Northwest, too. Plus a coworker took one on a snow-covered rally stage. Point is, we at R&T have loved the ZR2 for a while, and long considered it among the most underrated off-road vehicles. The new ZR2 is better, and the GMC is a more handsome version of it.
The biggest limitation of the previous-generation ZR2—there was no GMC version—was its gargantuan turning circle on larger rubber, thanks to a structure that wasn't quite designed with big tires in mind. The new one addresses that, with 33-inch tires standard and 35-inch tires on the AEV edition. That upgraded spec is the GMC equivalent to the Colorado ZR2 Bison. It gets a 1.5-inch lift over the standard AT4X, unique beadlock-capable wheels, beefy AEV skid plates, bigger fender flares, an AEV steel rear bumper, and a winch-capable AEV front bumper. All worthwhile upgrades, though a 35-inch tire won't fit between the Colorado's frame rails, which means the spare has to be relocated from under the bed to the bed itself, making the AEV a compromise I wouldn't recommend to anyone but the most serious adventurers.
Total ground clearance is 12.2 inches with the AEV package or 10.7 inches without. For reference, the 2024 Tacoma TRD Pro has 9.5 inches of clearance, the upcoming Ford Ranger Raptor gets 11.1 inches, and a Gladiator Rubicon
tops out at 11.1 inches. So the AT4X is near par with its most capable competitors, and the AEV edition has them all beat. Maximum approach, breakover, and departure angles are 36.9, 25, and 24.5 degrees respectively, with bumps to 38.2, 26.9, and 26.0 degrees for the AEV edition.
Dimensionally, it's a capable truck. Then add front and rear electronic locking differentials, standard mud-terrain tires, off-road drive modes, and—most importantly—Multimatic DSSV dampers, and it's hard not to be excited by the possibilities. DSSV dampers are one of our favorite bits of suspension tech out there, allowing the AT4X to maintain excellent wheel control over high-speed off-road courses, rock crawling, gravel sliding, and pavement driving.
The route GMC chose was relatively tame for the rig, but on the morning of our drive, snow fell without mercy. The mountain pass to the trailhead was covered with six inches of fresh powder, and a plow hadn't come through. The chunky 35-inch mud-terrain tires on our first AEV tester weren't built for snow work specifically, but the Canyon powered through, with the stability control occasionally straightening the rear end on uphill sections. That's not ideal, but given that a local truck had to be pushed up the same hill by a friend, I figure the GMC shook out alright.
