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Colorado vs. FS Chevy

Avery4jc

Avery4jc

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Fresno, Ca.
Help me convince my family that they're crazy :D

My mom and dad have been set on the idea that they want to sell/trade the black '00 C2500 in on something for my sister...

Some background info. on her situation... she is finishing up her sophmore year of college out in Texas so she'll be there for at least two more years...
She needs her own vehicle that gets decent mileage, is easy to maintain (readily available parts, etc.), can make the 1,400 mile trip between Cali and Texas about twice a year and she has to be able to be comfy (she's about 6'-1")...

Ok so I've been saying all along that we need to get her a '01-'05 (depending on the mileage/price) standard cab short bed w/ the 5.3 and 4l60...
It'd get ok mileage, she'd be comfy, she could drive across the country w/o any worries and I've found quite a few in the sub $13k range...


OK... now my mom and dad are kinda set on getting her into a colorado/canyon because they test drove one the other day and now they're in love with them...
I keep saying it's a bad idea... those little suckers are freakin' expensive ($14k or more), they're gutless, I've researched and they don't really do that well on mileage (17-20mpg) and they're definately not bigger than a FSC even if it is just a SCSB...


So what's a good way to approach this "argument" (for lack of a better term)?

I've explained to them a standard cab short bed fullsize is a better setup b/c the mileage difference is negligible for how little she drives on a day to day basis and the colorado/canyon is more expensive so I just don't understand... any suggestions or should I just stay out of it and let them make a (in my opinion) bad decision?


I'm saying something like this... Standard cab short bed w/ the 5.3/4L60E w/ low miles...
 
I've had a cylinder head from a 2005 (IIRC) Colorado (5 cylinder) in my shop and it needed lots of work. Apparently there are issuses with the valve seats on those things that the dealer knows about but has yet to do a recall on them. I wouldn't waste my money on one of those trucks.
 
My BIL has a 07 Colorado. Nice truck, cept for the whole mileage thing. nothing special about the truck bone stock, 5 cylinder = 9 MPG and a real power house too, NOT!
 
I love my colorado, 190 hp in it is more than most blazers here with a factory v8 are putting down.

i too had to toss it up between a colorado and a full size. Since I already have a full size chevy with a v8 "07 silverado" the power part of the argument was useless. The colorado is very roomy, my friend chris is 6'2 and can sit in the back seat on a trip to california and not kill me. Its marketed as kind of a mid size too. I drive all day and I cant say the power is a complaint, and I only have the 4cl.



since I wanted a 4 door and I went with the colorado, my only complaint is the turning radious. A full size would have better resale down the line, but looking at what people are asking and getting for colorado's that argument does not hold much water.

I cant buy that a 5cyl only gets 9mpg, I have a customer with a fleet of these loaded with service parts and tools to the point they installed overloads. They claim they average 13-15 and they have the 5cyl.

I keep my foot out of it and use it to drive not race down the free way I I nail down a pretty consistant 20 to 21 with alot of trafffic and city driving.And I am not easy on the gas in town, I maybe have a few hundred pounds at all times in it and I take off and beat on it alot in city driving and am often rushing, I just relax on the free way since I cant go nywhere fast in traffic anyways. I go 75-80 on the freeway.


the gas milage is the same on a single cab f/s from when I last looked too so that point your right on. When it comes to parking I like the colorado for being a bit narrower.
 
Why does a girl in college need a pick up? Is she into Rodeo, 4 wheeling or something? With the price of gas going nowhere but up. Wouldn't a Car that gets 35 MPG plus, be a little more practical?
Reason I say this is I just went thru this with my daughter. We looked at small trucks, suvs, jeeps ect. She wanted something that was good on gas. She ended up with a new Honda Civic coupe, and couldn't be happier with it. I drove it about 250 miles last week. It used 6 gallons of gas. I'm 6'3 and was totally comfortable in it.
 
my friend is 6 6 300 pds.. he fits into a little vw rabbit with plenty of room. if you really want fuel economy and enough spac efor a tall person check out vw
 
I second Thunder's question/point.



Last December I was asked by my brother about them as he has disposable income and we get the GM discount. I found the big Colorado/Canyon forum on the web and asked there and here about them. I got...decidedly luke warm...comments from the folks on here and the comments I got about them over on the CC forum were really less than enthusiastic too. Lots of folks were all gaga about them but you quickly realized they didn't have much else to compare it with (ie: never owned a truck before, first vehicle, hasn't owned a small truck ever/in years, etc) and then the number of comments from folks that mentioned the 5-cyl versions got the same gas mileage as their previous/friend's/family's/etc fullsize Silverado...yeah...I told him no go. I was highly unimpressed with some of the actual mpg numbers being reported by the owners/users and also noticed many threads about that topic.

I told him if he wanted a small truck to find a Tacoma or Frontier or if he wanted a GM to get a Silverado/Sierra 1500 crew cab.
 
My brother bought an 05 colorado regular cab short bed colorado about six months ago and it is one bitchin truck. 5 cylinder, 5 speed 4x4, is a great combo. I'm hate midsize trucks but his colorado is hella roomy, and smooth. He put a k&n intake and a cherrybomb vortex catback on it and it really woke it up, he also had some cpu work done to it and it will give my 5.7 vortec a run for it's money. For a single girl in college, there is no need for a fullsize truck, especially if your parents are paying for it, a colorado is a great choice, they are not gutless like everybody says and seem to be reliable. Just because you read in some forum about somebody's best friend's brother's girlfriend's bad experience doesn't make a product bad. You complained about the price of a colorado, but for a 2wd silverado like the one you linked to, you only save $1000.00 and you can get a 4wd colorado for that. And with a colorado, you can get a newer truck for the same price with cheaper insurance costs, cheaper maintenence items like tires (smaller sizes), better gas mileage, and easier manuevering. Why do you care what your sister drives anyways? I mean aren't mom and dad in charge here? If they're frontin the money, it should be their choice what car they buy. There is a colorado sitting in my driveway right now, so I have firsthand experience. Colorado's are great little trucks.
 
I don't have much experience with the Colorado/Canyon, but so far I'm not impressed with anything about them. I would also go with a full-size, or even a later low-mile S10.
 
Hey, found the forum I was referring earlier:

http://www.coloradofans.com

Have them troll the forum there and see what they come up with. I wasn't impressed with the reviews I got from owners there. In fact it seemed like many of them weren't impressed either.
 
Thunder said:
Why does a girl in college need a pick up? Is she into Rodeo, 4 wheeling or something? With the price of gas going nowhere but up. Wouldn't a Car that gets 35 MPG plus, be a little more practical?
Reason I say this is I just went thru this with my daughter. We looked at small trucks, suvs, jeeps ect. She wanted something that was good on gas. She ended up with a new Honda Civic coupe, and couldn't be happier with it. I drove it about 250 miles last week. It used 6 gallons of gas. I'm 6'3 and was totally comfortable in it.
Click to expand...



I second this, I like my trucks just as much as the next person, bu there scomes a point to where you choose something more practical.
 
Wow there's been a lot of activity today...


Thunder said:
Why does a girl in college need a pick up? Is she into Rodeo, 4 wheeling or something? With the price of gas going nowhere but up. Wouldn't a Car that gets 35 MPG plus, be a little more practical?
Reason I say this is I just went thru this with my daughter. We looked at small trucks, suvs, jeeps ect. She wanted something that was good on gas. She ended up with a new Honda Civic coupe, and couldn't be happier with it. I drove it about 250 miles last week. It used 6 gallons of gas. I'm 6'3 and was totally comfortable in it.
Click to expand...

We've always had trucks (and big ones at that) and that's what she is comfortable in. She doesn't drive a whole lot when she's there all semester... most of her driving is going to/from Texas a few times a year so the mileage isn't a huge deal (although it needs to be decent).
She is the social director for a huge girl's sorority and hauls crap around all the time, most of which wouldn't stand a chance fitting in the trunk of a car.
Obviously a nice little honda would be a sweet ride but it just isn't a good choice for where she's at in her life right now.

mr.smartass said:
Does she have to haul a bunch of stuff too and from school every semester or what Avery?:confused:
Click to expand...

She does haul stuff back and forth every once in a while but mostly what I said above, she hauls stuff around at school for events at least once a week.

chevydan3 said:
You complained about the price of a colorado, but for a 2wd silverado like the one you linked to, you only save $1000.00 and you can get a 4wd colorado for that. And with a colorado, you can get a newer truck for the same price with cheaper insurance costs, cheaper maintenence items like tires (smaller sizes), better gas mileage, and easier manuevering. Why do you care what your sister drives anyways? I mean aren't mom and dad in charge here? If they're frontin the money, it should be their choice what car they buy. There is a colorado sitting in my driveway right now, so I have firsthand experience. Colorado's are great little trucks.
Click to expand...

I care what my sister drives because it's my job as the little brother to help out :D
But honestly it's just because I'm a car nut and want to make sure she gets the best possible vehicle for her situation.
I agree that the colorado's are great little rigs and I was surprised at how much space there was inside (I'm every bit of 6'-1" and I was comfy) I just figured for less money you could get a standard cab short bed 1/2 ton and it'd have more power and more interior/bed space...

But after hearing both sides maybe I should just stay out of it and just let it happen... I guess either way she'll be fine.
 
haha well hopefully whatever she gets will work out well... she's a loooong way from home to have to deal with vehicle issues...
 
So, your sister is 6'1" eh? You should send her my way:D I can't stand dating girls less than 5'10".
 
I've never actually asked how tall she is lately but I know I'm 6'1" in my socks and she looks me eye to eye so she's somewhere in there.

Dad was 6'-3" before surgery... now he's about 6'-2"...
Grandpa was 6'-4"...
Heck even my mom is 5'-11"...


So yeah the whole family is tall...
 
We've always had trucks (and big ones at that) and that's what she is comfortable in. She doesn't drive a whole lot when she's there all semester... most of her driving is going to/from Texas a few times a year so the mileage isn't a huge deal (although it needs to be decent).
She is the social director for a huge girl's sorority and hauls crap around all the time, most of which wouldn't stand a chance fitting in the trunk of a car.
Obviously a nice little honda would be a sweet ride but it just isn't a good choice for where she's at in her life right now.
Click to expand...

Hmmm....Makes me wonder??? Has anyone asked her what she wants??
Might be the respectful thing to do.
 
haha of course we have... at first she wanted a crossover SUV of some kind but after trying a few on and checking out the amount of space she'd have for transporting stuff she's back to the truck idea...
 
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