These days, most jobs demand a badge to prove you deserve to be there, from an ID photo to a shiny shield on a uniform. So it’s no surprise that the new Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison wears a badge to prove its ability – an off-road tire bolted behind the cab.
The midsize Colorado’s third-gen arose in 2022 with a new engine in a reborn chassis. And this most aggressive off-road version horned its way in this year – the Bison, ours in Radiant Red.
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There’s a blunt nose, 2025’s version getting a revised, aggressive grille/bumper shape under a chest-high aluminum hood with black power bulges. A slit upper grille flows into LED DRLs over small, powerful headlights. A gloss black nose bar with Chevy emblem lives over a deeper intake.
ZR2 Bison Gets Added Off Road Chops
Then comes the collaboration with American Expedition Vehicles (AEV).
The off-road equipment supplier offers stronger bumpers, tightly tucked in so there’s less chance of snagging something. There’s boron-steel skidplates. Special AEV wheels are also 1.2-inches fatter under squared-off fender flares almost a half-inch wider than regular ZR2s. That offers extra room when the suspension compresses gold Multimatic DSSV dampers, with hydraulic jounce bumpers to help buffer compression in extreme off-roading.
The lower sills get serious double-bar frame protection and because those 35-inch Goodyear Wrangler tires are so wide, the only place for the spare is bolted into the bed. That means less rearward vision for the driver, who now really needs those side mirrors since no rear view camera mirror option is available.
With a 12.2-inch suspension lift, the steering wheel is handy to grab to pull oneself into the black-over-gray interior and leather driver’s seat. The passengers all get grab handles. There’s a basic hard plastic interior, nicely padded on passenger dashboard, doors panels and center armrest. But door tops are hard plastic, which is tough on elbows.
Colorado Interior Includes Wide Center Touchscreen
The digital gauge display now has multiple configurations like a 7,000-rpm tach circling a digital speedometer; a single big speed readout, or one with pitch, roll, steering angle and 4-wheel-drive status. You can fire up a G-force display, or full engine gauges.
The two-tone gray leather interior has contrasting stitching, carbon fiber inserts and a padded dashboard.
A wide center touchscreen offers navigation, apps, audio, phone and wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, with 4G Wi-Fi Hotspot. The touchscreen gets a real volume knob, and our EV Rider test truck had heated and cooled seats.
The driver’s seat has basic power adjustments and dual memory presets, comfortable if a bit flat. A stitched leather steering wheel gets audio volume and tuning behind along with the usual buttons up front. There’s no headlight knob or control. Instead, you have to access a sub-menu in the touchscreen to activate automatic headlights.
The gearshift gets a manual shift rocker switch next to the 2-wheel/4-wheel-drive high and low range knob. There are Normal, Off-Road, Terrain and Baja drive modes, plus Tow/Haul, with trailer brake bias control. USB ports and a cellphone inductive charger are in the center console.
The back seat bench has good head room, but only just enough leg room for adults. Seatbacks split and fold 60/40 forward into a fairly flat cargo floor, while flip-up seat bottoms reveal cargo bins. The cargo box has tie-down hooks, and a damped tailgate with integrated cargo box.
Colorado V-6 Option Dropped
There’s no V-6 anymore. Lesser Colorados get a 2.7 inline four with 237 hp. This off-road boss had the 310 hp version with 390 lb-ft of torque, hooked to an eight-speed automatic transmission with selectable rear-wheel-drive, automatic or full-time four-wheel-drive, as well as low range.
Our 500-mile-old truck’s turbocharged four sounds busy under load, but had decent power, hitting 60 mph in 7.4 seconds. A highway slog in Normal/rear-wheel-drive modes only averaged 15 mpg. For comparison, a 2,700-mile-old 2019 Colorado Z71 I tested then with V-6 hit 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, averaging 17 mpg.
The off-road suspension with Multimatic DSSV dampers was actually pretty good at asphalt-based commuting. Within its fully boxed perimeter frame are independent coil-over-shocks and solid front and rear axles that made it taut but comfortable on road.
Colorado ZR2 Bison Off Road Impressions
Speed bumps and potholes were smoothed out with decent buffering on rebound and no harsh impacts. Handling was OK in rear wheel drive mode with the back end staying put as it tracked through curves. In auto all-wheel-drive it was mostly neutral in tighter turns, predictable with a bit of understeer — and body roll — circling our skidpad.
Steering was tight with a nice feel. It had a bit of lightness dead center due to off-road tread squirm, and a tight enough turning circle. The 13.4-inch front/13.3-inch rear disc brakes had a nice pedal bite up high and good control, but a bit of nose dive and ABS chatter under simulated panic stops. While our 4,971-lb. Colorado may be smaller than the big Daddy Silverado it can carry up to 1,151 pounds of stuff, and tow up to 6,000 pounds.
Then we took the Bison to a rut-filled field in 4-wheel-drive, and it did not buffalo us. Deeply treaded Goodyears grabbed easily as it neatly handled everything with a comfortable ride and very good bump absorption, no head bounce or mushiness from the long-travel suspension. Bouncing over a small hill saw the Bison just absorb the bump and land with aplomb. Terrain mode allowed for near-one pedal driving at slow speeds – the Bison can easily handle rough stuff.
Ground clearance was just fine. I like the pitch/roll and steering angle displays in dash and center screen, graphically showing us on a shallow hill, where traction was just fine.
The Chevrolet Colorado WT base crew cab starts at $33,796; our crew cab adds $11,700 Bison package with all the offroad stuff and a bit more for a final of $50,680.
Bottom line: The most capable Colorado ever. It easily chews through the bush, yet is fairly comfy on the road, and maybe just enough truck for almost anybody.
2025 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison Crew Cab Specifications
Vehicle type – mid-size 5-passenger four-wheel-drive pickup truck
Base price – $48,695 ($50,680 as tested)
Engine type – Turbocharged DOHC 16-valve aluminum inline four
Displacement – 2.7 liter
Horsepower (net) – 310 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque – 390 @ 3,000 rpm
Transmission – 8-speed automatic transmission
Wheelbase – 131.4 inches
Overall length – 212.7 inches
Overall width – 84.4 inches
Height – 81.9 inches
Front headroom – 40.3 inches
Front leg room – 45.2 inches
Rear headroom – 38.3 inches
Rear legroom – 34.7 inches
Cargo bed payload – 1,151 lbs.
Towing capacity – up to 6,000 lbs.
Weight – 5,298 lbs.