Chevy Colorado with a camper?

[p nut]

I'm not fully against a full-size truck but my wife is less keen on them. She really hates the new GM and Ford models; claims they look "cheesy" and "Transformer-ish" (no offense to anyone's beautiful new truck here). I've been impressed with how quiet the new Duramax is in the GM trucks. A guy up the road has one and unless I'm looking, it sounds the same as the anyone else's newer passenger car...maybe with a slight diesel burble to the exhaust note.

The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel is a consideration but I've read, and met a guy who confirmed, that they have had lots of problems; blown engines, fuel system problems, etc. Have they sorted out all of those issues since the EcoDiesel was introduced?

One interesting thing I noticed is that the payload for a Ram 1500 EcoDiesel is slightly LESS than the diesel Colorado (1450 lbs. vs. 1480 lbs - splitting hairs but interesting). The lower end of the Ram 1500 tow capacity aligns with the diesel Colorado. I only plan to pull 2000-3000 lbs. max. so these numbers don't worry me much. I also read an article (and compared the specs) where the Colorado is essentially the same size and capability as a 4th Generation Chevy C/K full size truck. It seems that what used to be big, is now "small".

I just wish both the Colorado and the Ram were offered with a manual tranny. From what I can tell, that is/was never the case.

My goal would be a pop-up camper that is really basic. I would not want stoves, fridges, or many other amenities; an insulated box with a couple windows, off the ground, with sleeping and storage would be fine with me.

Gotcha. Hopefully you will have enough seat time before buying. Going from a full size van to a midsize truck would be an adjustment. I also don't see the benefits of going diesel for your uses, either. A half-ton V6 gas engine will net you 24-25MPG (Highway), offer more comfort and cabin space, while being several thousand less than a diesel model (new or used). Either way, good luck.

 

[malibubts]

Interesting...

I just found this for a 2016 Tacoma - they talk about campers starting on page 613:

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM04005U/pdf/OM04005U.pdf

From what I understand, the Colorado/Canyon have a deeper bed than has been typical over the years. I wonder if this is the reason for the disclaimer; unless you have a spacer underneath on the bed floor, a camper will come to rest on the sides of the bed. Rather than point out a solution to the problem, they decided to CYA instead.

Ram 1500s also have the same disclaimer in the manual, those warnings only drop for Ram if you are in a 3/4+ Ton. Think it has more to do CYA, payload ratings, and a few people abusing the warranty after their camper caused damage.

 

[calicamper]

I think it is mainly due to most slide ins are way too heavy. Check out wander the west website. Lots of Ford rangers with yrs and yrs of FWC trips and one regular is doing a huge trip from Main to Alaska with his tricked out diesel Colorado and fwc.

 

[GlennA]

I ran into a guy a couple of months ago with a Colorado regular cab 4 cylinder, 4X4 with slide in pop up camper. He carried a canoe on the roof and towed his BMW 650 on an aluminum utility trailer. Additionally, he lived in it full time. Just food for thought.