I would expect that if the sales are strong enough with the Duramax Colorado you will likely see an LS trim in the future as well as an extra cab. The fact that they are offering a Duramax ZR2 extra cab is promising. A work truck trim might be a bit much. It's a big risk they were taking offering a diesel to begin with so they likely wanted to minimize the risk and only offer it limited trims initially to feel out the demand. This truck is seeing a pretty good swell of popularity despite a rather large notion of GM being inferior to Toyota. That said, in my experience and opinion Toyota quality isn't what it once was and the difference is now nil or even by initial impression, the quality advantage dips towards this gen Colorado. Regarding the frame, I have been in no other pickup that has so little bed deflection. So I will say this, that frame may be 40% this or that, blah blah blah, but that chassis is tight as a drum and exhibits imperceptible flex, even offroad. The foreign market Hiluxes I have driven weren't anywhere near that tight in torsional flex though admittedly I haven't driven the newest gen Hilux.
Towing, payload..... get the LT or Z71, 1,500 pounds payload and 7,600 towing is solid. I have come to the conclusion that the majority of folks in this community pay little heed to payload these days anyway. The amount of junk I see festooned upon Wranglers and caper laden Tacoma's that are WAY over the GVWR show many folks don't care though I am pretty careful to abide by that stuff myself. That said a crew cab Dmax Colorado is going to exceed a crew cab Eco Diesel 1500 Ram and Tacoma. So for the US market it's pretty solid.
Price.... We got our new Dmax LT trimmed Colorado from the dealer at 10k off sticker. 5k of that was GM friends and family discount but the rest of that was incentives. Without the GM employee discount you can actually Wheel and deal so I expect a normal person could have gotten more than 5k off sticker on ours. In addition we got zero percent financing for 5 years. That deal was better than a lower trim crew cab Tacoma, let alone any of the 3 TRD models non of which the local Toyota dealership was willing to budge in retail price. Maybe with the success of the Colorado now Toyota will be willing to budge a bit but by the number of new Tacos I see on the road, Toyota still coasts along on its reputation. Not saying the Tacoma isn't good, it's a GREAT truck but the gulf between the two in regards to build quality is little to null.
ZR2 package... I think any offroad specific package on any vehicle comes with inherit compromises. If you want an offroad toy with bug capability and a warranty it's a no brainier. You couldn't buy a similarly equipped Colorado and add all this stuff without exceeding the ZR2's asking price. I think it's most compelling case for the ZR2 is simply it's ability to blend outstanding technical performance with outstanding handling onroad. As an overlanding platform I don't think you necessarily want or need that much technical ability as payload becomes more important but hey, having options are nice.
Our LT trimmed Dmax with the G80 rear auto locker works pretty damn good in low traction circumstances and with the traction control is less intrusive in its engagement offroad than say our ATrac equipped FJ Cruiser we had. The Diesel engine mitigated the need for hill decent control in my view so we didn't feel compelled for the Z71. The air dam comes off the front, so that's not a big deal and we did that immediately. We have seen 31-33.5 on the highway with this thing, and that was with less than 3,000 miles on the odometer and still on winter blend. Purely driving around town, stop and go we see about 22. So for a crew cab, long bed truck that we got for less than our friends paid for there 4 cylinder Subaru Outback, and yet exceeds their mpg's they get, and yet we can still do this stuff without it breaking a sweat.......
I would say these things can do a pretty useful amount of towing and work for their size. In the manner of the Hilux and other foreign market trucks we seem to be so unrealistically craving. And I can tell you that it is a much nicer place to spend time in than some of those trucks from personal experience. Maybe I am just starting to get soft in my 40's... and I am a guy who loves, the rugged, old, simple stuff, so I am just a big walking talking contradiction anyway... haha. I guess my point boils down to I think GM did a decent job covering most bases with the current lineup offerings, no, not everyone can have anything they want.... my wife and I would prefer a manual but for towing the auto is better and more fuel efficient anyway so it's a good trade off. I am off the mind personally that a Dmax Colorado is the most useful all around vehicle sold in NA or the price, for the combination of reasons above, and a great oerland platform.
