Chevrolet Colorado Muscle Edition with improved outputs
As it was, the Chevrolet Colorado was already amongst the most power trucks in the market, boasting outputs of between 150hp and 180hp from its 2.5- and 2.8-litre Duramax turbodiesel engines. As such, you would not think that any enhancement of power is needed, but that’s precisely what the engineers in GM’s powertrain have given us – a Colorado with even more power.
Appropriately called the Colorado Muscle Edition, the new variant will launch in January 2014 at a Chevrolet brand roadshow that will take place from 3rd to 5th January at the Centre Court of Mid Valley Megamall. Key enhancement to the new model will be the 2.8-litre Duramax engine, which has been re-tuned to produce 193hp and 500Nm, up from the previous 180hp and 440Nm or 470Nm for the manual and automatic transmission models respectively. The new outputs now allow the Colorado 2.8 to one-up the 3.2-litre variants of the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 which make 197hp and 470Nm.
The enhanced outputs of the new Colorado 2.8 help propel it to a century sprint time of 10 seconds and a top speed of 180kph when mated to the 6-speed automatic transmission of the range-topping variant.
Another area of major improvement in the new Colorado concerns the manual transmission variants which now get a new 6-speed gearbox to replace the previous 5-speeder. Limitations of the previous 5-speed transmission was what forced GM to cap the previous 2.8 manual version to ‘just’ 440Nm of torque. The new transmission now services the 2.5- and 2.8-litre variants that both continue with unchanged outputs of 150hp/350Nm and 180hp/440Nm respectively. (Editor’s Note (26/12/2013, 19:00hrs, GMT +8): An earlier version of the article implied that the 2.8 M/T version produced the same 193hp and 500Nm as the automatic version is incorrect. The error has been corrected and any inconvenience caused is genuinely regretted.)
Features in the new model include Cornering Brake Control, Hydraulic Brake Fade Assist, Panic Brake Assist, Traction Control, Electronic Stability Control, Hill Start Assist, as well as Hill Descent Control, and is capable of managing a load of 1025kg. Additional features include MyLink connectivity, Bluetooth support, a USB port, easy touch screen display and voice control on steering wheel.
Prices of the new Colorado Muscle Edition have not been announced, but we don’t expect them to stray far from the those of existing model, which range from RM90,267 to RM106,008, on-the-road with insurance.
The aforementioned roadshow in Mid Valley, which will open from 10am to 10pm on 3rd to 5th January, will have 5 cars on display: the Cruze Sport, Orlando, Sonic Hatchback, Sonic Sedan and Colorado Muscle Edition. Test drives will be available and quiz sessions will be held offering merchandises to be won. Cash rebates are offered (on a conditional basis) and bookings may be made on the spot.
Pictures: Official GM release.
