After a yearlong hiatus, Chevrolet has redesigned the Colorado ZR2 Bison for 2024 to take on equally new competition like the Ford Ranger Raptor and redesigned Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. Along with the Silverado 1500 ZR2 Bison, it's Chevy's most extreme truck. The Bison treatment involves chassis, tire, and mechanical upgrades and many aftermarket parts from off-road builder American Expedition Vehicles (AEV).
Photo: Alex Kwanten
Technically, the Bison is an option package on the standard Colorado ZR2, which Chevy completely redesigned in 2023, along with the rest of the Colorado lineup. The regular ZR2 is a competent off-roader and both more practical and less costly, but the Bison pushes the envelope further with many upgraded off-road-focused parts, including:
The ZR2 tops the Colorado lineup, with the standard version selling for just over $48,000 (including destination) and the Bison topping $60,000. The other trim levels—the WT (work truck), LT, Trail Boss, and Z71—range from roughly $31,000 to $42,000. ZR2 versions come standard with the Colorado's high-output, turbocharged 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine with 310 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. WT and LT trims use a 237-hp version. All use an eight-speed automatic transmission.
JD Power previously published a review of the 2023 Chevrolet Colorado 4WD Trail Boss Crew Cab. That truck has a big lift kit and is lots of fun, but it's a more basic vehicle that doesn't offer most of the ZR2 and Bison extras. This review focuses on the Bison and how it potentially impacts the Colorado's overall consumer appeal.
For this 2024 Colorado review, Chevrolet provided a test vehicle equipped with ZR2 trim and the following options:
The test vehicle's price was $65,125, including the $1,595 destination charge to ship the truck from the Wentzville, Missouri, assembly plant to your local dealership.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
The Bison's massive tires give it a towering 12.2 inches of ground clearance (versus the standard ZR2's 10.7). The Jeep Gladiator Mohave, built for rock crawling and another vehicle AEV modifies, still has a superior approach angle at 44.6 degrees (to the Chevy's 38.2). Still, the Bison matches the Gladiator's departure angle (26 degrees) and bests all its competitors on breakover angle (26.9 degrees). The Bison can go places where most other trucks will scrape.
The ZR2 Bison, like the Ranger Raptor, is built for high-speed desert running, and its trick suspension dampers help make that possible. The regular ZR2 also offers Multimatic DSSV dampers and a similar long-travel suspension (9.9 inches in front, 11.6 in back) to soak up the bumps, but the jounce-control dampers help minimize the heavier impacts when the Bison's big tires hit something. This truck doesn't beat you up even at 50 mph in Baja mode over rutted ground.
The Bison has three off-road drive modes: Off-Road (for general off-pavement adventure), Terrain (for low-speed crawling), and Baja (for high-speed sand running). It also has a low range, electronically locked front and rear differentials, and a one-pedal mode for easy throttle modulation at low speeds. This truck is an excellent crawler, and its electronic extras and smooth ride make off-roading easy, even for relative novices.
Both newbies and veteran off-roaders will appreciate the ZR2 Bison's available electronic driver assists and, especially, its cameras.
Chevrolet now equips every Colorado with basic active safety features, including automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, and a following-distance indicator. My test ZR2 Bison had all the optional driver-assist gear. That included adaptive cruise control, surround-view and underbody cameras, and other additions like blind-spot steering assistance and rear cross-traffic warning with pedestrian detection and automatic braking.
The Colorado's warning systems are very good at detecting cars, objects, and pedestrians, but they aren't invasive or annoying. The ZR2 Bison's adaptive cruise system works well too, though it only has lane-keeping, not active lane-centering like the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. Without a firm hand guiding it, it'll ping you between the lane edges, but it adds a helpful layer of highway fatigue reduction.
The many camera views are easy to operate, making navigating tight trails simple. The underbody cam (a $500 extra not offered on non-ZR2 Colorados) also makes clearing treacherous on-trail obstacles much safer. Because of the truck's height and bluff front end, the cameras also help in other tight scenarios, like driving up a steep ramp in a parking garage—if you can fit.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
Undoubtedly, the ZR2 Bison's massive tires and AEV add-ons are as functional as they are cool-looking. However, these modifications do come at a cost to some of the Colorado's essential truck functions. It's so tall (81.8 inches) that it had only about a centimeter of roof clearance in my garage (with the radio aerial removed), and it wouldn't fit at all in some urban parking structures.
The height makes entry and egress more difficult and raises the bed height considerably. That's normal for off-roaders, but AEV's rear bumper doesn't have the built-in corner step that the standard ZR2 and other Colorado bumpers do. You'd be grateful to have the enormous bed-mounted spare if you shredded a tire on the trail, but it eats a lot of space while mainly obstructing the rearview mirror.
Beyond that, the Bison has lower payload and towing limits than the other Colorados. Maximum payload measures 1,050 to 1,280 pounds in the regular ZR2 and 1,587 in the Trail Boss. The Bison can only tow 5,500 pounds to the ZR2's 6,000 and the Trail Boss' 7,700-pound maximums. If you want the Bison, you must be okay with these limitations.
Refreshingly, one thing not sacrificed in the ZR2 Bison is on-road refinement. Many modern off-road vehicles have gentle rides thanks to their long suspension travel, but they're often bouncy, jittery, and ponderous handlers on the pavement. You'd think the Bison's massive tires and towering height would make it like that, but the opposite is true.
The ride is very soft, and since it's so tall, there's inevitably some body roll, but it's very controlled with those Multimatic dampers hard at work. The steering gives the driver plenty of feedback but isn't heavy or slow as in many off-roaders. Slam on the brakes from 60 mph and the nose will dive, but at lower speeds, it's minimal compared to what I've experienced in Gladiators and previous-generation Tacoma TRD Pros. The Bison even feels surprisingly fun and stable on curvy mountain roads.
Inside, the cabin is quiet and comfy, and the Bison's smooth moves draw comparisons to the notably refined crossover pickup Honda Ridgeline. It could be faster, with zero-to-60 mph taking about 7.5 seconds by my timer, but that's on par with most other midsize trucks.
The only unhappy note? The Colorado ZR2 Bison can't manage more than 16 mpg in real-world use, which is abysmal by midsize truck standards. That's its EPA rating (city, highway, and combined), and I saw a 15.7-mpg average in more than 300 miles of on- and off-road driving.
Photo: Alex Kwanten
I not only spent a week with the ZR2 Bison, taking it up rugged mountain trails at up to 4,500 feet of elevation (its overlanding display tracks elevation in real-time), but I also took it through an off-road obstacle course and an autocross track back to back with the Ranger Raptor, this truck's closest rival.
They're both great trail trucks. While the twin-turbo V6, 405-hp Ranger is considerably faster and about $2,500 cheaper, the ZR2 Bison's steering and on-road handling are more responsive. It comes with a lot more underbody protection and seems more adept at low-speed trails than the Ford. It is less practical, though, with lower payload and towing limits and less bed space than the Ranger.
Other likely rivals include the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon and Mojave, which are modestly refreshed for 2024, and the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, which is new this year and now sports a hybrid drivetrain that will undoubtedly get better gas mileage than the ZR2 Bison. Notably, though, these trucks cost $4,000 to $5,000 more than the Bison.
Overall, the Colorado ZR2 Bison is a hugely capable hardcore machine that delivers high-quality on- and off-road driving experiences and lots of fun. It's also uncannily refined, making daily driving easy apart from the unhappy gas mileage and parking problems. However, if you didn't need quite this much capability or the Mad Max visuals, the regular ZR2 rings in at $12,000 less. That's a tempting discount.
Alex Kwanten has worked in automotive media for 15 years and reported on buying, selling, and servicing cars for many outlets, including Automotive News, Forbes, and Hagerty Media. His calling is helping to make car buying less intimidating for ordinary folks, but he also loves telling the stories of the people and cultural forces behind new and classic vehicles. A lifelong automotive enthusiast, he’s owned scores of cars from more than a dozen countries.
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