Style Shocks Make the Difference
Shock absorbers designed for Formula 1 race cars have found a home in the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 pickup truck. They help make the ZR2 capable of flying over sand dunes at speed (main photo), climbing over rocks at a crawl, and driving around town without a bouncy ride.
The ZR2 starts in the low forties and adds almost $6,000 over the next costliest Colorado, the Z71. For pickup fans canada goose outlet store uk who go off canada goose outlet shop road seriously off road the ZR2 lets you buy one all round pickup, rather than spring for, say, a docile SUV plus a second 4 with skid plates and a jouncy suspension.
What the Colorado ZR2 does that specialChevrolet helped revive the midsize pickup market when the second generation Colorado arrived as a 2015 model. The 2016 was the first contemporary midsize pickup with canada goose factory sale a diesel engine. Now in 2017 comes the ZR2 for off roading that has been raised 2 inches, gets 31 inch high Goodyear DuraTrac tires (1 inch more than the previous top end Colorado Z71), adds two massive skid plates in front, and adopts canada goose clearance special shock absorbers from Multimatic (more below), a supplier to Formula 1 as well as other race series. An electronically controlled locking differential lets the driver lock together the rear wheels or, with the power transfer case in the low cheap Canada Goose range, lock the front wheels as well.
Despite all this, the ZR2 Colorado is pleasant to drive on the highway. Really. Occupants can talk without shouting. The Colorado is one vehicle that does it all: civilized highway driving, off road driving at speed, and competence crawling along rocky trails.
Off road, hands onI test drove the new Colorado ZR2 in (of course) Colorado. A resort developer in Gateway, near the Utah border, build a nearby high speed dirt track with a half dozen jump ramps and sweeping U turns. To get maximum airtime, it helps to exceed the posted speeds (30 to 45 mph depending on jump size) by about 5 mph, otherwise the nose never lifts much. What amazing is how much of the force of landing is absorbed by the shocks rather than your spine.
For off roading, we drove to Bangs Canyon, a permanent off road course near Grand canada goose outlet Junction, climbing and descending rock strewn roads, threading narrow passages while trying to avoid canada goose outlet new york city pinstriping (paint scrapes from large branches or protruding rocks). The adjustable speed limiter was a big help going down hills, where the difference between 1.5 and 2.5 mph is significant.
One stretch of the course tests an off road vehicle ability to climb over rocks and ledges almost a foot canada goose outlet online high. This is where you press buttons on the dash to engage the rear and then front locking differentials. The two front and two rear wheels move at the same speed, and the vehicle slowly but surely climbs each step of the course. This is all beyond what most people will need going up the steepest hill to a ski country condo. Still, it a lot of fun. It could come in handy pulling a boat onto the trailer on a launch ramp covered canada goose uk black friday in algae.
Also notable was that the hour long drive to and from the Bureau of Land Management off road course was in a vehicle that was at ease at highway speed, quiet, with no harsh ride and only a little tire noise.
How the shocks workThe shock absorbers are from Multimatic, a Markham (Toronto area) private company. Multimatic uses dynamic suspensions spool valve (DSSV) technology. A traditional shock absorber or shock damper is an oil filled tube; inside is a piston with holes for oil passage, covered by flexible discs (or shims). When the vehicle hits a bump, the piston compresses as oil passes through the holes, then uncompresses (helped by the vehicle springs) afterwards. But the shims wear over time, they lose flexibility, and metal particles collect inside the shock. They throw off a lot of heat when stressed. Most shocks are engineered to have a single ride setting (comfort, sport, or extreme off road with long suspension travel).
Multimatic DSSV shocks for ZR2.
Enter Multimatic: The shims (discs) are replaced by spools, or sleeves, nestling inside each other and held apart by a spring. When there enough cheap canada goose uk pressure, one sleeve moves slightly relative to the other, exposing apertures that allow oil to flow to the other side of the piston.
In the case of the ZR2 shocks, they actually more sophisticated than the ones that took Red Bull Racing to four straight Formula 1 titles 2010 2013, Chevy having three separate chambers. There are separate (smaller) chambers for on road compression and for rebound; the largest chamber is for off road big bumps, with a second valve (non DSSV) on the front shocks for when the ZR2 returns to earth from a cheap canada goose big launch. Effectively, Multimatic has given an analog device near digital precision. After bouncing over several miles of rocky off road paths, the shocks were barely warmer than the rest of the vehicle.
Multimatic DSSV shocks are only on a handful of vehicles, including the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, Camaro Z/28 and ZL1 1LE, Mercedes AMG GT, and Aston Martin One 77.
(Note to hot rodders: The only Multimatic shocks available in the open market are replacements for cars with them as original equipment. They tuned to be vehicle specific.)
Where the Chevrolet Colorado fits inSince 2010, pickups, SUVs, and crossover SUVs represent the majority of passenger vehicle sales in the US, not sedans and wagons. Now it up to 60 percent and Colorado is part of that majority. Why? Gas prices aren an issue (currently). Shorter drivers like sitting up higher canada goose uk outlet in traffic. They like all wheel drive or four wheel drive that is common on pickups and SUVs for its extra traction (true) and better braking (not true, but many believe it) in snow.
Most pickups are full size and can be as much as 250 inches long (about 21 feet) where midsize pickups are typically 200 225 inches long and, equally important, a half foot narrower. For a car or SUV, anything over 200 inches would be considered full size. canada goose outlet parka Through April, the first canadian goose jacket third of the year, midsize pickups accounted for 137,000 units, while full size pickups (Ford F Series, Chevy Silverado and the like) sold 723,000 units.
Among midsize pickups, the sales rankings are Toyota Tacoma (60,000 sales through April), Colorado (32,000), Nissan Frontier (22,000), Honda Ridgeline (13,000), and Colorado corporate twin GMC Canyon (10,000). The interest in the midsize market (and the fact that it sold 350,000 units 20 years ago) led Ford to announce the return of the Ford Ranger midsize pickup as a 2019 model.
Ford F 150 Raptor
Among off road vehicles, the full size Ford Raptor, a variant of the Ford F 150, has been generating considerable positive publicity. It a serious off roader. But it also canada goose outlet store big: not a problem in desert runs, an issue crawling through rocky hill passes. Colorado ZR2 closest competitor is the Tacoma TRD, and one of the most capable because of its smaller size is the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Competition for all midsize pickups comes from the new, second generation Honda Ridgeline that has won several test reviews as an all purpose pickup but not as an off roader.
Should you buy?The 2017 canada goose outlet uk sale Chevrolet Colorado starts at $21,000 (rear drive, 200 hp four cylinder gasoline engine) to $47,000 for a loaded Colorado ZR2 with a 181 hp four cylinder diesel with 369 pound feet of torque (a lot). Most Colorados sell in the mid to high thirties with the V6 gasoline engine (308 hp, 275 pound feet of torque) and an eight speed automatic. For a pickup, fuel economy is reasonable: 16 mpg city, 18 highway, 17 combined for gas; 19/22/20 for the diesel and a driving range of almost 450 miles from the 21 gallon tank.
The top line ZR2 comes in either a crew cab configuration with a short cargo box (62 inches) or a snugger extended cab with a long cargo box (74 inches). Both canada goose factory outlet are 212 inches long. Other Colorado trim lines allow canada goose outlet uk canada goose outlet uk for the crew cab and long cargo box, total vehicle length 225 inches. The ZR2 cargo box is 44 inches wide, meaning it won fit 4 plywood lying flat, never mind that the wood would stick out the back by a couple feet. For that, you need a full size pickup.
Given that the ZR2 is the top of the line, it well equipped: OnStar with on board Wi Fi, four USB jacks, leather seats, a wireless phone charger, and canada goose jacket outlet a rear camera. Navigation is $495, seven speaker Bose audio is $500.
Unfortunately, there no surround camera option; a front camera would be helpful when you working a trail without a spotter, or trying to pull out of a steep boat launching ramp with another vehicle next to you (and people on shore watching, and judging). Towing capacity for the ZR2 was reduced from 7,000 to 5,000 pounds, which is still significant, and the maximum payload drops from 1,500 to 1,000 pounds. GM says it because of the revised suspension, raised canada goose outlet jackets ride height, and a https://www.outletmoncler.de wider track (distance between left and right wheels).
Chevrolet says the ZR2 version of the Colorado represents a of one, meaning the Raptor is bigger and wider, the Jeep Rubicon is smaller, and the midsize Tacoma TRD doesn have quite the same specs, in Chevy opinion. If you intend to do serious off roading rock crawling or higher speed desert cruising in a vehicle that perfectly comfortable on paved roads, the Colorado ZR2 and its unique DSSV suspension may be the one to focus on.