Chevy Colorado - Inform me, please.

"acarr260" (acarr2601)
10/16/2017 at 09:26 • Filed to: None

I may be going to look at a Colorado this afternoon. It’s a 2005 4 Dr Z71 LS crew cab SB for about $8.5k. I5 engine, auto trans, 1-owner, no accidents, 130k miles. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

DISCUSSION (19)

Nibby > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 09:32

I feel like that’s a $7000 truck at best

2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 09:47

Seems high Imo

You can find those trucks for 5k or 6k sometimes

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 10:03

DOOOO IIIIIITTT

Now that the expected answer is out of the way, don’t do it. Not for that money anyway. Too much for base model (even with Z71 package), too much for 130k miles, too much for 2005, too much for the second-ever year of that engine. Unless it’s SUPER clean and well taken care of, and even then it feels a bit steep to me. But that’s your call. Of course, these trucks do seem to be holding value fairly well all things considered, so there’s that.

Otherwise:

The engine is decent overall but they did have teething trouble. The valve seats occasionally shat the bed iirc. If it were me I’d have a poke around for the later 3.7L instead, but the 3.5L ought to be fine anyway. In any case check with the owner to see if he’s had any issues in that area.

Trans, well, it’s a 4L60E. It’s a time bomb in most cases, but the odds of it shitting the bed behind the 3.5L aren’t huge. And if it does it’s probably your fault.

The interior squeaks like crazy. If that bugs you... well... might as well drop it.

Seats are better in cloth than leather. The leather ones are pretty slippery and have almost no lateral support. That said, they’re fairly comfy if you aren’t tossing it around. Rear seats are serviceable if you MUST use them but not great for longer trips. The seatback is too close to vertical. But hey, small truck... whatchagonnado?

Ride and handling, it bounces a lot over small stuff... but at the same time big stuff doesn’t upset it as much as you’d expect. It WILL handle if you ask it to, and surprisingly well... but if you don’t ask it to it would prefer not to. Fairly substantial body roll though.

The G80 locker is reportedly a time bomb. I’ve had no issues. Don’t abuse it and you should be fine.

But that price... unless it’s in amazing shape I can’t help feeling it’s $1500-2000 too high.

Censored > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 10:03

They had a lot of problems with the front ends eating tires. Alignments wouldn’t hold longer than 10k or so. I did quite a bit of research years back and seem to recall that most of the problems were during the early production years. Just check into it before you dive in.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Censored
10/16/2017 at 10:07

The alignments hold on like crazy, at least in my experience. I’ve put mine through several situations where I fully expected to need an alignment and got told it was bang on. I don’t think I’ve had an alignment since I bought it. However while it isn’t “eating” tires, it’s still got a wear pattern I don’t really like. I think they just don’t align well in the first place.

With that being said I’m in a 2010 not a 2005

E92M3 > Nibby
10/16/2017 at 10:11

That’s probably what they will take. I doubt they expect anyone to pay asking price. Factor in some negotiation I don’t think the price is far off.

Censored > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 10:15

Admittedly, my research comes from about 2010 and I was looking used. So I think I was probably looking at around 2004-2007ish years.

Quadradeuce > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 10:18

My dad has 260k miles on his 2006 model g80 locker. I’ve never known one to die before anything else in the drivetrain. He’s gone through 2 transfer cases, but he MAY have the habit of leaving it in 4wd on dry pavement.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Quadradeuce
10/16/2017 at 10:25

Yeah, like I said don’t abuse it. The guys who have it go probably beat the shit out of it or off road regularly. Or both.

In any case, it’s a good thing to be aware of

BahamaTodd > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 10:26

Im an original owner of a 2004 Canyon Z71 with 180k miles:

IMO, the majority of these trucks on the road are pretty reliable like mine has been. I’ve seen many examples over 200k and some over 300k miles. Though there are a few issues that I see in Colorado groups / forums:

Check the maintenance records to see if the head was replaced. Some 04-06 trucks had issues with the valve seats failing very early. If it had it done, great. If not, considering it made it to 130k miles, its probably fine like my truck that didn’t have the issue.

If you start it and it seems to run a little rough and the idle seems a little low (should be about 650 rpm), the issue is probably build-up in the throttle body. A simple cleaning clears that right up. Not a huge issue.

Ask if it has had any problems with passlock. This is an issue that pops up for some people where the passlock will activate and prevent you from starting the engine for about 15 minutes. No one has identified what the problem is yet. I don’t have this issue.

HVAC blower resistor. This is an almost guaranteed issue. The connection between the HVAC blower harness and resistor will overheat and damage the connection. The result is a loss of the 1, 2 and 3 blower speeds, leaving you only with high. I have replaced my resistor twice, with the last time replacing the harness and resistor. That was about 4 years ago so mine seems to be working reliably.

Anything else I can think of, I’ll add in.

BahamaTodd > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 10:29

Although it is a vast wasteland of cheap plastic, my interior doesn’t squeak in my 04.

I agree with everything else for the most part.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > BahamaTodd
10/16/2017 at 10:44

My ‘10 does. Though to be fair, one squeak is from the seat that’s probably not applicable to all of these trucks and one is from the console lid/armrest that I probably wouldn’t notice so much if the seats weren’t so slippery and lacking in support (I do brace against it).

The biggest squeak comes and goes. I’m pretty sure I know where it’s from (the one piece of different plastic above the gauge cluster) and could probably fix it, but can’t be bothered. most of the time it’s not annoying, but it seems like rough roads “unstick” it from the other plastic bits it touches and for a few days after that it goes nuts.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 11:19

To be fair, I think this is more of a Chevy thing. Our Silverado’s never wear tires evenly.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
10/16/2017 at 11:32

Could be. Thankfully it isn’t horrible, just a little feathering on the side tread blocks.

But damn does it hold onto the alignment like glue. I was impressed.

shop-teacher > acarr260
10/16/2017 at 11:47

Brake jobs are expensive on these, because they have captive rotors. If the rotors can be turned, you have to use an on vehicle lathe. Otherwise, the hubs have to come off. Good trucks though. No idea on the price, I haven’t been watching the market.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > shop-teacher
10/16/2017 at 12:43

I forgot to mention this. Royal pain in the ass... right where the wallet sits.

shop-teacher > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 13:44

I was surprised you didn’t mention this. I remember you complaining about it (justifiably so).

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > shop-teacher
10/16/2017 at 13:47

Must have suppressed it

shop-teacher > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
10/16/2017 at 14:15

Understandable.