My grand-daughter is looking at getting a 2004 Colorado, 5 cyl., auto, 4x4, CC, 100,000 km., $8700, for her first vehicle'. It seems clean but I'm not familiar with them at all. Has anyone had any experience with them, good, bad or indifferent re. mpg, reliability. Thx for your help. :)

Gas mileage won't be that great. You might be better off getting her an extended cab Silverado. The rear seat is almost the same size and will have more room up front.

My grand-daughter is looking at getting a 2004 Colorado, 5 cyl., auto, 4x4, CC, 100,000 km., $8700, for her first vehicle'. It seems clean but I'm not familiar with them at all. Has anyone had any experience with them, good, bad or indifferent re. mpg, reliability. Thx for your help. :)

Good little truck. As Brad says, mileage won't be that different as the little 5cyl really has to push to get that brick rolling.

Good little truck. As Brad says, mileage won't be that different as the little 5cyl really has to push to get that brick rolling.

Thx. Definite food for thought. I wish I knew more about these compact p/u's. :)

Watch out! There's a KNOWN issue (as in GM has acknowledged the fault) with some 2004-2006 vehicles containing I-5 and I-6 engines (Envoy, Trailblazer, Colorado, and Canyon). In fact, I'm fairly certain there's already been a recall due to the I-5 engine problems.

GM is still dancing for I-6 owners. My 2004 GMC Envoy SLT suffered from a leaking intake valve seat on cylinder #3 at only 62K miles!

My advice: STAY AWAY. If you're dead set on this vehicle make sure you get a 2007 or later, just to be safe. GM is "asking" affected owners to at least go 50/50 with them on out of warranty repairs. Which means if this ever affects your grand-daughter she's out $2,000 easily, unless you can effectively wear down the General to cover the whole cost (good luck).

My understanding is that the root cause has been attributed to soft intake valve seats installed on some of the heads for the model years shown below.

Subject: DTC P0300 And Engine Miss At Idle Due To A Leaking Intake Valve - Replace Cylinder Head With Valves - keywords CEL compression controls excessive high leakage leakdown low MIL misfire P0301 P0302 #PIP3935C - (08/28/2007)

Models:

2004-2005 Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon with 3.5L Engine (VIN 6 - RPO L52)
2006 Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon with 3.5L Engine (VIN 6 - RPO L52) and Last 6 of VIN Less than 287698
2006 Hummer H3 with 3.5L Engine (VIN 6 - RPO L52) and Last 6 of VIN Less than 287591

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This PI was superseded to refer to the latest versions of 07-06-01-011 and 06-06-01-017. Please discard PIP3935B.

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The following diagnosis might be helpful if the vehicle exhibits the symptom(s) described in this PI.


Condition/Concern:

On rare occasions, a SES light and P0300 may be experienced due to a single cylinder misfire at idle that may or may not be felt. On vehicles built before the VIN breakpoints above, this may be due to non-uniform intake valve seat wear, preventing the intake valve from sealing properly. Vehicles built after these VIN breakpoints contain harder intake valve seats to prevent intake valve wear and leakage.

Important: The engine misfires described in this PI, which occur as a result of the leaking intake valves mentioned above, will occur at idle only. If the engine misfires occur off of idle, this PI does not apply.


Recommendation/Instructions:

If the SI diagnostics do not isolate a cause for this concern, perform a cylinder leakage test as outlined in the latest version of 07-06-01-011 and in the "Cylinder Leakage Test" procedure from SI. Please document all leakage rates on the repair order.

If a leaking intake valve is found, replace the cylinder head by following the latest version of 06-06-01-017. This bulletin, which contains all of the part numbers that will be needed. The bulletin also contains a revised replacement procedure that no longer requires removal of the oil pan, front cover, water pump, or crankshaft dampener. The cylinder head listed in 06-06-01-017 will come with the valves already installed and it contains harder intake valve seats to prevent future intake valve leakage. When replacing the cylinder head, inspect ALL of the other components from the original cylinder head and transfer them to their original locations on the new cylinder head if there is no problem found with any of them. If there is anything wrong with any of these components, replace them as necessary.

Important: If the vehicle is a 2006 model, install the latest PCM calibrations to complete the repair.

Important: If excessive intake valve leakage is found on a vehicle built after the VIN breakpoints above, repair the vehicle as outlined above and submit a product report by following the latest version of 02-00-89-002. Please include the cylinder leakage rates for each cylinder and any other details that may be useful to engineering.

Please follow this diagnostic or repair process thoroughly and complete each step. If the condition exhibited is resolved without completing every step, the remaining steps do not need to be performed.

Source: http://www.justanswer.com/questions/12j0h-my-2006-chevrolet-colorado-has-been-diagnosed-with-needing

I had one for a rental while my HD was in the shop, and I almost wrecked it. It handled TERRIBLY in the rain. I took a turn that I've taken a thousand times before, actually slower (thank God) than usual since I wasn't in my truck, and it just went straight. It had about 6k or 16k miles or something similar, was like brand new. I personally will never drive one again.

I worked for GM and drove a few of the 06 and 07 COLORADO's with the 4 and 5 in them. My opinion was that it was a gutless pig that was rather dissapointing in pretty much every aspect except driver comforts. My worn out beat up 88 JEEP CHEROKEE with a 6 in it had more power and handled twice as good as any of the COLORADOS I drove. And I believe my milage was as good or better as it used to get 21+ on the highway consistently.

compact pickups are worthless and ridiculous im my opinion. i picked up the 03 dmax in my sig less than a year ago for about 1k more than what they want for that colorado.

first of all its a first vehicle...second of all its a first vehicle for a young lady. you want something as bulletproof and reliable as possible. personally, i would be looking for full size trucks (chevy 1500 or something comparable), tahoes, jeep cherokees etc. all of those vehicles can be found in good condition used for around your 8500 mark or lower, will be safer, will hold value better, look better etc.

I'd probably go w/ a reg cab Sierra/Silverado as a first vehicle. Good engines, can't have more than 2 friends riding, easier to handle for a first car and inexperienced driver, relatively cheap, good quality. The gas mileage will be the same if not better than a compact pickup with more capability. Girls with trucks are cool, so the only 2 passenger thing might be good.

my idea of good first vehicle examples:

03 silverado $8K reasonable miles 4x4 good options

03 gmc 2500 4x4 6.0 gas 4x4 good miles $8K

02 tahoe 4x4 good options good miles $8K

I had one for a rental while my HD was in the shop, and I almost wrecked it. It handled TERRIBLY in the rain. I took a turn that I've taken a thousand times before, actually slower (thank God) than usual since I wasn't in my truck, and it just went straight. It had about 6k or 16k miles or something similar, was like brand new. I personally will never drive one again.


That's more of a tire issue than the truck itself...


Get her an S-Series! Solid rigs, and capable of the same or better mileage than an I5... A few quirks here and there, but the 4.3 is a good little motor :)

Though, that being said, a 5.3L 1/2 ton will get roughly the same gas mileage as a 4.3...
Heck, even the Colorado with a 5.3 gets about the same mileage as the I5, lol.

I second the 4.3 as being solid, pretty good power if you have rcsb unloaded, pulled 8,000 lbs with it once. Just don't expect great gas mileage though. I have a little larger tires and a couple mods and I usually get around 17 mpgs per tank if I don't floor it that much. Last tank, I went up to the speed limiter a few times and floored it alot and got 15.3.

I second the 4.3 as being solid, pretty good power if you have rcsb unloaded, pulled 8,000 lbs with it once. Just don't expect great gas mileage though. I have a little larger tires and a couple mods and I usually get around 17 mpgs per tank if I don't floor it that much. Last tank, I went up to the speed limiter a few times and floored it alot and got 15.3.


Before things like the lights, brushguard, bigger tires, stereo, and such, bone stock, I could squeak 18 out of it driving it mostly nice, city driving...

I've had a VERY heavy foot for the past couple months and I'm averaging 12 - 15... But that's full throttle every chance I get :D

Having the manual transmission does help mileage, a fair bit, though...

Bone stock, I had a best of 24 MPG @ 72MPH on the highway.

That's more of a tire issue than the truck itself...


Get her an S-Series! Solid rigs, and capable of the same or better mileage than an I5... A few quirks here and there, but the 4.3 is a good little motor :)

Though, that being said, a 5.3L 1/2 ton will get roughly the same gas mileage as a 4.3...
Heck, even the Colorado with a 5.3 gets about the same mileage as the I5, lol.

Well it was the tires that came stock w/ the truck, that looked brand new, so I'd say it is more of a GM issue using unsafe tires with their trucks. I can tell you this, if I would have hit someone/something, I wouldn't be going after the tire company, I'd be going after GM. I can promise you I'm not the only one that almost wrecked the little POS, I bet MANY other have wrecked in the rain.......

Well it was the tires that came stock w/ the truck, that looked brand new, so I'd say it is more of a GM issue using unsafe tires with their trucks. I can tell you this, if I would have hit someone/something, I wouldn't be going after the tire company, I'd be going after GM. I can promise you I'm not the only one that almost wrecked the little POS, I bet MANY other have wrecked in the rain.......


Pretty much any factory tire these days is built for sunny California... I know for awhile F150s were getting 4 ply tires... And crappy ones at that, lol.

My Blazer came with Goodyear Wrangler RT/S's and they're the biggest POS's on the market...

But on dry pavement, they were quiet, and had no rolling resistance... Which makes the EPA happy... :rolleyes:

i have done a lot of heads on these if its over 100k its out of the special policy. but if it hasnt had a seat go bad yet it may not. they are tinny cheesy little trucks. good for a girls first truck though.

I agree with most of the posts on here...get a 1500 series truck at least for her instead of the compact...I was in the same situation years ago but a 2500hd fell into my lap that I couldn't resist :D

My mother has a 2008 CC colorado 2wd with the newer 3.7L 5 cylinder. I drove it a week for 400+ miles and squeezed out 24.8mpg with the auto & 3.73 gears. Filled brim to brim before & after. I was suprised. Her old 4.3L S10 would only do around 21mpg (EC short) w/ 3.42 gears.

Not sure on the 4x4 mileage, I'm sure it's a tad less. Her 2008 though does have the Z71 pacakage and everything on it, dual power leather seats, etc & the big 265/75/15 wheels & tires.

Power is adequate in my opinion, but then again, I drive a Duramax LBZ so i'm slightly biased :)

So did ya get her a truck?

So did ya get her a truck?

After the input we are trying to have her come up with the idea that a full size 1/2 ton may be a better vehicle for her. At 16 it does take some time as she seems to have mind of her own, obviously the result of a "weakness" on her grand mothers side. Thanks for all the info, we are putting it to use. :)

After the input we are trying to have her come up with the idea that a full size 1/2 ton may be a better vehicle for her. At 16 it does take some time as she seems to have mind of her own, obviously the result of a "weakness" on her grand mothers side. Thanks for all the info, we are putting it to use. :)


A mini-truck is probably better, unless she's done a lot of driving already... Unless you trust her to drive your truck... ;)

Whatever you get her, get her something a little scratched up, because all the girls that I have known of have been in accidents and at the very least scratched the crap out of the paint. It won't hurt as bad. :D