The EPA published a first round of official MPG estimates for the 2023 Chevy Colorado.
With this next-generation Colorado, GM is shifting away from its past three engine offerings — including a 3.6-liter V6 gas unit and a 2.8-liter Duramax turbodiesel — to a single 2.7-liter gasoline four-cylinder. We’ve published as much information as we have so far on TFLtruck (with more to come), but new official EPA estimates emerged on the Fueleconomy.gov website Wednesday.
A quick caveat: We confirmed with Chevrolet that these fuel economy estimates represent the base 2.7-liter Colorado. In other words, these numbers are for the L2R version with 237 horsepower and 259 lb-ft of torque. When we asked them for numbers on the more potent L3B engine, they said the ratings are coming soon. This should, however, give us a baseline for what should be the most fuel-efficient version of the new truck.
In two-wheel drive configuration, EPA ratings peg the new base 2.7-liter engine at 20 City / 25 Highway / 22 Combined mpg. If you opt for a four-wheel drive variant, you’ll lose 1-2 mpg for 19 City / 23 Highway / 21 Combined mpg.
How does that compare to the previous generation model?
Against the old 3.6-liter V6, the 2023 Chevy Colorado’s 2.7-liter engine is more economical (as you’d expect, since it has a lower output). The most significant difference lies with the 4WD configuration, which sees an improvement of 2 mpg in the city and combined cycles. That said, it is 1 mpg less efficient in the highway cruise, at least per the official EPA chart shown above.
It’s a similar story with the rear-wheel drive model, which gains some city efficiency and maintains the same highway mpg figure as the old 3.6-liter V6, mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Andre goes into greater detail in the video below, showing the new base four-cylinder engine managing roughly equivalent fuel economy to the Colorado’s older 2.5-liter mill. By contrast, that powertrain put out just 200 horsepower and 191 lb-ft of torque. So on that basis, you do get a power boost in addition to similar fuel economy.
How does the new Colorado stack up to its main rivals?
This upcoming year is going to be an interesting one, as we’ll see more information on both the 2024 Toyota Tacoma and the 2024 Ford Ranger. The Nissan Frontier also just saw a redesign. Even so, the 2023 Chevy Colorado more or less trades blows (within 1 mpg) of the current-gen Ford Ranger, and beats both the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier, both of which still use V6 engines in their current iterations.
We will have more information on the 2023 Chevy Colorado soon, particularly when Andre’s on Trail Boss finally arrives. In the meantime, check out more below:
